Western Kentucky University / A / John Atkinson

Let me start by saying, this was the easiest class I had this semester. I am going into the final with a 99%. I am not one of those bitter students with a bad grade writing a review. However Atkinson is one of the worst professors I have had at WKU. I can not tell you anything I've learned all semester.I attended every class. Luckily, the final isn't mandatory if you're happy with your grade. Every quiz (around 10 total) is straight from a test bank, if you google the question the answer pops up. All the SAM projects have how-to videos on youtube from other professors. This makes it very easy to make 100s on everything. The midterm was open book or open "google" like I called it so it was easy to get an A. There is an annoying group project due at the end of the semester that was not explained very well to the class, it included a 12 page paper and presentation. We were all confused on what he even wanted our presentation to be about. Overall, this class was an easy A for me, but it was super annoying to attend and deal with.

I have taken him before for another class and both times I love it because class time usually isn't mandatory. Everything is covered online and the class only met about 5 times the whole semester. He gave us plenty of time to complete each assignment and all you had to do was watch a few videos, read the chapter and do some small assignments and quiz. Biggest thing is to not procrastinate! Take one day to do everything and you have the whole week to do other things. Everything is online and can be done at home except the final which can be done in class or at a proctored location during finals week.

I thought he was a great teacher. Though I labeled his class as moderate, it was fairly easy if you are okay working mostly on your own. He kinda steps back and lets you go. You can usually leave class at any time most days. You can do almost all of the assignments ahead of time if you want but if you need help, ask for some in class if you don't understand it. A lot of the time i started them at home, and only brought/came in to class if I had issues with part of the assignment.

Most the time if I came to class, I could finish the whole assignment there. Attendance is required on days that presentations are on. You write a little bit on a few presentations each time on blackboard. And there are some quizzes (on blackboard) over some info in the books which can sometimes be a little hard but not to bad. Most the time the final is in class but with our class having some issues getting in at that early time, he managed to let us take it anytime online as an open final.

Do yourself a favor and take this instructor. If there is an individual that is willing to make your life easier it is Dr. Atkinson. His class is design to be student friendly and he will help you out anyway he can

I had an online version of this course which rocked. As long as you motivate yourself to do the work on time. Or especially if you get ahead, this class becomes really easy. The Excel cases are pretty easy and the book explains them step by step. You also get full credit for the quizzes just for taking them. Definately recommend taking this online. I live on campus and I did.

I took this class online. The class was easy if you know anything about Excel. Even if you don't Dr. Atkinson stays very active in the discussion board and answers your questions very quickly. I wouldn't recommend anyone else for this class!

Atkinson is great and really knows what he is doing. Attendance is not required, but the only way I recieved my "A" is my attending almost every period. My best piece of advice is "DO NOT CHEAT!!" It is very, very tempting in CIS courses to copy/paste someone elses work. I have met 3 different people who have recieved "F's" for being caught. This is a very time consuming course, so be ready to put forth a bit of effort. There is a research paper called the "White Paper" that is assigned. Seriously, get this paper finished as soon as possible. I knew of several people who panicked at the last minute, didn't do it and dropped an entire grade letter. GO TO CLASS!!! Atkinson is very helpful with all your questions and suggestions on what to do the paper on.

I liked this course very much, even though you have to stay on top of when this and that is due!! You don't have to go to class unless you are having trouble with one of the projects or once we could for extra credit. If you have any trouble with the projects you can ask the teacher or he also makes a discussion board for students to help each other out which is very good in answering many questions. The projects are not that difficult, but I say the most pestering thing about the course are the number of quizzes you have to take. They aren't hard, I made at least a B on each of them and A's on most. There are no tests just projects. The final basically is a combination of all the quizzes, so you definitely want your textbook handy. Quizzes and the final is taken out of class.

I was scared to death to take this class, but it was so much better than what I thought it was going to be. Mr. A is very nice and will help you with anything. I hardly ever went to class, but he would give me help anyways. If you have a problem, go to class, but if you don't, there is no need to go. There are tons of assignments, but if you stay on top of things you will do fine.

This course isn't as bad if you take it in the Summer. It is a great class to take, the material can be hard if your not computer friendly. Mr Atkinson works hard to get the students ready for the tests, he also has e lectures that will explain the material. Watch the e lectures and practice doing the excel and database cases. The cases are not worth as many points, but they will be just like the tests... If you can do the cases then the tests will not be as hard

If you like a class that is web-based, self-paced, and self-taught, you might like this class. I hated it! I believe that it is much harder than it needs to be, especially for a class that is required for GFCOB students! Prepare to do a lot of work.

Let's talk about the assignments first...there are six fairly easy topic labs that are required throughout the semester. These help you learn basic skills (like how to do an Internet search). These are worth 25 pts. each and total labs are worth 15% of the grade. You are also required to design a website worth 100 pts. (15% of the grade).

There are six exams. Three of these are MC concepts exams. He puts a practice quiz on Blackboard and if you take this many, many times, you will see many of the questions on the test (I learned this a little late!). The final is the concepts exam over the last three chapters of the book. The other three exams are case exams. The first two deal with Excel, the third deals with Access. To prepare for these, you should do the six Excel cases and two Access cases assigned. (These do not count for a grade.) Doing these helps with some portion of the exam, but will not cover all aspects covered on these exams! Exams are worth 100 pts. each and each type of exam (concepts/case) is worth 35% of the final grade.

Participation points are given if students do the six Excel and two Access cases, but more importantly, participate in the online discussions. Throughout the semester, Mr. Atkinson will post a question that pertains to a topic (usually around the time you should be reading about it in the book or viewing the e-lectures). He expects each student to contribute to these discussions three times. He will award 1-3 points based on participation. It is very difficult to recieve three points! He expects an article to be referenced and for you to discuss that article to receive three points which he considers and "A". However, he NEVER tells you that this is what he expects. There is a sample of a good answer provided on the syllabus, but it doesn't even fit the guidelines to receive three points!

You don't necessarily need to purchase the book. It is handy if you want to participate in the online discussions. As far as test preparation, you can take the practice quiz and make anywhere from an A to a C, depending on how many times you take the quiz. There are also e-lectures on Blackboard that he expects you to watch; these also help prepare you for the concepts exams.

Mr. Atkinson is a nice guy. However, he is not extremely helpful. Material is expected to be learned from the e-lectures. My e-mails to him were never returned. When you receive your grades on the case exams and website, there is no feedback as to why points were deducted. Everything seems to be subjectively graded.

Unfortunately, I believe that all CIS 343 classes are taught the same way and require the same material (I looked at the syllabi for some other 343 classes). I don't know if there is a difference in the way different professors teach the subject, but I imagine it is all fairly web-based. And, unfortunately for me, I learned how to do most of the Excel functions at my job just AFTER we were tested on it! If I could have taken this class next semester, I probably would have made a better grade!

One important note...

If you read some other reviews of Atkinson, you will see that he had an odd grading system about your final grade being determined by the final. For example, if you have an A, get a D on the final, then your final grade would be no higher than a C. That HAS changed. The points are broken down like I mentioned above.

His class consist of 5 hometest and 5 lab test that cover windows xp, word, excel, acess, and powerpoint. if you are at all familiar with computers you should do fine. i had the class on a tuesday-thursday so i would take the practice test on sunday, the home test on monday, and then go to class and take the lab test on tuesday, and then miss thursday and do it all over again. this course is self paced so u can finish it as quick as you want. it is all self taught though.

The course is easy as long as you study for the tests. The tests are on the computer and very easy. If you don't understand something, just ask. Attendance is not mandatory. Just make sure that on test day, you are there. Great teacher. Easy A.

This teacher is a prick and a half. I like the way this computer nerd rolls his eyes at me for asking him a question about an assignment...his response.."read the book or listen to the tutorials." I'm sorry you prick I always thought that professors were supposed to explain things to students that they didn't understand..I didn't realize that I was supposed to buy a set of headphones and sit through a "tutorial" that is doing what he's getting paid to do....TEACH!! Also his grading policy is major bullshit. Ok there are 1000 points available in the class..so a 900 is a A..800-900 is a B..etc..the final is worth 100 pts just like a normal exam. Lets say you go into the final with 845 pts so you just need a 55 or above for a A right...NOPE you can only receive a grade for the class no better than one letter grade above what you get on the final. So if you had 850 pts goin into the final and flunked the final..guess what you just got a D for the class. Another example say you have 900 pts going into the final and got a 79 on the final..thats 979..a 97.9% well since you made a C on the final you just got a B in the class with a 97.9%. THATS A REAL FAIR GRADING SYSTEM YOU ASSWHIPE If i ever see this prick out in public it'll take everything I have in me not to beat the shit outta him..other than that the class isnt hard he just sucks at teaching

he is a great teacher, if you go to class

I not only had Dr. Atkinson in class, but he was my advisor. 343 is an easy class just because of the content he is supposed to cover. It is sort of an intro to various aspects of computing, and I think he is an excellent professor. From times that I would visit with him in his office, I know that he often put a lot of thought into how he could make the class more interesting, but 343 is just kind of a boring class to be given to teach. Plus, he is more than considerate, if you miss a class, he will never be rude to you about it and he will give you whatever you need to catch up, without asking why you were not there. When I was in this class, I was apalled at how little effort some people put into the web site presentations, but Dr. Atkinson would compliment them anyway, because he is nice and he understands that everyone hates presentations. I thought he was a super guy and I felt bad for him when some hung over guy would stumble in with a rumbled up piece of crap for an assignment and Dr. Atkinson would simply straighten it out and thank him for turning it in.

Mr. Atkinson is a prick when it comes to his grading policy. It doesn't matter if you have 899 points, he will not bump you up to the next letter grade. Nevermind the fact that the class is poorly structured, or that he hardly ever explains or teaches you how to do anything, or that he does not provide any other time for you to get on the computers in the classroom because he is too busy with his consulting business, or the fact that when you do ask him for help he just gets irritated with you for not understanding how to do the assignment and rolls his eyes at you, and treats you like an idiot. He also never lets you know what you did wrong on assignments, so if you have a bad grade on one, you'll never know why. Despite the fact that his class is poorly constructed, and he offers little help, he will not budge on his point system. So just make sure that you have exacly 900 points if you want an A, 899 won't cut it. Just don't ask him for help, unless you want to feel stupid.

Dr. Atkinson was a very good teacher, if you go to the labs then you should be all right. I did not attend every class period because it comes from the book. He is a very good teacher, very helpful.

This course isn't hard. However the professor SUCKS! There were many times where students that had already taken upper level course found errors in his presentations and exams. When approached about these errors he would say "That's what the book says" or "Yea, I know the department head has told me that is wrong but...."

He doesn't do anything for himself, he leaves it all up to his assistant. So if you have questions you might as well save yourself the time and go directly to the assistant at the time.

This class isn't too hard, but this professor isn't the greatest. It can get a little boring sometimes.