idk if he even knows how to teach as he hasn't instructed anything the whole semester just watched the class banter their opinions on the articles we had to read

Didnt learn anything. Assigns so many pages of readings for every class. The mid term is a joke, because he tells you he wants one thing, but then marks for something totally different so everyone does bad. Is very boring (though it does get better during the last 3 classes)...quiz every class that you will not pass because of the ridiculous detail

he is a very hard marker he never explains what he wants his essays on.he gives out 30pg readings sometimes which are all 20yrs old or just plain boring.he will tell you he wants something done 1 way and when he hands the assignment back to you its marked another way!class average for midterms were around 50 he cant teach for his life!GPA dropper

He is such a hard marker!! He gives long, outdated, boring readings every week followed by difficult quizzes. We rarely opened our textbook because he spent the whole class talking about the readings. He doesn't give enough explanation as to what he expects on midterms/assignments. Do not recommend.

Quizzes on small details of long, boring readings every class. His marking is all over the place. Very unclear on what he wants from assignments. Doesn't explain your marks, doesn't give suggestions on how to improve. Avoid if at all possible!

Terrible prof. He gives you reading quizzes that are extremely specific and impossible. He did not explain his midterms/exams/tests. There are 20 pages to read each week. And a very boring lecture on those in class. Avoid at all costs unless you want to get a low grade!

He is a useless teacher, you learn nothing in his class. His dumb quizs are difficult to pass because he ask random quetions. He does not explain his midterms/assignments and he does not give you feed back when you ask for help. Horrible, do not take his class.

I would not recommend at all. Hands essay back with zero suggestions of how to improve, only comment was "good job" mark of 79%. Quizzes every class that are impossible due to him picking the most random fact he can find from a 20 page reading. Avoid

Mr.Swail's class was useless. All we did was read long stories, that he would then quiz us on in class. Class was all about discussing these stories. Each assignment is around 25% of your mark which he does nothing in class to prepare you for. I even asked for anything extra I could do to improve and he had minimal suggestions. Marking is unclear.

Cold hearted human being

awful teacher

Did not help me with anything. I asked for more help and extra assignments and he basically ignored me. Does not care about students other than the teacher's pets. Terrible teacher, did not learn anything.

Do not take this class! I made a mistake by not double checking if he was a good prof or not. I regret taking his class so much. He is a nice guy but just not that good at teaching. All you do is quizzes at the beginning of each class and talk about the readings; you learn nothing. Probably better off taking an online course than this class.

Hardest marker ever... gives no feedback, for a 1100 course the class should be taught mla style before tests and how to write proper thesis etc. nothing is taught.. mla style was taught after our midterm where we had to memorize it. pulls grades out of no where..62% or 68% and you'll have no idea why you got given that grade! AVOID TAKING!!!!!!!

All you do is talk about the content of the readings, you literally learn nothing about actual english. He's a super picky marker and kind of confusing in his criteria. The majority of your mark comes from writing but he doesn't teach you anything about writing or let you practice or anything. I would never take a class with him again.

Honestly terrible through and through. I left the class more insecure about my writing abilities and have second guessed myself when it comes to essays ever since. Opt out of his class as soon as you can if you made the same mistake I did.

Worst prof I have ever had at kwantlen. I managed to get through some insane course loads but this class was just ridiculous and ended up redoing this class (with a better prof, obviously) and getting an A-.

He is all very gentlemanly and sweet. But beware of the pop quizzes! His course was the most boring course I had ever taken. You'll have to read those long essays which don't make sense at all until you read them thrice. He doesn't make clear what he wants in the assignments . Flexible about the deadlines tho if u have a valid reason.

Does not teach the course well and marks extremely hard. Does not go over writing skills at all.

He reminds me of Bill Nye the Science Guy, but the english version. He wears suits to class and tries to make it exciting. However, there is a ton of readings every week followed with a quiz worth 1% at the beginning of every class. Additionally, he's a really hard marker when it comes to assignments. I like him but I wouldn't take his class again.

This class was terrible, and so was his teaching style. I've never taken an English class where I've tried so hard and gotten so little back. You wont learn much, because all he'll talk about is the readings he gives you during the week (which are terribly boring). Get ready for a quiz at the beginning of every class. Extremely hard marker too.

Brian is a nice guy but his teaching style is not very good. He tries to act funny but no one gets his jokes. Be ready for quizzes every class and reading long boring stories and talking about them all class long. You don't learn much English in the course. I had more knowledge going into the course then coming out about how to write essays, etc

he just talks about reading just as in elementary school. and explain stories. he assign 3 readings every week and every reading is approximately 14-15 pages and then take quiz from that readings. he never help students. don't explain what do he want. he just crack jokes in class that nobody gets. worst prof ever.

He isn't clear on what he expects for assignments. Sometimes does not speak loud or clear, kind of mutters off his sentences. He seems nice but I regret taking his class. I felt like I learned nothing, as often he wouldn't explain very well why my error in an assignment was wrong; couldn't improve. Didn't make sure we student understood what to do.

Brian Swail is not a very good teacher. His class requires a lot of unnecessary amounts of readings and he never goes through writing skills or anything to do with actually writing. He lectures for two hours and you leave learning next to nothing. He also gives quizzes in poor formats making them frustrating. Avoid this professor.

He was a horrible prof. He gave a quiz every week about 3-5 readings that you had to do before each class. He did NOT help improve my writing skills. He does not lecture he just discusses the readings which are very dry and hard to finish and doesn't teach anything helpful. I got a D in his class, took it with another prof and got a B+. AVOID HIM!!

AVOID AT ALL COSTS everyday is the same! quiz on 3 or more stories you had to read followed by the next 2 and a half hours reviewing what you read which isn't for marks. He is a nice guy but should of been a pre school teacher. :( had to drop because of his tough marking was going to ruin my gpa

Very nice individual however, he cannot teach. Useless quizzes, endless discussions and very little writing. Combine that with a complete lack of structure for an overall disaster of a class. Avoid this instructor.

Extremely tough grader with very little feedback.

All he does is give out readings in which you get quizzed on every week in the beginning of class and even if you get the tiniest bit late he won't let you you see the questions you've missed. Doesn't explain how a good essay should be written for students who struggle to write quality papers.

The class was more like philosophy or a social justice course. The assigned readings were very unbalanced (60 pages one week and 6 the next). The weekly quizzes were extremely difficult even when you did the readings because you had to remember specific word or name. Doesnt return work with feedback until after youve handed in the next paper.

After attending each class, and completing each assignment, its safe to say I did not learn anything and that my writing skills did not improve.

Get ready to read indeed. I almost forgot this was a class for university writing... Brian gives excessive amounts of prereadings to go over before class. What confuses me the most is he teaches important topics -- such as how to write introductions -- the class AFTER he assigns it as homework. 3 different books are required for this class.

just rambles on and on with no clear point and keeps changing the topic halfway through an idea. make his lectures very hard to follow.

Quizzes almost every class which is fine if you've done the reading, except, even if u have done the reading, there is a good chance u may get low marks on the quiz bc he asks very specific questions. Need good memory, and a love for reading in this class. Very late with giving marks and takes time to email u back. I barely got feedback on things.

Avoid this prof at all costs! I have one week left in the semester at this point and only received 4% of my course work back and graded (which was an assignment at the beginning of the course). Quizzes are ridiculous (25 very specific Qs in 10 mins) and I haven't received ANY grades. When asked about marking stuff he literally says "I'm too busy".

took this class online and believe me he's is an entertaining person with zero teaching skills. take useless quizzes with useless lengthy readings. didn't improve my writing skills at all, and do not provide his feedback at all.

not a good professor for this class, does not explain how to do the university writing at all. Gives every week long readings which we do not need because the course is about writing, which is never taught how to be done.

He's awful for 1 quiz it which statement best describes a concept and you were given 30 seconds for each question so its 4 options you have to read in 30 seconds and no time to think by the time you finish reading it skips onto the next question. Awful experience each quiz is impractical and idk what kind of super human reading speed he expects

Definitely lots of reading, doesn't teach much to prepare you for writing essays, very hard marker, his feedback is very minimal, takes a long time to mark your assignments. Overall you could find a way better professor that is going to actually help you learn, and put in more effort.

This professor is absolutely horrible. He may seem nice but his course work is ridiculously hard. Even if you try your best and participate in discussions, you still get a low mark. Made us read 3 long challenging books in this semester and has quizzes every week. His quizzes would be 20 questions with only 5 minutes to complete. Very Challenging

I would never take any course with him again. 3 long articles to read every weak like 70-80 pages, plus reading lectures from 2 books. and posting forms of 250 words.

MOST OF THE GRADING WAS DONE AWFUL AND YOU HAVE TO FACE EXTREMELY LOTS OF READINGS EVERY WEEK AND GO THROUGH QUIZZES OF ALL READINGS.

This prof is absolutely terrible. I received a fail on my paper because I miss-cited two resources as his criteria was not clear. On-top of that he would not let me revise it nor do extra credit to complete the class with at-least a pass. He does not teach at all how to write papers and his grading on papers are VERY subjective.

Professor Swail is a nice person but his teaching style was not the best for me. He takes extremely long to grade assignments which leaves students with the inability to learn and improve from the feedback he provides. Also the course focuses heavily on the readings he assigns which do not allow for much progression when it comes to writing skills.

he will quiz you based on readings you read which you are more so required to give insight into as if it's a social justice or ethics class,not an introductory English class. He will ramble on about topics that you already submitted for grading. If youre a firstyear student looking to tank your GPA,then Swail is the guy for you.YA LEARN NOTHING

He's not meant to be a professor at all. None of my teachers had problems with my writing expect him, not to mention his outlines are so messy and not effort put into them. For the quizzes, even if you study you most likely will fail because the Q are TMI. I lost marks for the dumbest reasons and majority of the time for no reason at all. Fire him

Don't bother taking his class, min 20 page reading every week just to take a quiz at the start of the next class, then talks about only the readings after. The quizzes are on the most obscure things from the readings, nothing to do with the actual methods of writing or application of skills, which has nothing to do with the purpose of this class.

Tough grader; makes this first year course more like a 3rd year course. Course manual for readings is required in his class and all the weekly quizzes are based on readings . professor does not discuss the strategies needed for the successful academic writing instead he uses most of the time for in class discussions based on the weekly readings.

I took his course a few years back and I am writing an another review just to tell you how traumatizing it was for him to be in his class. I literally got a migraine attack after realizing how much I had to read. His lectures are pointless, quizzes are pointless, I learned practically nothing and it was just an awful time. Never again.

The quizzes on readings (every class) cover the most random content not about English or what happens. They are incredibly difficult. Rather than learning strategies for how to effectively read or write we are spending hours on the readings; I didn't mind most. None of this is personal, this class is just painful and not an effective use of time.

If you're going to take a class with Brian, it better be the only class you're taking because it's all you're going to have time for. Assigns insane amounts (over 100 pages sometimes) of reading then quizzes you on the most irrelevant details. Discusses readings on a very surface level. Save your sanity and your GPA and stay away from his classes.

I was my biggest mistake that i took this professor, take unofficial drop, but dont take this professor.

Awful class, if you want your gpa to drop and your mental health to plumit then take this course. his feedback is awful and simply told me to "dig deeper" while giving me a 60%. WHAT?! Little to no guidance, lets you fend for yourself and just constantly rambles on and on and on the entire class. Terrible class, Terrible teacher. DO NOT reccomend.

Horrible experience

This professor needs coaching. He is everything you don't want your professor to be. Assigns hundreds of pages to read in a week then posts a quiz every start of class with the answers being random little details. Never provides feedback.

Nice, but unorganized. Moodle had wrong dates which was confusing/stressful. Readings are boring and quizzes seemed subjective. Never enters grades into moodle so you have no real understanding of how you are doing. I thought I was going to fail but I passed...makes me wonder if he just passes everyone?

Do NOT take this guy's class. I'm in his fairy tales course, and it could be so interesting, but he's disorganized as hell and makes the class a nightmare. There's at least 100 pages of reading every week, and the weekly quiz questions are on the most obscure details. He also gives you ZERO time to complete in class writing exercises. Incompetent!

Brian is a really bad professor. He is unorganized, doesn't care about his students, and does not provide meaningful feedback. Usually, when I have a bad time with a professor, I think it's just my experience, but this was the first class where I had multiple other people sharing their negative experiences too.

Awful teacher, only negative experience I've had with a prof where EVERYONE in the class is miserable. He rambles and mumbles, readings assigned are different on moodle and the syllabus, will give you the same grade on everything even after implementing his feedback. All graded work is in class to force attendance because no one wants to be there

If you have a medical problem of ANY sort, do not take him! While taking his course this semester I had an eye allergy, it had spiraled uncontrollably and I emailed him every time I was unable to come with photo proof of my eyes with time stamps and even offered a doctors note, even then he refused to help with any sort of extra credit for absence