Matthew Ward - Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Professor: Matthew Ward
Department: Computer Science
College: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Rating # 1
Overview:
  • Course: CS525
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Prof. Ward is difficult but fair. Exams do require extensive reading but he has always done a full review of exam topics prior to each one, no trick questions. Some expectation of C proficiency is assumed but in the past I have asked to do projects in JS and Python before. If you can demonstrate the code works he won't care about the language.
Rating # 2
Overview:
  • Course: CS2301
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Thinks he can teach
Rating # 3
Overview:
  • Course: CS2301
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
0 out of 10
Rating # 4
Overview:
  • Course: CS2301
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Ward is easily the worst prof. at WPI. He covers absolutely nothing in lecture and expects you to know C inside and out. His quizzes are also extremely hard, seeing as the class quiz average is about a 40%. Scaling? Nope, he'll fail the whole class. Short answer, avoid at all costs because you will not learn C from him.
Rating # 5
Overview:
  • Course: CS2301
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.5
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
This professor suggested the class would be difficult but a class for nonmajors should not require students to be pros at coding in C especially when the professor himself does not teach or even know how to exactly answer students' questions. He's not receptive at all to negative feedback or concerns from the class. Don't take this class with him.
Rating # 6
Overview:
  • Course: CS2301
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Just terrible. His lectures explain nothing. His quizzes are extremely hard and do not cover the material from class or the book. Very bad at explaining anything but believes he explained it more than adequately for you to write a lot of code in 5 minutes.
Rating # 7
Overview:
  • Course: CS2301
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Took SysProg for Non Majors. This is perhaps one of the worst professors I've ever had. He doesn't show you how to code in C. His lectures are completely useless yet quizzes and HW are very hard. Do not go into this class unless you already know C, CS1101 is not good enough with Ward. Avoid like the plague.
Rating # 8
Overview:
  • Course: CS3041
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Most of the material was focused on generalities of HCI rather than useful information. For example, "this is what gestalt principals are" rather than "you should put the buttons closer together". The final lecture where Prof. Brown evaluated projects proved more informative than most of the previous lectures. Tests were a recital of the book.
Rating # 9
Overview:
  • Course: CS3041
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 1.0
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Worst professor ever.
Rating # 10
Overview:
  • Course: MQP01
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 2.5
  • Course Difficulty: 5.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Projects with him NEED CLEAR GUIDELINES, set by you and agreed upon by him. Did an MQP with him recently, did fantastic by the sponsor's standards, but that meant nothing to him. Unhelpful in meetings and no clear guidelines given by him mean that you'll need to provide those qualities. Extremely rigid professor after mind is made up, so work hard.
Rating # 11
Overview:
  • Course: CS3041
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: N/A
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
He was a good professor. He explained everything clearly, and structured the class pretty well. Not too much programming was assigned in this class, mostly writing.
Rating # 12
Overview:
  • Course: CS543
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: N/A
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
The projects were difficult but relevant. The exams require some original thought. Professor Ward's pdf book is short but very complete. I now have a great understanding of graphics, so I'd say Ward is an excellent professor.
Rating # 13
Overview:
  • Course: CS543
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: N/A
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Well, his class was alright. HE taught a graphics class using the overhead, when showing the projects on the computer would have been much more effective. exams were easy, projects tedious but enjoyable
Rating # 14
Overview:
  • Course: CS3041
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: N/A
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
said course was gonna be harder than usual, but I didnt think so. Clear and straightforward exams and lectures, though very boring.
Rating # 15
Overview:
  • Course: CS3041
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 1.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: N/A
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
I don't know if this is true for every course, but certainly for CS 3041 he said it was going to be a tough course, but it was actually the easiest class I ever had ^_^ ...kind of boring lectures, but gets his point across.
Rating # 16
Overview:
  • Course: CS4731
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: N/A
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
No Comments
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