2.9
Quality3.6
Difficulty44%
Would Retake92
Reviews44%
Would Retake
92
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
25
4
15
3
9
2
14
1
29
What Students Say
“Highly unprofessional, great sense of humour, lectures very difficult to grasp, goes off topic during lectures, takes lectures from other professors, doesn't take teaching seriously, doesn't care if student does poorly”
JUST1010 - 1.0 rating“His test/ quizzes are impossible to pass”
AHSS4090 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
65%
Textbook Required
17%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.88 avg changeRatings by Course
1140
5.0
(1)JUSTJUST
5.0
(1)SMCA2040
5.0
(3)SOCANDCRIMOFF
4.0
(1)AHSS4070
3.7
(3)Difficulty by Course
LAW220
5.0
CRIM201
5.0
AHSS4070
4.3
AHSS4090
4.3
JUST3010
4.3
Reviews (92)
BEST PROFESSOR EVER! DISCUSSION PROFESSOR, NO LECTURES!! CLASS PARTICIPATION IS AWESOME. EVERYTHING IS INTERESTING. IF IT'S HARD, THIS GUY MAKES IT CRYSTAL CLEAR WITH GREAT EXAMPLES. BUT IF HE HAS TO , HE CAN BE MEAN.. BUT THAT IS THE GOOD PART. IF YOU WANT TO BE IN IN HIS CLASS, ATTEND, IF NOT, THEN JUST LEAVE. GREAT PROF.MADE A DIFFERENCE FOR ME.
Great guy. His midterm and final exams were easy. He dropped online quizzes to bump up our marks. How nice is that. He should teach more Media Studies courses. He's much better than some Media profs that I've had in the past. If you do your work, then you will succeed in his class. We need more profs like John at GH. Thanks for a great semester!!!
Research Methods professor. Good for all the material he taught us but a quarter of the final grades were based on online quizzes that were made by the textbook's publishers. These questions were worded in ways to trick students so many of us didn't do well on that.
most legit prof ever.
note to self, take more classes with j. irwin
Good teacher who knows his stuff but uses to many student presentations to avoid teaching himself. Also he is not very motivating to do well in his classes.
John is one of my favourite prof 's at GH, he might discourage students that they won't do well, but he's probably one of the most intelligent profs the school offers. His exams are difficult, but if you follow the textbook, do your readings then you'll ace it. It's not a noting taking class, he'll open your mind and inspire you .
John's classes are mainly presentations; but they're not boring lectures. Their inspirational, and the whole class gets involved in participating in the debate. He actually makes us think. Amazing proff 1010 would take his class again.
Not a note taking course, most of his PowerPoints are not easy to follow. He uses good examples to illustrate his points or what was on the slides. One complaint I would have would be the online quizzes which were based on textbook readings and were made by the publisher. Worded in ways that made it hard for students to follow and do well.
There for students, always addresses students concerns. Online quizzes were difficult because they were based on the textbook which was very content heavy. They were also not made by him, they were made by the publisher. Worded in ways that tended to confuse students. Overall a good professor.
John Irwin is a thoroughly interesting prof - he brings info to light through many perspectives and gives great insight into otherwise abstract concepts. Very fair grader and test-maker, ensuring that students work hard but are rewarded for their efforts. Weekly quiz Qs are very specific (made by text publisher, not him), tests are concept-based.
Hard teacher but great guy
Great Prof, Textbook is a must for this course. Weekly online quizzes and weekly assignments. If you go to class and do the homework you will easily pass. Midterms and Finals are based on his lectures, online quizzes and weekly assignment is based on the textbook.
some technical issues, expect weekly assignments and online quizzes. Textbook is required
He marks very random. He will make you do group presentations and give the group members who did not complete anything good marks and the members who did all of the work bad marks. He is incapable of teaching himself so all his class work is presentations. When asked about his marking criteria, he is not able to explain why he gave the mark he did.
John Irwin is disappointing as a professor. I wish I had a choice to choose my prof - I have not learned anything...I am not happy with this course.
The manner in which the quiz questions are worded are frustrating to say the least. Many questions are Poorly worded which appear intent on tricking as opposed to testing course content. In my opinion- it is unacceptable for a prof to hide behind the excuse that text book publisher makes quiz questions. Is this your class or the publishers!
Mr. Irwin is very unclear about his expectations and does not explain his assigned work very well. The course outline does not reflect what he expects students to do, therefore there is no clear direction for assignments. Perhaps more time explaining things and less jokes would he helpful.
John is so sweet, and takes his time to figure out what you need and helps. He really cares about his students. I really liked how he used his experiences in the lectures. He, also, encourages us to debate and challenge idea. Overall great class and prof.
Enjoyed
John is super sweet. His tests are hard as he twists the questions and always puts stuff that was not covered. He doesn't do his own lectures, the whole class is done in group projects. Every week a new group presents the topic of the week. He is very understanding and will help if you need it.
For anyone considering his classes, don't take them if you can avoid it! He doesn't teach and his tests are really, really hard! It doesn't matter how much you study or prepare, it is extremely difficult to do well. The only good thing about John is he will never fail you. But if you want any higher than a 75, GOOD LUCK!
John as a person? good guy, funny, quirky. The course? terrible. This was my absolute worst class this semester as I did not enjoy the subject and the tests were BEYOND hard; this probably had to do with the fact that lecture material was taught by student group presentations. Overall, I am trying to avoid his classes for the rest of my time at GH
Poor teaching skills, wording on tests and quizzes is very confusing, often on purpose to throw off students. Funny comedian, poor professor.
Amazing professor Inspirational Fair marker Funny
Highly unprofessional, great sense of humour, lectures very difficult to grasp, goes off topic during lectures, takes lectures from other professors, doesn't take teaching seriously, doesn't care if student does poorly.
Hilarious but hard tests
He's a terrible professor, disorganized in everything from class lectures to assignments to his bizarre online quizzes that rarely anyone is able to pass. He maybe somewhat nice or whatever but every year hes the only professor that brings my GPA significantly down to his lack of teaching and horrible grading and purposely wants students to fail.
Great professor! Very different and interesting lectures. Teaches core values and ideas.
One of the greatest professors I've ever had! I really enjoy class
John makes himself seem like a caring/ helpful prof, but as soon as classes are over he tears your work to shreds. Dont bother doing work in group projects because people who barely did anything will get better marks than you, even when he says he knows you've done all the work. Tests are WAY too hard and the final exam did not follow his lectures.
He is a great teacher, tries to relate to his students, and he is hilarious.
His test/ quizzes are impossible to pass... Partly because of the level of difficultly but mainly because the content was not taught in class or in any of the assigned readings/powerpoints. He's a really intelligent guy who can present information well and speak based on his knowledge and not on a powerpoint but that's no help if u cant pass tests
John genuinely cares about students and is a great guy. His tests/quizzes are pretty rough, but if you show up to class and participate, you usually should retain the important information. Don't just read the slides, but listen to his lectures!
Doing a lab and taking it up in class the next week was helpful and made the material more clear. If you read the chapters and dont skim them the quizzes arent that bad. You have to pay attention to his lectures to understand the material well but he is willing to go over anything if necessary. Very helpful and fair, tries to help his students
John is an approachable and funny guy. You will need to buy the textbook for this course because all the online quizzes are based on chapter readings. You need to read each chapter thoroughly to pass the quizzes. The tests were tough but were based primarily on his lecture notes. Complete and submit all labs to the best of your ability.
John is enthusiastic as a professor which is great, except his lectures relate to nothing of the content your supposed to be learning. He states he does not responds to emails and if you think you can get away without reading your text book you are wrong, that is the only way you will pass his test
Amazing professor. Quizzes and tests are not that hard if you study. His lectures are pretty entertaining and he actually cares about the welfare of his students.
This course was beyond ridiculous in terms of the high volume of learning materials and complete lack of support from both the instructor, as well as the University of Guelph-Humber. It should never have been mandated that we take this course in a 6-week condensed format. It was overwhelming for students and as a result, no new learning happened.
Worst course that I have ever taken. Instructor was not engaged with students and did not attempt to rectify known issues with the course materials. Extremely unprofessional and the course was a complete waste of our time. Learned absolutely nothing.
It is a good course. Easy if you show up and pay attention. The textbook is only used for weekly online quizzes (10 mins - 10 questions). The answers are straight out of the textbook. Each quiz is worth about 1-2%. The labs are a straight 100%. If you hand it in you get perfect automatically. Midterm + Final are online. Can easily use your notes.
John has such credibility when you combine his real world experience with his education. He truly gets learning and allows the student to challenge and stretch themselves. He's a great guy who thinks outside the box.
John is an overall great human who really cares for his students and makes attending an 8am or a 6pm enjoyable. His lectures are important to attend - he gives his own insist that the textbook wont be able to give you.
John is hilarious and his lectures are both funny and interesting. Tries his best to relate topics to everyday life. A really cool guy who makes a difficult class easy on his students. All quizzes, labs, and exams are online so it's pretty awesome. Loved his class!
John is very kind but his tests and quizzes are totally different from what you learn in class. When he says don't worry or it isn't difficult, you should definitely be aware because on the tests expect the total opposite. Not very easy to access him outside of class as he tends to forget meetings you booked with him beforehand.
If you do every assignment and try your best, you will pass. I didn't study for the quizzes/tests bc he adds weird questions on his quizzes and even the tests, and always ended up passing them. If anything, google answers while you're taking them. It is a difficult course but trust me, it's not as hard as everyone is making it seem.
Take it in the summer, any chance you get! DO the labs (easy marks) and quizzes and you will pass! Textbook is mandatory for all quizzes.
Professor Irwin is by far one of the hardest profs that Ive ever had. I will say his online quizzes were easy for the most part, but his exams remained IMPOSSIBLE. You could study all night and will end up with at most a 70%. I wouldnt take him again, he was unorganized during classes. Try your best to avoid being in his class.
His classes are full of information and he is very knowledgeable, but he does sometimes get off track. Very understanding and hilarious! The quizzes and tests in this class are the most difficult by far. Reading the textbook is mandatory for quizzes. Being in class to understand lectures is mandatory to pass tests. Hard but enjoyable in my opinion.
The entire semester revolves around group presentations. I can count on one hand how many times John Irwin actually went up and presented testable material to the class. Absolutely horrible and the hardest grader I've ever had. For what? To enhance his ego? Probably.
Nice guy and very funny but be prepared to study. Midterm and exam were extremely hard and sometimes consist of things we never learned in class. Don't bother buying the textbook because you won't use it and be prepared to be bored in class.
Taking this class was a blur. Aside from his great personality, I was often lost in the class. He goes off on tangents. Don't bother wasting money on a textbook. YOU WON'T READ IT. I don't even know if the class is mandatory or not. Just go anyways. Ask others for help after class, or make a study group if you want to understand course content.
This class was completely self taught. John did nothing to assist or aid his students. It was only through contact with the department head that we could actually get some kind of answers/change. Does not accept late assignments, under no circumstances. Does not answer emails. He is not understanding or reasonable. Avoid his classes at all costs.
Just drop the class, save yourself the time. Hes not worth the headache.
Absolultely unreasonable, gives 10 min only for a quiz Exams had nothing to do with lectures like stated so if studying for exams make sure to do your own research and add it to your notes. IF YOU HAVE HIM RUNNNNN, drop the course
He does not care about his students, so you should not care about his class. Dont let his grade ruin your GPA, drop his class while you can.
This course was very confusing and a lot of assignments to complete. (14 quizzes & 8 labs). Only given 10 minutes per quiz with 10 questions and I barely was able to finish in the time frame.
This class is so confusing for no reason. He doesnt explain the material, not enough time is given for quizzes and exam topics arent even the ones given for review. Basically had to teach myself the whole class. Easiest part of the class is the labs
Funny guy - can't believe he used to be a cop! This man officiates weddings too! He doesn't really teach all too well and the class was extraordinarily difficult. I must agree with others when they say his classes are self taught. Good personality, but horrendous teaching ability.
This prof has no say in the way the course is structured, so 10 min for 10MC quizzes (very difficult) and weekly labs (super easy) is just how the course is. As long as you read the book and make notes you're fine, but it is a lot of work. He's a pretty cool guy and tries to engage his students & I'm glad I got him over some of the other profs
STAY AWAY! Hard grader, his quizzes are impossible unless you read the textbook. Unfair in grading when work is complete and doesn't provide feedback. So much work to do through out the week along with two intense weekends. Prof isn't good at explain what is expected or needs to be done. Weekly quizzes, discussion, summary, term posts, plus more!
John Irwin is one of the best profs at guelph-humber. As a dyslexic student with chronic illness and learning disabilities, COVID made pursuing my education really difficult. Irwin managed to make his recorded lectures engaging and entertaining while prioritizing the wellbeing of his students such as myself. Definitely take his classes if you can!
I literally adore this man. He has a lot of quizzes, hard tests, and lots of mini assignments but boy is it worth it. He is such a funny and nice guy who is extremely respected. I thankfully got to have him every year during my uni experience. Do the readings and you're good. Quizzes and tests are all online so just be organized and you'll be fine!
Made us study the content by ourselves and do a weekly quiz on it to then ramble on about it in class. Never used the textbook once, everything was on PowerPoint, doesn't respond to emails and doesn't seem to care about your overall marks.
All John does it make terrible jokes, and get off topic in class. You basically teach yourself the entire course, and his tests are only based on the textbook so make sure you read the chapters. He is horrible at replying to emails, giving feedback, or being clear with instructions on assignments. If you can avoid having this prof- do it.
Okay the guy is decent but don't try to reach him outside of class he doesnt answer emails Lectures are a mess Course is essentially self taught he rambles a lot & not organized Funny guy but I would go out of my way to not have him again There's a whole lot of assessments but lowkey an easy marker Quizzes are pulled from quizlet Lots of readings
I don't understand the guy point blank period. One day he will be the best prof you ever had, and the next day you'll be flustered with constant assignments and questionable grades. My advice for everyone who takes this "professor" is to review his content constantly and make sure you don't miss anything. His clarification skills are definitely 0!!
If you're expecting a prof that will get back to you, or clearly explain assignments- this is not him. As many have said, you teach yourself. Irwin is not helpful when it comes to clarification, and could care less about his students. Our class all failed the final , if this doesn't clearly explain how he teaches I really don't know what will.
If you have jim literally RUN. This man gives an unnecessary amount of workload. Does not answer questions properly, overall confusing. Inconsiderate of students other classes and outside life. Hung up on teaching life lessons when clearly not his JOB
Teaching methods are terrible, and weekly discussions are also terrible.
Worst professor I've ever had. Per week, makes you do 2 quizzes, read 4 lengthy articles, watch an HOUR LONG podcast along with other movies, and makes you actively participate in class for marks. Expects wayyy too much from his students and doesn't seem to understand that his class isn't the only one students are enrolled in.
Johns teaching methods differ a lot from most, however if you put in the work you'll get 100s. He can be rude, but if you talk to him one-on-one he is pretty understanding. If you've never had him before, he teaching methods can be confusing. He doesn't usually answer emails if its about the course, but if it is pertinent he answers.
Good Luck, worst of the worst.
the guy is on serious drugs
I had irwin for Investigative Techniques and he was very confusing compared to other profs. He has unclear grading criteria and sets quiz time limits that are designed to fail students. If you care about your GPA, drop his class. He does not answer emails from students about coursework. He will make u fail!!!
Had Irwin for many classes from first through 4th year. If you pay attention and read the lectures/textbook, you will do well. Pay attention to instructions, he will not answer emails if you ask basic questions that can be found in breakdowns/syllabus or that were addressed in class. He doesn't take attendance, but the classes are important. 10/10!
One of the best professors. The realist and one you will be coming back to even after graduation!
I have a love/hate with this man Cons: test material is often not in readings/PowerPoints, participation matters, limited response to emails Pros: funny, engaging, interesting, and definitely not boring! He is one of the best professors I've had when it comes to lectures Tip: even if you fail his quizzes, you can easily pick up grades elsewhere :)
Irwin and his courses are completely unorganized. There is no structure, he often gives the same assignments different names or does not mention them at all, the drobox has duplicate assignments and due dates are wrong. There is no connection between assignments or his rambles and criminal justice whatsoever. He and students are equally confused.
Beware this guy has no idea what is going on and his quality of organization/course content is subpar to say the least. I honestly cannot begin to describe the lack of professionalism in this course and it's presentation. I was shocked that Guelph-Humber approved the course material let alone have him awards. Mind boggling.
I had him for JUST 4020. You need to be there for his classes every week, or else you can't get good grades. His quizzes and tests are difficult because they are usually questions he makes up, reason why I don't prepare for any of them. He has group presentations and does small group discussions. Overall, he's ok ish.
Great teacher very funny, engaging, and makes the lectures fun and exciting compared to other profs. don't worry about taking notes in class because you will get lost asl
Irwin is a good person but his classes suffer from high expectations. For criminal offences he expects you to know the offences, sentencing and limitations of a lot of the offences. Participation is a must. He also makes ou go watch a court proceeding on your own time which was need to watch.
Raging ADHD
The information is not organized I feel like I'm putting a puzzle together.
John Irwin is one of the most diverse professors I have ever had in my life. For one class, you may receive the highest mark you have ever gotten in any class. Then you have him again, and your average drops by a huge margin because of his insanely confusing algorithm. The best thing I would recommend for anyone is to always ask him if you are lost
Sure his marking can be confusing. But if you actually speak to him even once during the semester it makes all of the difference. He does things his own way but if you ACTUALLY go to classes consistently and engage with the lectures then you will absolutely succeed in his courses. I'd take him over reading off of powerpoints any day!
He's great lol. He's engaging, interesting & very easy-going. You need to attend because he teaches from memory and understanding rather than from reading off slides. He sometimes has high expectations for tests (they can be a little chaotic, but are usually online). But overall he's one of my favourite professors and I would recommend!
Though the assignment were very confusing most of the times. I was surprised that I did very well on the labs and individual assignments. The only thing I can say is, the professor was really hard to reach and doesn't respond back to emails, so if you don't understand it is best to rely on your peers.
He is amazing when it comes to accomodation and helping with problems. Easy marker and a lot of opportunities to increase your marks. Quizzes are a little tricky tho and he does not really respond to emails..
The most disorganized "professional" there is. It will take you until week 3 or 4 until you almost know what he expects from you in the course. His lectures are useless unless you enjoy listening to rambling.. I worked on a weekly discussion for a whole semester and it never got graded because "he forgot", a complete disrespect of my time.
easy marker
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
65%
Textbook Required
17%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.88 avg changeRatings by Course
1140
5.0
(1)JUSTJUST
5.0
(1)SMCA2040
5.0
(3)SOCANDCRIMOFF
4.0
(1)AHSS4070
3.7
(3)Difficulty by Course
LAW220
5.0
CRIM201
5.0
AHSS4070
4.3
AHSS4090
4.3
JUST3010
4.3