Professor
Sandra Batista
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2024 - Like the other reviewer, this is a review for CS 180, not 181. I have been spurred to write this as I feel that while the other review communicates frustrations with the class that are very much valid, an overall rating of 2.0 is far lower than deserved for Batista. The homework assignments were difficult, but fair, and both the deadline and grading policies were very lenient (could submit two days late for full credit, and homework was graded on effort). I feel that the lectures may not have prepared students enough for the assignments, but they gave you enough understanding to be able to dig a little deeper on your own and complete the assignments without an unreasonable amount of stress. As for the exams, the other reviewer is definitely right. Given that the course was entirely online and asynchronous (including exams), it was apparent to most students that the exams were designed with a level of difficulty that strongly accounted for the possibility of cheating. But of course, in doing this, you essentially unfairly deflate the grades of almost everyone who wants to be honest and not cheat. The exams seemed like they required a much longer time than was given (4 hours given, and the claim was that they were meant to take 2 hours, yet 4 was not enough), and also seemed to require a level of thinking that I don't think could be expected given the content of the lectures. I took this class very seriously and managed to do okay, but from what I know, cheating was rampant which I felt was unfair. Again, grading on exams was also quite forgiving, so that may have been the part of the intention of making the exams so hard, but the general consensus was that cheating was borderline expected. That being said, Batista is a very kind and reasonable teacher, and some of the grading issues cited in the previous review are more than likely attributable to the TAs rather than Batista. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and looking back was happy to have been challenged on exams more than other courses.
Summer 2024 - Like the other reviewer, this is a review for CS 180, not 181. I have been spurred to write this as I feel that while the other review communicates frustrations with the class that are very much valid, an overall rating of 2.0 is far lower than deserved for Batista. The homework assignments were difficult, but fair, and both the deadline and grading policies were very lenient (could submit two days late for full credit, and homework was graded on effort). I feel that the lectures may not have prepared students enough for the assignments, but they gave you enough understanding to be able to dig a little deeper on your own and complete the assignments without an unreasonable amount of stress. As for the exams, the other reviewer is definitely right. Given that the course was entirely online and asynchronous (including exams), it was apparent to most students that the exams were designed with a level of difficulty that strongly accounted for the possibility of cheating. But of course, in doing this, you essentially unfairly deflate the grades of almost everyone who wants to be honest and not cheat. The exams seemed like they required a much longer time than was given (4 hours given, and the claim was that they were meant to take 2 hours, yet 4 was not enough), and also seemed to require a level of thinking that I don't think could be expected given the content of the lectures. I took this class very seriously and managed to do okay, but from what I know, cheating was rampant which I felt was unfair. Again, grading on exams was also quite forgiving, so that may have been the part of the intention of making the exams so hard, but the general consensus was that cheating was borderline expected. That being said, Batista is a very kind and reasonable teacher, and some of the grading issues cited in the previous review are more than likely attributable to the TAs rather than Batista. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and looking back was happy to have been challenged on exams more than other courses.
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