Larry Kotman - Grand Valley State University

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Larry Kotman - Grand Valley State University

Professor: Larry Kotman

Department: Computer Science

College: Grand Valley State University

Rating # 1

Overview:

Course: CIS162
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 2.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Worst prof I've had in 4 years and it's not even close. I was told to take this class to help a bit with upcoming grad school. I've learned almost nothing. No notes, little communication, and boring and aimless "lectures". I've never posted on this site but felt obligated to say avoid at all costs.

Rating # 2

Overview:

Course: CS351
Grade Received: A+
Overall Rating: 3.0
Course Difficulty: 1.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Take the class if you want an easy A. Very nice guy and is caring, BUT don't take him if you want to learn. Not ideal to have CIS162/163 with him if you are a CS major. Very important concepts are taught in those classes, and you NEED to have a good grasp on the concepts to survive the major/career.

Rating # 3

Overview:

Course: CIS162
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 5.0
Course Difficulty: 2.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: Yes
Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Kotman was excellent. He did a great job explaining the material, and he really put forth an effort to develop quality lessons. He was kind, caring, and was always available to answer questions and help solve problems after class or during office hours. He communicated effectively through email and through in class announcements.

Rating # 4

Overview:

Course: CS160
Grade Received: A-
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 2.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Kotman's CIS 160 is a very easy class to pass, but you will learn little to nothing. His lectures are all over the place and usually don't pertain to the content that you are currently working on. But besides all of this, Professor Kotman himself is a very kind man who seems to be very invested in his field.

Rating # 5

Overview:

Course: CIS162
Grade Received: Not sure yet
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 3.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Freshman year of college. Absolute worst experience ever. He seems to barely know how to even use a computer, and his teaching is inexcusable. Absolutely DO NOT take this class with him unless this isn't for your major or you have previous coding experience. The only pro I can think of is that he's nice.

Rating # 6

Overview:

Course: CIS162
Grade Received: Not sure yet
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 1.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Truly among the worst that Grand Valley has to offer. Do NOT take him for any classes, but certainly not a foundational course like 162. If you get stuck with him, be ready to rely on the textbook and external resources because he rambles, gets confused, and legitimately does not understand how to use a computer. Awful, awful professor.

Rating # 7

Overview:

Course: CIS443
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 2.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

He assigned us 3 projects. We could only get A's if we completed all three perfectly, and he gave no tests. He often refused to help with code we were stuck on, saying "if I tell you what to do, you won't learn." (I learned close to nothing). Repetitive lectures on random topics. Had us follow Microsoft tutorials instead of really teaching content.

Rating # 8

Overview:

Course: CIS251
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 1.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: N/A

Comment:

It was very frustrating to have this professor. He rambles a lot and a couple of times, he picked up his phone during our class while he was lecturing. I did not feel like he understood what he was teaching.

Rating # 9

Overview:

Course: CIS60
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 3.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He's ok

Rating # 10

Overview:

Course: CIS163
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 2.0
Course Difficulty: 2.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Kotman is a humble guy. He's very nice, but not a good teacher. If you need a professor who will answer your questions and help you out he is not the one. His answers will usually not answer your questions and he likes to ramble. He also brings C# example code to a Java class. Facepalm. You will be on your own for the most part.

Rating # 11

Overview:

Course: CIS163
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Final grades are due in less than 24 hours and half of my grades are not inserted yet. Barely taught us anything the whole semester, including giving us the majority of our code for assignments, and left us very ill prepared for the final exam. Literally the hardest exam I've ever taken in my life. A very nice guy but take someone else

Rating # 12

Overview:

Course: CS351
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Graded 1 thing the entire semester. Had no idea what was happening half the time. The student helper consistently taught labs better than Kotman

Rating # 13

Overview:

Course: CIS160
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 2.0
Course Difficulty: 1.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This class is one of the easiest classes I have ever taken, but also, I didn't learn a thing. The class was very disorganized and hard to follow and most of the time, his lectures didn't make sense. Overall, he's not a bad guy. He's really nice and caring, but do not take this class if you actually want to learn visual basic.

Rating # 14

Overview:

Course: CIS461
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 1.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

If at all do NOT take this prof for an important class like 162. He doesn't seem to make lesson plans and just rambles all class. He seems like a very kind and intelligent guy, but he's probably the worst *teach*er I've had at GV. It's an easy A, and a mildly fun challenge to try to understand even a little of his compiler despite his lectures.

Rating # 15

Overview:

Course: CIS162
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 2.0
Course Difficulty: 1.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Very nice guy. He means well, but not a good teacher. He goes through the same material over and over. His class is an easy A, even if you didn't learn anything. Thankfully, I went into his class knowing a lot of coding because if I didn't, I would not have learned anything.

Rating # 16

Overview:

Course: CIS160
Grade Received: B
Overall Rating: 2.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

unorganized and very hard to follow. I have never taken any coding/programming before so its such a struggle. never teaches just lets you figure it out on your own. don't get me wrong, hes a good guy and very nice but as a prof stay clear

Rating # 17

Overview:

Course: CIS162
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

You will not learn anything from this Prof. Some people have said he goes out of his way to help but that is only because he tells you shouldn't go to the help center. Sometimes he will repeat whole lectures multiple days in a row. His class is only possible if you know about JAVA before you take it. (textbook is helpful but prof never read it)

Rating # 18

Overview:

Course: CIS162
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Do not take him if you would like to learn anything about Java. Although coding experience is not required for CIS 162, the only people in class who had any idea what was going on were those already familiar with programming. Although he encourages collaborating on projects (making it easy to share code) that doesnt help during exams.

Rating # 19

Overview:

Course: CIS163
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 2.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Kotman is a really nice guy, but he cannot teach. It was impossible to actually get anything out of his lectures. He struggled with answering even the most basic questions. It is now the end of exam week and the only grade he has up is the midterm, so I have no idea what grade I'm getting. He was very frustrating to have as a professor.

Rating # 20

Overview:

Course: CIS251
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 1.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

He's an easy A but that's all you'll get out of this class. You probably wont learn much if anything even though he loves to ask at the end of every class if you've "learned something today". I would avoid him at all costs.

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