Western Kentucky University / D / Richard Deal

I will never schedule classes without ProfEval. Professor Deal is by far the worst teacher I have ever encountered. His lesson plan everyday is directly from powerpoint (not a very good one at that). Notes are taken every single day. Much more material could be covered if he would just speed up and quit dwelling on pointless facts. He knows his stuff but has no means of projecting it to anyone. Professor Deal is also very weird, the pitch of his voice is very annoying and he is very strange. He also never looks you in the eye, and he paces back and forth all the class period. He has been many places around the world and has seen a million times more stuff that any of his students, but if he was in China he would rather take a picture of a rock than the Great Wall. He's slides are s boring.

His grades are based on newspaper article projects, and test. The newspaper articles are the worst, he will be as fague as possible in directions and you must summit specific articles and write summeries, a total of 12 are to be done. He grades on participation to which is a mistery to me because there are no group activities, and we never stop taking notes. Please god do you're self a favor and pick someone else!

be aware of the first test, his notes all seem common sence, but when you get that test its just all terms from the back of the book and questions about his beer stories. he loves Geography, that is fo sho, but he sould lighten up a bit. attendance is VERY mandatory, so dont miss over 3 classes of your grade will suffer a lot.

First of all, this class is tough. There are about 20+ assignments counting everything. However, some assignments count only about 1% of the grade, and one spends so much time on those its hard to focus on the bigger assignments. Like the other eval said, try to turn everything in even if it isn't perfect.

With so many assignments, this class can take time, especially the 5 labs. The software is pretty cool but can be cantankerous and have many problems, such as not saving things properly. Some concepts are also a bit difficult to grasp.

Nevertheless, Dr. Deal's instructions for the labs and exercises are often good and can help tremendously; I am also glad because they are hard copy and he doesn't use Blackboard. He is somewhat unusual but not in a fatal way, so to speak. He can be very helpful and circles the room constantly for questions.

The 2 tests are not too bad; they require some comparisons of terms. That is also where the book could come in.

I took this class for the CIS minor; it is okay in the final analysis. Dont take it just for fun though.

Dr. Richard Deal is a nice person and an okay teacher. Now, he can seem distant because you'll be on your own for a lot of parts, but he'll help you with almost anything that you need (just ask). The class consist of in-class excercises of which there are many. These are fairly easy but attend class so you can keep up.

The other major grade components are out-of-class labs and tests. There are only two tests a mid-term and a final. They were relatively easy but know you're terms. On the other hand the labs vary in difficulty.

Lastly, we never used the book, and you can take the notes on the computers you're at because you'll work in a computer lab. There are plenty of grades so don't worry if you mess up on a few excercises but be sure to turn everything in. I had some experience in GIS prior to this class but you'll do fine with no experience. Just watch and listen, attend and turn in.

Dr. Deal is not a very good teacher in any way. Do not believe otherwise, he teaches entirely from Powerpoint and asked stupid questions in class. And gets upset when he does not get an answer or if he gets a wrong answer. Furthermore, he is an extremely boring person who appears to have nothing better to do than to learn insane bits of knowledge and travel to tiny countries no one has ever heard of and obtain more insane knowledge. His tests aren't too difficult if you can pay attention in class which is very difficult because he will bore you to death.

VERY, VERY boring. He can really get on your nerves.

not a very good professor if you need feedback outside of class to help you. it doesnt seem like he's very willing to help you so you better stay awake in his class (which is very hard to do). except for the fact that he obviously knows his stuff and he has a couple vague moments of dry humor, hes not a good professor to have, especially in the morning.

I actually liked this class. Dr. Deal is a little weird, but if you just take in the information you can learn a lot. If your looking for a class that is absolute cake this isn't it. Not to say that it's extremely hard either, but you will have to study and do work. Just give it a chance, you might like his class too.

The material in this class is extremely boring, so the class isn't much fun. Deal gives all the material you need for the test so you are completely prepared. He is a nice guy who knows his stuff, but it is hard to pay attention. Every test has a map where you have to name 20 countries, about 30 multiple choice questions, and a short answer. Overall, not too bad.

The absolute worst professor ever at WKU. He has no social skills, wears the same shirt everyday, encourages drinking, discourages class participation (even though he grades on it), and he is basically weird. The class itself is pie. I didn't even study for the final and still got an A in the class. Hopefully he'll leave the university soon. It's professors like him that make students not want to go to class.

Good teacher. It may not be neccessary to buy the book. Just use own judgement on that.

Can put you to sleep.