David Poole - University of British Columbia

Professor: David Poole
Department: Computer Science
College: University of British Columbia
Rating # 1
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
I enjoyed his course on functional/logic programming. I would say his lectures are not the strongest over the entire CS department but he is effective at getting concepts across and cares about his student's understanding. He is often available to chat after lectures as well and seems like a genuinely nice professor.
Rating # 2
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC322
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
David is probably the most accommodating prof, his lectures are very high level but super helpful when you review as it clarifies the topics better than most other Profs. He has a high course workload, but most of the assignments are marked very leniently
Rating # 3
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC322
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
David is a good guy but he cannot teach. Lectures are dull and his explanations are unclear and vague.
Rating # 4
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC322
  • Grade Received: Not sure yet
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Professor Poole is one of the nicest professors in the CPSC department at UBC. He wants his students to succeed and asks if we have any questions multiple times throughout the class. His pre-class videos give a clear explanation of the topic, and his weekly homework assignments are helpful to solidify the concepts and are marked on effort.
Rating # 5
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Pretty dry lecturer. Fell asleep quite easily. Exams were fair.
Rating # 6
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Definitely not as bad as some as the other reviews. David is a great guy and is eager to answer questions and help if you give him the chance. Honestly enjoyed the course and I think functional programming is something every CS student should take. Also lectures are recorded which was great!
Rating # 7
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Lectures are super unclear and make concepts even more confusing. Avoid this course if you can. It is not fun.
Rating # 8
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
High averages may draw you to take this but do your research first and make sure you actually enjoy Haskell and Prolog. The first midterm for the each of the two programming languages tend to be simple but the second one (including final) is extremely difficult. Projects are marked with an unclear rubric so you won't know how to improve on it.
Rating # 9
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC322
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 3.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
Course is very dry. Weekly homework for this class. David is a nice guy but not engaging at all. He just seems to read off slides. Fortunately, this course is not super difficult. His lecture slides and textbook are very informative. You don't have to do a lot of critical thinking. Just follow his slides and examples and you'll be fine.
Rating # 10
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC322
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
His lectures can be a bit boring but overall is a pretty good guy. Easy A if you put in the effort.
Rating # 11
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC322
  • Grade Received: B+
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
AVOID THIS PROF. He is probably the worst thing that has happened to me.
Rating # 12
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC322
  • 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:
Friendly person but is horrible at explaining any concept. He will define a huge amount of vocabulary words, then sum up a trivial example with an incredibly long formula referencing those vocabulary words, then assign you a non-trivial question that is ambiguously described and does not map perfectly to his example.
Rating # 13
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • 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:
Very unclear lectures, tends to make extremely easy concepts very confusing, projects are a bit too open ended, but you do learn a lot from them, much more than the lectures.
Rating # 14
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Has been improving class a lot and is one of the only profs that will act on feedback before end of term. Needs to make questions much clearer and much narrower to avoid people accidentally over complicating things for themselves.
Rating # 15
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Not as bad as some of the comments. Can be confusing but tries his best to help and assignments are for participation. Nice that he puts his lectures online.
Rating # 16
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
I find Poole's lectures to be pretty clear on the material for the most part. The nice thing is that he records his lectures so if you miss class or need to review content, it's available to you. But you should attend for the clicker marks. He does his best to answer questions and he doesn't come off condescending.
Rating # 17
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Poole provides a lot of sample programs that are really useful for answering assignment questions. He also records his lectures and provides ample clicker questions that enhance our understanding of the material. He answers questions without sounding condescending and seems like he really cares that we learn the material well.
Rating # 18
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Concepts aren't explained effectively, nor is lecture information provided useful. They're obfuscated and ripped from his textbook. A below comment echoes my sentiment: "Makes material more confusing than it actually is." What should be an incredibly easy and straightforward course is not, due to poor teaching and provision of resources.
Rating # 19
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC312
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: No
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
He makes things super complicated even if they're super simple. He takes marks off even if your answers are right despite the instructions not specifying you couldn't do what you did. Totally unfair. Punishes you for working ahead. This is an easy course and yet was incredibly stressed due to his inability to teach.
Rating # 20
Overview:
  • Course: CPSC322
  • Grade Received: Not sure yet
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Makes material more confusing than it actually is. May be a good person but a terrible prof.
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