2.9
Quality3.4
Difficulty42%
Would Retake107
Reviews42%
Would Retake
107
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
29
4
22
3
10
2
16
1
30
What Students Say
“Multiple choice tests cover the notes given in the powerpoints”
GEOG2580 - 4.0 rating“You need to go to class because she uses slides with fill in the blanks”
GEOG1290 - 5.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
51%
Textbook Required
69%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.72 avg changeRatings by Course
GEOGA
5.0
(1)GEOGA01
4.0
(1)GEOG3760
4.0
(1)GEOG2580
4.0
(9)GEOG1290
3.4
(33)Difficulty by Course
GEO1290
4.0
GEOG3760
4.0
GEOG3900
4.0
GEOG2272
3.4
GEOG1280
3.3
Reviews (107)
She makes the tests really hard. Averages on the tests were horrible. We had a bad average on the first test and then she made the second one even harder. You must attend lectures since she leaves blanks in the slides. I wouldn't recommend the professor in this class.
Good professor. Useful notes in slide form that can be printed off JUMP. Must attend class b/c some spots are left blank. Fair tests but you must study for them! Overall nice prof and I would recommend her for Geog 1290 (Physical Geo)
I really enjoyed this class! She is a very nice lady and is very approachable. I would highly recommend her to anyone. Tests were not too hard, she gives hints in class as to what's on the tests. Great prof!!
Very unclear, I didn't know where the course was going. The tests don't fairly respresent what is taught in class. Wouldn't take another course with her.
this teacher is 100% USELESS. she is very confused and VERY unclear. It is one thing after another with her, something always goes wrong. She is very unsure of herself.If you ask her a question in class, she probably doesnt know the answer. Tests are easy, because she probably doesnt know much more than we do. NEVER TAKE A COURSE WITH THIS TEACHER
Some of you are being a little harsh. She just isn't one of those intellectual type of people, i guess the upside to this is that I can relate more to her and when she teaches she doesnt expect that we're all geniuses who absorb everything. She is very nice and helpful, and jokes around a bit which is cool. I got an A and I missed sooo many classes
Good prof. Coarse is a real GPA booster. Class attendance definately not mandatory. Test were not that difficult, just study lecture notes and expect good marks.
This was a distance Ed course so there were no classes to attend. Contact with this proffessor was limited to phone, Email, and final exam. She was very helpful and easy to talk to. Marks assignments very hard!
The class material could be overwhelming so be sure to keep on track. She posts notes online so attendance is not mandatory, but it'll be better to attend because she always gives hints on what will be on tests. Her tests are really easy if you read her notes and the book the night prior. Her method of teaching is very easy to understand. Easy one.
One of my favourite professors! She'll go out of her way to help students, and she's so friendly and approachable. Genuinely cares about her students. I like her teaching style, and her tests and quizzes are pretty easy. Uses humour and personal stories to enhance her lectures. Her slides are organaized and clear. I definitely reccommend her!
This professor is absolutely terrible. She is very bland and boring, and doesn't appear to be intelligent what so ever. She asks the class multiple questions because she has no idea. I don't know how she became a professor. Teaches students like they're in kindergarten. If you have any other options, avoid this professor.
BAD professor. She has no idea what she's talking about. You ask her a question, she can't even answer it right away because she doesn't know the answer. Not knowledgeable at all. Every student in the class seemed to be more intelligent than she was. Just horrible professor. Do not take her classes.
Took her for Geog of US and found her excellent but she really dropped the ball on this course. If there's another prof for this course, take them instead. Shymko was very disorganized and got distracted easily. She tested on material that was irrelevant to the course. The mark breakdown was not ideal either. Poor all-around prof.
More notes in one month than most courses have in an entire semester. Material strays from syllabus. Terrible time management, horribly disorganized. Speed of class was unreasonable- impossible to take down notes or her comments. Very, very frustrating. Ugh.
The phase of the class went really slow during the first two months! Ms. Shymko is a very helpful professor and wants her students to succeed in their studies and I like that about her! But most of the time her lectures are lacking substance and tends to be unclear! Mid-terms were fair in my opinion as well as the final! An OK prof!
This was the absolute worst prof i've had in my entire university career. She was horribly disorganized, unclear about expectations, and treated us like we were in kindergarten (eg. can't go on internet on laptops during class, threatening to tell us where to sit in class, etc.) and she embarased students in class Avoid at ALL costs. Unclear & rude
Awful, disorganized lady who is very irritating. Doesn't understand the irony in stopping the class for quiet talking. Can't teach, notes online don't match those shown in class. Has confusing emphasis on importance of a subject. Can't answer questions, or get an explanation straight. Learn this class from the textbook.
Average, definitely not horrible. She posts notes online and won't do the class unless her notes are posted. You must attend class because she leaves blanks in notes. I'd definitely take a class with her again. Tests were consistent in difficulty, and she did a good 2-day review in class before the exam. Textbook not necessary to finish with an A.
I really enjoyed this prof and her classes. I took 2 with Janna and thought she did an exellent job, especially on short notice.
Really enjoyed this class. Prof is friendly and easy going and goes out of her way to help students. She is one of the better instructors at this university.
Wow -some of these comments are way off - this prof is great. Took this class in 2012 - there were some immature and rude students who continuously talked in class - most likely the ones who rated her poorly - this is University so grow up! I would definitely take another course with this prof
not the best. Classes start late and end early, and are her notes are full of seemingly useless information.
she's definitely one of my favourite profs, some of the comments are way off. she posts notes online and even posts review questions. will only test 1 or 2 questions out of the textbook, if any. takes a genuine interest in individual students and emphasizes what you need to know if you ask. if you put effort in, so will she & its easy to get an A.
I took this course last summer, She was okay, but her test were really hard and didnt really give us class review before midterms or final exams, her final exam emphasized more on the 1st and 2nd midterm than the final exams , she talked really fast and sometime didnt really make sense at all, i bought the book it was just a waster!
Fantastic Prof - the university should hire more like her
Awesome course - really enjoyed it. This instructor cares about her students. Would take another class with her.
Took this as a summer class - good instructor. if you go to class, she gives tons of hints about what will be on the exam. Highly reccomend
Took in summer - easy A . . . funny prof - don't need the textbook if you attend class.
Janna was one of the BEST PROFS IVE EVER HAD. I took it in the summer and she was so invested in the well being of her students. She genuinely cares about grades and understanding. This University needs more profs like Janna ! love you !
Do not leave the natural hazard summary to the last minuet! It is extremely time consuming. I received an A on it after 40+ hours working on it.
So unimpressed with this prof. Tries to be easy going but teaches the material poorly and tests hard, heavily emphasizing on things that aren't in the notes she provides. I found her to be unprofessional and the amount of time it takes her to return exams is ridiculous. I still received an A, but wouldn't recommend the class or the prof to anyone.
AMAZING prof! Her notes are fill the blank so you have to go to class, but if you pay attention, and do the review questions she provides, you will do really well. Most of the review questions are used in the exam, focused mostly on those. Such a good prof and very helpful! I'm taking another class with her next semester. A definite recommendation!
her lectures are alright, it just lack of creativity. She teach like a high school student and her exams are very poor, multiple choice with trick question is not the kind of level for university.
Dr. Wilson was by far one of the best professors I have had at the University of Manitoba. Her lectures were easy to follow, and she always used humour to make the class more laid back. Her midterms, quizzes, and final exam are fair, as long as you really make a point of learning the content and reading the text. Overall, excellent professor
Had Janna las semester for GEOG 2570 and loved her! Took this class with her, but had different opinions this time. She still does the same type of notes, I found this class more dull than 2570, so take that one if you have an option. She posts notes really late, and for this class, she barely did any review questions, which are what she tests on.
Attendance in mandatory (fill in the blank notes), and she uses the text book sometimes, but I got away with just reading the one she has on reserve. If you know you're material and you've studied, you'll do well. SHe does post notes very late though and unlike her 2570 class, she doesn't do the review questions (which are very helpful).
Love this prof! She puts humour into her lessons, and if you're confused will go back and explain, or will stay after class to talk about it. Her exams are somewhat tough, but if you studied, you'll do fine! Grading is based on two midterms and a final. MANDATORY attendance fill in the blank notes . Looking at trying to take another class with her!
Very difficult to understand this professor because she speaks too quickly to jot down notes and her notes are basically copy paste from the textbook. The textbook is hard to read as well, which makes the notes low quality as well.
She is a good Prof and funny,only thing is she takes forever before she releases the final grade.
I have taken a couple of other course with Dr. Wilson, and have never been disappointed. She is by far one of the most personable and easy going profs at the U of M. Her methods of evaluation are fair, and she really makes a point of making a comfortable learning environment. Overall, a great professor and a great course.
janna is nice but sometimes boring , her test are kind of tough but if u can do well in the first test, then u will be fine, but final exam is really simple compared to the midterms(think she does that on purpose). there is a lot of matter to learn, and u have to be in class, because u have to finish the note in class. DONT MISS A CLASS
Notes are given. Multiple choice tests cover the notes given in the powerpoints.
You need to go to class because she uses slides with fill in the blanks. Easy A if you know all the material on the slides and will barely need textbook. She tries to be humorous in lectures and I enjoyed learning from her.
Amazing prof! Would take another course with Janna.
I've taken other courses with Dr. Wilson and wouldn't hesitate to take another. The material ca be dry at times, but Dr. Wilson's enthusiasm makes up for it.
Loved this class. Dr. Wilson is funny and cares about her students. The 8:30 start sucked . . . she was always enthusiastic. Fill in the blank notes, but you need to take extra notes. She emphasizes what else needs to be written down. Would highly recommend.
Ms Wilson is terrific. She genuinely cares for her students. Her tests consist of material covered in class with no surprises. Her tests/exams aren't easy but you can do well with regular attendance. She is funny and nice and I would gladly take her class again. (She does speak a little fast sometimes and it can be difficult to understand)
Laptop is recommended for her lectures. All course material is power point notes that you can either download and fill in the blanks on laptop, or print them of and hand write notes. I had no problem keeping up on a laptop in addition to writing extra notes, but you may not be able to keep up hand writing everything. Overall great professor, recmnd
She's gives decent lectures but uses an online program to give quizzes that don't grade what you're taught in class or what you're assigned to read. Nice teacher, terrible class. Honestly a waste of time.
Really good prof, especially if it's your first year of university. She holds review sessions prior to any mid term tests that are super helpful. She is a very kind person and genuinely cares! Would totally recommend!
She is a nice professor, easy to talk. But class is really heavy, lots of words need to remember, she test is random, will ask question from the textbook instead of power point.
Best prof I've ever had. easily could of finished with an A if I put more time into reviewing notes/studying. Great prof and class you wont regret it
Great Prof. Tests mostly on the lecture notes. Need to go to class b/c she gives fill in the blank notes.
My third class with Janna. Wouldn't hesitate to take another class with her. If you want to do well in this class, do the review notes.
Favourite prof in the geography department. Provides review questions for every chapter, tests basically cover 90% of the review questions.
Great Prof! She really does want you to do well in the class. She has review sessions for the finals which go over multiple choice which usually repeat on the exam. You have to study and read the textbook, material is a bit dry.
Dr. Janna is an amazing prof, she's willing to help whatever during the class or outside of class. buy the textbook it really helps you understand what she talking about. it is not the easy course but if you pay attention you will learn huge useful stuff if you interest geography.
As a first year student not knowing what to expect, Janna is the ideal prof. She is very clear on what notes you should be taking in lecture (she will repeat definitions as many times as you need!) The midterms are primarily lecture based, so attending class will help you out. She is absolutely hilarious and makes lecture actually enjoyable!
Relatively easy class but you do need to watch a few documentaries and do extra reading as it is tested on both midterms and final exam. Note that if geography bores you in highschool, geo1290 will bore you as well. Only take if you are interested in the topics. Good elective overall. Janna makes it clear when a definitio is needed to be memorized.
Relatively easy class but you do need to watch a few documentaries and do extra reading as it is tested on both midterms and final exam. Note that if geography bores you in highschool, geo1290 will bore you as well. Only take if you are interested in the topics. Good elective overall. Janna makes it clear when a definition is needed to be memorized
the most unorganized, tardy and an overall poor prof. Don't expect to see any quiz, assignment, or exam mark for at least a couple weeks. The class itself is fair in terms of level of difficulty but she makes it worse with her boring lectures and presence
Disorganized, would say she would do things but she never did in a timely manner (or at all in some cases), wasted so much time in class so we rushed through info, never left class interested (and geog is my major), nice but would sometimes say weirdly passive aggressive things out of the blue. Best word to describe my experience this term: Messy
Her lecture speed was pretty slow and we were rushed to the last minute. It's terrifying when you have to learn new material a day before midterms. Both our midterm averages were 59% which is pretty low. She was always 3-5 minutes late and ended class early. She did not cover a lot of material that we were supposed to learn. Do not recommend her.
She has the typical fill in the blank answers on her slides. She is pretty funny and engaging. As long as you do the readings and get all the lecture answers you should be able to study easily.
janna is very nice but was not a fan of her class. she easily got off topic and as a result we didn't get through the entire course material. notes are fill in the blank which are a waste of time and only good for making students come to class. the exam textbook questions are detail specific and basically require you to memorize the readings
She kept saying how nice and understanding she was to our situation in the pandemic, but continuously asked us to teach ourselves materials through textbook readings, assigned the most useless papers, did not provide any notes, and asked unrealistic questions in tests and exams. I want to like her but this course was such a disaster. (4th year)
I took GEOG 1290 the previous year, until she took a leave of absence and I loved her! This course not so much :( She used to give slides with blanks, but this year took a different approach with tons of reading from the textbook and lots of lecture notes. Learning the course content mostly myself didnt seem to beneficial to my learning personally.
Most testable content is not given in the lectures, you have to teach yourself through textbook readings. She does not put effort into lectures and does not care about the students during the online course. Most lecture content is pre recorded and very confusing, memorizing random facts from the readings is the best way to succeed in this course.
Although my first university course I'm glad this was it. Professor Wilson is literally the kindest person you could meet, she genuinely cares for her students & wants you to do well. The course itself is set-up really well & all the information you need is always accessible online, the negative reviews are false from people who didn't even try.
Prof Wilson was easily the worst prof i've ever had. she lectures way too quickly and goes over a lot of information. the quizzes were only 30 marks for 100 pages worth of information with little to no direction on what to study. when she asked us for feedback she didn't listen to any of it. whoever takes this class better have a great memory.
She was a guest lecture in my class and I absolutely could not take her lectures. She obviously is very educated and does not talk on the level of an introductory course. I had a hard time following her lectures and had to teach myself through textbook readings. I wish she was never a lecturer in my class.
She is very nice and caring but tests and exams are overwhelming with hundreds of slides you need to memorize for the final (probably about 700-800 slides) and questions are very specific random facts from the textbook and slides
FAR too much material for an intro course. Goes on rants, wastes time at start of each class. Must pay for program to submit discussion posts that are moderated by grad students who are insanely picky just to show they're doing something. Tests are too broad. Hundreds of slides per test, weekly assignments. Annoying voice. Nice lady, bad prof
Professor Wilson went on strike for 5 weeks and did nothing to accommodate her students. Be prepared for an excessive amount of work as she has a course load meant for 3rd or 4th year students, not an intro class. You have to pay for a program to submit assignments on and she doesnt even grade them. Awful course and awful prof.
During the strike this past semester, I felt she accommodated fairly. The final assignment is time consuming but interesting. The quizzes are fairly easy as long as you study the material well in advance. Her assessment schemes are straight forward which is nice and if she has a decent amount of time to grade she gives good feedback.
I found she was very specific in the questions she would ask on quizzes, so you definitely should be good at memorizing to take this class. There were things that she mentioned once in passing or not at all on the quizzes (pretty annoying). She was really nice in her accommodations after the strike and she seems to really care about her students.
She is mediocre. There are a lot of lectures and a lot of reading. The assessment questions can be very specific therefore, you're forced to memorize a lot of detail instead of understanding it. But, geography as a discipline requires a lot of memorizing therefore, I understand why the course is the way it is. If you like geo, take it.
I really loved her as a Prof & person, It's impossible for me to write it within 350 words but she really cared for me & if anyone else reaches out they will get the same treatment as she has a compassionate nature. She includes humor & personality in her lectures making it fun to be a part of. Proud of her for striking & fighting for her rights.
Very heavy course load, big on tests and weekly assignments (for which you have to pay for an account so you can do them)... Won't provide any practice questions besides the Learning Objectives which are super vague and will test you on most random details. I studied for this class more than I did for biology and I'm not a science student...
Janna is kind but heavy on workload. I spent more time working in this course than my two other classes combined. Over the term, 20 assignments were due through packback each 2%. 3 closed book tests with 26 questions and 25 mins alotted time. Heavy textbook and 12 units means you have lots to remember. No practice questions for lectures and tests.
GEOG 1290 was intense. Dr. Wilson covers a LOT of material in very short time frames, and expects students to have it memorized. The minor Packback assignments were reasonable and boosted my grade, but the 4 exams were really hard. Only take this class if you're really interested in geography. Not sure how I managed an A tbh.
Dr Wilson has been helpful with directing the course she is good. The course (GEOG 1290) is exceptionally hard and requires entirely too much of your time. Ten assignments is too many for what they are worth in time and grades, and the tests are intense. Do not take this course unless its you need it.
She makes this course harder than it should be. Gives little marks to large assignments. And gives little to no tests on note materials
Lectures move at a breakneck pace, the important parts of the lectures are spoken out loud and not included on slides. Some sections tested on you have to read on your own time on top of regular readings. Very contradictory on what she expects for assignments, what she calls minor errors get huge deductions. Had to drop the course due to work load
Janna Wilson gives good easy explanations on many difficult concepts, while the course is very heavy on information it is an intro course to a very wide range of physical geography. Personally I liked her research assignments and thought that they were a great way to get a feel for academic writing. Very personable and friendly prof overall.
She is very unengageing in lectures, just reading words on slides, very hard to stay engaged when lecture style is like this.
Horrible course structure, not organized at all. Modules are insanely long for an intro course. Required external webcam I had to pay extra for and because I didn't have "correct positioning" of the webcam the prof randomly gave me a 0% with no explanation or chance to explain. Also an extremely tough grader with little to no explanation as to why.
Janna is great! She was always very clear on the expectations for class and the big term assignment. Don't make the same mistake I did and procrastinate the final assignment, it's a lot more tedious than it seems. She is super funny and laid back. She has good practice questions online to prepare for tests as well. Highly recommend, fun class!
the teacher is nice but she never puts the information she says will be on the tests on power point, instead she says it out loud and it becomes really easy to miss, but omg whoever does the grading is horrendous. just such a bad attitude in comments left on papers and such a hard grader. also her tests always have random stuff like please stop
Doesn't give very good instructions on how the assignments are to be done. 30 minutes late to the final exam. Hard grader
20 minutes late to final exam. Cancelled so many classes at the last minute (when class was starting). Hard grader on assignments. Had to watch a bunch of extra lectures.
Despite what I have heard and seen, this professor laid out clear expectations for all her students and the testing was very fair.
Was about 20 minutes late to the final exam, extremely hard grader. Has her own way of APA citing which is honestly dumb having to learn a new way modified way to use the APA format since she basically made it up and you can lose lots of marks by not following it even though it's not a real APA formatting.
Wasted most class talking about stuff unrelated to the course. Tests were hard and stuff she did not even cover! Definitely won't be taking again, I'd skip this prof if I was you.
Extremely hard grader, unforgiving and doesn't care. She is always late to class, takes forever to grade assignments and gives bad feedback.Takes days to respond to email, IF she even responds. Tests are on very specific points that don't get much coverage during class. Overall, I do not recommend taking GEOG2900 to anyone. don't fall for this trap
Extremely unprofessional with last minute class cancellations (3 minutes before the class starts) and always late to the lectures. Reads through slides extremely fast and does not allow for changes if a mistake was on a test.
I would never recommend taking any class with this professor. Awful at marking essays, especially since she's now started grading essays across all geog 1290 classes. If you don't completey follow her own made up apa format, she will fail you and claim your paper for plagiarism. Stay away if you can, not worth the headache of her grading system.
The grading on these assignments is terribly specific for what reason? If I had taken this course as a first-year student, I would've ended up in a psych ward and dropped out of uni.
She would cancel class 3 minutes before or even 5 minutes after class started and every student was in their seats with their materials out. She is always late and also takes even more time to get her laptop out and getting her program started up and running. Her assignments are horrible, if you don't properly cite than she gives you a bad grade
I would rather jump off a cliff than take this class ever again. Doesnt even understand her own APA format, and is so slow to class making everyone wait. Doesnt know how to grade a paper, and tests are on the most random things that she has never covered.
for a first year course it sucks- especially when it comes to the nit picking of constant things, she shows us her example assignments for the class then will take LOTS of marks off for us to doing the same thing. she could show up on time, most importantly not cancel class while we are waiting for her to show up (more then 20 minutes late).
A good first-year course that prepares you for uni, but overall, is a tough grader and not what I was expecting for an elective as a senior student. She uses modified apa, a more tedious form of apa. Most of my classmates and I got 50-60% on our assignments despite trying our best to adhere to each guideline. Seems like a nice person,but tough prof
Made up her own modified APA citation format that is unclear and you are expected to follow to a T. Constantly changes her mind how she wants things to be cited and formatted for assignments. Fails you if you don't follow her citation to a T. I followed her modified citation and failed the assignments and had to VW. Don't waste your time or money.
Took her a few years ago and wanted to write a review to tell you how horrible she was looking back on it. She relied heavily on the textbook and read directly from it, had absolutely zero structure or idea what she was doing, overall just an absolute awful, real ugly time. Ultimately had to drop it, couldn't stand her teaching style and abilities.
Great course! Don't rely on the reviews—she's a fair and compassionate marker if you follow the assignment format. Ask questions and get feedback, it makes a difference. The content is interesting and she's a fantastic, caring professor. I really enjoyed this class and highly recommend it!
I really like Janna as a professor. if you ask questions and make appointments with her she is more then happy to lead you down the right path. Sometimes she can be a bit unorganized. Showing up to class matters as well cause she will hint at test questions/ review material. She is very caring for her students success
Wasn't enthusiastic about the class and didn't sound like she wanted to be there, and she sat at her desk and read off the slides.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
51%
Textbook Required
69%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.72 avg changeRatings by Course
GEOGA
5.0
(1)GEOGA01
4.0
(1)GEOG3760
4.0
(1)GEOG2580
4.0
(9)GEOG1290
3.4
(33)Difficulty by Course
GEO1290
4.0
GEOG3760
4.0
GEOG3900
4.0
GEOG2272
3.4
GEOG1280
3.3