Western Kentucky University / B / Jeff Butterfield

Love this class!

Dr. Butterfield is a solid professor. Does a great job. Very interesting, practical stuff in class. My experience is that he's very fair with students. I'd take another of his classes if he has one.

No matter how hard you work in this class, you will never make a great grade, hope you can settle for some number that is randomly choosen. Butterfield takes some of the easiest to explain topics and clouds them up in his own imaginary world of knowledge that consists of his infinite years of wisdom with computers. I can understand making some of the grading hard for upper level classes, but at times it seems like he is spinning a wheel with numbers on it to assign your grade. In fact, I have learned more outside of his class than I have studying for it. Maybe if he spent a few more hours of the day trying to help students instead of practicing to become the local weather man, he might bump up his status with students. One other thing that might qualify him for "teacher" status is if he would actually respond to questions on Blackboard with answers instead, of cryptic messages and "what do you think" responses. If you assign students something, don't you think it would be great to help solve problems they may have, instead of getting paid to let students solve problems by themselves or with the help of classmates.

There are some sections of this course that I thought were relatively difficult.

The course is divided into 8 modules. I think Butterfield does a good job of relaying information in his videos and it is a must to watch those.

He is ok on responding to emails for the most part, but you have to understand how busy this guy is as well. I couldn't imagine. If he takes a while to get back with you be understanding for sure. Wait then shoot him another email and he will eventually respond.

All in all the course was ok but again some modules were quite difficult and time consuming. For this course I wouldnt recommend procrastinating at all!!!!

I would schedule your own due dates for each of the modules and go by that schedule and do not fall behind.

Professor Butterfield did not teach this class himself, it was a graduate student. You only attend class once a week and as long as you do the example tests given on the CD-ROM with your book you will do just fine! However, I reccommend reading all the material when you are supposed to read because that material will be on the tests that do not have examples. Other than that the class is pretty easy.

After reading the "Good" evals of Dr. Butterfield, I'm quite sure he wrote those himself. Every bad eval I read was right on the money with this guy.

He is full of himself, and he's not a good teacher at all. Take someone else, but try not to get Blankenship either.

Dr Butterfield is awesome! One of the best professors that I have had at WKU (and I am about to graduate and have had alot). If you will attend class, do the lab activities, study hard then you will learn a lot from him. If you are lazy then you will not get a good grade. The people that are crying about him on this site certainly fall into the last category. If you want to learn take his classes!!

Dr. Butterfield is a very poor excuse for a teacher. He doesn't understand the material that he is trying to teach. He assigns grades based on how much he likes a particular student. The list goes on forever.

Let's start off with his honesty. He is, simply put, a liar. In my 347 class he outright lied about what was on the final (not to mention stealing the final from a study guide on the internet). In 444 he lied about what the test would cover again (he specified that chapter nine would not be covered). He then proceeded to say that he didn't take the study questions off the web site... although they somehow vanished right after he announced what needed to be studied.

One can normally find all of the powerpoints he uses in class if a search is performed on Google. All the clipart, pictures, and most of the words remain intact from websites created by other professors. This is not a point in his favor, this merely shows that he is qualified only to lie.

When working through examples of problems in class, a common occurence is for the entire class to work through the problem individually, and finish right as class should end. When asked "What's the correct answer?" his reply is "Check with your classmates, I'm sure someone has it." Practice problems are also placed on his website, though often they are literally unsolvable due to the way they are asked. If a student goes to his office to obtain help working through them, none is received. He will merely glance at what you're written and give a cursory "Oh, that looks nice."

On one occasion he was caught in the act of not knowing how to solve a problem...he was working it out on the board and remembered that he can't do basic algebra. He was forced to admit this in front of the whole class, which was a welcome diversion from his usual pomposity.

Let's see...what else? Grades do not in any way reflect the performance of a student (in both of the classes I've had taught by him). He will go so far as to take the grades down from the website before they are all posted so that you can't average your own grade and find out. I've personally heard him promise students that they would pass, regardless of performance.

He gives extra credit in class for personal favors done outside of class.

He is incredibly vague on what all "deliverables" should consist of. If he is asked, he merely states that it is up to you, but upon receiving your grade it is made abundantly clear that it must be HIS way or you lose. His way is never stated, just vaguely implied. Projects are not read through at all, just glanced over at the best.

I would advise students not to take any of his classes, but unfortunately, he is the only one who teaches some of the required ones. I just advise you to be ready to be his yes-man and suck up to him a lot, because it's the only way to get a good grade.

Now, Dr. J. is a wonderful teacher, but this class is no breeze. I took this class during the may-semester, and this made the course tedious. Now, everyday there was two assignments due, and they had to be on the desk before 8:00a.m., or the paper would lose 50% credit. Also, there was a mid-term and final. The final grade came from two pots computer assignments and tests. If your test grade was lower then you would multiply it by 15%, and then your test score by 85%. Finally, the grades could be added together to receive a final grade. If you are lazy, major in folk studies or sociology, but if you have a brain then take this class, and this will be a challenge to better yourself. From the mouth of Dr. J. "the hotter the fire the better the steel" this is so true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel that this professor is lacking in many areas to hold

a position as a college professor. My initial problem with this professor is that fact that he is very disrspectful to his students (as students and human beings.) I witnessed him purposely embarass three students for arriving about 1 minute late, on the first day of class. On another occasion one student had to plead with him to turn in an assignment 2 days late after being in the hospital. Another student was given an "F" because he was suspected of cheating while many other students knew that he did not cheat.

The assignments for this course where about 5% useful and 95% busy-work. After a few weeks into the class I felt as if it did not matter how much effort I put into my homework I would recieve a "random" grade.

I've been a professional web designer for about 6 years and my roomate whom had never touched a webpage beforehand recieved a better grade on his website project.

I believe much of his lecture material is based on HIS opinion and isn't necessarily common law.

I reccomend avoiding this professor for 343 to anyone.

By far the hardest class I've had at WKU. Although attendance isn't mandatory, if you don't go you won't do well. He'll ask questions on the test that he specifically went over in class.

This isn't a class to sit back and not participate. The less enthusiasm you show the more he will pick on you.

Wow!

I just checked into this site and wanted to add a little something to the database. It cracked me up that some little ass is using this service to make himself feel better about a lousy grade or something. For what its worth -- the little ass is full of something and his notes (that he posts over and over -- get a life) are absolutely bogus.

Dr. Butterfield is certainly the most difficult/challenging professor that I have had at WKU. If you stick with him you will learn a ton. I also passed my Net+ thanks to him. He was very helpful and gave me a lot of study material that was really helpful. How many professors go out of their way to help students beyond the class? This one does. I give him two thumbs up!

I think that the folks at Profeval are doing students a dis-service by leaving this yo-yo's messages on here. Leave one and delete the rest.

<div style="padding:2px; border:1px solid #333; margin:2px"> UPDATE: We have removed the duplicate evaluations mentioned above. </div>

I am not a CIS major, but I was required to take 343. Dr. Butterfield was great. He is a super lecturer and we all learned a lot about computers. I haven't worked with computers very much before, but Dr. Butterfield was really good at helping us all understand different things about them. I am thinking hard about either changing my major or adding CIS as my minor. I will definitely be signing up for another class with this professor.

*** Dr. Butterfield has been my favorite teacher at Western *** If you want a really nice teacher who teaches a lot, who will work with you, who is concerned about your progress in the class, then take Dr. J. Its a shame that someone is running a personal vendetta on this page. Don't believe it. Just ask people who have taken the networking classes. I have always been treated well, had access any time to the teacher, received lots of feedback, and had every change given to me. I earned a C because I work and didn't have the time to devote as I should have.

The teacher needs to be less paranoid towards students. More office hours would also help, and please drop the bashing of Microsoft. It makes you look like a fool.

Dr J Rocks!!

This has been one of the best classes that I have had here. I don't know what my grade is yet (hopefully a B), but I have had every opportunity to show my stuff.

Western needs more professors like Dr. Butterfield.

Western also needs fewer cry-babies like this toad that is complaining over and over because he earned a D. Grow up!

First of all at least I can spell and know when you can and can't use html. Ok, I have backed up every comment I have made against the magnificent Dr. J and you just simply say he is a great teacher, the best WKU has. Tell us why don't just say he is a good teacher. Tell me why a lab manual in the IS field is good, tell me why learning about the history of computers and how they worked 20 years ago is more important than how they work today, tell me why learning to make a network cable the incorrect way is good, tell me why learning how to install dial pad is good, tell me why learning how to make a coax cable is not a waste of time, tell me why all of IT professionals I know think he is an idiot, tell me why he doesn't have certifications for the classes he is teaching and claims are easy. Give me valid answers to those questions and I might begin to listen.

1.) There are two seperate people who are unhappy with Butterfield who post here. The difference in writing styles is evident. 2.) Can you address my problems? Should Dr.J have more than TWO office hours a week? Is he insanely paranoid towards students? Should he allow makeup-tests with valid excuses? Is the reason his Win98 box crashes five times a day due to an OS error or PEBCAK error? (BTW, if you read this and don't know what PEBCAK is that reinforces my belief that you have no damn idea what you are talking about) Does anyone EVER make coax anymore? Should lab manuals be graded objectively if he can recreate the assignments or subjectively according to how much shit you give him in class? Why does Western's IT department think that he is an idiot? Answer any or all of these questions, or don't either bother to post here again.

I can't believe this loser -- he is jousting windmills in some personal crusade to discredit Dr. J. Wake Up!

This looser tries to insult us all by claiming that he knows it all and that we are all too stupid to know better. If that is true, why couldn't you do better than a D (or was it a B? you can't seem to keep your story straight). Dr. J is a wonderful teacher. The material that he covers is largely repeated in the text. If you would pay attention in class or read the book you would know. Geez, get a life man. WKU needs more professors like Dr. Butterfield and fewer whining students like you!!

First of all to the person who is trying to use html in your post, you can't use html here. Also if you think Butterfield is a good teacher, umm you are wrong. I realize you can't help that you know nothing about computers and computer related topics and that is why you think everything he says is correct, but you will soon learn that everything, oops nearly everything he says is useless and if it is not useless it is wrong. For starters, if you can find me one IT professional that uses a lab manual I would like to talk to him and tell him he is stupid. There is much better and more information on the internet. Why waste your time writing up what you have done a book that is impossible to read because you are writing in tiny squares. The reason he has you do this is probably because when he was in school he had to do one and he still thinks people use them now. It was probably a pretty good idea when he got his degree considering the internet was in its birth phase. Second, he makes you memorize a bunch of useless history crap. When doing any of the following, administering a network, setting up a network, designing a network, installing Windows, Linux, Novell or a number of other network related topics does knowing anything about the eniac or punch cards come into play. Who invented the combustion engine? I don't know either but we use them everyday in our cars. Just think about, why do you need to learn something that you don't need to know. Third, during one of the labs we were required to make a network cable. I think was a great lab, I mean would have been a great lab if Butterfield would have instructed the students to make it in the proper manner. When I inquired about what order to put the wires in he said "It doesn't matter as long as they are the same on both ends". Wrong again. It does matter, if you want to do more than make a light flash on a cheap tester. There are two basic wiring standards, they are 568a and 568b. If you don't use one of them you will be lucky if it works and if it does work it probably won't work good and I can guarantee it will not test out cat5. He went on an on about the pairs being twisted and so forth, well its done for a reason. I inquired about this one day and he said "lets face it, how many students will actually being making network cables"? Well first if we aren't going to be making them why teach how to make them, second that does not justify teaching incorrectly, and third I know several network engineers, administrators and designers that make cables all of the time. If you are lucky and don't have to make them it is still necessary to know how to make them for trouble shooting reasons. Well I am tired of typing about endless reasons on why this is the worst teacher ever, but if you have anymore questions please post them at "[email protected]" You are in the same boat as nearly all students are. Just because he has a so called "PHD" and can talk over your head doesn't mean he knows everything.

In spite of what other posters have said, I find the professor to be very arrogant towards students. Any student who thinks that Butterfield knows his

Don't believe the rantings of a looser who got a bad grade in a class. Dr. J Rocks!! He is the best teacher at Western. He makes every class interesting. He is very interested in helping his students. I can't belive the crap that person wrote! Tkae a class and see.

This is the fourth time that I have posted on this page. Each time Profeval removes it. I guess its because I am naming the sorry individual who posted the two (it looks like four) negative evals against Dr. Butterfield.

Okay, won't mention his name, but you'll know who if you have 'em in class. Such comments are nothing more than a response to doing poorly in a class.

For the record: Dr. Butterfield is one of the BEST professors that I have ever had. I switched my major to CIS because of him and am taking every class that he teaches. I learn more in Dr. Butterfield's classes than anywhere else.

Dr. Butterfield is a GREAT teacher, he likes his students, and does everything he can to help them succeed.

He does cover a lot of material in his classes, and his tests make you study. If you think that you are one of the

This teacher is by far my least favorite teacher at Western. First of all his attitude toward students is that we (students) are stupid and un-educated and know nothing about anything. I might not have a p.h.d. in engineering, but I am not stupid. He mostly talks about meaningless topics like "when was windows invented?", that only gives an impression to people that he knows what he is talking about, but to those who do know what they are talking about know that it makes no difference who invented windows, were it was invented, or how it was invented. Most of his knowledge is in meaningless topics that give him a perception of brilliants. He can talk all day long about theories, but when you ask him about something he can only tell you what he memorized out of a text book, not how it really is or how it really works. You don't want to be an inconvenience, that's bad news for him and he doesn't like. That means make sure you go to see him during his two office hours he has during the week and you might want to call before you go because he might not be there then either. Forget about turning in assignments a little late, that's an inconvenience, he won't take them, not even with a doctors excuse. Don't even think about taking the final at a different time. He says that "The final schedule is fixed for your protection", it didn't make any since to me either and I found it insulting. I don't understand why he doesn't just say "it would be an inconvenience to me if I allowed you to take the final at another time and I don't like inconveniences so that is why you can't take it at another time." Lab books, while completing my labs I had flashbacks of being in grade school. He makes you cut and past screen shots and cut out pretty little pictures from "Trade Magazines" into a lab book. I think he forgot that we are dealing with computers not engineering when he made us do that. People don't use lab books in the computer field. They use computers, DUH. Make sure you use a glue stick to, anything else just makes it look bad. Even though the glue seeps to the edges of the pictures and causes the pages to stick together. I really don't understand why we made these because there are much better manuals and tutorials out on the web. He is also extremely picky and very subjective when it comes to grading these books. Make sure you cut out every screen shot and write down every mouse click. Don't expect more than a B- even if you spent tons of time on it. He can always find something wrong with, if he couldn't find anything wrong with it then that would make you smart, don't forget he is superior. The labs are also extremely useless. During one lab we had to setup dialpad, umm I have no idea what the usefulness of that was. I'm sure that he could make up something though. Also we had to make a coax cable. No one works with coax in the computer field unless you are pulling out of walls to throw it away. If you know anything about computers and networking you will find many of his lectures full of misleadings and falsifications. He doesn't know the difference between what was going on ten years ago and now and if you try to ask him about it he makes up a bunch of crap and then changes the topic. He also takes the notes and announcements off of the class webpage after a short period of time. He said that he did this because he didn't want to reward people who didn't come to class. That doesn't make since to me either. Another thing I don't understand, if he is so smart why is he teaching, he should be able to double his salary if he goes out to the real world. He is also extremely paranoid. He protects his machine like it has plans to rule the world on it. There are all sorts of anti-virus programs and firewalls' running on it, that is probably while he has to restart it five times a day. He hates Microsoft for this reason even though it is his own lack of knowledge that causes his computer not to work. If you don't know anything about computers don't worry, you will never notice any of his faults and you should be able to pass his class with ease, but don't let him fool you.

I did not find this teacher to be very student friendly. His attitude towards students is very condescending. He will not give make-up tests, even if prior notice is given to him. His office hours are pathetic, and he generally portrays an attitude that he knows it all. Most professors will work with you on finals week and let you take your final with another section if you have several finals that day, but not this teacher. Instead he sends out an insulting email that says his policy on this matter is for "our protection." He did not say why or how I would be in danger if another student took the final at a different time. I find this policy stupid and the email he sent out just plain insulting to my intelligence. His exams are very nit-picky, and the lab manuals are both a waste of time and graded way too difficult. The lab manuals are made by cutting and pasting screenshots and writing the procedures down. This is pointless for two reasons: One being that there are better guides that are already available on the internet, and two being the highly subjective way he grades the manuals. I received grades of Bs and Cs on the manual. Reasons given were "used tape instead of glue stick" and "sloppy handwriting." My handwriting is always sloppy, due to carpal tunnel syndrome. The lab manuals should receive full credit if the instructor can recreate the lab following the instructions laid out by the students in the manual. He claims to have students using the manuals as a source of reference after graduation. I highly doubt this, as there are far better tutorials on the Internet, and the subjects of the labs are extremely simple in nature. I question the subjects of some of the labs. I do not see the usefulness of learning how to use dialpad.com over learning how to set up a firewall, or the necessity of making antiquated coax cable. The teacher's lectures often contain falsehoods or half-truths that are said out of ignorance or PC hatred of Microsoft. An example of the above would be how he claims his Win98 machine requires AT LEAST five reboots a day. What he should say is that his knowledge of Win98 is so poor that he can't figure out how to set up the OS properly. Another half-truth is that Win98 is simply windows over DOS 7.0, which is not even close to the truth. All in all, I would not recommend this teacher as I find him arrogant, lazy, and not very knowledgeable of his subject matter. He is regarded as an imbecile among Western's IT professionals and among students who are technically proficient. In reality, you probably won't have a choice as he is (as of this writing) the only professor that teaches these sections. Most students won't notice the technical falsehoods, as their technical knowledge is probably not very high.

He could improve the class by:

1. Quit being arrogant towards students. He has the attitude of "me vs. them." virtually all of my complaints with this professor deal with his attitude towards students. I think he is paranoid that his students are constantly scheming to cheat behind his back. This shows with his policies on make-up exams and finals schedules, and his inability to work with students who are having problems. Loosen up. You are here to help us learn the subject material, not win some sort of contest by splitting hairs and making it a pain in the ass to take this class. Relax your exam policies. You already make two different versions of the test to prevent, in your own words, "cross-pollinization." What harm would it be to let students to take the final on a different day? Absolutely none. Not every student is a cheat, and I wish you would give students the benefit of the doubt.

2. Increase your office hours. One hour on Monday and Wednesday is not nearly enough.

3. Get rid of lab manuals OR grade them according to whether or not the procedure is correct, not whether or not "time and attention have been lavished on them," which is an entirely subjective method.

4. Leave notes on the websites until the end of the semester. Students do from time to time miss class for valid reasons, and leaving the notes on the website would not penalize them for this.

5. Get rid of the anti-microsoft agenda that is rife in your lectures. While bashing Microsoft may make you a popular guy at a Linux users group meeting, it is not going to make you seem intelligent to your more advanced students.

Dr. Butterfield is a great Professor. He cares about his students, and it show through in his classroom. I have a lot of respect for Dr. Butterfield because he does not give out grades. He makes you earn them. His classes are hard, but when you are finished, you will have learned something. If you are a CIS major, take Dr. J for everything you can. He is by far the best professor in the CIS department.