3.6
Quality3.1
Difficulty62%
Would Retake105
Reviews62%
Would Retake
105
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
48
4
17
3
13
2
15
1
12
What Students Say
“Little ridiculous tbh, and the slides are all over”
PHYS371 - 2.0 rating“Bad professor, great guy”
PHYS227 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
64%
Textbook Required
38%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.17 avg changeRatings by Course
PHY211
5.0
(1)SCIE529
5.0
(1)PHY223
5.0
(1)PHYS211
4.6
(20)SCIE421
4.3
(3)Difficulty by Course
SCIE529
5.0
PHY223
4.0
PHYS323
4.0
PHYS375
3.5
PHYS227
3.3
Reviews (105)
Donev is a very easygoing prof, his teaching method is very unique and easy to understand. Almost all of his lectures have demos incorporated in them, which makes the physics concepts very easy to understand.. i highly recommend this prof to anyone who does not particularly enjoy physics and anyone else as well.
I disagree.The guy was consistently unprepared for class in a number of ways. He was clueless about everything to do with the course that wasn't physics (exams,due dates.etc.) His 'demos' often involved him searching his backpack for some sort of prop, his lunch was a popular choice. His social skills and ability to read the class were pathetic.
Must Have Textbook!, Rushes through the whole course! Close to the end of the course 1 week left we were behind 4 chapters, then the next day we were caught up. I attended ALL lectures lol. He makes his classes fun no doubt, but physics is just not FUN people who need to take this course take langill, he's okay. Donev would be my 2nd choice!
I completely agree with the first dude. Donev is my first choice for a physics prof from now on, the most down to earth prof you'll ever meet
This prof is probably the funniest prof in university. He actually makes physics fun BUT his tests are tricky so you have to work hard but you will do good =)
This prof was seriously the reason I came to an 8 AM class. He goes by really quick because most of the concepts are from physics 20 and 30 from high school but the new stuff he explains pretty well. Uses himself as demos often AND right before the term test he went over similar questions that were on it. =))
For the intro physics course I'm in (211), Jason is amazing. His use of constant demos and clicker questions makes it easy to stay interested and understand the concepts. Difficulty of assignments and exams for this course isn't based on the teacher so that's a non-issue - they're all standardized. I'm making sure I get him next semester again.
This is one of the best profs I have ever had. He is passionate about the subject and is really clear. He is really helpful when you go to get help.
JD is the best prof I have ever had! He makes something as boring and hard as physics interesting! He has the best demos and I'm pretty sure I laughed at least once every time I went to class! The only problem is that his classes are always at 8am, but it's totally worth it!
Presentations in this course can be met with non stop interruptions with some on topic questions and some off topic questions. No guidelines are given for any of the assignments or presentations. He also has the tendency to let students know they are wrong, sometimes he was wrong but says the context of question was misunderstood by the student.
The instruction went from poor to bad. I ended up skipping his lectures and attending another prof's lectures; brought my grade up by 25%. He is not in touch with the course/exam material. He blew over a major part of the final exam in 1 day that the other prof studied for weeks. Spends too much time joking and not enough on the basics.
I had Donev for Physics 223 winter 2010 at the U of C. He did an excellent job teaching. He is very very dedicated to the physics instruction and first year students. Do the mastering phys assignments, labatorials and practice exams and you will get an A easily. Anything you are unclear about just go to his office hours or the physics help room.
Donev is not very helpful when you go to ask him a question and needs better notes because I felt his notes were often incomplete. His demos were funny though but he needs to be more respectful and helpful.
Needs to learn to be more helpful and respectful to all his students! His notes were often incomplete.
I don't know what other people are talking about, Donev is AWESOME!! He is super clear when explaining concepts, will stop to answer questions in class and has LOTS of clicker questions, which are SO helpful in keeping the lecture dynamic and in highlighting important concepts, and possible test questions. Definetly pick him if you can!
I've never been a huge fan of physics and Donev makes it enjoyable to attend class. He is extremely helpful and by far my favourite prof. I would recommend this class even for individuals who don't like or understand physics.
Prof. Donev is the ONLY reason I passed Physics. He started with the most basic concepts and explained the crap out of them (good for myself who had never taken physics before). His notes were good (you have to fill them in during class), his demos were great, and he uses lots of clicker questions. He was always prepared and enthusiastic.
Hes really good
One of my fave profs. The only downside to his class is that it starts at 8am, but his energy and enthusiasm keeps everyone awake! Like most people said: super helpful, approachable, lots of great clicker questions & hilarious demos! He explains things until everyone gets it, not like other profs that go "get it? got it. good."
Jason is the best! I hated physics before his class, now I'm considering physics as a major. Do the readings and homework and labs and you will get an A.
Awesome, only downside is that the classes are at 8am. Makes physics interesting and easy to understand =)
Jason is so enthusiastic and easy to listen to! Nobody ever fell asleep during the 8 ams. I only passed because of his lectures. Try and get him as your prof!
Dr. Donev: missed lectures without notifying the class; changed date of a test without class approval. Tests and assignments contained many subjective, ambiguous and poorly written questions. He spent most lectures playing with physics demonstration toys, only superficially scientific principles. In my opinion Dr. Donev would be better teaching HS
Donev's assignments and test were very poorly written. In this class it seemed that the science was unimportant. Many lectures were just presentations by corporate PR reps. If you don't care about actually learning Donev is for you; enthusiastic and seems to enjoy his physics toys. He would be an excellent middle/high school physics teacher.
When Jason was sick he canceled class and he let the class know by email. In this course, the material was intentionally dumbed down. This class is good for non-science majors (fine-arts, drama, etc). Jason's style of teaching is similar to that of a presenter at a public science centre. Jason is a good teacher.(no comment on his research(or lack)
He teaches with a whole lot of enthusiasm, its that enthusiasm that actually forced me to study PHY.He introduced to me many of the great physicists by explainin a bit of their work during lectures.He emphasizes on concepts rather than acin your exams.If you like learnin Science in a conceptual manner and working yourself for the exam,then I take h
He is one of the most informative and helpful proffs you will ever get. He never missed a lecture and was always willing to answer questions before, during and after classes. Will work with your idea or give you another path to work at on your own.He brings enthusiasm to an otherwise dull field.
Jason was by far the best physics prof, he explained things clearly and with enthusiasm. His 8 am lectures were packed every day. Choose him if you can!!
Jason is a great prof! Hilarious, good use of demonstrations. He really dumbs it down for those of us in Physics 211, lol.
An awesome prof! Makes a lot of silly stuff during his lessons, which keeps people interested and involved. Overall, not too hard of a course and the professor himself is really great!
pretty good prof overall, though his lab assignments are useless and terribly worded. mastering physics is easy marks, overall decent. review session arent any good, doesnt do any examples in class and very unclear on expectations for exams.
he wastes sooo much time in class, its basically pointless to go, he was basically 2 cups behind and had to quickly go over those two chapters on the last day. he is very cocky and will always try and prove u wrong. he has a lot of attitude, and thinks he is too good for u of c and he is the best person ever. but prob one of better phys profs.
Great class! So few classes deliver science and real world issues so evenly together. This class isn't about hard calculations and theories as much as it is about dispelling peoples ignorance about energy sources and their effects on the environment. He does bring in a lot of "gadgets and toys" but they are useful memory aids come exam time.
Great prof very fun and entices students to participate in learning material
Meh. A funny guy that kept lectures interesting but he fell behind a lot, leaving us to teach ourselves the concepts necessary to complete the weekly assignments. The labs were ridiculous and expected you to perform long/complex calculations that appeared unrelated to course material. Didnt even show up to our final exam and was unavailable prior.
Worst Class ever. Questions are way too vague. He does not provide enough information to answer any question in the assignments. Not a good option class. Expects students to know equations off the top of their heads.
If you have any background physics knowledge, this is the option course for you. I disagree with poster who said questions were vague. The tests are EASY. And they give away a lot of marks on tests. Maybe not a course for non-science students, but as a science student this will be a breeze. Donev is a great prof too, which makes this course great.
The Questions on his homework are not clear at all. Grading for Assignments and Midterms were not fair at all. Note: I went to all classes and read the book. Went off track wayy too many times. Would not recommend this class to anyone.
I believe that Jason is an okay teacher but this class has a lot of flaws. Questions for midterms and assignments are randomly chosen through no help from the powerpoint slides or lecture. This is the same for the final. His grading scheme is definitely very tough. I like Jason as a person, but don't be confused, this is not an easy A class
Jason is great as a person, but the class isn't easy, you need to be self motivated as there are no 'lectures' per say and you learn by yourself, which is decently effective for learning but when it comes to the harder problems if you only understand it superficially you're going to be screwed. Jason specifically will try to catch that out.
There are no "lectures", he provides lecture videos done by the person who wrote the book, which can be good in a way, but this means you don't even need him. Kind of like he's being paid to stand there. The work load is way too much, and his quizzes are poorly written, not to mention the mid terms. Very difficult course unless you love physics.
Very helpful prof. He is eager to help student and is open to changes proposed by students. I really enjoyed when he lectured, but did not enjoy as much when it was more of a "work period". He is very funny, and in general very nice. The tests tested the concepts, rather than just the questions, which was great. Take a class with him if you can!
Assignment questions were completely ambiguous to the point where guessing would've scored you the right answer instead of actually trying to look for the answer in the ppt or textbook. Having that being said, his midterms and final was 10x more ambiguous that the written portion tests your skills in bs-ing than the material taught.
Nonexistent lecturing is definitely true. In class, you're told to watch lectures (Online. Of another teacher teach this course.) & do HW (online). Class can't be missed due to quizzes. HW you teach yourself can be lengthy. Significant work in these make up small parts of your mark. Hugely annoying, not to mention, overpriced, class. Pure ridicule.
He was great
While he's a good professor, he's harebrained overall. His lectures are completely skippable if you have the textbook, and he only tends to confuse things. He has mindblowingly lame puns for every 10 minutes of class, and they're not even funny. He's pretty good on a personal level, but as a professor he's lacking. The textbook always helps!
Don't go to class. Buy and read the textbook. Lecture slides are copied, pasted and full of errors but you won't get to those anyway because he goes off on tangents until the last two weeks of class where he will "teach" a chapter a day and doing a chapter a day does not give you the depth and understanding you need to pass the final.
Where to begin. Great guy! Horrible prof: multiple choice worth 8 marks each, long tangents that don't connect to course, awful labs, and attempts (fails) to teach chapters in one lecture after being EXTREMELY behind.
Class is definitely optional, go if you want a laugh but not if you're expecting to learn course material. He warns the class at the beginning of the year that he will cram in a lot of material in the last few weeks. He wasn't kidding, we covered a chapter a day for the last two weeks of class. The textbook goes more into depth than he did
Donev is a great guy, but the quality of his lectures and notes was poor. He often goes on tangents about energy, nuclear power and seatbelts, which are totally unrelated to the class. We went through a chapter a day for the last two weeks, and he didn't explain anything which was eternally frustrating. Make sure you get the textbook and read it!!!
He is a great person who really cares about his students, but his lectures do not tend to be the best. In our case particularly, we spent the last 2-3 weeks going over half of the course because we were so far behind. I personally do not like his teaching style, he prefers making us do problems over doing them himself upon initial introduction.
He was a really great inspiring prof. This was the first 9 AM class I've ever had where I didn't want to put my head down and sleep every class. He is a very energetic professor to have and fantastic at passing on information too. He is very approachable outside of class. i would definitely take a class with him again!
His lectures aren't super helpful if all you care about is a good mark because your mark will reflect how much you study and do the homework. However, I found that people with a genuine interest in physics do enjoy his lectures and going to class. So depending on what type of person you are, either take his class or don't.
Donev is a lecturer exclusively and hence knows how to teach. His in class activities are very interactive and helpful. The only thing I didn't like about him was that he finished the last 3 chapters in 2 weeks, where as the first 3 chapters took 2.5 months. The textbook was really good for this course and hence that helped us out.
Expects you to do a lot of work outside of class time. Lectures are fast paced and shows minimal examples in class but still goes over the right content and omits material that we don't reach due to time constraints. Tends to put failed midterm questions back on the final. Appreciates and understands the material and makes the class very fun.
Bad professor, great guy. Lectures were almost a complete waste of time, he went off on many tangents, and at times had to rush important content to reach deadlines. Don't expect to be taking any notes at all. Lol. Very nice guy if you want to just talk physics, approachable outside class, and friendly. But horrible Lecturer.
He really cares about all his students and it's evident in how he structures the lessons around contributions from students. It is definitely not structured like other physics courses, just doing practice problems won't get you great grades. Not my style of lectures but it was an interesting change. We did spend far too much time on early chapters.
Regardless of the class being for non-science majors you still need to put in the work knowing the concepts of the class. I recommend going to class, even though the slides are posted online the slides aren't that clear. His exams were fair you can get a good grade if you understand the concepts. Overall a funny guy and knows his stuff
Nice guy who's passionate and reflects his passion through his engaging lectures. This was supposed to be a class in which one can do well, but the homework component through tophat ending up dragging my mark (and others that I talked to) down a whole letter grade. He was not clear about how much it'll be worth and how it would graded.
I enjoyed learning in Jason's class but also at the same time wish if he hadn't used TopHat for our assignments because TopHat is absolute garbage. Also, if there was an actual textbook to refer to the content instead of the website then the course would be massively improved. He's a very good lecturer and is passionate about teaching the material.
Jason Donev is an amazing lecturer and is clearly passionate about the topics taught in this course. The course material is easy to understand, and the EnergyEducation website is the textbook... Assignments are easy, minus a few very specific things. No tricks or surprises. Show up & listen A; don't show up, still an A, but you wont learn as much
Extremely clear and thorough when you ask for help. Posts all lecture notes online and goes through concepts in class. Worksheets with examples were very useful. Does not take up lecture time doing derivations but makes sure we understand the concepts. Exams were conceptual and tested your understanding and not your memory skills. Approachable.
Clearly passionate about the subject but is dumber than my dog. Spent the first month of the course half deriving divergence, curl and volume element in different coordinates and then proceeded to cover chapter 4, 5, 6 in Griffiths in the last 3 weeks of the course. Lectures are useless but you must attend for the participation grade so have fun!
The Lecture material felt very vague, I never felt like I knew exactly what to study no matter how much work I did. His powerpoints have poor to misleading information on the class. He clearly cares deeply about this class but loses focus on actually teaching to make jokes and digress way too much. Great guy not a great teacher.
He is a nice guy but he asks extremely specific questions on exams, like he will check to see if you remember 1 specific number that he just wizzes through really quickly on a slide, it is very unclear what to study for the class, and he has weekly assignments and top hat questions every class. Little ridiculous tbh, and the slides are all over.
ridiculous, his exams do not test your knowledge of the course, he will literally ask you to remember a specific statistic that he wizzes over in class (not actually present on any slide) and expect you to remember. I literally laugh at his exams, a question asked was literally, what kills more birds, cats or wind turbines answer cat wichisdumb
Jasons passionate about the course, but instead of challenging students to gain knowledge in a breadth of material, he opts to make his lectures, slides and exams vague. This course was extremely interesting, but the way it was delivered was a little unsatisfying. Attending all lectures and keeping up should make you feel prepared; here it didnt.
Weekly assignments take 1hr. Frequent tophat for participation mark. Midterms were fairly easy and the questions were reasonable. Replies quick to emails and is very engaging and happy to teach. 10 Weekly assignments . Course is useful knowledge. He is enthusiastic to teach as well. Final however was stupid hard and tested specific numbers + stats
I really enjoyed this course, and Donev is funny, and keeps you engaged. The homework will have super specific questions, so I would definitely recommend recording or paying attention carefully. The TAs were very kind, and were more than happy to help you understand something. Midterms were a breeze, but the final was a lot harder. Know your stats!
He likes what he is teaching. He makes the class interesting and answers emails quickly and so do the TAs, midterms were not bad but the final was harder as it tested specific stats or numbers he whizzed over. Not that bad though as an A was still easily achievable. the course enlightens you about the current state of energy on earth. good stuff
Used tophat alot-- he likes it as much as fried onions. Only complaint is that he uses his own grading scheme which increases the minimum percentage for a letter grade by an additional 5 to 10%. If a B is usually 74, then minimum percentage for a B in his class is an 80, for example. You'll have to sweat more for that A.
Dr. Jason is an amazing teacher. The best Ive ever had. The classes just fly because hes very captivating. Hes always willing to help you outside of class and has amazing stories to share. Absolute best proff Ive ever had. You must work hard however.
heavy workload but easy
Absolutely useless as a professor. He insults students if they don't agree with his pro-nuclear power stance and uses the class to propagate myths that anyone can disprove with only seconds of googling. He lies about solar and wind power all the time.
Dr. Donev is really passionate and amazing but really never ever take this class on summer especially if you are taking other courses. The grading scheme is really very high. Get ready to daily study and solve 60-85 questions alongside with the discussion questions every 2-3 days. Midterm and final are 85-100 questions.
He rambles in lecture, not seeming to have any specific point he's trying to convey, instead just reading out the slides word for word, equation by equation. He answers questions vaguely and always asks "Does that answer your question?", wasting everyone's time as we wait for a reply in the chat. Oh, and 10% of your grade is attendance marks.
Dr. Donev worked so hard and put so much effort into making sure that the online version of this class went along smoothly. His lectures were amazingly done with a lot of really useful information on the slides that he posted. Also, he answered questions extremely well and really cared that every student was learning what they needed to.
Very poorly structured class and specifically designed to take up AT LEAST 50% of your time. The open textbook quizzes are a bait and switch, unless you are always on top on your videos, which is hard when you have 4 other classes this class is a major hassle. Do yourself a favor and don't enroll unless you breathe physics or have ample free time
Madlad. Jason is probably the best Prof i've had so far. Always has stories to share, makes students truly understand whatever he teaches (i love his OneNote format) and offers lots of help outside classes.
Jason Donev has a huge ego. One of the least helpful profs I have ever had. His E-mails are vague and cryptic, he never answers questions clearly, and his quizzes often contain mistakes, confusing to the student. In many instances his quizzes have questions based on information we learn from the NEXT lecture. Brutal.
Jason is a passionate lecturer and absolutely unreasonable when it comes to course expectations. A week in PHYS 371 requires 3-4 hours of lecture videos, 1 hour of tutorial videos, 20 quiz questions, and 20-30 assignment questions. Questions are often worded vaguely, test you on extremely minute details, and sometimes weren't even covered. Ugh.
He does not go into depth about what we are expected to know or learn at all. Bummer because physics is a great subject, and he expects everyone to think at the same level as him.
Dr.J is nice and funny, but the problem lies in his teaching method, which favors Physics majors and PHYS-savvy peeps, while leaving others scrambling back at the textbook to re-understand the content. His HWs are terribly hard, and gets harder if you skip just one class (midterms are much easier, tho). Very unfortunate, since he's so likable.
A great guy who genuinely cares about his students. The homework was heavy in this class, but he was always available to help and provide guidance. Awesome prof!
Jason is an overall, really great guy and very engaging in lectures. that being said, the curriculum is broad, and the course load is heavy. to fully understand anything, you need to take extensive notes on the textbook (~450 pages), and lectures were only to clarify, not to learn. would spend at least 10hrs a week on this course beyond class time.
Dr. Donev is passionate about teaching, however, I found the lectures were often disjointed and unprepared. I also found several of the homework problems extremely difficult. Lots of material was covered in-lecture only, and weren't sufficiently covered in the powerpoint slides. That said, showing up and doing the work is enough to get an A.
Took this class online. Prof Donev clearly cares, but man these lectures were a mess. Be prepared for 2-3 hours of dense lecture about what kind of windows you should buy for the house you probably can't afford, then for him to barely mention something in passing that winds up being the longest question on the homework XD
Pretty cool prof. As long as you spend like 20 minutes every day to review the slides, you're gonna pass 227. Make sure to spend lots of effort on wileyplus, it's pretty much all your practice problems, and exam questions are usually easier than wileyplus.
5 nights at jason's
Dr. Donev is an incredible professor, very enjoyable to listen to and wants to teach. The assignments were difficult and the labs were sometimes quite challenging. The lectures were very interesting and I recommend going to all of them. Donev is very quick to respond to emails almost any time, and will answer almost any question in or out of class.
he loves physics so much and you can tell
Jason truly has his heart in teaching. He's always willing to help, and is flexible about deadlines when required. The weekly assignments and bi-weekly labs can be a lot of work to stay on top of, but they provide a lot of insight into the topics being covered in class. Read the textbook, go to lectures (they're fun!), and ask for help if you need
I enjoyed Jason's class, however his teaching method is very fast paced and can be confusing at times. This class will take over your semester and I spent most of my time in his office due to difficult assignments. Exams are hard and you need to memorize all formulas which is dumb but part marks will save you.
great prof, great class
It was a hard class but if I passed anyone can. It's very interactive so it's fun and you learn a lot
Makes lectures entertaining, cleary passionate about what he teaches
Jason is passionate and very knowledgeable about Physics. Everybody I know loves Jason even if they don't love the class. He is amazing
What other students have said about Jason dumping homework on you is absolutely true, there were points where I could not finish the weekly assignment and I only had 2 other courses. I found the in-class worksheets immensely helpful and the lectures to be well organized and taught. Seems like a nice guy too. Really needs to scale back the homework.
I don't understand why Professor Donev gets such a low rating. Sure, he gives a lot of homework, and his use of TopHat is annoying, but overall, I enjoyed having him as a prof. He has a passion for physics and is a good guy. He always keeps lectures fun, and I always look forward to them. However, the course itself isn't for the faint of heart.
Very Passionate About Physics, and while lectures are entertaining, he does go rather fast, so you will need to make use of the notes and textbook to fully understand everything. Phys227 HW wasn't too heavy, and helps you get a good understanding of the content. Overall recommend.
Tough class but I did really learn alot (and understand).
Super charismatic guy and interesting to speak with. You definitely want to read the textbook prior to attending lectures. Relatively easy grader as well.
Prof Donev is engaging and loves physics, but the course load is heavy. Spend time reviewing the textbook and using unstuck study for study prep - it's a game-changer alongside other resources like ChatGPT.
Jason is a stellar professor and really shows that he wants students to succeed. While lectures were sometimes a bit quick, he posted notes and was available to answer questions outside of class time. He's engaging, makes sure lectures are fun/interesting, and was very fair with his expectations. Will definitely be taking another class with him!
Honestly, best lectures in the university, He's clear on what he wants, so just answer exactly as he would want....
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
64%
Textbook Required
38%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.17 avg changeRatings by Course
PHY211
5.0
(1)SCIE529
5.0
(1)PHY223
5.0
(1)PHYS211
4.6
(20)SCIE421
4.3
(3)Difficulty by Course
SCIE529
5.0
PHY223
4.0
PHYS323
4.0
PHYS375
3.5
PHYS227
3.3