Matthew Simpson

School: Luther College
Department: Philosophy
Location: Decorah, IA
Overall Rating
rated by 13 students
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Rating Comment
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Speaks slowly and in manner easy to understand. Very nice & approachable.
Cons: Quizzes and Exams come straight from lecture. No study guides but he does review the day before the exam.
He was a wonderful teacher and was always willing to help. He keeps your attention and makes the material very relatible.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: He is really nice and has a good sense of humor. The exams are easy as long as you study.
Cons: His class can be a bit dull. It's not the most interesting material.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: He did not have an attendance policy. He added 4 points to my final grade because i showed up to every class though.
Cons: He is kind of an awkward guy
Simpson is not a bad teacher. It is a boring class, but he did a good job. No homework, did not use the textbook, he let us go early a few times. We had 2 mid terms, 1 final, and a 10 page paper, but it was over a governor race, so it was not hard.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Brings discussion into the classroom
Is willing to help students anytime
Shows a great knowledge of subject matter
Cons: Professor is boring or bland
Expectations are unclear or lofty
Notes/lecture is confusing
I am very conflicted with what to say about Matthew Simpson. He is a really really nice guy who truly cares about his students. If you e-mail him, he will e-mail you back ASAP. On the bad side, his expectations are very unclear. Of the five papers we wrote in class, virtually everyone had to do complete rewrites of the first two. On paper two, he basically said oh I meant it this way and gave everyone C's. He is more than willing to clarify an assignment so don't hesitate to ask him millions of questions until you finally understand the assignment. He grades papers very hard as he picks out everything and anything. After revisions, he sometimes contradicts what he said in an earlier draft. If you are the type of person who will get very frustrated with a professor like this, stay away. But if you are able to just do your work you should be fine. He curved the whole class so the lowest grade would be a B-. You'll stress about this class, think you failed all of the quizzes, and not know what grade you're going to wind up with, but he makes the semester grade fair in the end. There are definitely easier professors at UConn but I'm sure there are harder ones as well.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Good professor.
Brings discussion into the classroom
Motivates students to do well
Is willing to help students anytime
Shows a love of teaching
Comes to class organized
Cons: Professor is boring or bland
Mr. Simpson may not be the most interesting professor but the class is easy and at times interesting, okay. He actually does care, because if he didn't he wouldn't drive all the way from Acton Massachusets, okay. The class can be dull if no one participates but if you do, there will not be a problem, okay. Also a lot of the books he uses were already read in high school, okay.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Good professor.
I would recommend this professor
Is interesting/entertaining/funny
Brings discussion into the classroom
Motivates students to do well
Is willing to help students anytime
Shows a love of teaching
Comes to class organized
Simpson is a good prof. He's really into the books and likes movies (I think even more than the books). He loves to make class discussion and loves to make his students happy. He's got a good sense of humor and though class can get boring, it's def. very easy.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Cons: Is a bad professor
Would not recommend this professor
Professor is boring or bland
Overly difficult tests or assignments
Notes/lecture is confusing
Needs to involve students in class discussions
Lacks enthusiasm in the classroom
Professor does not relate to students
Worst professors I've ever had!
Wow, Simpson was terrible. The class was dull, with very little discussion, and he was terrible at answering students' questions. He gave absurd, fill-in-the-blank pop quizzes, which required you to basically memorize the readings, instead of actually understanding them. His essay assignments were absurd, too; he wanted us to answer huge questions, in great detail, which would not have been a problem, if he didn't put a TWO page LIMIT on each of the papers! I don't mind short papers, but when he starts taking off points for not going into enough detail, sorry, that's just wrong. The only positive thing I have to say for this man is that it greatly amuses me that someone who looks so much like Mr. Burns would be named Simpson... (He got a few coolness points for that)
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Motivates students to do well
Comes to class organized
Cons: Is a bad professor
Would not recommend this professor
Professor is boring or bland
Needs to involve students in class discussions
Lacks enthusiasm in the classroom
Professor does not relate to students
Worst professors I've ever had!
This guy is a horrible teacher. He talks about the most pointless topics in class and the whole class just sits there because no one can discuss a book with the topics he brings up. His class is extremely boring, totally pointless, and he says okay after every sentence and it gets very very annoying. He has good intentions but they def. don't translate into the class. Half the time I don't know what he's talking about, and the other half I just can't bring myself to care because its so irrelevant and pointless. No one participates because nothing he says makes sense. Wouldn't reccomend, although he's not all that difficult, and is good if you want to doodle all class...
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Is creative
Is willing to help students anytime
Involves students in every lecture
Cons: Is a bad professor
Professor is boring or bland
Expectations are unclear or lofty
To be able to teach effectively takes a bit of charisma, which matt is seriously lacking. He is SUCH a nice, cool guy, but he is just not a good professor. I think he is too shy and reserved. He has a lot of great ideas, but nobody listens to him because his voice is so small. He should be a writer instead of a professor.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Is interesting/entertaining/funny
Cons: Is a bad professor
Professor is boring or bland
Lacks enthusiasm in the classroom
Does not make class challenging enough
Poor sense of humor
Professor does not relate to students
Worst professors I've ever had!
this guy tries to teach material that he doesn't know well enough to teach. He is too cynical, and annoying 90% of the time. The literature he chooses to teach is worthless because he can't add any insight to it. You're better off reading the book on your own. His daily quizzes are tedious, and if you like to sleep late you will be seriously deprived. Oh, and i only said he was funny because i liked to laugh at him out of pity and anger.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Has enthusiasm in the classroom
Involves students in every lecture
Motivates students to do well
Brings discussion into the classroom
Is creative
I would recommend this professor
Great teaching methods/approach
Good professor.
Comes to class organized
Cool TA, and the books we read were really funny.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Good professor.
Great teaching methods/approach
I would recommend this professor
Is challenging
Brings discussion into the classroom
Motivates students to do well
Is willing to help students anytime
Shows a great knowledge of subject matter
Comes to class organized
I had him as a TA, but I thought he was extremely nice and very dedicated. He prepared these elaborate reviews for us before the exam, which must have taken him hours to do. He's just a very nice guy who wants his students to do well.
Overall
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Pros: Brings discussion into the classroom
Is willing to help students anytime
Cons: Professor is boring or bland
Lacks enthusiasm in the classroom
Does not make class challenging enough

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