She rambles on for half the hour about nothing that applies to the class. When she realizes she gets behind she speeds everything up so no one can understand it. Laughs randomly all the time. When the students get their tests back and their class average is 20% less then any other class she blames it on the students. Avoid her

Doesn't ever seem to know what she is talking about. AVOID HER AT ALL COSTS.

She never seems prepared and doesn't tell the class what will be on tests. Also, she says she puts things online, but she never does.

Has no clue what she is talking about, avoid her at all costs

Probably the worst teacher I have ever had. Her lectures are literally useless. The only way to learn the material is from the textbook. Avoid taking her at all costs!!!!

Joanne was the hardest professor I ever took. I went to office hours of my TA and to the Supplemental Instruction every week and it barely helped on her exams. She writes them with all the possible answers being correct, but you're supposed to pick which is most right. I would choose a different professor if you can.

She is by far the worst Biology teacher I have ever had. Her lectures are pointless to even go to because she rambles the entire hour and speeds through the slides without explanation. My textbook has saved my life in this class. I've never been so disappointed in a professor. This has definitely impacted my freshman year severely.

Teacher much bad, very avoid. Her expectations are vague, when you ask a question she will dance around the answer then leave you hanging, and she never has a point when she speaks. Sadly she really cares but she is just dreadful at teaching. Her tests are hard but curved. The book Dante's Inferno is an accurate representation of this class.

I was so excited to finally take a Bio class in college and I was severely disappointed with her class. The textbook and TAs saved me from failing completely. This is one of those times where going to office hours (NOT Joanne's) seriously paid off. I was so fed up with her rambling in class every single lecture. What a frustrating experience.

If you are taking a class with this woman: reconsider. If you have reconsidered and still want to go through with it: Utilize your TA if you want any prayer of passing, this is the only way you will get anything remotely helpful. The textbook is virtually useless except for access to the online homework, which she will give you no reminders for.

One of the WorstMost boring teachers I have ever had.

The most awful professor to ever teach in the duluth system.

Probably the most unclear class I have ever taken.

Will leave class feeling like you did not learn anything. More beneficial to skip the confusing, pointless lectures and read the textbook instead. Will not help if asked. Terrible professor.

She seems to know what she is talking about but she is the worst teacher I've ever seen. The textbook and the TA's will be your best friend.

She's really smart and knows what she's talking about but assumes that everyone understands the material as well as her. Her test are easy if you read your book. Lectures are no help.

Her lectures are boring and she never sticks to the point. She is bad at answering questions in front of the lecture but one-on-one can be sort of helpful. Use your GTA if you have her, they are way more willing to help you pass the class. ALWAYS do the extra credit assignments on mastering biology.... they might save you.

She doesn't explain things very well. Go to her TA's they will actually teach you. You will have to read from the book. Her laugh will keep you up at night.

She is not a good professor. Her lectures are boring and unclear. If you want to pass you will need to read the whole book and talk to the GTAs. I wish that I had not taken this class with her.

Avoid her at all costs, take gen bio 1 with ANY other professor

If it wasn't for the TAs I would not have passed. Lectures are pointless because she gets off topic incredibly easy and stuff she does talk about is not explained and confusing. She is nice and will answer questions for you though.

She is absolutely terrible. I 100% recommend you do not take her even if you have to push the class off for another semester.

Her lectures are very confusing. Not sure if she even knows what she is talking about a lot of the time. She occasionally said funny things, but she was not helpful in learning the materials needed for this class.

NOT listening to her almost helps more THAN listening to her cause there is no clarity in her lectures. Confused 24/7. Read the book!

Probably one of the worst teachers I've had. I love biology and sadly, she ruined it for me and made me dread it every day. She is unorganized, is rude and not helpful at all, and half the time doesn't even seem to know what she's talking about. I wouldn't take a class with her ever again and I wouldn't recommend her to anybody.

She made me hate this subject. She is constantly jumping from subject to subject and back again, her presentations are disorganized and confusing, she is extremely unclear. I almost found it beneficial to ignore her doing lecture and read the text book. Get ready to learn from discussion and lab, you'll get nothing out of lecture!

The only way I passed this class was by reading the book cover to cover and taking hundreds of pages of notes and yet she still was able to word her exams in ways that didn't make sense. make sure to do the homework as she gets exam questions from there (and its probably the only good grade you'll be able to get relatively easily)

The class is very pointless. She never really makes sense. Clicker Points are very inaccurate way of knowing our knowledge, because all of the questions are made by her and really make no sense and confuse you. Make sure to pick the right GTA. I ended up with 1 of the harder graders and had a tough time. YOU WILL NOT PASS IF YOU DO NOT READ!!!!!!!

ITAMI IS TERRIBLE -- the worst professor I've ever had. She makes Biology painful. Lectures are pointless and make you more confused, read the book to pass the class.

Horrible lecturer, learned nothing in lecture. Had to read and learn in discussion. Uses glitchy website Launch Pad which always has problems with it.

Read the book and you should do fine. Lecture is not very useful. She's one of the worst lecturers I have ever heard.

DO NOT TAKE AT ALL POSSIBLE MEANS. Her lectures make no sense. If you do decide to take her, you might as well read the book instead of going to lectures.

She is the most disorganized person I have ever met. First time teaching this course and obviously didn't know what she was doing. She was not clear at all on what she expected or wanted from us. The class was complete chaos and all over the place. She lectures way too much on irrelevant material. Expect to read tons if you want to pass.

Avoid at all costs. Really bad professor. The book will be your savior. I usually left lecture more confused than when I entered. The great TA's and book were how I learned. The silver lining is her exams aren't hard, especially if you read the book. She can definitely turn someone off of bio. Just remember the rest of the faculty are awesome!

By far one of the worst professors I have ever had. Very disorganized, and lectures are not clear and very confusing. I often left lecture knowing less than I had when I walked in. Avoid at all costs, but if you have to take her class, read the book!!! Overall terrible experience.

This professor is completely ridiculous and her lectures make no sense. She often gives incorrect information and I will leave lectures more confused than before but I have to show up to get clicker points. I'm a biology major and I hate biology because of her. Just learn from the book and don't listen to anything she says.

Worst class ever. As a biology major, I thought I would enjoy this class but ended up hating it so much. She doesn't teach you anything and puts up VERY difficult clicker questions and often times doesn't give you the right answer or explain it. So much reading from the textbook is required before every lecture.

Horrible

She is an extremely smart person, but she doesn't know how to share her knowledge. She teaches things once and expects you to know it instantly and have it memorized. I learned more from my GTA's and the textbook than from her. I would not recommend taking her class unless you like challenges.

Worst professor ever. If you don't show up to class and read the textbook, there's no way you will pass. She does not teach and when she does, she teaches the wrong thing or gives you the wrong answer to questions, and is very unclear. Many times I left class more confused than when I arrived. She is also very rude and mean when students are wrong

I wouldn't recommend this prof to my worst enemy. She is very rude to students who are wrong (even the few who actually show up and try) even when only about 30% of the class came almost everyday. what she says and puts up for notes didn't makes sense and she jumps around and gives wrong answers. The school should've paid me to take her class

Read the book and you'll pass the class. Her lectures are very confusing, she is not good at explaining things and she gets off topic very easily. Her exams are very difficult make sure to pay attention to small details. Avoid if possible!

Itami tends to ramble during her lectures and laugh at her own jokes. You can't skip class because there are a ton of in class clicker points. The class itself isn't too bad I didn't put in much effort to it. Watching Youtube videos seemed to be enough. Don't take her class if you don't have to. I don't feel like I learned anything.

Dont take, sucks

Her lectures are so awful. I skipped some of them because they dont help you. She also has clickers which are ratty pieces of paper. You respond to a question and she never answers it. Very confused. Would never take again.

I would not recommend her to my worst enemy. I took her for animal diversity, which was not a hard class. She literally had jokes on her exam that we were supposed to understand. Very disorganized. Never puts lecture slides online. Has slides with a lot words on them and presses next slide in 0.2 seconds. Rambles about nothing and gets off topic.

Terrible, I studied for this class more than I have ever studied in my entire life. Reading the book and writing notes in lecture isnt enough. You need to know how to comprehend the information and apply it to the real world. Tests also make so sense whats so ever

She is the worst professor I've experienced. Her lectures are next to useless, she rarely answers the questions she puts on her own slides, and her tests are confusing. There are in class lecture points, LOTS of online homework, and her handouts are unhelpful. Do NOT take her class if you can avoid it.

Shes the most confusing and stubborn professor Ive had. She makes plenty of mistakes in her lectures and expects material to be memorized instantly. If you ever call her out on anything she will basically call you stupid and explain how shes right and knows that. Very unorganized as well.

She is a very nice person but not a nice professor. She is very unorganized and rambles on the entire time. Her slides are useless and her clicker questions aren't any better because she never actually answers them. Her tests are very difficult and she doesnt make what we need to know very clear.

Dr. Itami lacks the ability to accurately portray information in her lectures, while expecting her students to excel at an unreasonable level. This is based on her inability to accurately convey topics she is trying to lecture upon. Dr. Itami is a very nice individual, but lacks the ability to share her vast amounts of knowledge with her students

DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR EVER!!!! She gives wrong answers to questions in lecture. Once gave a petty quiz informing us not to contact her over our grade. Very slow at entering graders and has attendance points for every lecture. Hope you have a good GTA to help to correctly explain the content. Overall do not that this teacher at all cost!!!!!!!

Itami doesn't teach the material well at all and her lectures are very hard to follow along to. She goes off topic a lot and forgets what's she's teaching about. She's very slow at putting grades in and isn't very with online programs yet she uses one. Definitely not the hardest class ever but not easy at all and almost impossible to get an A.

Professor Itami is very smart and seems nice outside of class, however in class she struggles to relay information to the class. Her lectures consist of clicker questions that shell never actually answer. She will call you out if you answer incorrectly and make you feel dumb. You are expected to know the content as well as the graduate TAs.

Dr. Itami is a brilliant woman, but her lectures are kind of chaotic and hard to follow. As someone who likes organization, I didn't use any of her content to study with. I relied on the textbook entirely to study for exams. If you are like me, I really recommend taking notes from the textbook.

The exams were very difficult and I was never sure how to actually study for them. I mainly studied through Khan Academy and Google since she had a very chaotic teaching style that was all over the place. She is also a very slow grader and doesn't like when students email her to check up on their grade. Frequently gave the class wrong answers too.

Ok listen. Im typically a straight A student. Up until this class I had a 4.0. I show up to my 8am lecture and I cry. I cry a lot. Shes arrogant and idiotic. If she says something wrong and call her out, she makes you feel stupid. If you say something wrong, she makes you feel stupid. If nobody says anything, she makes you feel stupid. Just dont

Professor Itami is very smart, but has a hard time "dumbing it down" to the level this class should be. You HAVE to rely on the textbook to pass the class. My GTA literally taught me more than Itami, and was much more approachable. Her lectures are all over the place, but you have to go to class to get clicker points.

She means well, but her lectures are extremely chaotic, and all over the place. She makes you feel stupid almost every lecture due to answering wrong, or not answering at all. She doesn't like to be corrected, it is her way or the highway. She is also very slow at grading, the TA's saved my life in this class. Would not recommend.

Itami is very smart but does not know how to help people who arent at her level. I went to her office hours to try and see if i could improve on the exams and all she did was talk the whole time and never let me say a word. It didnt even help to go talk to her. I do not recommend her to my worst enemy.

She spends a lot of time singling out the students who don't actively participate with clicker questions, and NEVER stops calling them out, even if there is no clicker present for you to use. Most lectures have no real meaning and rarely helped to understand the topic.

Here's the deal, she really does mean well, but she can come off as arrogant. Her style of lectures is super chaotic. Things do not get covered very well. However, if you approach her she actually can be pretty helpful. Just do your homework and it'll help your grade a lot.

lectures are sporadic and a waste of time. worst professor I've had yet.

It seems as if she has no idea where she is going with a topic. I did not retain anything from lectures. I would sit in lecture taking notes on my own from the textbook and watching videos. She made me want to throw my laptop at a wall every night... no joke. I never knew what to study because everything was so unorganized. Try it though, GL(;

She always make my brain cells confused. Someone please donate me some brain cells.

Confusing

The worst experience in any class I have taken at UMD. Extremely boring and difficult lectures to follow along with. All she does is read her slides and continue her delivery of the material, not interacting with the class or clearing up any confusion. She often got overwhelmed and lost during our classes and failed to make class substantial

Dr. Itami is a very smart person but not a good professor. She goes through lectures way too quick and often goes off task during them making students very lost. Her test are almost covering nothing from lectures and has you teach everything to your self almost. For a 1000 level class and almost all students being non bio majors horrible class.