3.5
Quality2.7
Difficulty40%
Would Retake91
Reviews40%
Would Retake
91
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
31
4
18
3
23
2
10
1
9
What Students Say
“When asked how to take notes for class reply was whatever sounds important”
PHILM01 - 3.0 rating“I have had this professor twice now and they have been my two worst experiences in class”
PHILM01 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
55%
Textbook Required
58%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.99 avg changeRatings by Course
PHILETHICS
5.0
(1)PHILM07M14
5.0
(1)INTROTOLOGIC
5.0
(1)PHILOSOPY
5.0
(1)M08
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
COS126
5.0
PHILM03
5.0
WESTERN
4.0
LOGICPHIL
4.0
LOGICPHSO
4.0
Reviews (91)
Best professor ever have. Funny, excellent and really cares about the students. Very knowledgeble. easy on attendent and tests. YOU MUST TAKE THIS CLASS>>>
Verrrryyyy boring! Easy A, lets you retake tests, but will put you to sleep!! Difficult to go to class.
MOST BORING TEACHER EVER!!!! DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS!!!
He is a very knowledgable teacher but he has a tendency to go off on long .. very long tangents. For an A you have to be willing to attend his class... but be prepared to be bored out of your mind...
Such a great teacher. He is very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. You can get an easy A but you have to attend class. It's hard to attend because he is so boring but it's worth it because the class is so easy.
He uses very precise language to convey philosophical thought, which puts some people to sleep (think lawyer-like lecture). He stifles much student discussion, but communicates thousands of years of philosophy very well. Take for summer school!!!
He is a very knowledgable teacher, although he can get boring. He explains things in a very detailed way. you don't have to worry about not understanding the material as long as you attend class. Show interest and show up in class and you'll get an A.
boring .... easy A... just go to class and sleep
Took this summer had to drop, I couldn't listen to his s-l-o-w talking ways. His tone will put you to sleep!!!What a bore!!!
He is a nice, helpful professor. Will explain things until you understand them. Wants students to do well. Reviews for tests the day before. I enjoyed his class.
excellent summer class. one mideterm and one final. if u study the study guides, you will do well
SO BORING! He takes forever to explain things, and is so boring that I could hardly stand to go to class. In fact, you don't even have to go to class to get a good grade. I kept ditching, and when I was there, I would zone out, and I still got an A.
Ok John is soooooo funny!!! He reminds me of Charlie Brown and has an awsome sense of humor. I wish he taugh other classes as well. Make sure that you show up for the test reviews. Notes on the test helped me out a lot. Material isn't that easy...
No Comments
terrible
easy teacher but bored
John is the best professor in my academic career. Students who rated him poorly did so because they them selves cannot keep up with him or the material. I highly recommend him if you’re serious about learning and interested in philosophy. I’ve taken all there of his courses, and I love this man!
A little dull at times but at least he tries to make the class interesting.
easy class but teacher is really boring... I got an A but I don't think I am willing to be that bored through another one of his classes
If you are new to philosophy and kind of intimidated by the discipline, this is the professor to take. If you are a serious student, you'll be bored.
I dont even know where to start with this guy. he has some crazy ass curve, on the 1st test everyone got like a 10/50. there are 3 tests and they get easier to an extent. i think i got a C but you really cant be sure till he posts your grade. he makes up the curve at the end of the class
Easy A... yeah I almost failed first exam too but got an A...
Great experiece, despite some boring days you get throught it with a good grade and some interesting knowledge. I definitely recommend him.
No Comments
He is so nice and a great prof. He went out of his way to help me make up a final that I missed.
He makes sure that he goes slow enough so that no one is left behind. I found it abnoxious at first, but then learned that I enjoyed class if I just didn't read the book (it wasn't repetative then). I would definately take a class from him again.
The class was ok. There is no HW, but he recommends you do the practice problems at the end of ea. section. I thought his tests were kinda hard, it seemed there could be multiple answers for one question. The ideas and concepts aren't hard however. If you can't find a better class/teacher, then you could fall back on this one.
One of the easiest teachers i've ever taken.
This guy is SO boring! You want to poke your eye out with your pencil! No homework, but his test is nothing like examples in class and he doesn't want to provide accomodations for ACCESS students. Too bad the class is required for some majors.
He knows his subject well. He'll answer any question,in depth. Doing alot of busywork isn't the point--it's that you get a good feel for the topics. It's up to you to learn what you need to, and John's there to help. If you're going to sleep through discussions just because you don't think he's entertaining enough, then you're just wasting money!
He is awesome. Very laid back. Lots of good discussions. The reading is really interesting. And you could get by not doing it as long as you paid attention in class. Makes the best jokes ever.
very nice teacher. can get boring from time to time. but keeps you awake with occasional jokes. no homework. 3 test graded on a curve. lets you out early sometimes. take him if you want an easy A
Whatever you do don't buy the book! He loves to talk and the class is much better if people say something. It's boring, but sit through the class, write the notes and the exam is pretty much straight forward. Easy A.
I took this class over the summer. He has this monotonous voice but after you get used to it he's great. I even went out of my way to take another class with him to fulfill my philosophy requirements. Definitly the best philosphy teacher on campus.
kind of wishy washy on the requiremets for final paper (all lecture notes to final essay- needed dates so you need to be in lecture or have a good buddy system) - study guide for mid term and essay -
Somewhat disorganized but overall good teacher. Although I found the tuturial more helpful than the lecture. Be prepared for alot of studying.
I love him. His classes are quite boring, so prepare for that. Tests are straight forward and he always tells you what he wants on them. He curves the tests, which help a lot
He has a very monotone voice and it's easy to fall asleep in his class. Definitley do well on the last paper which includes putting all your notes from the semester into a paper so TAKE GOOD NOTES! Also participate, he likes that. Definitely come to class everyday and doing the reading really helps.
I had him for logic, and he truly made me love it. He cares a lot about his students. Once you get used to his sense of humor, he's the best. One of my favorite teachers ever.
Just say NO! Really ridiculous class. Never once took attendance, people just show up 30 min late, really confusing lectures, goes off on tangents and wastes class time. Tries to be funny and is overall a nice guy. Logic is not what you would think and this class just sucks. Its NOT easy and you will never use any of this ever again in your life.
Greatest teacher ever! Very entertaining guy and has a funny personality. Easy class as long as you study.
He is the sweetest professor! He lectures a lot but if you take good notes, when he gives the test review sheet you can just plug your notes to each section and you will be fine. He curves and is an easy grader. I love him, he is sweet and understanding!
Phil. of Religion: A great teacher. Yes, he is rather monotone and at times dispassionate. But he shows great care for the subject, and for this the class is worth it. Only 3 assignments in the class: 1 midterm, hand-in class notes, and a final. The final and MT are in-class. Minimal, partially required reading. Easy A if you do good notes.
At first, I was disillusioned with the content of the first chapter and the instructor himself. With time, however, I grew to appreciate Birmingham's sense of humor and teaching methods. He follows the textbook, which serves as a supplement to learning the material. An A is possible only through attendence and lots of review.
He seemed very much the absent minded professor but this became a problem as more than half the class failed the first test. Instead of reinvestigating the material he moved forward. His explainations are convoluted and he often confuses himself during lecture and has to be corrected by the students. he is late and forgets to bring handouts, etc.
Really dull and goes on long tangents that have nothing to with the subject
Professor Birmingham was quite the character, he has such a monotonous voice that many fell asleep to, but he was so passionate of logic that it was funny. Half the class failed the first test, luckily I was able to get a C. Tests get progressively difficult, but if you're able to dedicate yourself, go to tutoring, and do excercises you could do it
I enjoyed his humor! He does not have a specific structre or style of teaching...he mostly talks and writes on the board. He encourages open discussions which at times become heated because of very opinionated students. He answers any and all questions so if you dont understand the topic dont be afraid to pick his brain. Great guy!
Great teacher. His lectures are very comprehensible. If you attend all classes, pay attention to the lectures and read the chapters required, you're sure to do fine.
If you enjoy dry, intelligent humor, you will think he is hilarious! I love this professor because he makes a daunting topic very easy to comprehend. He is an easy, but fair grader. It is not difficult to get an A if you (1) attend class/take notes (obviously) and (2) do the reading. He posts all the reading online, so don't buy the book.
Very relaxed and patient professor. He is also a very nice man. He takes the time to answer any questions any students ask. Logic can be a difficult subject matter so make sure you have a thorough understanding of the Material. If you are unsure about anything, ask questions. Prof. Birmingham will happily explain the material that you are unsure of
I took him for Symbolic logic and intro to logic concurrently. This is easily THE smartest professor's on Moorpark's campus. Loved the class. So humble and so intellegent. You know you have a good teacher when he can explain complex subjects in simple language.
Very patient and nice teacher, he is always willing to help. Bit of a monotone voice but easy to get over. Knows the subject well and how to teach it.
If you take a phil course, take it with Dr. Birmingham! This is my second class with him. He is one of the nicest, most knowledgable professors I've had. Very structured class. If you pay attention and take good notes, tests are easy and he drops lowest grade. Only criticism is he goes a bit too easy on disruptive students.
I took Symbolic Logic with Mr. Birmingham. He has a weird way of explaining things because he thinks like a philosopher, but for the most part he is easy to understand. He loves to tell jokes. If you take any of his classes, I recommend doing the assigned reading before class. If you forget to you will not be able to take full advantage of the day.
Very nice, patient person. Really wants his students to pass and will meet with them if an appointment is made He is very monotone causing to stay awake in the class difficult unfortunetly He puts a lot of charts and visual aid on the class homepage but thats all that I usually get from him I usually just read the book to actually understand & pass
he is so confusing and the tests are hard ti tell...there are multiple answers that it could be. he does drop lowest test score but everyone failed the first one. i dredded this class. take a different class!!
challenging class, but if you do all of the recommended reading and study for the tests you should do fine. he only gives 3 tests and a final and drops the lowest score. everyone does horrible on the first test but they get easier. very funny and very helpful professor.
He is very nice and very willing to help whenever you aren't understanding something. It's a tough class, but if you do the homework& study then it is really easy. He goes over everything thoroughly but tends to confuse himself at times. He is into what he teaches, which always makes things better for the students. I definitely recommend taking him
Get yourself another professor! He is confusing, disorganized and offers very little help as far as study guides, sheets for use outside the class. Very hard material to comprehend and the textbook is as confusing as he is. You will be very frustrated!
Symbolic logic is inherently difficult, but he is very understanding, accommodating, and genuinely wants everyone to do well. There are no surprises on the tests if you do the homework. His notes are very structured, even if he is a bit scatterbrained. He has a gift for communicating difficult material clearly. And he drops your lowest test score!
A little boring and slow, but really gets the material and wants you to understand why these thinkers are important to our society. Easy tests, decent discussions. DON'T SKIP CLASSES - he will drop your grade!
4 tests, and he drops the lowest score. The class is a little slow, but interesting.
Started the spring 2014 M08 class. I know that this is a phil of religion class, but don't loose contol of your classroom by having a 2 hour discussion with the athiest in the classroom. The professor didnt tell the kid to be respectful, or enoughs enough, he just let the kid take over the class and ramble on and on. So rude, and not why I took it
Very disorganized, doesn't return tests on time and often forgets his notes. That aside, very nice guy. Drops the lowest test score, and a 5th of your grade is just notes on the readings and news articles. Don't take his classes if you already know a lot on the subject and are hoping to learn more, you won't.
There are 2 tests and a non-cumulative final, he drops one test. The only thing you turn in is an essay summarizing the readings he assigns. It's a minimum of 10 pages double-spaced basically 1 page per reading. I didn't buy the book and didn't feel like I was missing anything. His lectures are dry and but the study guides are specific, use google.
Whole class consisted of lecture and some video. He assigns a 10 page paper regarding readings that he gives. Not really tech-savvy as he could not upload any files to D2L. Messed up grading tests. No one knew whattheir grade was going to the final. Still a nice professor and willing to answer questions. Wouldnt be the 1st professor i'd recommend.
Birmingham is really knowledgeable in his field.So knowledgeable that he at first appeared as a Desiciple of Descartes to me One thing I can say is that the word Lectern will be abused.He's not tech savvy, still in the process of going from vhs to dvd. Other than that he is truly a nice being. I learned a lot.
I got an A only because I worked very hard for it. The class was lecture based. His voice puts you to sleep would not take again and i love philosophy...
He seemed kind of annoyed to be teaching an intro class. He actually said he'd prefer to practice philosophy than explain the what and hows of it. He cancelled class a lot, and he only covered two of the four planned sections. Nice guy, but I'm glad I had no real investment in the class.
his knowledge that he lectures and the knowledge in his tests are different. He is very unorganized, it took our class a month to get the syllabus out from him. Makes the class seem easy but his tests are almost impossible to ace. Very displeased with the class, one of the worst teachers I have had.
He's a little disorganized and often gets distracted. That said, he's a fine professor and pretty clear on everything. Relaxed with rules, doesn't mind if you leave or text during class etc. Says it's "your loss" if you choose to do so. He teaches from the book so you don't need to read, test's are relatively easy, and he gives 10% extra credits.
This is a easy course with him. attend lecture, read the chapters, and do a little practice to get the A. Birmingham is nice, but he covers the material extremely slowly to make sure everyone understand logic. Often, he gets off track and he gets boring. Tests are easy, 40 multiple choice with extra credit
Logic can be really boring but he makes Logic interesting and unique. He makes sure everyone understands before he moves on the the next part of his lecture. He's even willing to push back a test date if the class is having trouble understanding. He is a great teacher but often gets sidetract with random stories but it's a good break from the notes
Amazing professor- Knows that the subject he's teaching is difficult, and does his best to teach it so that it can be easily understood. Will help you if you get lost and genuinely wants to pass his students and gives fair tests. Would highly recommend! :)
Literally had the worst experience with this professor, his lectures are extremely boring and his voice will put you to sleep. I had no idea what my grade was throughout the semester because he is the exact opposite of tech savvy. I do not recommend him in the slightest!!
I believe that he truly knows his stuff but for me i took this class as an elective and wasn't using it for my major. I wouldn't recommend him unless you are majoring in Philosophy because he tends to go off into more difficult lectures and topics. Come to class and pay attention. READ THE READINGS HE POST ONLINE!!!!
He definitely knows his material but a lot of his lectures will run in circles and he will give vague answers. He also assigns readings above the reading level for the majority of the class (dense). We also talked about a lot of topics for brief periods of time so we never got a detailed description which made it hard to keep up with by finals
4 midterms and no homework assignments. Please read the section of the chapter before class. It will help. The class is well organized but boring. Professor Birmingham really tries to engage with his students and encourages class participation. If you don't get it, ask him! He will re-explain and help. Only thing he is sort of monotone, but funny.
When lecturing I wasnt sure what to write down. When asked how to take notes for class reply was whatever sounds important!? Has been my least favorite class so far because he is so vague so I dont know how to stay on top of class for now I write down almost EVERYTHING he says and hope Im getting the material thats important.
I have had this professor twice now and they have been my two worst experiences in class. He is extremely boring and will talk about subjects not related to the class which makes it hard for notes. Both times the class was graded on one test and a final because he wasn't able to go over all the material. JUST DON'T TAKE HIM. YOU WILL FAIL!
Lectures are very hard to follow. He spends 90% of lecture time rambling about random things that have nothing to do with the course material which makes it impossible to take notes. He's a nice guy, but if you have no prior knowledge of philosophy i wouldn't recommend his class.
By far the worst philosophy professor. I would recomment Caplan, Herlocker, or Morgan. They are all excellent teachers and know their material. Birmingham never sticks on topic and spends most of the time doing a stream of consciousness babble. I got an A because I was taking symbolic logic at the same time which was taught by Morgan.
He is a very nice guy, but by far the worst teacher i have ever had. His lectures have zero structure, and are often composed of off topic ramblings. Makes it very hard to identify actual test material. Which is important, because your only grade in the class is 4 tests based on these nonsense lectures. Im a great notetaker and it does not help.
Class is just a joke and If you really want to help yourself get a better teacher because this guy does't know whats up or down....
He's a great guy, and the long lectures were broken up by entertaining stories about his life that were a reach in terms of relevancy. You wouldn't do well on the exams without studying both your notes and your textbooks. The homework wasn't mandatory, but definitely was good for preparing for the exams!
I barely learned anything. There was no zoom. We jsut had to read. This was the only class I failed
nice guy but boring class i didn't go half the time and neither did my class because we never actually learned anything. He talks about nothing that will be on exams just rambles its honestly so hard to do this class with this prof. Take a different one
Honestly already hate this guy. Starting off he literally rigged the syllabus quiz with trick questions and doesn't allow retakes. Making something like the syllabus quiz difficult is such a red flag. With all due respect, a 90 year old man with poor technology skills should not be running an online only course.
Average free online class tbh
I genuinely don't understand some of these reviews - While this class was not a hard one, it also required a fair amount of work. I found Dr. Birmingham's content to be particularly interesting and insightful to someone with little background in philosophy. He's very energetic about what he teaches, and I look forward to taking more with him.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
55%
Textbook Required
58%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.99 avg changeRatings by Course
PHILETHICS
5.0
(1)PHILM07M14
5.0
(1)INTROTOLOGIC
5.0
(1)PHILOSOPY
5.0
(1)M08
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
COS126
5.0
PHILM03
5.0
WESTERN
4.0
LOGICPHIL
4.0
LOGICPHSO
4.0