Dr. Silin brings European & Russian clarity to the essential facts presented in the course! Very cool!

He brings a higher level of understanding to the class than I would expect at this level that, while appealing to myself, undoubtedly is going to annoy some of the other students in this class. Be prepared to have a hard time if you're easily confused by physics.

It seems strange to me that so many people are complaining because I always thought math was a part of physics. Professor Silin has been very adaptive to the students suggestions and is improving with every class he teaches. He has provided more examples and explains everything he is doing clearly. I approve.

Very easy to approach. Notes and lectures are easy to understand. Very helpful when you need something explained.

If you have problems with his lectures go to his office hours. Lectures can be confusing but one on one and he is fantastic. He lacks fashion sense although. Black pants Navy blue dress shirt, blech!

Mr. Ilia at first seemed a little nervous but recently has became a very good proffesor and in time may become one of the best this university has to offer. for his first year A+ and tremendous improvement

Good prof. always willing to help. knows what he is talking about

Dr. Silin started his first year teaching and was very nervous. Over time he has become a far better teacher. Although many people don't like his teachign style, he is always willing to sit down with you one on one to explain someting. Overall a pretty good teacher. He knows his stuff.

knows his stuff very well;He will become a good teacher.

I to agree that Illia displays a fine sense of fashion while still exhibiting a profound knowledge of the Physics 130 cirriculum. With time, Illia's clairty will match his ability to wear a fine turtleneck, and he will be a great prof.

Illia is coming into his own as a Prof and His style and fashion have not suffered one bit!

The derivations so aptly spoken of are shown as though we are Physics students a couple of years ahead of where we really are. For people like me who actually have an interest in such things, this is a *good* thing! (In other words, quit complaining because you hate Physics.)

wicked awesome. Prof of the year for sure!

Dr. Silin really likes physics, you can tell, but he just hasn't really had much experience at teaching. He can answer any question without much difficulty but can't easily explain the topic to an entire class.

This man is a genius.. in time will probably become a real real good prof. just needs to keep teaching. probably better to teach higher physics classes as he is a genius so thinks of phys 130 as measly childs play. but for a first year proff.. pretty good and .he improved alot

He is a really nice person. If his lecture is not good enough, go to his office hour, he is always there, and willing to help you.

Very interesting course and Dr Silin is very knowledgeable and very eager to help out. Very easy to understand and he halps make the course material easy to learn by making class fun.

webassign works well and he is always willing to help!

I wasn't too excited to take any science courses but I had to so I chose Astronomy over Biology and Chemistry and now I think it was a good choice. I like the class and the Dr. Silin is a funny man which makes the class enjoyable. Webassign is convenient too. The assignments every Friday forces me to read the textbook and therefore I'm never behind

Good prof. Very helpful. AMAZINGLY smart. Could be too smart & knowledgeable to teach a 1st year class. I think he feels like the class is stupid at times.

I think this prof was an awesome teacher. His explanations were always very helpful. He was concerned that he was getting through to the class and really put forth an effort to help us do well. His lectures were fine. Web assign was good because it offers you the chance to correct a silly error. I would recomend this prof.

Very willing and able to assist in any way possible.

Pretty solid teacher. Very smart and helpful.

Great teacher, fun an entertaining. Has a slight problem with confidence but makes up for it with enthusiasm for the course (Astronomy)

Great Proff, kept the class entertained

Great Prof, very knowledgable

He is one of the most helpful and nicest prof. Very quick in responding. His notes are beautiful and informative. I found his expectations for a 100 level to be high, but his tests were all multiple choice. Thank goodness!! And I liked using WebAssign. Keep up the good work prof!!!

One of the nicest proffs at the U of A. Very helpful. Midterm and Final were pretty tough

Very smart. assignments were fair but exams were hard. easy to do good if you enjoy astro and study the calculations otherwise you'll be lost. not recommended for arts students.

Wonderful. Difficult, but so wonderful. The accent, the topics, all of is just wonderful.

Great professor! His jokes are awesome and so is his accent! I absolutely LOVE coming to this class, which I can't say about any other classes. He is so helpful and it doesn't hurt that he's also pretty good-looking. ;)

great prof, really well prepared, entertaining comments

The mere fact that he's teaching this course for fun and for free tells you something. Online questions are answered amazingly quick and are always helpful. Keeps lectures interesting by throwing in random gems (jokes, comments, etc) where you least expect it. An excellent professor.

Great teacher, really dedicated to his subject. Clear lecture notes, all posted online, and really helpful if you need it.

Honestly the best prof I've ever had. I loved going to class, every lecture was the highlight of my day. Tests are a little tough but don't really go beyond what he teaches in the lectures, so if you show up, you'll do fine. I can't explain how much I enjoyed this Prof. I wish I failed the course so I could have him again.

I never thought I would love this class as much as I do! Im not sure if its because Dr. Silin simply makes the material so exciting to learn, or because I think he's cute. Either way it's a wonderfully enjoyable class!

Great prof - Really knows what he's talking about. Lecture notes are clear and online. I wish he would teach higher level Astro, so I could have him again. Highly recommended.

I found Prof. Silin's lectures clear, interesting and fun. Slight condescending manner--prob'ly not deliberate. As far as derivations, the only ones that got confusing were the ones we didn't need to know anyway, and he was very willing to stick around and answer questions. Sounds like people are complaining that a physics class was teaching math.

I liked Illia, he's pretty good. He does assume everything is easy, but he is very helpful at questions and quite willing to help. Good prof.

Best Prof I had all year, I'm looking forward a lot to having him for ASTRO 320 this year. Really knows his stuff, and is always available for discussions of the material.

To be honest, I really think it's just me. I attend the lectures, but have absolutely no idea what anything means or what is being talked about. I couldn't answer anything on the mid-term, but it's my own fault for not understanding anything. Still, some more explanation and examples as to how the infinite formulae presented would have helped ...

Great Professor, he got an ovation at the end of our last class of the semester, nobody teaches astro like Dr. Silin

Dr. Silin was always willing to have office hours and answer any questions I had about the assignments or exams. Midterm was too long, but scaled appropriately. Highly recommended as a professor.

Dr. Silin was a great proff and very enthusiastic about the topics. go to class to fill in his online notes. he was very helpful when you needed it and treated everyone with a lot of respect. tests are fair. highly recommended!

Increased sensitivity to the faith and beliefs of students when speaking in reference to "scientific evidence", as well as refraining from such statements as "dinosaurs disprove the Bible" would be greatly appreciated in the future.

He is rather boring, and seems to almost stumble through the lectures.

Great prof, really hard exams. Explained everything clear, just needed some more examples. May be just becasue of the amount of course content though. Really smart and friendly.

He was a great teacher, always helpful. I found it hard to stay awake in his class though, because of the classroom lighting and because he has a very soothing voice... easy to fall asleep to! It was a very good thing that he put the slides online!!!

Dr. Silin was actually one of my all-time favorite profs. Hes clearly excited about this field of study and it makes the lectures really fun and informative. I recommend printing off the notes because more often than not he adds a lot more information during the lecture. We miss you Dr. Silin!

Awesome prof helpful and brilliant beast university prof i have ever had!

Incredibly interesting class. Professor was easily understandable even at the back of a large lecture theatre. The WebAssign system for assignments was easy to use and allowed for quick feedback. My only complaint is that the rather expensive textbook was not opened once for the entire course. Consider buying a webassign key seperate from the text.

I was impressed with the enthusiasm the porfessor had for the course and he was very good at keeping the class interested and ingaged in the lectures. Definately a brilliant professor at U of A.

You can definitely tell he loves the subject - very enthusiastic about it. Sometimes he comes across as a bit arrogant, but it's not a big thing. The lecture notes are online - definitely print them off beforehand, as he adds to them. Also, it can be hard to stay awake in the class - the lights are turned down and it was at the end of the day.

Helpful when you ask him about assignments, nice guy. Not the greatest lecturer though, fell asleep a lot, plus material was a tad boring. Midterm was a bit on the long side (52.2% class average) but the final was a breeze. He is OK overall.

Awesome prof. Awesome course. Midterm was long and I think that might have messed alot of the class up and had a hand in the low average. I had no trouble "staying awake" in this class. Wicked sense of humour and, yah, a bit snarky sometimes but obviously brilliant so who effing cares.

Great class. SILIN IS AWESOME. Not a huge fan of webassign, but I like the fact that if you needed help he got back to you pretty quickly. The video clips in class were cool too. He's absolutely brilliant and as a bonus he's got an awesome accent.

I like the demonstrations in class. :) The way he explains concepts makes them sound extremely simple.

Teaches as a university prof should: presents the necessary information, and if you need help to understand it he is always willing to explain. Shows some irritation with students who expect him to walk them through everything as though they were in high school, which is fine as that is not his job.

He let me borrow his textbook... how nice =) Decent prof, just gotta make sure to put some effort cuz he wont spoon feed you all the information!

Dr. Silin through very hard problems at the class compared to other PHYS 124 sections. However, he was crystal clear when explaining concepts...either you got it or you didn't. He wouldn't be much help to the below average student, but he was very helpful to the average and above average students. Sarcastic humour = hilarious.

I pretty much decided that this guy is probably brilliant. The only problem I had is that teaching entry level physics is probably not his interest, so he had trouble breaking down concepts so that first years could understand. If you worked hard, not an issue, and he was very willing to help if you put in some effort before hand. No babying.

His exams were all multiple choice. Be prepared to work hard and know your theory. Overall, he wasn't a bad prof. His mannerisms can be interpreted as condescending, but you get used to it. He is extremely helpful, if you seek help. He also encouraged student input, which was great.

I really like him as a prof. His assignments are quite tough and test your understanding of the material. All his exams are MC and very difficult but fair, especially when you factor in the curve. He is very helpful when you need help too.