2.3
Quality2.9
Difficulty24%
Would Retake90
Reviews24%
Would Retake
90
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
17
4
7
3
6
2
19
1
41
What Students Say
“He gave readings from the textbook”
AFRCNA0127 - 5.0 rating“A 10 page paper in addition to 4 tests”
AFRCNA0127 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
86%
Textbook Required
40%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.49 avg changeRatings by Course
MUSIC1349
4.0
(1)HIS101
4.0
(1)AFRCN1656
3.5
(2)AFRCNA0318
3.5
(2)MUSIC1340
3.0
(10)Difficulty by Course
afrcna1310
4.5
AFRCNA1331
4.2
AFRCNA1240
3.8
0805AFRCNA
3.5
AFRCN0586
3.1
Reviews (90)
How did this man become a professor??!!?? He seemed very confused most of the time. He had the TAs teach most of the time and when he actually did lecture, his notes were very unclear and sporadic. I didn't enjoy this class and I hated the million typos on every worksheet and on the midterm.
I'm giving the helpfulness and clarity all to the TA's who were pretty great, and taught most of the classes. Grade based on 6 worksheets, one simple,easy paper and midterm/final. They provided a study sheet for the two tests which accounted for most of the questions on them. Interesting guest speakers.
He's really passionate and has a lot of energy. I didn't have a lot of trouble understanding him...but he can never understand questions when you ask them. Very unclear lectures and he does not respond to emails. It's frustrating, but not the worst prof in the world.
Does not answer questions or emails.
I like Dr Beeko because of his energy and passion. He is also intelligent. That said, class was interesting but had its faults. I understood him but that took time. Only 1/3 of all questions were answered. He only answered my email after a many of them and a long time. Last, I still dont have a final grade and its 3 days past deadline. Frustrating
His class wasn't all that hard. He's very organized and very passionate about what he does. Doesn't answer emails readily from his hotmail address so use his pitt address. Read the books, study his notes, come to class, and you'll do fine.
He definitely knows his stuff but is not good with communication (e.g. e-mails, answering questions directly) at all. This made the class painful to attend as it was an hour and fifteen minutes long.
This guy is awesome. He's a little hard to understand, but if he senses you can't understand him, he writes it on the board. I had him for three hours, but it wasn't that bad. He's very interesting to watch teach.
His lectures were unclear half the time, the only thing that made it worth-while are the outlines he post for the class to follow in his lectures. He is easy, but take him if you have time to waste and you don't get annoyed easily.
Beeko is an amazing teacher, he truly cares about his students.. if you do not understand something he will repeat it and repeat it until you understand. Class had 2 50 mc questions that were exactly from his lecture notes that he had given to you. Also one 3-4 page paper was required. Amazing class lots of music playing! Definitely recommended!
I don't get these other reviews... Beeko is amazing. He's extremely passionate. He's got an accent, so you have to listen carefully at times, but he makes outlines and all exams follow it word-for-word. 10% participation, 40% exams, 50% term paper. You'll learn so much. He's one of my favorite professors by far. I highly recommend him!
Was extremely hard to understand. His lectures were from an outline, that follow the text as well as test completely. I dont recommend this class. I didn't learn anything new. Boring and hard to attend. Waste of time and money.
Difficult to understand his accent, but a really good teacher. He wants everybody to learn the subject, and he's really passionate about teaching it and will help the students where ever they need it. Lectures can be a bit slow, but the class is great for getting a general history of African music or for filling a requirement. Gives great examples.
good professor. easy to get along. memorize notes and small details
50% final paper, 30% in exams, 10% film response, 10% attendance. Has you fill out pre-made outlines for every class and tells you everything to study for exams. That being said, DO NOT SKIMP ON THE FINAL PAPER. It's more or less your entire grade. He only sets a minimum page number, but if you want to do well, you need to do a lot more than that.
Professor is obviously passionate about this course but the course itself is unorganized and diffitcult in terms of how easy it should really. I managed to get low B's on the quiz after hours of studying but still got an A+ in the class after writing a 23 pg final paper. The final paper is all that matters. Dont blow it
Ended up with an A+. Biggest joke of a class I have taken at Pitt. Got As on every exam/assignment and he was STILL willing to give out extra credit points. Final paper is half of your grade and he says "5 pages double spaced" but you'll end up with 15-20 at least, which is even better cause he'll give you a great grade. Passionate guy, easy class.
Dr. Beeko is a great professor. Passionate about his subjects. He has a bit of an accent, but is very eager to clarify himself if something is unclear. Tests are very clear cut! 1 film response paper and a final paper with up to 10 points extra credit. Show up to the reviews (attendance is take anyway), study, and pass easily!
Easy A, painfully boring but he's an extremely kind man who loves the material. Go to class and study the day before the exams.
Class & lectures very boring. Lots of reading--don't bother doing it, totally not worth it and that's coming from someone who never skips a reading so trust me. (Must buy book for essay Qs & he will tell what pgs to read) Take furious notes when he reviews the class before the exam because he literally goes through each question & gives the answer.
Very nice man who wants everyone to get As. He gives you test questions before but you truly got to listen carefully since his accent is thick. You must go to class to pass
He is a sweet man, but he did not make this class enjoyable. His class consists of writing dense paragraphs verbatim from a PowerPoint every class. He is not clear on what he expects for assignments, and even if you ask you will get a work-around before the answer you wanted. (4 exams, a film essay, and a 10+ page final paper)
Go to class. You never know when he takes attendance. He definitely knows his stuff and i learned a lot. He has a thick accent. He is from Ghana. Lecture can be a bit boring, but it is a very easy class. Do well on your final paper. I started a week before it was due and still got an A. Study the day before the test and pass! Tons of extra credit!!
He gave readings from the textbook. I never read them once after seeing reviews on here. They are just for interest. He will give you so much extra credit if you do the extra assignments. You can go from an B- to an A. Do all four test essays and kill the final paper. Low stress class. Study day before test and pass. Good office hrs. Kind man
Will definitely take him again. He literally wants everyone to do well and gives SOO much extra credit! He has a heavy accent which makes it hard to understand. Take good notes. It is more convenient to type so bring your laptop. Do well of your final paper. You can tell he really loves the material. Got an A easily. Textbook needed for test essay
Gave me so much extra credit. He is so nice and wants everyone to do well. He has a heavy accent, but still an awesome dude. You need the textbook for test essays but not the reading "assignments." Take for an easy A. Study on after class and day before test :)
Thick accent but still a very easy class. He will tell you exactly what do study for. He also gives a lot of extra credit. Show up to class. He takes attendance. Class can be boring but what can you do. Recommend 10/10
Extra credit!!! He gives so much if you do the assignments. Went from a high B to an A. 4 tests, 2 film papers and a final essay. Do not bomb the final essay, it has extra credit too! Study the Wednesday before the test. If you dont do well on the test, do ALL the extra credit assignments. You will be surprised.
Easiest class I took at Pitt. and i took indo european fairy tales and history of jazz. Show up and get an A. Extra credit. I have no idea how you can't get a good grade
Dr Beeko is awesome. He's one of my favorite professors. He gives a ton of extra credit and wants all his students to do well. He even said in lecture, "There's no reason why all of you can't get an A, just do the extra credit". He really made his class enjoyable and I can't thank him enough for all he has done. A really memorable professor!
A 10 page paper in addition to 4 tests. Best part? He wont tell you that he wants 10+ pages paper and will flunk you if you turn in a five page paper.
Really good teacher with clear expectations. Getting an A is really doable given the amount of extra credit he gives. Very nice teacher
Professor Beeko gives you a bunch of long articles to read and then just repeats what they say in class, so you don't really have to read them. He gives you the answers to the test in class the day before, all you have to do is memorize. Not super clear on what he wants for essays. But classes are beyond boring.
This class translated horribly to an online format. He cannot work Canvas, we emailed assignments to him instead. He also can't communicate through email, he will get confused if you email him more than once; he doesn't understand that emails exist together in a chain. Gets upset if you format a paper wrong but gives you no guidance to fix it.
Took online during corona in fall 2020. This course (taken for a gen ed) should not have been such a headache. Beeko gave extremely vague "outlines" that often made little sense, gave no requirements or rubrics for his papers and graded harshly, as if you can read his mind. Bad at answering emails, did not respond to students' questions on Canvas.
Dr. Beeko's class is great (and very easy). He's a very nice man and seems to grade on effort. I really liked his class. Just try and you'll do well.
Should have been an easy A but ended up being a headache. Lectures had nothing to do with the papers that determined your grade. Guidelines were always vague and he definitely liked things a certain way. Really hard to ask questions or seek clarification because he was easily confused over email. No rubrics, no nothing.
Had him this semester all online. Had no work besides instead of tests he assigned 2 essays. Gave very little time for them with no rubric or requirements but then took points off for being too brief. Just assigned the 10 paged final paper with a 7 paged rubric due in 2.5 weeks. Easy class for a gened.
I had professor Beeko for Black Performance Aesthetics, and I found him to be a very fair grader with plenty of time given for each essay. Personally, I never had an issue with him responding to emails at all. I definitely recommend this class! Honestly just put the effort in if you expect to get an A, and make sure to be detailed on the exams.
Tests are specific to minor details that he barely went over in lecture - He gives 25 questions 2 days before test day but only uses only 10. The exam is completely written responses, on paper not even typed - including the Essay which should be 2 pages. Exam questions are self-taught and skipped over in lectures. Memorization not learning.
I had COVID and he didnt reply to my 5 emails about missing a test for a full week. Hes inaccessible outside of class and tells you explicitly not to email him. His tests are based on giant study guides given 2 days before the test. You have to write 2 essays based on films only available as one DVD at Hillman, which 33 students have to access.
Exams are primarily based off of the rote memorization of outlines which are unclear and confusing, and he often contradicts himself. Part of the way through the semester, he started not allowing us to take notes on the material because he claimed that it took too much time. The class structure is disorganized and he is poor at communication.
He gives you massive study guides 2 days before the test that are based solely on memorization w/both questions and answers that are unclear and vague. The tests also have an essay portion, but he's extremely unclear about what he wants on the essay (like even how long) and will penalize you if you don't fill the criteria he doesn't give you.
If you show up to lecture and take notes you'll be fine. he is so passionate, caring, and funny, and I enjoyed taking his class. there's a midterm exam, 1 essay, and final exam. All easy if you show up and take the notes.
Lectures consist of him reading off the slides. His tests are based off a study guide he gives 2 days before class, which you fill in based off of your notes. Even if you memorize the answers, just as he'd written in the slides, he'll still take off partial credit for arbitrary reasons, usually pertaining to information we didn't discuss in class.
Worst professor I've ever had. Exams and papers with incredibly unclear guidelines that he refuses to communicate about further. One paper based on two films, which have only one copy available at Hillman for a 40 person class. Tests based on rote memorization. Points taken off randomly for misunderstanding unclear guidelines on untaught content.
One of the worst professors I have ever had and I am senior. His class is unnecessarily hard simply because he is not clear on his expectations. He provides a study guide two days before the exam ranging from 30-40 short answer questions in addition to two essay questions from which any 10 could be on the exam and you pick one essay to write about
The tests are based purely off memorization of a study guide he gives 2 days before the test and each test has an essay that is based off things he has never gone over in class. The test questions are concerned with things like knowing the exact year something happened in. The lecture is really boring too.
The class is just lecture and the tests are things you have to memorize. There are also essays on things he does not teach. Not a very enjoyable or informative class, can't say I learned a lot.
Professor Beeko is probably a nice guy but I really wouldn't know, I can't understand a word he says. You are only graded on the tests and you get study guides to the exams like the night before the test. He doesn't seem like he grades hard but he also doesn't let you see a single grade till the end. So I have no clue how I did. Just don't do it.
I wouldn't take him if you suck at memorizing large amounts of information, writing essays by hand in person, and writing final papers that take over 20 pages to cover all of the guidelines he's outlined for you. Didn't learn anything other than I magically managed to survive this class at the end of the term.
Bad Prof if you have any interest in getting a good grade. Lectures are required and are the least engaging, long-winded slides I have ever seen, and the exams are just bizarre. You are expected to be able to define terms word for word or you receive 0 credit. You are given a study guide 2 days before and expected to memorize all of it + essay
All you do is memorize study guide questions, write timed essays, + learn nothing. You'll write a ridiculously long final paper + never speak to any of your classmates. He grades unnecessarily hard. Several documents for the final paper are missing on the canvas page. Extremely bad about clarifying deadlines + gives no rubrics. I regret enrolling.
Awful professor. Lecture consists of him reading directly from poorly worded and confusing power points for the entire class. Only four tests and a final paper in the class, the tests were all memorization based and graded quite arbitrarily. There were no instructions or guidelines for the final worth 50% and Beeko provides 0 feedback.
Dr. Beeko is one of my favorite professors at PITT. I have taken him for three semesters in a row. He gives you the exact material to study for each exam and he is such a nice guy. Highly recommend.
This Class is a drag, the professor speaks the entire time filled with very plain unentertaining information. Easy Tests and things, but I've never wanted to get out of a class more, I would only take it if it was the last gen ed available.
never wanted to leave a class so much during my life, this man is smart for making attendance mandatory or else nobody would show up hes that boring. dont take this class
would not recommend this class at all. not interesting and fails to engage students. professor doesn't even post test grades on canvas so progress cant be calculated. can test something he didn't say in class then later say it was 'implied'. never responds to emails. monotonous class that requires way too much effort for sth meant to be a gen ed.
he assigns more work than needed for a gened, especially since it is not writing intensive. essays are mandatory part of biweekly quiz in class, and we are supposed to write a film on 2/3 movies, turn in a final essay based on everything learnt in the semester, and have a final exam on top of that. would not recommend class; also uninteresting
doesn't post notes on canvas because he knows students wouldn't attend. lifts material straight from textbook and reads verbatim off his slides without explaining. too much work for an intro gen-ed. would not recommend this class if you want easy credits. old-fashioned and won't upload grades on canvas and wont take effort to improve
information dumps on slides and doesn't post them on canvas. doesn't explain in class and instead talks only about tests eg 'this will be in your test and i want it done like this'. too many tests and papers required for a gen ed class. can't pass without coming to class but class is very uninteresting. don't pick this class.
He makes you write essays, but the essay guidelines are grammatically incorrect. You are to write an essay without knowing what to write about. Simply do not take this class if you're aiming for an A.
Class consists of 2.5 hours (!!!) of poorly worded and dull lecture slides which aren't posted on canvas. Turned an interesting topic boring. Exams and quizzes involve essays with an absurd number of requirements detailed in (once again) poorly-worded prompts, on topics/articles that are new. The grades for all of these, of course, are not posted.
He has probably 30 slides per class and each one is filled. He does not explain things at all he just says at the end of class, "know this for your test" without referencing what to know. He will post a "study guide" 2 days before a test. All of his instructions are unclear, and he provides these "study guides" without posting slides.
African studies dep.t needs to evaluate his outdated, inefficient teaching. expected to write long essay during test and write as he envisions, but won't give rubric or specify guidelines, instead giving broad topic pages long in the textbook. gives study guide 2 days before with 40 questions to memorize; only 10 will come in test. DON'T TAKE CLASS
just came from a 3 hour cramming session of the study guide, and only a quarter of it will show up on the test; im not even done i still have to cram an essay :( Please don't take this class especially if youre an overachiever (in a good way) obsessed with getting As in all your gen eds with minimal effort. passing THIS CLASS NEEDS A LOT OF EFFORT
In the last two weeks of class we have two 6+ page papers and a test for an intro gen ed that the professor knows nobody cares about. Somehow it became the most annoying class of my semester all due to this walking time capsule of a professor. Do not take this class, this man should not be a professor at all. Sad I made this mistake
Dr. Beeko is a kind and smart man, but a bad professor. He has a language barrier which makes it hard to understand what he is saying and asking questions is confusing. You have four tests, each that have a 40 question study guide you have to memorize and the test only has 10 and has a essay. Two film papers (3-5 pgs) and a final paper (20-30pgs).
Dr Beeko is very passionate about this class and is very encouraging when working with students. He cares a lot about his students understanding the material and he is willing to adjust your grade accordingly if you work really hard on the essays so that you aren't screwed over on your grade since a majority of your grades are test scores.
Has a very thick accent and is hard to understand. He doesn't post the notes so you either have to see him after class or try to keep up with his lectures. His tests are all memorization. Do not take this course for an easy A because you will not get it.
Not understanding, boring, and so so much work for a gen ed
Worst professor, he actually does not know what he is doing and all tests are memorization based. I was excited to learn about early african civ, but I cannot tell you how disappointed I was after the first couple of classes. After our final paper, 15 pgs long, he emailed all of us saying we needed to redo the second part. During the summer!
He's caring and kind, grades on a curve, and allows ample opportunity for extra credit near the end of the semester. If you care about your GPA, he's stressful to take because you never really know your grade in the class until the final grade is posted. However, with the extra credit, it is not very hard to get a good grade.
Terrible teacher. Will post online video and assign an unreasonably long assignment with little to no direction. Proceeds to grade the assignment incredibly hard, DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR
This guy is terrible. Exams are impossible, you literally have to put word for word what he says or he takes points off. I'm a senior stem major and he is the worst professor I've ever had. This is a gen ed too like chill bro.
He gives you a study guide two days before each exam and answers can tend to be very long. And only 10 of them show up on the exam. On top of that, he gives you guidlenes for an essay that you need to write before the exam, memorize, and then write again on the exam! Great class if you love hating yourself.
Boring lectures where he reads right off the slides, but doesn't post them. Doesn't respond to emails. Required attendance. Did offer some extra credit. Final paper was 25 pages long.
Pitt: what are you doing? ALL this man can do is copy and paste random sentences onto slides, read them verbatim, and then tell us that we must regurgitate them verbatim on an exam. Study guides have 35 questions, many of which require 3 or more memorized sentences. So memorize 90 random sentences for each test and learn nothing.
This was the worst professor I have ever taken and it sucks because the concepts in this class are super cool. He is too demanding with the exams, everything is memory-based, with no multiple-choice. Memorize every word or else he takes points off. Plus, the final project is a 20-page paper, and this is a gen-ed. this class made me hate myself.
do not take this class he is the worst professor and the hardest class.
Tests (40-50 possible questions, only 10 appear) are purely memorization; if you don't memorize the answer word for word, you'll get an absurd amount of points taken off (even if you had the correct answer and simply worded it differently). Lectures are unbearable, but you must attend if you don't want your attendance grade to drop.
Please don't take any classes with this professor. The work load is truly the icing on the cake, he assign multiple exams through the semester all memory biased and grades very down to detail. He assigns two final papers at the end one film paper about 10-15 pages and a final paper that is about 25 pages. Please beware.
I wish I checked his ratings before taking his class as a freshman bc boy were these reviews right. I spent most days praying I'd get kidnapped to skip. You can't even understand his accent and he reads straight off the slides but expects the most for assignments. Attendance is mandatory and worth 50 points out of 300, no absences gets excused.
Overall, Dr. Beeko is a very nice man. However, his tests are outrageously hard and are all memorization. They were all short response answers and you have to write an essay along with that. He also has 2 papers due at the end that he doesn't give you the information for until the last few weeks of the semester. A gen ed shouldn't be this hard!
Dr. Beeko, overall, is a very nice guy, but he should not be teaching any courses. What he expects you to do for tests is ridiculous (40+ possible open ended questions, but only 10 on test plus an essay). He does not give you any of the materials for the 2 essays until the end of the semester, yet expects you to be able to complete them with ease.
Im just here to warn everyone. DO NOT take this dude. Even if you have to take the course find ANYONE else or do the class at CCAC or something. Your welcome!
Simply not what I expected. I was pretty excited to take this course and now I am writing a minimum 15 page final paper for an intro class. His expectations are very high but I do not think they are appropriate. We are writing essays frequently enough for a class that isn't considered writing intensive. Save yourself the stress, do not take.
the easiest and best africana professor you can take a pitt. half the people commenting here were j lazy fr. this classes are easy. For exams, its mostly memorization from his notes and you write essays but he gives you prompts days before the exam so u're more prepred. bucha haters here damn
This professor will not let you know anything about the assignments, he might talk about them in class but it is impossible to understand what he wants from us students, it was just really bad. Gave me a real hard time for 4 months. Do not take this dude
terrible lecture but the tests were all memorization so that was chill, i would say take him if you want an easy A, not if you want to learn about africa
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
86%
Textbook Required
40%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.49 avg changeRatings by Course
MUSIC1349
4.0
(1)HIS101
4.0
(1)AFRCN1656
3.5
(2)AFRCNA0318
3.5
(2)MUSIC1340
3.0
(10)Difficulty by Course
afrcna1310
4.5
AFRCNA1331
4.2
AFRCNA1240
3.8
0805AFRCNA
3.5
AFRCN0586
3.1