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Knight, Charles 
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BIO 213 Junior Grade Earned: F Required (Support) 1:56 am, Apr 2, 2013 Report Evaluation |
Attention "Dr." Knight, we do not need to memorize the name of random ass fly genes. We do not need to remember EXACTLY how many years ago something happened. We do not need to know the percentage of evolutionary mutations in mice over X years. There were simply too many pointless questions to memorize for a 2 unit class. TWO UNITS. NOT FOUR, TWO. Dr Knight needs a serious reality check on that....most engineers have tons of other time consuming classes already...wasting time memorizing trivial facts is simply pointless. Also the "forgetting about the midterm" was a lie. I thought he was a decent lecturer, and seemed like a chill guy too, but he lost my respect after the final. This pointless class needs a total revamp badly. | |
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BIO 213 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Elective 9:23 pm, Mar 28, 2013 Report Evaluation |
Since people are already giving perfectly accurate rants on this professor, I will be the one to steer towards "what to do if you get this teacher". Class Overview: The class is lecture based, one 2 hour lecture each week. You are given a paper/packet of questions you need to fill out based on the material in each 2 hour (ish) lecture. Each lecture (nearly 99% of the time) is a video. Near the end he may give a lecture or two himself. Each video and question set is posted on polylearn. Issues: EMAILS This teacher is very unresponsive when it comes to emails. I recommend you email him 1 time each day repeating what you said until you get a response. If you have a question and email the teacher over the weekend, do not expect a response until late the night before the next lecture. You may have to resort to confronting the teacher in class before each "lecture" to get your questions sorted. TIME It is important to not waste too much time on these lectures. I recommend you spend the class time watching the videos online and answering them on your own time. This is important because you're more than likely to miss a question or two, and you'll have to go back and watch it anyway. You can also pause and take a break which you can't do in class. SYLLABUS There isn't one. You are not graded on your answers for the packets/papers. You are graded on 1 midterm and 1 final. The midterm is a 10 point short answer, and the final is a 30 point multiple choice, from ANY questions from all 10/11 lecture questions (AKA lots of memorizing, USE NOTECARDS). So it is important to be accurate on your answers even though they aren't collected. Overall: This class should really be an online course. This teacher (and has even admitted) is very lazy. Do your best to teach yourself the material, and hope for the best! | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 7:09 pm, Mar 26, 2013 Report Evaluation |
I love Dr. Knight's teaching style for this class. He gives you question sets for each chapter or article you read and you have to answer the questions before you come to class, then he goes over all of the questions in class. Yes it is a lot of work, but it's definitely worth it. All of the quiz/test questions come from the question sets, so you'll know exactly what to expect. In the end you end up with over 1000 questions to know for the final. The biggest piece of advice I can give you is go over the questions/answers that you have once a week, then the final will be far less stressful. | |
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BIO 213 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 6:13 pm, Mar 26, 2013 Report Evaluation |
This was honestly one of the worst classes I've ever taken. He was asked to teach this class a couple weeks before the quarter started, but even that all we did was watch videos that were free online anyways, and your whole grade is based of a midterm (in which the final was a 60%) and a Final. He said that if you did better on the final you would get that grade, and even though I spent hours studying for it, I thought I got an A on it but ended up getting a C in the class. He doesn't respond to any emails you send him, there was no syllabus for the class. Be prepared to have a joke of class in which you are going to get a C in no matter what. | |
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BIO 213 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 6:11 pm, Mar 26, 2013 Report Evaluation |
This should have been an online class. Almost every lecture consisted of watching a video of someone else lecturing, which could be found online. Only go to class if he is lecturing. He gives you a question set for each lecture/video. The final and midterm are composed of the exact same questions on the set, but there are a ton to study. If you're missing a few answers, which you are bound to be by the end of the quarter, you're going to lose points on the midterm and final. Just study the question sets and hope you get lucky with the questions he picks. | |
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BIO 213 Junior Grade Earned: C General Ed 5:16 pm, Mar 26, 2013 Report Evaluation |
Bio 213 is a joke, somehow he made it a bigger joke. Eight out of ten classes were instructed through online videos, several of which i had already seen. You are graded on on 10 pt 1 sentence short answer midterm and a 30 question multiple choice final; nothing else. If you want an 'A' going to 'lecture' is worthless, just take adderall and study the question sets he gives as 'study material' the night before. Worst course yet | |
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BIO 213 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 12:09 pm, Mar 26, 2013 Report Evaluation |
This is a 1 day a week class for 2 hours. He mostly just showed videos of other people lecturing, which sucked, and most of the class left these days. He lectured 3 times throughout the quarter, but when he actually lectured, you could tell he was really knowledgeable and passionate, and the lectures were interesting. He was assigned to teach the class on late notice, so he told us to cut him some slack, and in future quarters he would have an opportunity to be more prepared and do his own lectures. We had 1 midterm and a final, where the questions were taken STRAIGHT OFF the notes. There were a lot of notes, but still, you can't ask for much easier. Pretty sure there was a curve at the end of the course too. | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 9:43 pm, Dec 3, 2012 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight is a boss. He should probably go over the readings more before class, but he makes you think differently about things, and it is awesome | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 4:26 pm, Nov 19, 2012 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight is a super nice guy and clearly goes over the concepts in class. This class DOES take a lot of time since there are question sets for each chapter (about 30-40 questions average per chapter) BUT if you do all the question set, you will definitely do well in this class because the midterm/quizzes and final have the same exact questions on them His quizzes and exams are all free responses, no multiple choice. Overall, if your quarter's not too busy, I definitely recommend taking Dr. Knight. | |
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BIO 326 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 7:16 pm, Aug 27, 2012 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight is one of the most laid back teachers I have ever had. He is really helpful in office hours and he posts the lecture notes and powerpoints. Overall, there is little work in this class except for studying, answering pre-lecture questions, and writing a 10 page report (at the end of the quarter). I would highly recommend this class with Dr. Knight especially since the labs are essentially field trips with a few quizzes and lab reports. Also, many of the quiz questions are on the midterm and final. Dr. Knight allowed students who were content with their grades to not take the final which is what I did. There aren't many teachers who would make that deal with students. | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 3:18 am, Mar 19, 2012 Report Evaluation |
very nice guy but by the end of the qtr you have done 700+ questions and you have know idea of those questions will be on the final of 50 questions. hey we had no term paper so I am good with him just one mid term and a final that had the mid term and final in one. I.e of 150 points for final 75 were for mid term 2 part of test and rest were for final. | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 10:01 pm, Mar 15, 2012 Report Evaluation |
First off, Knight is really chill and really nice but the way this class was structured made it a living hell. Every period we would go through one chapter from the textbook and one chapter from a book called "Endless forms most beautiful." By the end of the quarter we had read 17 chapters out of the book (about 700 pages, FML). He would give a question set for each chapter for the text and the other book that usually consisted of 20-30 questions that you would have to answer BEFORE CLASS. This is because every period, he would not lecture. All we did for the two hours was go around the room and answer the questions. Also, participation counted to if you did not do the reading questions you could not participate which meant you got no participation points. I spent a good 6-8 hours a week just answering the questions. Granted, I did learn a lot, not just about evolution but about biology in general, so this class was kinda a double edged sword. You work your butt off but you will learn a lot. Just as a kicker, the "study guide" he handed back the wednesday before finals was 700 questions long. If you know all the answers, you are pretty much guaranteed an A because the test questions come directly from the question sets. I tried to be fair about the pros and cons about this class, but all in all the cons definitely outweigh the pros. Take another teacher if you can :/ And Dr. Knight, if you read this, please take this to heart because learning and understanding 700 questions from 17 chapters is A LOT to ask of students who have three other classes. Tone it down a bit. | |
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BIO 414 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 9:20 pm, Mar 14, 2012 Report Evaluation |
By far the worst Professor I have ever taken. He is such a nice guy so I feel bad saying this, but it's 100% true. Every single class period: Read chapter from text and chapter from book. Answer about 25 to 40 questions on each. Go to class and go through the entire question set (with students answering the questions, not him) He does not lecture at all. It's entirely student-answer based information. There is only one midterm and the final. Both are taken directly from the question sets, but by the time the final rolled around we had a total of 700 questions to memorize, so it wasn't exactly a walk in the park. This class is 100% memorization and busy work. I did not learn a single thing that I remembered a week after taking my final. AVOID HIM. | |
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BIO 263 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 1:34 pm, Feb 27, 2012 Moderated Comment |
Knight fucking sucks. Honestly. He's on tenure and he totally abuses it. I had him for lab only and he didn't correct any of our labs throughout the entire quarter. This pulled my entire class grade down. Avoid at all costs. | |
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BIO 414 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 9:57 am, Nov 13, 2011 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight sucks! AVOID HIM LIKE THE PLAQUE! He is inconsistent, rude, unhelpful in office hours, unclear, and not flexiable...AT ALL. Horrible teacher - worst one I have taken at Poly. Don't waste your time...take ANY OTHER PROFESSOR that him. | |
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BIO 435 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:26 am, Jun 15, 2011 Report Evaluation |
Dr.Knight is a great professor who is knowledgeable and able to convey the information very clearly. He is very organized and very very fair. I had him for two classes this past quarter and I have enjoyed both of them immensely! Quite a nice guy and highly recommend him! | |
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BIO 263 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 2:15 pm, Jan 28, 2011 Report Evaluation |
Knight is a great, awkward guy. He knows what he is talking about and has a total man crush on Charles Darwin. His exams are a lot harder than you would expect considering how easy the material is, mostly graphs and vocabulary though, and all multiple choice. | |
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BIO 263 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 5:27 pm, Dec 13, 2010 Report Evaluation |
Knight somehow manages to turn an easy bio class into a difficult game. While his lectures are fun and seem understanable, his tests are beyond difficult. He literally told me that I should be careful which concept to assume on the test, as in \"try to guess what I want you to say here.\" Walk away if you can. | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 12:55 pm, Jul 9, 2010 Report Evaluation |
I know what you read below is pretty bad, I want you to know that Knight is doing a great job. I have him for Summer School right now and I\'ve learned a lot already. I think he has grown a lot because of the sabatical he just took in Germany. He does these Think Pair Share activities which are really great. Take what people say here with a grain of salt. Knight is doing awesome and I\'d recommend him. | |
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BIO 414 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:15 am, Mar 24, 2009 Report Evaluation |
This guy is an awful professor and an even worse person. I had him for Bio 263 lecture and the class was only bearable because he was not the lab professor. Bio 414 was far worse. He's an anal retentive prick and you will see this as soon as the first day. He demands you have Bio 351 specifically, rather than equivalent genetics courses the catalog allows (and you won't have more than two lectures worth of genetic material for the entire course). IF you don't have it, he does not care and has lined dropped as much as a third of the class because of his random requirement (because he's lazy). Ask around he's a very lazy professor who's rude to his students. Should you ask a question be prepared to leave feeling stupid as he is very condescending. His lack luster lectures, warrants skipping his unnecessary class, attendance is pointless and boring, despite a pivotal and amazing subject. You can learn everything from the Powerpoints. And don't harm his fragile 6 year old equivalent ego or you will pay dearly, he holds grudges longer than an ex girlfriend. He has a 10pg+ paper he grades slowly and demands a lot from you. Also, by finals don't be surprised if you still haven't seen the graded paper. Tests are straightforward and forget buying or reading the books, though they are interesting. TAKE ANY OTHER PROFESSOR IF POSSIBLE. Though he tries to monopolize core capstone courses like Evolution or Plant Physiology, which are required courses for many many Bio and Bot students. I hope with the new budget restructuring and fee hikes from the budget crisis, that professors like him get re-reviewed, and we all complain about this terrible guy more, so he can get fired or teach lower division courses. IF your forced to take the course just study the powerpoint and my condolescences... | |
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BIO 414 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 2:07 am, Mar 22, 2009 Report Evaluation |
Lets see...I would have to say that Dr. Knight is one of the nicest teachers that I have had at poly. I had him for Bio 263 lab, Bot 325 and finally Bio 414 and I can't get enough of him...he is absolutely hilarious! If I were you I would take any classes that his teaching...you will enjoy him and his stories! Nice guy....great professor...one of a kind!!! | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 10:38 pm, Mar 16, 2009 Report Evaluation |
I would have learned more about Evolution if I were to stare at a freakin' ROCK!!! Lectures - Worthless Exams - Random and Super Hard Paper - Sucks "Bat Testicles" (Yes, you will learn about these!) and finally, Knight...ummm Nice Guy...Horrible Teacher! | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 7:45 pm, Mar 5, 2009 Report Evaluation |
He is the worst professor I've ever taken. He has absolutely no enthusiasm for what he teaches. The lectures are numbingly boring. His tests are random and pointless memorization of sentences. He stumbles often, and says the wrong word. He shows no interest in helping his students. If I went to him for help, I think I would be even more confused. Why is this guy teaching the capstone of all biology courses? | |
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BOT 326 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 12:03 pm, Jan 19, 2009 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight's teaching style took me awhile to get used to. He is very awesome in that he tries to see what is best for the students, and doesn't just drone on using the same old tired powerpoint slides forever. He listened to our evaluations on the lecture style, and implemented changes halfway through the quarter. Which means he actually cares! The lectures can be hard to follow, especially when you are not a botany major. Also, it would be nice if he made actual study guides for the tests instead of expecting people to memorize tons of info about everything we ever learned. Make sure you remember the names and studies of specific examples he gives, he puts those on tests. The tests were hard for me. Naming the plants in the field was actually enjoyable, and less tedious than the lab work. This class takes a lot of time and energy. But Dr. Knight is a caring guy who is really enthusiastic and listens to his students. That alone makes him worth taking! | |
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BIO 263 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 7:38 pm, Dec 7, 2008 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight is an extremely boring lecturer whose lectures are often filed with many tangents and references to things that don't convey what the class should really be on. He puts all of his slides online but be warned if you don't go to class you will miss some videos and things he talks about. But his lecturing is extremely boring and you will fall asleep. He talks about many things and what he stresses many times misses the point of the subject and his tests. He also tells you over and over that you need to come help him with his research if you want to have a successful career. I would definitely recommend that you find another teacher or at very least don't take him in lab as well. | |
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BIO 263 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 6:28 am, Nov 22, 2008 Report Evaluation |
This guy does not know how to teach. When I have troubling sleeping i just think about his lectures and then I’m out. If you want to take a class that features the least engaging professor, you found your man. His test miss the point, memorize the formulas and your looking at half of the written portion of an exam. Don't worry about what they mean, that's not going to show up on the test. Ah, it was a very frustrating and boring experience. He kills the subject. | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 4:11 am, Mar 31, 2008 Report Evaluation |
Avoid Knight at all costs. He's the worse biology professor in the ENTIRE science department. He takes a pivotal class, fundamental for all students in the life sciences and turns it into such a painful course. He treats his students like crap. Don't even bother asking him questions, he could careless and you'd probably end up more confused if he responds. My friends warned me how awful he was and I didn't listen. I should have. HEED THIS WARNING: I had him in another class as well (many of us have no choice), this guy has only gotten worse, just hope someone else teaches the courses he normally teaches exclusively. I think the other bio professors have heard enough complaints on this guy that more teachers are teaching those courses as well now too. Take anyone else but him! | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 11:27 pm, Mar 16, 2008 Report Evaluation |
I took BIO 263 forever ago with Knight. It was his first quarter, and lets just say he struggled. I was expecting the same thing with Evolution, especially after reading the comments here. It was not at all; he completely changed the class structure and made it awesome. A lot of the course material was student guided, which may sound stupid, but you really learned it (you have to present it). His lectures avoided the book as much as possible, and he focused his lectures on current items (a majority of the info we were taught had been discovered in previous months, if not weeks). There were assigned readings for every class, but like I said, its not out of a text book. The readings were actually interesting and relatively short. Overall, if you took BIO 263, give this guy another chance, he seems to have gotten his shit together. | |
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BIO 263 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 12:25 pm, Feb 9, 2008 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight was sooooo boring! Yeah everything is on the slides for the most part, but the material is so dry and boring that you can't help but fall asleep in class! I could go into class wired as all hell, and still be nodding off 10 minutes later. The hour and 20 minutes twice a week was painful. He is also addicted to talking about his research. He could be talking about something, and then go off on a tangent about what he's done. In one lecture towards the end of the quarter, he even put about 12-15 slides on the presentation about what he's done (even though it didn't have to do with what we were doing in class). He then proceeded to tell us we should work with him NOW on our senior projects. The lecture part itself wasn't all that hard, you just have to study/memorize a lot of crap. It's the lab you have to worry about. They were horrible! Most of the shit we did didn't even have anything to do with the class. It was a waste of time and it was hard. Avoid the class overall if you can help it, but if you can't...don't take Dr. Knight. | |
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BIO 263 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 11:51 am, Dec 18, 2007 Report Evaluation |
well all things considered...i barely did anything for this lecture...and made it out with a B. the lab is what is going to kill you in the end for this class...it requires all the work. Knight is a relatively new professor with a boring subject matter...what can he all do? His tests are his lecture slides and he puts the slides on blackboard...so what is the point of going to class? I certainly found out no benefit in doing so. Overall i would put him as a relatively easy teacher with a boring class and boring style of teaching. But when its all said and done, i put in almost no work for this lecture and made it out with a B...not too bad i suppose. | |
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BIO 263 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 9:08 am, Dec 7, 2007 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight is one of those teachers that is constantly going off and talking about irrelevant stories. These do not add to the lecture or help you remember them, but rather waste time in lecture. I had him for Bio435 (plant physiology) as well and he did the same thing, even to the point of talking about water on Mars in a plant class. He is very caught up in his research and will talk about it more than once. The tests are not hard to study for: memorize his slides and don't bother with the book. These should have been interesting classes but I spent more time rolling my eyes than enjoying the material. | |
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BIO 263 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 11:23 pm, Nov 29, 2007 Report Evaluation |
It is not hard to do well in this class. The labs are easy and for the lecture, you just have to memorize all of the powerpoint slides. That being said, DO NOT TAKE DR. KNIGHT. Although he seems like a nice guy to begin with, he is in fact rude and uninterested in teaching. He is only interested in his own research. He is never there for the students and doesn't like to answer questions. He will even go as far as to make you feel stupid. I would not recommend him to anyone. | |
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BIO 263 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:16 pm, Aug 1, 2007 Report Evaluation |
dr. knight is addicted to talking about his research! his lectures are a tad on the dry side and his test questions seemed to come right out of left field at times, but they aren't terribly difficult. he tried to scare us at the beginning of the quarter with "pop" quizzes and such, but towards the end of the quarter he stopped caring. lab isn't much fun (the first three are on the computer) and it's an easy A if you read the lab material. overall its an okay class, don't take it with dr. knight if you have the choice, or if it isn't required! | |
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BIO 263 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 10:27 pm, Jul 30, 2007 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight is simply the worst professor I have ever had in my entire schooling career. He is pretty much evil. I hated to ask him questions because it was like he had to go out of his way to answer them and he was NOT helpful at all in his office hours. Some of his test questions are ridiculously stupid and he tests you on who wrote a certain book...who the hell cares that does not test my intelligence, but my ability to memorize stupid facts. That is what this class is about, stuffing your brain with enough stupid random facts until it hurts. Good luck people, and avoid him at ALL costs if possible (although he is the only 263 teacher). BTW its not hard to get an A, you just have to start memorizing as much stupid shit as you can as soon possible. | |
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BIO 263 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 12:40 pm, May 23, 2007 Report Evaluation |
I went into Dr. knights office hours because i needed help understanding some of the material. He got really defensive and did not answer any of my questions. He simply said " It's all in the power point" and implied that if i didn't undertand i must have not come to class (which i had). He is more interested in doing his own research then actually making sure students learn. He is not open to suggestions and not flexible. It's not fair that he is the only teacher that teaches some of the bio classes. cause i wouldn't recommend him to ANYONE for ANYTHING. | |
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BIO 414 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 3:16 pm, Mar 21, 2007 Report Evaluation |
Charley is not as cute as you think. And yes, Waldo is much MUCH cuter than Charley. The information he presents is clear, but at the end of class you may find yourself wondering what on earth any of that was REALLY about. Nobody knows. When I took Evolution, there was a recitation that went along with the lecture, which was OK, a little time consuming, but nothing to b*tch about. One of the answers on his multiple choice test was: "Big". Not a number, not an actual scientific term, just "Big." Ugh. I heard from other who took this class a couple quarters after I did: same deal. Charley's hair: Big. Charley's expressiveness: Small. Charley's class: Blah. Ho hum. Evolution can be really exciting, but not this class. | |
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BIO 263 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:20 pm, Dec 19, 2006 Report Evaluation |
Dr Knight is a nice guy but he's incredibly unorganized and doesn't plan well. The lectures were always cut off due to time and the lab was insanely terrible. The TA's that taught the labs were mean and never knew what was going on because Knight was so unorganized. The lecture tests weren't so bad, pretty easy actually when I was expecting them to be so hard since there's so many math equations you learn. Overall a tolerable class but just annoying to go through. | |
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BIO 263 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:23 pm, Dec 19, 2006 Report Evaluation |
Lecture was three days a week "50 mins each" and usually resulted in Dr. Knight running out of time to finish his lectures. I found that reading the book was a great tool that aided my understanding of the lecture material. Dr. Knight makes all his power points available online and is worth downloading and looking over when reading through the chapters. The mid terms were ok. Some of the material in the test was basic concepts while others were derived from only the lectures. There was also some outside reading not related to the text book which was long and should have been covered in lectures. In all I could tell Dr. Knight is new but with time he should only improve. I would say he did a good job with Bio 263. The Averages of the two midterms were both 81% and the finial avg was 69.5% Good Luck | |
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BIO 263 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 2:46 pm, Dec 4, 2006 Report Evaluation |
All in all, Dr. Knight is a nice guy... That being said, I would much rather have a teacher who was an outright asshole and a good teacher than have Dr. Knight. It's an easy class. It just left me with a disappointing sense that I could probably graduate college and never actually have to learn anything... If that is what you are going for... Take this class!!! | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 7:58 pm, Sep 28, 2006 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight is a very good professor. He presents some very interesting material and even gives one or two breaks during class. His tests were difficult and sometimes a bit random. However, I feel like I learned a lot. I could easily explain evolution after taking the class, and that's what counts. | |
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BIO 414 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:33 pm, Jun 7, 2006 Report Evaluation |
Lectures are pointless. I was more confused after attending them than I was just reading the book. He stumbles and slips his words up A LOT. Plus his tests are random and pretty trivial. Term paper sucked ass but I got a 97% on it and it was writen pretty poorly so at least he grades easy on that. Final is ridiculous- totally accumulative and memorization but he gives powerpoint slides and outline notes so by studying those you can be guarenteed an ok grade. either way this class is going to be hard- it's 400 level but it's kinda a joke that Knight is teaching evolution. Bad call cal poly. I'd suggest a different teacher. | |
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BIO 435 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 6:13 pm, Jan 3, 2006 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight is a very fair grader. He gives a quiz every two weeks that is directly off of the powerpoint presentations he does during class. You don't even really need to get the book, just go to lecture, take notes and look at those to study. There are two copies of the book on reserve in the library if you need to clarify things. Lab's not too bad if you get a good group. The final is VERY similar to the quizes so you know exactly what to expect. Would definitely recommend taking this class, even if you aren't really into plants. | |
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BIO 414 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:31 am, Nov 4, 2005 Report Evaluation |
Well the last person who left comments must be retarded because Knight does not teach bio 434. he teaches bio 414 and 435, he may also be teaching plant ecology. personally, i have to agree with the guy who said he is an arrogant prick, he is, and the person who liked knight was obviously a girl and she got an A. the facts are that his classes are not too hard but, you must study lecture notes(not the book), you must attend class, and you must kiss his ass. he is definately an asshole, who is still new, so he can barely teach a class. im sure plant ecology(326) will be no different. i was going to take bot 326 but not now that Knight is teaching it. take my advice, either dont take his classes or if you must then make sure you either get on his good side and study hard all quarter or maybe better you can hide in the shadows and hopefully avoid talking to the bastard ok i dont want to write a term paper here, so ill end it by saying that Dr. knight isnt that bad if you make a big effort to have him like you, once he doesn't like you, then your screwed and your only chance is to attend class always( he is so boring you may think its okay to miss classes, its not, he takes it personally!! i think he forgets that people have busy lives outside of his little world(school) and get really good grades. remember many of his test questions are word for word from the lecture notes. the final has past midterm questions on it, GOOD LUCK. | |
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BIO 434 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 3:44 pm, Oct 21, 2005 Report Evaluation |
I came onto poly ratings and was very sad when I read what students had said about Dr. Knight. I took plany physiology from him and I've never really enjoyed plant classes, but this was a very good class. He was very straight forward and his exams were as well. I don't think that the exams were very hard, there was just a lot of material. He was very helpful in office hours, and he made an effort to remember everyones name in the class, and still greets me by name a year later when I see him on campus, and I've only had the one class from him. If you studied at all for the class you were sure to get a good grade, and he will help you with the material if you're struggling. The lab was the best lab I've ever taken at cal poly. Instead of just sitting around for 3 hours doing some trite little experiment that will "teach" you something obvious, we learned methods of data collection during the first few weeks and then designed our own lab and wrote our own lab report. I believe that some students even submitted their work for publication! I learned more about doing real research and writing a real scientific journal article than I have in any other class. I really recommend this class if you plane on eventually doing any research in science, even if its not concerning plants. As far as the religious comments from below, I think that in this "21st century, hello!" age of ours, evolution is a very difficult class to teach specifically because there is such a great rift between science and religion. Perhaps you should think about how you would feel if you had to lecture on a topic you really enjoyed and studied extensively to students who were required to take it and came in with a huge chip on their shoulder? And to the person who is angry about the christian community on our campus, religion is and has been a part of human evolution since its inception, and its not going away. | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 12:14 pm, Sep 10, 2005 Report Evaluation |
avoid dr knight's classes at all costs. he is the worst teacher in the bio department. his lectures are boring, confusing, and useless. his tests difficult, make sure you go over all the lecture notes. lastly, dr knight is arrogant, a complete asshole, he does not know how to teach, and he does not help you outside of class at all, he makes you feel like your bothering him when you ask a question. | |
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BIO 414 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 12:01 pm, Aug 24, 2005 Report Evaluation |
Knight, although new, is a good instructor and will probably only improve with time. The comments made by the student below just underscore how stupidly christian this university can be. Why the hell are you bringing up God, in any way, shape or form, in a biology class? Hello, 21st Century calling! | |
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BIO 414 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:04 pm, Aug 23, 2005 Report Evaluation |
I took Evolution with Dr. Knight; this class does not accept the idea of God and takes all opportunity to belittle it (on an anno. biblio. I mentioned God and he had several handwritten comments insisting chance). Bio 414 with Knight embraces the religion of secular humanism despite the fact that science and the scientific method first thrived in the Judeo-Christian European Culture. Despite the title of the class it has very little to do with true Darwinian Evolution, its real focus is change in variation. The lectures are a bit bland. The first test was both regurgitation from lecture and problem solving. The final took me by surprise because it had no problem solving and all regurgitation. Usually, you have to write at least one or more annotated bibliographies per week about either an article he chooses and/or ten bibliographies for your term paper. I honestly didn't really understand my own topic when I researched the term paper. The term paper dealt with molecular evolution of [your choice]. I chose a topic with plenty of data, yet the articles themselves were so confusing I desperately molded something that resembled a paper from the mess (and I did well when I took Genetics!). What surprised me was that Dr. Knight gave me a high grade on the molecular evolution portion, while giving me a lousy grade on my writing style- which is exactly the opposite of what I would have given myself If I were grading my paper. Of course it was his first quarter teaching evolution. Hopefully you will have more luck. | |
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BIO 435 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:05 am, May 16, 2005 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight is an awesome teacher because he does not just teach you but lets you learn on your own in lab. His lectures are a bit boring and sometimes hard to follow if you do not stay on top of the material but his tests are not hard if you study your notes. For non-Bio majors, this may be a tough course because most of your courses are easier and not so science/detail oriented. But for Bio majors it's not bad; you have most likely learned at least half of what he goes into more detail about. GET GOOD GROUP MEMBERS that don't slack and you can work well with. I had great ones that made my life much easier. If you have to take a physiology TAKE THIS ONE!!! Dr. Knight is super nice and I loved him. Clark Kent anyone? | |
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BIO 435 Graduate Student Grade Earned: N/A Elective 8:00 pm, Apr 8, 2004 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Knight is outstanding. He has so much enthusiasm for plant physiology. He pushed us to write well and follow the correct journal article format, which is valuable experience. Tests were challenging but reasonable. He's eager to help and values student input. It's refreshing to have a prof who is as excited about ideas and teaching as Dr. Knight is. | |
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