CS 2102

Edwards knows the material well but has some trouble communicating it effectively. The tests can be difficult but he's fair with the grading, and if you study the homework and the book problems you'll do well. Following along with the book will be very beneficial.

I found this class extremely boring because of the unengaging way lectures were presented, but Edwards is fair and the content is useful. Just make sure to do all readings and homework as they will help more than lecture.

Edwards first time teaching this course was when I took it. His lectures were decent, but on the duller size overall. He definitely knows the material, but had some trouble communicating some of his ideas to the class. He's open to discussion on some parts of the class, but maybe not anymore since he's gotten some experience teaching it.

The course itself is difficult. It's proof focused, and homework and tests consist of long-ish proofs of different problems.

I'd recommend staying away from the course unless you're genuinely interested in the subject or its required. It's not an easy A, but it's not impossible to get an A if you really put your mind to it.

Professor Edwards was well-meaning, but he used another professor's slides which seemed way too broad. The class got much, much more difficult midway through the semester, and seemed less organized. "Important" topics seemed like they were breezed over, and going back to the slides was unhelpful. What this class really needs is a better textbook and more logically organized syllabus.

Professor Edwards uses powerpoint presentations to guide his class. Often, these powerpoints are lengthy, crowded, and tangentially related to the course material that is relevant to the majors taking this class. Professor Edwards teaching methodology involves reading almost verbatim from his slides. The lectures were often dry and disengaging. The TA I approached for this course did not know basic material from the course and asked me the same questions I asked him. Overall, Professor Edwards did not effectively teach his class, and I had to rely on the very useful textbook to guide me through the class.

Edwards is pretty cool. I liked his lectures and appreciated that he tried to make them more engaging.

My only gripe is that I wish he wouldn't use slides so much and would instead write everything out on the blackboard.

The homework is submitted in groups. Make sure you have a good one--I did not and had to do it all myself. This made me understand the material better, but also took a toll in time spent on other classes.

Nice guy, definitely tried to teach. Was he successful? Not really. I had to rely on the book to understand everything. Homeworks were kind of a pain to do but definitely helped for the exam if you did well.

Honestly, the class is very hard. A lot of the material you are going to have to teach yourself. You can go to lecture, you can try to listen, but you are going to walk away thinking, "huh."
As someone who is trying to be a CS major, who is not in the E school and not naturally gifted at math (not terrible either), it was definitely a class that makes you stay in on Saturday, sometimes Friday nights if you doing poorly. He isn't the best lecturer and the slides are about as useful as Anne Frank's drumset, when you get down to it, the slides could be summed up as: "What is the answer to xyz?" *You scroll down to find the answer on the next slide only to find out it isn't written there or anywhere*. So definitely, gonna have to be a class where you teach yourself and YouTube videos become you're new substitute teacher.

HOWEVER, it is a rewarding class if you persevere, you actually feel like you accomplished something, no matter how cheesy you think that sounds. Additionally, he made the final purposely easier to boosts everyone grades because everyone's grades were dumpstered by the second exam.

tl;dr - hard class, bad slides, mediocre teacher (however, that could just be because he is new to the big lecture hall scene), rewarding class if you put in the hours, and it can be done by anyone, not just E school geniuses.

Edwards is nice guy, not the greatest lecturer in terms of getting things across. This is partly due to how dry the class is, but also how Edwards doesn't seem to connect with the students. Like others said, he's heavily dependent on slides which presents information in a very disorganized manner (if there is info at all). I think he genuinely tries, and I'll give him credit for that.

Pick a good group for the homework - it was pretty easily graded in my opinion. Some homeworks are harder than others, you can always go to Edwards if you need help.

2 tests and a final. 2nd test was absolutely brutal, but I think Edwards felt bad and kind of pulled back on the final. Go to class, and stay attentive and you'll do fine - that is more than half the battle, very easy to sleep or not go at all (I didn't go to class for the 2nd half of the semester).

Like the other reviews stated, Edwards is not a great teacher, although I really don't know how teachable this subject is -- it seemed to me that you either understood the material pretty easily or you struggled to catch up. Having a good group is important but knowing how to do the homework on your own is the MOST important. If you know the homework, you'll do fine on the tests. As a second year engineering student still finishing up the general engineering requirements, I found that I definitely did not have the time needed to dedicate to this class to do well so know that you may be spread pretty thin w/ your classes if you take the CS engineering curriculum as is.