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Turner, Clark 
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CSC 302 Junior Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 9:30 pm, Mar 15, 2013 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner has been one of my favorite professors at Cal Poly so far! He's changed his material to focus more on the societal implications of technology rather than the nitty-gritty computer stuff. I really thought that his tests weren't too hard...everything on the test I could find in my notes. Just go to class and take good notes ON THE THINGS HE SAYS and you'll be in great shape. He offers extra credit and the chance to boost your grade through easy journal entries and quizzes each week. You won't regret taking him I promise! | |
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CSC 300 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 1:40 pm, Dec 29, 2012 Report Evaluation |
One of the funniest and best Computer Professors I have taken at Cal Poly. I hate writing (with a fiery hatred), but Turner really did make the class very easy to understand. You read articles, write 1 report on a subject you like (mine was about an awesome application on the smartphone), and do a few team projects. The report is very easy. He does it in steps and is only 4k words. My favorite part about the class was the random discussions such as why google changed its policy or why Microsoft did this, etc. Lastly, one final with your team that is just a discussion about what you learned over the quarter. Very easy, highly recommended. get it out of the way so you don't have the stress your final year or to go to security class. | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 11:01 pm, Aug 21, 2012 Report Evaluation |
It was definitely the right idea to take this class, especially with Turner, during summer quarter. The course load is exactly the same as the regular school year, so having less classes definitely helps to lower the stress. This class is very reading and writing intensive, and will definitely take up quite a bit of your time if you want to do well in the class. The lectures can be a bit dry as Turner rambles on a lot about things you may not care about, but at the same time they can be enjoyable if you take an interest in the subject matter. There is one midterm that is more of a diagnostic test to see where you are at the beginning of the quarter, and he releases the questions to both the midterm and the final way ahead of time. During any examination he gives, you're allowed to utilize any resources you want, so feel free to ask your group for help, or just come prepared with all the answers ahead of time! A tip: if you want to do well, always come prepared ahead of time and be sure to ask him a lot of questions. The grading is loosely based on a rubric, but in the end it's very subjective. If he likes you and you show that you put in effort, you'll get the grade you want. | |
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CSC 302 Senior Grade Earned: Credit General Ed 4:30 pm, Jun 26, 2012 Report Evaluation |
I would not take Dr. Turner. He does not present the material clearly, especially if you are not a CSC major, it is very difficult to follow him. He is very unorganized and all over the place. His tests asked very specific questions, a comment he may have made ONE time in class. His lectures go through some material but are mostly off topic. Though he probably means well he says completely inappropriate things during class and often offensive. Though he ended up curving the class because most students were failing, I don't know if I would trust him to do it again. | |
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CSC 302 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 8:15 am, Jun 14, 2012 Report Evaluation |
Professor Turner was really awesome! He's super interesting and laid back and likes to talk about basically everything. Not only was the stuff on computers and society really interesting but I learned stuff about our political system and current events. It just seemed like a GE that was actually helpful. The homework was pretty easy if you put a little effort into the weekly journals and occassional quiz. Focus on what he's saying in his lecture instead of just copying down the powerpoint. The midterm was really hard but he realized that and made the final a lot easier and we got a cheat sheet for both tests! We had to do a group project that actually ended up being really fun and i usually hate group projects. We had to do a 2 minute current event once but its super easy. Id say this class needs some effort but as long as you go to class and pay attention its actually pretty sweet! | |
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CSC 302 Junior Grade Earned: Credit General Ed 10:20 pm, Jun 8, 2012 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner is very intelligent knowledgeable professor, who can be disorganized at times, but the subject is REALLY interesting and applies to everyone. I recommend him, and everyone who complains about his tests are crazy... YOU GET LOTS OF NOTES FOR THEM! AND HE HAS A 20% CURVE! Seriously take him, I took this class credit/no credit and ended up with an A! Kinda sad.. Good class | |
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CSC 302 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 8:07 pm, Jun 7, 2012 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner is a great guy and willing to listen and help out if asked. This class was geared towards people who are more computer literate; although, I only have a basic understanding of computers and programming and was able to follow everything but the most technical aspects and those he was willing to explain in a way so that I understood them. He does give hard tests, but after the midterm he realized this and worked with us to create a practice final that helped him write better questions (less confusing) and us to understand where he was coming from. Overall I think that this course is far from perfect, but he showed a good willingness to change and make the course better. | |
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CSC 302 Junior Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:50 pm, Jun 3, 2012 Report Evaluation |
Do not take CSC 302 with Turner. While he is a good professor for regular Computer Science Classes, he does NOT know how to teach non-computer scientists. He is very unclear, goes off on tangents, and writes some of the most confusing and vague test questions I have ever taken. We weren't even given a date for the midterm until Week 4 and then he changed the date and moved it up sooner. He is fine for computer science, but avoid him for CSC 302 at all costs. | |
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CSC 302 Senior Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 3:25 pm, May 30, 2012 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner should really teach philosophy, rather than computer science. At least in philosophy it would be expected that he wouldn't make sense. This is my first polyratings post, because I find it necessary to alert you all that you should AVOID Dr. Turner if you can. His lectures COMPLETELY consist of tangents, usually related to porn or sex offenders (neither of which having ANYTHING to do with the class). Though he is definitely a very intelligent person, teaching is not the profession for which he is fit. He loves to talk about his personal life and moral/political views, rather than the readings we have to do. He posts quizzes almost weekly but has a horrible way of setting up the class structure. By the way: "I make fun of the Irish all the time" and "Sometimes I like to tell racist jokes to blow off steam" (a few things he JUST said in class, as I am posting this during class). Really, just avoid it - because though I am a good student and about to graduate, I am seriously worrying about passing this class which makes NO SENSE AT ALL. Additionally, his opinions about homosexuality (he doesn't support it), socialism (he thinks Obama is a party member), and the Nazi Party do not contribute to a more rounded understanding of computer science. His tests are impossible, and as someone who has attended nearly every class and done most readings, I'd be hard pressed to present you with one piece of information I've learned in this class. | |
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CSC 302 Junior Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 8:27 pm, May 12, 2012 Report Evaluation |
Oh My Gosh. I took Turner's class to fulfill my Area F Upper-D GE and I've regretted it since day one. He's a very nice, entertaining, and funny guy, but not a good teacher. He is disorganized. Very, very disorganized. And unless you know computers & software, all the material is over your head. The midterm was so hard, he gave everyone an extra 16% and I still got 50%. His tests are ridiculously hard, and doesn't understand that he doesn't clearly help his students understand the material. Too much reading. Makes the hardest test questions...ever. I'm warning you, avoid this class. | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 1:42 pm, Feb 8, 2012 Report Evaluation |
The majority of this class involves giving presentations, listening to other students give presentations, and hearing turner talk about how he was once a lawyer. Oh, and you have to write a 5k+ word research paper using the SE Code of Ethics to analyze something it most likely doesn't apply to. I honestly think this course could be replaced with a signed waiver saying "i will not become a hacker" as very little will be useful in the future. | |
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CSC 300 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 11:56 pm, Jan 8, 2012 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner's 300 course is a writing and reading intense CSC course, unlike any other CSC course at Cal Poly. If you have a particularly difficult quarter, it may be wise to drop a course or take this one at another time. You'll be spending many hours writing and revising your final paper, which in total is worth the majority of your final grade. Dr. Turner is not afraid to fail you if your final paper is lackluster in its arguments, though he leaves ample opportunity to let you fix your mistakes (there are 2 official drafts before the final draft and if you go in his office hours he'll help you with your paper). Unfortunately, although his old TA helped to integrate new assignments so that students wouldn't so easily fail the course, this was the first quarter in which the TA was gone. The leftover was a mess of jumbled assignments which never saw any feedback; the majority of assignments that we had to do (with the exception of the paper drafts and the LaTex labs) weren't very helpful. Overall, this was a challenging course with a lot of technical reading. The lectures in which Dr. Turner only spoke were dry (especially the week about tort law -- take note, Dr. Turner!), but class becomes a lot more interesting when it is a class discussion that everyone can participate in. | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 11:02 pm, Dec 12, 2011 Report Evaluation |
This class was a bunch of BS. Going to class was useless. Doing the labs was a waste of time. The only thing this teacher really cares about it the final presentation, the term paper, and the final. I would highly recommend never taking this professor if at all possible. ANY other teacher would be better. This was by far the most useless and nonsense class I have ever taken at Cal Poly. | |
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CSC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 2:16 pm, Aug 1, 2011 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner is a really nice guy, however, as a person who had little to no programming background prior to this class I was a little overwhelmed by his teaching style. He's a very conceptual guy-- I often felt he was focusing too much on the semantic details rather than how to actually write the code for something. That being said, if you asked a specific question he was eager and willing to provide examples of what you wanted to do. So overall, he just needs a little guiding to get him to teach exactly what you need to know to do your assignments. His labs were super easy! | |
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CSC 300 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 7:26 pm, Jul 26, 2011 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner is one of those professors who connects well with his students. He's interested in everything from music to politics. He can connect many subjects to the class he's teaching, which concerns ethics. Dr. Turner is enthusiastic and keeps his lectures interesting. He assigns a lot of reading (of published papers) and the lab work takes time. And of course, there's that big paper. If your writing is not good, get someone to proofread your paper because even if the ideas are good, you'll get a bad grade for spelling and grammar. | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: N/A Required (Major) 7:37 pm, May 17, 2011 Report Evaluation |
From the first time you meet this guy you understand why everyone loves him. He is crazy and tons of fun! This class is one of the most interesting classes I've taken at Poly and thats mostly due to how current and up-to-date everything is we talked about. This is also the class I've spent the most work on in my three years. I spent about 25-30 hours a week on stuff for it. Never get behind in this class because you will never catch up! That being said I feel Turner is a great lecturer and very VERY strict on what he wants in his essays. If you don't write it just like he wants, then you are more than likely going to fail. Just a heads up. | |
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CSC 300 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:33 pm, Apr 10, 2011 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner is a brilliant, crazy guy. The lectures in his class are amazingly interesting, and he genuinely cares about his students. The course guidelines are pretty clear, but he expects you to ask him questions, so do! He doesn't baby students by pushing them along, he simply gives them criteria, lectures on relevant topics, and makes himself available to help if you need it. It's virtually impossible to fail his course if you put the effort in (and if you are ever unsure you can talk to him and he will tell you what to do next to improve your understanding or your grade). He's a great professor and a great human being. | |
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CSC 300 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 4:21 pm, Apr 4, 2011 Report Evaluation |
Man, where to begin with this class... I'll start off by saying that I hated this class until the 9th week of school. During that week however, something clicked and I realized the sheer brilliance of the class. I also realized how the class reaffirmed my ethical beliefs, and gave me useful tools in recognizing and applying them in my future professional career. The term paper itself is your one big "program" for the quarter. The brilliance of writing and constructing this paper also didn't occur to me until the 9th week, when I realized that the paper is analogous to writing and debugging a program. If you can make this realization, the paper really turns out to be a lot of fun :). Don't procrastinate on it though, and give yourself ample time to write it. If you do that, you'll be fine. Dr. Turner's lectures were quite fascinating in themselves. Let's just say you'll rarely be bored in class. Just listen and understand the basis of his lectures to prepare for the final and assignments. Be sure to read and understand the papers as well. All in all, I really had no idea what to expect when I came into this class. However, I came out finding myself thinking about the ethicality of my actions more, and how it will impact people in the future. | |
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CSC 300 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 2:56 pm, Mar 23, 2011 Report Evaluation |
Go Dr. T! Wow, this was the first computer science class I've taken where you don't write in code, but rather in English. To some this can be disconcerting, but I didn't mind. Yes, it's true that we have to write a very long 6000-word minimum term paper, but if you choose an interesting topic with many accessible sources and don't procrastinate you'll be able to meet the various deadlines and eventually meet the one to turn in the final copy. Dr. T is probably one of the most enthusiastic professors I've had, and this in turn makes his long, sometimes rambling lectures quite interesting. At times it seemed parts of the class were hard for him to manage (such as getting through all of our half-drafts and giving them back to us in good time), but that's one of the very few minor complaints I personally had. Honestly, the most difficult part of the class was choosing the topic I was to write about at the beginning. Some students a half of the way through decided their topics weren't good enough and actually started from scratch on other topics. Ouch – what a nightmare to cope with! In other words – if you're taking his class the quarter after you read this, start thinking NOW about what you want to write your paper on. The more time you have to come up with a good topic the better. It must be an issue related to computer science and ethics. For instance, a topic that so far has not been written about but would be a good one is the current Stuxnet worm causing havoc in Iran's nuclear plants. Evidence has been uncovered claiming that the US government was secretly behind the development and deployment of this virus. Was our government ethical in creating this worm to be used to attack Iran? In other words, get a topic widely covered in the news with tons of sources, both primary and secondary, and you'll be ok. I'm actually proud of the paper I wrote. Come prepared to take more of a philosophical-English class involving tons of writing (meaning don't take 3 other hard-core programming classes that same quarter), and you'll find the class rewarding. Go to Dr. T's office hours out on Dexter Lawn and enjoy the music he plays – it's definitely a different kind of “office hours”! Don't expect a lot of technical help from him, but instead draw on his expertise and background as lawyer – he is quite knowledgeable about topics other than computer science. I recommend all computer-related majors take his class! | |
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CSC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 7:12 pm, Mar 22, 2010 Report Evaluation |
This class was enjoyable for me to take. I had never done C before, but he was able to explain it well. The workload was manageable, and he is a fun guy. | |
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CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 3:13 am, Dec 18, 2009 Report Evaluation |
The thing with polyratings is that people confuse good as a person and good as a teacher. Clark is an example of this, he is really kind, funny, and nice to be around, but his teaching, not so much. We all basically tought ourselves out of the book and he read from powerpoints all day. He is not a very good teacher despite his rating. | |
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CSC 300 Senior Grade Earned: A Elective 12:52 am, Mar 9, 2009 Report Evaluation |
From day one Turner let's you know he expects a lot out of you. That being said, he really works hard to help you get there. This course is no joke and a lot of students think it is. Generally about 40 - 50% of the class is taking it for the 2nd or 3rd time. The reason for this is his midterm is extremely difficult if you don't go to his office hours beforehand. And there is a big term paper that people procrastinate on. You need to be on top of your stuff to pass this class, but it is very rewarding. Turner is a great guy and very helpful in office hours. He'll even let you work on his old midterms and take them into office hours for guidance. He usually recycles about 85% of the old midterm questions too, so it's a great idea to do so. | |
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CSC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 4:54 pm, Feb 11, 2009 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner is definitely one of the best teachers I've had at Cal Poly thus far. He teaches the material with powerpoint slides that are divided into small steps. It makes it very easy to follow, and learn exactly what specific code does. Don't hesitate to stop him and ask about a specific part of the lecture, he'll always explain more clearly if you don't understand. He usually gives one lab a week, but if you know the material, it's fairly simple to get it done in lab. Some of the programming projects are fairly in depth and take a fair amount of time outside of class, but all of them are doable. Style is very important to him!! My only major gripe about Dr. Turner is that it's difficult to get him to help you during lab time. You're pretty much on your own during that time. However, he loves looking at code, and if you bring your program to his office hours, he will gladly help you with it or explain something you don't understand. | |
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CPE 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 5:23 pm, Jan 28, 2009 Report Evaluation |
I wish there was a rating above A for turner. Turner is quite possibly the best professor I've had yet at Poly. If you are able to to take a class with him do it cause he doesn't often teach anything other than CSC 300. He is very entertaining, yet still gets the material across. He is always willing to take time and help you though your questions. Not too much homework, and a reasonable number of labs. His exams are easy to if you KNOW the material, not if you cram the night before (coming from someone who got a low C on the first midterm and then set the curve for the 2nd) | |
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CSC 300 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 11:33 am, Jul 28, 2008 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner is very interesting and full of life. The first few weeks of class were really cool. He had lots of fun discussions. Middle few weeks were kinda boring(more lecture type) while the last few weeks were cool again(more discussions). His class discussions are amazing. Lectures are ok. Paper is a lots of work(20 pages double spaced), but it is on a topic of your choice. Start early and you can do ok. He is good on giving you feedback. If you have a good team for the labs you will do ok. Labs: Labs are so, so. The coolest and most applicable labs were the portfolio ones. You had to 1) Make goals, 2) Collect previous work 3) Make or refine a resume 4) Get a letter of reference. The other labs are interesting, but not practical(gender diversity, software for the disabled, effects of digital accuracy) It would be really cool if the other labs were a 3-4 part series on getting involved in the opensource world. He is open to feedback, and the class has so much potential to be mind-blowing amazing in the next few years. | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 6:03 pm, Mar 27, 2007 Report Evaluation |
Turner presents a boring subject well and really brings in lots of experience and examples to back up the lectures. There is very little work to do in the class other than listen and understand, so its important to treat the papers seriously. I suppose I didnt put in enough time on them, thus the C. Overall, theres no choice of teacher in CSC300 but no alternative is needed. | |
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CSC 508 Graduate Student Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 7:51 pm, Dec 19, 2006 Report Evaluation |
Dr. T is definitely on the eccentric side, and his behavior, views, and teaching style are just going to rub some people the wrong way. This being said, he's a really good professor who knows a lot about software engineering but encourages people to make up their own minds. As with all Turner classes, you will have to write a fairly extensive paper (~40 page minimum), which can be nervewracking, but it is valuable nonetheless. He weighs class participation fairly heavily, and the rest was based on your performance on the midterm and final, neither of which was too bad (or traditionally administered). Ultimately, it all depends on how interested one is in the material--methods and issues regarding requirements and specification. I enjoyed this class and look forward to 509. | |
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CSC 302 Senior Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 9:56 pm, Jul 31, 2006 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner is one of the coolest/weirdest guys in the world. First of all, he has this crazy beard that he strokes all during class. He also sports a slicked back pony tail with curls at the end. So you might think he's going to be weird at first, but he's actually quite entertaining. He loves to have good conversation and for people to open up about themselves. We don't have any tests in the class. We have a weekly journal and group project. The journal consists of reading questions and article reports. It actually takes awhile to do but it's better than having to take a test. I don't think that anyone is going to get an A in the class though. So if you're only looking for an A, I wouldn't take him. Even our T.A. said that we probably wouldn't get A's. I would say most people will get B's though. He's super fun though! | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 9:06 am, Jul 10, 2006 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner is easily one of the most interesting professors I | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 11:43 am, Jun 24, 2005 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner was born to teach this class. He is very enthusiastic about the subject matter and brings a lot of insight to the class. The class consists of a 5 page paper the second week about a short book he assigns. This paper is only really graded on whether you do it or not but he does put a letter grade on it so that you can see if you are on the right track. There is a two minute talk where you get up in front of the class and talk for a few minutes about some computer related topic. This is very easy and again only graded on whether or not you did it. Then it gets to the midterm. The midterm was 20 multiple choice questions and two essays. I felt the midterm was a bit long and I barely got to write anything on the second essay. However, since it is only worth 10% I was still able to get an A in the class despite getting a 68% on the midterm. The last two parts are the term paper and the group project. In the group project you work in a group to come up with proposed labs to do for future sections of CSC 300. Since the class will have a lab in the future I think he may scrap this part of the class. The last thing is the 20+ page term paper. It involves A LOT of research and analysis. You definitely have to work on it and ask for his feedback to make sure you get a good grade. He is very helpful at letting you know what he wants and what changes you need to make. There is also a 10 minute presentation on the term paper topic which isn't too hard since it is only enough time to cover the major topics of the paper. Once again he can help a lot in letting you know if your on the right track. Overall I really enjoyed Dr. Turner's class. I learned a lot about writing, computers, and legal issues (he likes to talk about these since he's a lawyer). I highly recommend him to anyone taking CSC 300. | |
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CSC 302 Junior Grade Earned: A General Ed 9:36 pm, Jun 16, 2005 Report Evaluation |
For his first time teaching the class, he did a very good job. There were a few problems: (1)Since participation did not count at all, no one was ever in class, or they left at the break, which was really distracting to those of us who were there! (2)He repeatedly emphasized three things: sexuality, spirituality, and the Therac 25 (The first two seemed to conflict quite a bit!) and (3)His time management skills are horrible. We BARELY fit everything in! | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 10:27 am, Jun 15, 2005 Report Evaluation |
Turner is a crazy dude. This class seemed rather chaotic, and the work load was heavy near the end of the quarter, but it was barable for a computer ethics class. As others have stated, the work consists of a 20+ page paper, a 10 minute presentation on this paper, a group project, 1 midterm, and a take home final (two writing prompts, 4 pages each). If you don't like writing or public speaking, you're gonna have it rough in this class. I don't really mind either, so that might make me a bit biased. Turner's lectures were quite interesting, all things considered. He is very energetic and passionate about the subject, and occasionally quite funny. Final point- since you have to take this class, you better damn well take it with Turner. We had Dr. Dana come in and speak to us for a day- dear god.... Boring. | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 9:54 am, Jun 15, 2005 Report Evaluation |
Turner is my favorite prof in the CSC department. He's a very engaging speaker and is capable of turning (no pun intended) a potentially dry subject into a very interesting one. The lectures are fairly informal, as far as these things go, and you don't need to take notes. The format of the class will change soon, since there are going to be labs associated with it (learn ethics by doing, I suppose). This quarter, the research project totaled 50% of the grade: equally divided between the term paper and a formal presentation. The term paper has to be 20-30 pages, but you get over a month to do it. We had a project to make a lab for the class that was 20%, and the midterm and (take-home!) final were 30% combined. The new lab grade might just supercede the lab exercise project. Turner was always helpful, though, always willing to help with the paper, give advice where needed, and quite a bit of encouragement, which was nice. I wouldn't take this class with anyone else. | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 11:38 am, Jun 8, 2005 Report Evaluation |
I don't know who the hell left the review below, since most everybody seemed to enjoy this class, but I assure you, he's [or she's] in the minority. I'll respond directly to some of that guy's [or girl's] comments before I make my own. First, the Bible thing: Turner did say that we could use the Bible for our papers. He also said the Koran and the Talmud were acceptable. Hell, you probably could have used Marx, Engels and Nietzsche if you wanted to. I, as a Christian, am the first one to advocate separation of church and state and secular education and government, but it is impossible to completely remove God from school--how do you tell the story of the Spanish Inquisition or the Crusades otherwise? The Bible, and the other books, do contain moral and ethical guidelines that are very relevant. While on the subject, he does admit to being a Christian, but he is as far from the stereotype of our group as anyone I've ever known, and is extremely inclusive and pluralistic--more so than perhaps anyone I've seen. He identifies himself as a conservative and I'm quite liberal, and I didn't have a problem with his views. Can't we all just give people with opposing viewpoints a chance? Also, complaining about reading a book and writing a 5-page paper? This is Cal Poly, kiddo, and occasionally you're going to have to do things you don't want to do. Every class can't be graphics or networking. As for the term paper, it was a big project, but we had about a month and a half to do it, and Clark always was willing to give feedback to help improve your grade. On the paper, the presentations, even on the final--the FINAL--how many teachers can you say THAT about? He's also about the nicest guy I've met, and his enthusiasm made this potentially dry class my favorite of the quarter. I'm looking forward to more classes with him. The major problem I have is that the guy below doesn't seem to have a problem with Clark's ability to convey the material, his assignments or his teaching style. He seems to have a personal grudge against the guy. And that's fine, he's [or she's] entitled to, but engaging in an ad hominem attack simply because somebody doesn't agree with you on certain things is cheap and intellectually dishonest. | |
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CSC 300 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 12:50 pm, Jun 6, 2005 Report Evaluation |
Professor Turner is one of the worst professors I've had. My experience in his CSC300 class has been a huge amount of work for very little payoff. The class is composed of a midterm, final, 20-page paper, presentation, and a group project. There is also a 5-page paper due the first week of class on an insanely boring book that doesn't count for any part of your grade, but if you don't do it, you will fail. We were given a take-home final, but don't get too excited; it's composed of two more 4-page papers. Here are the format of ALL his papers - facts, issue, arguments, and analysis. Ultimately, you will come to some conclusion that the issue is either ethical or unethical based on the damn SECOE (which is a load of crap). Turner is also very open about being Christian. He even stated that we could make references to the Bible in our papers for ethical arguments. I've never even cracked open a Bible since I'm an atheist. I thought this was a public school. WTF? Finally, we had to help him make labs since this is going to be a lab class next year. Making labs sounds like his job not ours. GL to those of you taking this class. | |
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CSC 300 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 1:00 pm, Mar 16, 2005 Report Evaluation |
Turner is an excellent teacher. He has a ferver in his lectures that are contageous and encourages active discussions as a way of learning. He is very supportive of the students aspirations and is very helpful outside of class. The only complaint I have is that he lectures a bit too much on the Therak 25 case - in the end it comes off as bragging that he was involved with it. | |
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CPE 205 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 3:41 pm, Jan 8, 2004 Report Evaluation |
Well, 205 was one wild ride. This was the test run for the new integrated SE major. It seemed like most of the time Turner had to feel his way around on the course material, and he wasn't also too clear on answering questions. The phrase "YES! That's a great question." was a popular response to a question. I will say though that I feel it was a good representation of what the real world job experience is like. I gave him a 3.0 because this was his first time teaching this class, and I'm sure he will make it a little smoother and easier next time. Overall I would say if you are willing to put in a little time, and talk to him in his office hours, you will enjoy the class. Oh, and he has a very... lawyaristic slant to CSC. He is also very enthusiastic about his topics, which makes the class much more interesting. Oh, as for how the class goes... it all revolves around one HUGE project that makes up about 3/4th's of your grade. I kept up with my writing for the spec document, and did well on the midterm. Also make sure you talk to him about your midterm, chances are you can get some points back if you make some valid arguments. | |
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CSC 205 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 12:11 am, Jan 4, 2004 Report Evaluation |
205 was an awful class, and half of Turner's lectures put me to sleep, but it was more because of the course material than him as a teacher. I really liked him. The course sucked, and it wasn't his thing (I hear 300 is), so he gets a B. He did give me an A, however! | |
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CPE 205 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 4:06 pm, Jan 3, 2004 Report Evaluation |
Clark's a cool guy and he's great in office hours, but I dislike the layout of this class. I really enjoyed the lab work, as we actually got to do something related to software development, but the lectures were pretty conceptual and besides the tests, I felt that they really didn't teach much. I met so often with my lab group that I think this class would be a lot better with 1 or 2 hours of lecture a week and 2 labs. | |
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CPE 205 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 11:08 am, Dec 18, 2003 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner is a great professor. His lectures were always interesting and engaging. He really cares for his students and is willing to spend time out of class to discuss things with you. There is a lot of work but it really isn't too bad if you start working early. I would highly recommend him for this class! | |
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CSC 300 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 5:15 pm, Jun 19, 2003 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner seems like a fun guy, but he hates giving out As. If he does give you an A on an assignment, he will actually tell you it was by accident. There is really nothing to learn in this class, and your grade is determined by a 20 page paper, individual presentation, and group presentation. You had better be able to write like a lawyer and present your material flawlessly (or be a member of the Linux Users Group and kiss ass all quarter) to get an A. The class was pointless. Most of the time you will talk about porn because of Clark's previous addiction. Search Google Groups for "clark savage turner group:alt.sex.*" and make sure Content Filtering is turned off in Google's preferences. Overall Clark is a good guy if you get on his good side, but he is a really hard grader. | |
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CSC 492 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 12:26 pm, Jun 18, 2003 Report Evaluation |
Now, I'm clearly biased because Dr. Turner was my senior project advisor, but I assure you that he is completely deserving of that bias. If you want to do a project on anything regarding law and computer science, computer ethics, testing, or software engineering then consider Dr. T. As far as I know, he's the only CSC professor that favors writing over coding- a real boon for the exceedingly rare number of us that think likewise. I had a weekly half-hour interview with the Doc that was more often than not the highlight of the week, during which we discussed topics- some more relevant than others. He has a great sense of humor and knows a ton of stuff, and- here's the best part- he'll tell you EXACTLY what you need to do to get an A (e.g. Thai food next week, ice cream on Friday...) In short, he's one heck of a project advisor, and you'll learn a lot doing anything under his supervision. | |
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CSC 508 Graduate Student Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 4:19 pm, Dec 27, 2002 Report Evaluation |
Don't take this class unless you have a passion for software engineering. All that is required is a 40 page (double spaced) research paper. That counts for most of your grade. He also takes your participation in class into consideration he says. Who knows how the grades are really calculated. Overall it was not an enjoyable class. | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 11:47 pm, Mar 27, 2002 Report Evaluation |
Coming into 300, I thought this class was going to be a bore. I mean, 'Professional Responsibilities'? What's THAT all about? Well, it mostly has to do with some dumb document that a bunch of drunk old industry 'experts' cooked up, called the 'Software Engineering Code of Ethics' (SECOE). Sound boring? It is. The good news is that Turner sure as hell isn't. You won't be falling asleep in his class, because he's such a great guy... and also because he'll pick on you if you do, and you'll have a half tin of Altoids shoved down your gullet if you start nodding off. I didn't think that computer ethics could be so interesting until I took this course, and I'm both glad I did and that I got Dr. Clark SAVAGE Turner for it. By the way, if you're somehow failing the class, he has a thing for Thai food or Ben Jerry's ice cream. I haven't found anything in the SECOE yet that prohibits using this fact to your benefit, so go for it. | |
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CSC 300 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 11:31 am, Jan 22, 2002 Report Evaluation |
In a word, Clark is awesome. He'll work with you until you understand the material, he'll go have a beer with you at Spikes, and he's always ready to listen about difficulties you're having with his class or in life. He conducts CSC 300 by putting people into teams and having them research various legal, social, and technical aspects of computer science. There's tons of class participation, so lectures are lively. He requires a paper on some topic of significance to the class, but other than small projects and usually a non-written, group-project final, there's not much homework. He does have a tendancy to focus on a few issues during the quarter. Usually they're topics that are in the public arena at that moment anyway (digital rights management, port scanning, and the Cal PolyY RUP were discussed at length in class; this can get kinda boring after awhile). If you're intersted about the repercussions of your work as a computer scientist, and don't want to spend the quarter falling asleep to boring lectures, take Turner. | |
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CSC 300 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 11:08 am, Dec 19, 2001 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner is quite a guy. He will treat you like an ordinary student if you treat him like an ordinary teacher, but show him for a split second that you're more than that, and he will open doors for you. He teaches by motivating his students to teach themselves, and that's very rare. If you're interested in law studies, you'll regret taking this class with anyone else. This class is more about participation, being willing to talk in class even if you don't know what comes out of your mouth. Open your mind to Dr. Turner, and you'll get results. | |
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CSC 300 Senior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 6:44 pm, Dec 7, 2001 Report Evaluation |
Dr T is awesome. He really does care about his students and their ability to learn the material. (PS: TAKE HIM for csc300. you wont regret it) By the way, part of the reason his summer CSC101 class was so awesome is because of his TA, joe. =P --Joe | |
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CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 5:37 pm, Nov 5, 2001 Report Evaluation |
This class was a breeze. I didn't go to his office hours at all so he gave me a B. if i would have gone i would have had an A. Hw is reasonable, as are the quizes and midterms. the final took me 30 min to do and i got a high B on it. my advice, take him if you can. | |
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CPE 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 4:01 pm, Sep 27, 2001 Report Evaluation |
Dr. T was an awesome professor and I was lucky to get him for such a low-level class. (CSC/CPE 101) I took this class in the summer and really enjoyed going to it every day. He was very clear in his lectures and I found him to be easy to understand. I think being a lawyer must give you certain advantages in this area. I plan on taking him again if I can for his ethics classes when I get up to that level. He did get very challenging around 4 weeks to go in the class but I still learned tons from this guy. Don | |
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CSC 508 Graduate Student Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 7:47 am, Sep 9, 2001 Report Evaluation |
Clark is an excellent and personable teacher. His lectures, at least at the Grad. level, are topical, interesting and informative. But he mostly relies on student input and drive to guide the course. You will not get much out of his courses if you expect to sit back and take notes and never say anything in class, the way some other engineering courses work at Poly. If you want ot learn, you have to do the work and put in the time yourself and engage with him personally on whatever interests you. His grading is generally easy, but he penalizes for being absent and for being silent. Sure way to pass = talk more than he does in class. | |
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CSC 300 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 12:20 pm, Dec 10, 2000 Report Evaluation |
Dr. T. is surprisingly ethusiastic about the subjects he teaches. You can tell he really WANTS to be there teaching you. He is encouraging and supportive. I highly reccommend taking him for 300 (esp. considering the alternative smelly professor). | |
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CSC 205 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 7:09 pm, Jun 14, 2000 Report Evaluation |
Dr. Turner's an awesome guy. This quarter was his first at Poly teaching this course which is really the only reason I gave him a 3 on presenting course material, he was adjsting and making changes on the fly. This course was a TON of work, but very rewarding. He's a great guy outside of class as well and is highly personable and more than willing to make time outside of class for you (my group met him at Spike's many times over the quarter). I highly recommend him. | |
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