SYS 2620

While some of the aspects mentioned below are accurate, I did not think this class was that bad. The key to this class: make sure you get a good group, else tell Professor Louis to switch you immediately. About 80% of this class is raw groupwork, and everyone gets the same grade on group assignments, so it is very hard to do well if your group does not do well. Secondly, while maybe one of the quizzes were unfair, I would study the slides and assigned reading every Wednesday night (quizzes were Thursdays) and managed to do ok. Yes, there is a curveball every now and then, but he more than accounted for this by dropping two quizzes by giving a take home quiz that was really easy. In terms of the class, while there could have been more discussion about the policy in general (I took this course because of an interest in public policy), I think the structure he had was the only way to actually make people learn the policy. Since he graded so harshly, the only way to do well was to make sure that the group reports and presentation were thorough and detailed, and this gave me a lot better understanding of every policy issue, because I researched them as opposed to having someone else tell me about it. Lastly, for those considering this course in the future, he is planning to make it a lot better, so I would recommend it! Professor Louis is one of the most down-to-earth and caring people I know, and if you go to office hours (which no one did, because it was always empty when I did), he is more than willing to talk to you about what you need to do better, or help you with some tricky concepts (engineering economics, mortgages, etc.). Take this class and you will enjoy

This course manages to take interesting topics and turn them into some of the worst class time I have ever experienced. Prof Louis is one of least engaging and organized professors I have ever had the displeasure of knowing. The quizzes consist of random acronyms and other tangentially related material and while the one pagers due every week are not difficult to write he almost never gives above a 90 because he says he "comes from a British schooling system." Overall avoid this class as it isn't worth it.

Do not take this course. I took it because I thought it would be an easy tech elective about interesting material, but the structure of the class is so bad that any chance the material had to be interesting was taken away. First, the weekly one-pager is graded completely randomly and he rarely gives above a 90. Also, the weekly quizzes consist of 2 or 3 questions on random side notes from the material a week before, which usually are also graded randomly. During class, you spend the whole period either giving or listening to other groups presentations, and Professor Louis rarely even lectures. He also chooses not to have a class discussion about each topic, which would be the only way the class could actually be interesting.

This course is pretty low effort. Every week you cover a different public policy topic which keeps it interesting. You have to write a one-pager on the topic once a week with a partner and there are weekly quizzes but the material is pretty simple and interesting to learn.