Buckalew, Emilia  

Dr. Buckalew has trouble clarifying student dificulties. If you ask a question be prepared for her to mention something unrelated to the question in her answer (or lack there of). She has a tendancy to write in about 15 pt size font on the white board. She is very quiet, and the explainations are not clear or informative (as she doesn't explain what she is lecturing on and just reads off of the white boards. If you are taking a class with her, pay close attention to the examples, what kind of structure and why; and know the terms them for the exams.

This was not a difficult CSC/CPE course, but still not one of my favorites. Databases is already a dry subject, and Dr. Buckalew's lectures consist almost entirely of her writing notes on the board and us copying them down word for word. Also, the book assigned for the course has almost nothing to do with the material. So, you can't rely on the book if you don't like the lectures. I didn't go to office hours, though, so maybe she is a better teacher there. The programs were not hard, but boring. Still, everyone should have some basic practice with SQL.

Honestly not that bad. The lectures honestly weren't that helpful; Buckalew is very soft spoken, there are no notes online (with the exception of a MYSQL setup guide), and most of the stuff written on the board are various SQL queries on the same dataset (which gets old fast). There's also a lot of repetitive work, but it's generally a pretty easy class (I didn't have any prior database experience, most of the stuff is easy to pick up). Buckalew was very helpful during labs and would push back deadlines if needed, plus she tells dad jokes! Overall not too bad, but there's quite a bit of busywork and lectures can be boring sometimes.

Taking this instructor is like being in a Twilight Zone episode. You just can