2.3
Quality4.0
Difficulty26%
Would Retake89
Reviews26%
Would Retake
89
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
11
4
15
3
11
2
14
1
38
What Students Say
“He's not only a horrible professor, but a horrible person”
MCOM220 - 1.0 rating“Horrible teacher, one of those classic "better then you" profs that knows allot and is not afraid to belittle you”
MCOM305 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
63%
Textbook Required
67%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.38 avg changeRatings by Course
130
5.0
(1)NEWSWRITI
5.0
(1)MEDIA
5.0
(1)COM101
5.0
(1)MCOMLAW
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
COMM
5.0
MULTIPLE
5.0
TOOMANY
5.0
MCOMLAW
5.0
MLAW
5.0
Reviews (89)
No Comments
No Comments
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He is a very nice Prof. and I learned a lot from him.
He is a very nice guy as long as you're active in class and talk every once in a while.
He has got to be one of the most unorganized professors on campus! His monotone lectures will make you sleepy and he barely knows his own syllabus. Do NOT take this class. It is time to retire.
not a very encouraging teacher... doesn't push you to do well, just shruggs his shoulders
Nice Guy!
He randomly assigns things and doesn't even mention them again until the due date. He goes off on tangents and you essentially are on your own. Don't take if you like coherent, intelligent profs who aren't always talking about their accomplishments.
guess anyone can write a textbook after having his classes. encourages yellow journalism.
Very, very demanding and challenging work, but I learned a lot from him. Sometimes he got kind of insulting over some of my mistakes, but that made me work my hardest. I would only recommend him to those who are VERY dedicated to becoming journalists.
Imagine a class with no syllabus, no quizzes, no midterm, and a bogus final, and this is a class with Vivian (and did I mention no basis for grades, based on this?) Vivian is only for the thick-skinned; he can be very patronizing.
The only reason I passed law was because his computer crashed and he lost our grades....
Never Shuts Up! Just goes on and on.
very vague on everthing, doesnt know his own syllabus. all around a stressful prof. he knows his stuff and is a smart guy, but takes the classes way too far. seems to forget students have other classes and lives outside of his class.
News Gathering is the devil's class
The worst teacher I had at Winona. So full of himself he forgets about others. Teachest the class as a advance law500 class when its the first we had heard about a lot of these topics. Laughs and smirks when he assigns 5,000 word papers.
Vivian Vivian Vivian. It is impossible to be a mass comm student and get around him. Tips to deal. . . 1. Sit in the FRONT of the class. 2. Make sure he knows your NAME. 3. Go to CLASS don’t skip. Because he doesn’t grade on anything cognitive, his opi
Holds political grudges and is a proponent of yellow journalism. Helped make my decision to NOT pursue Mass Comm. Always check your tests against the answers--was given a C twice on tests, went and argued that my answers were right, and ended up w/As.
Yes, the infamous Vivian. He's not very tactful about telling you how to improve, and he likes to give zero's on assignment for simple little errors, but if you want to learn a LOT about how to write really well, he's a great prof to take.
Everybody's heard of Vivian! He's tough, he's not very understanding of problems, but he makes you learn! And, as far as some students claiming he hates women and gives "F's" to women is not true! It is a LAW class, so it shouldn't be easy!
Vivian in a mean mean man. He fails to do the one thing required of him, teaching. He'll tell you what is wrong... alot. But he never gets around to clarifying how to fix it. Hate him. He's unfair and cruel.
BAD, BAD, PROFESSOR. Good person. BAD BAD PROFESSOR.
Well, I've never actually met him...and I don't want to from what I've heard.
It's Vivian...he knows what he's doing. He's hard on students for a reason. If you need something, be honest with him. He's not going to like you unless you prove yourself, he has high standards that are attainable. Just work.
big help. we didn't even do a paper, like everyone else.
ok I had vivian for two courses this semester. He's tough.there's a lot of work and his unclarity makes you think through problems.he won't hold your hand through assignments.he's understanding on late assignments.make sure he knows your name.
Although a difficult professor, he does teach the one lecture class that has ever kept me awake, and even interested at that... and it isn't because the material is so riveting.
WORK! 18 articles for the whole semester plus a top 20's list right before finals. He doesn't email back unless you send at least 3 and without his trusty sidekick Ellen, he'd be lost!
great teacher
First, make sure he knows your name. His assignments can be challenging and not always clear or organized, but lectures are always interesting. He may seem intimidating in the beginning, but hang in there. It's worth it.
He's a great professor and so intelligent. I had him for at least 4 classes and all were very interesting lectures. In Media & Society, really pay attention to lectures and test content. He grades papers easily. Hard in J-classes. Try hard & he'll respec
Come on, the guy is so conceited that he writes his own book and then changes it every semester to sell more of them! Standard auditorium class, don't argue with him or you will fail.
Don't take this class with him!!!!!!!!!
He wrote the book so yeah it's gonna be tough. An article a week to write plus in class additional assignments. Don't plan on having a job while in this class, you need to be off reporting. Great class for broadcast and journalism majors I suppose. As an advertising major I'd rather not take it.
This class is like milk. It's good for two weeks.
Scary!!! To quote a friend, "Avoid this man like the plague." He knows what he's talking about, but that is to be expected since he wrote the text. Tough class.
From what I hear, you'll have a rough time in this class no matter who the professor is. Vivian is a bit self-proclaimed and expects a lot out of you. Plan to have no spare time and drive yourself nuts, but you WILL learn about the journalism process. The T.A. (Severson) is great, she'll help you through a lot of it! Non-jour majors, good luck!
Don't plan to have much free time, because you have to write a 300 word news story at least once a week(sometimes 2-3). If your not prepared to meet his expectations given on the first day, drop the course. When he lectures there very informative, and interesting. I learned more, and developed more in his class then any other i've ever taken.
This class is a lot of work, but not unreasonable by any means. John Vivian is the most underrated prof. of all time. I don't understand the horror stories about him. He's unbelievably nice. Just be teachable and he's an excellent teacher.
Really hard. Expects way to much from a intro class
Vivian is boring and says he teaches you something in class, but really you learn everything from ellen's emails. If you do all your work and go in his office once and a while to talk to him...you should do fine. Oh and if you think the class is bad the final in his class is WORST!!!!! he made us write ten new stories in a week!
This guy expects you to eat, breathe and sleep journalism in a 200 level class. stay away if you want a life outside of news writing.
I failed the midterm and the final, but still got an A in the class. I studied and studied for his tests, but they were impossible. There's one huge paper that you have to write, but meet with him during the writing process and give him the impression that you're interested in your topic and want to do well in the class. Do that and you'll be fine.
Prof. Vivien just sucks the life out of his classes. His ego and self-centeredness is always the topic of the day. Whoever told him he could teach was so so wrong
News writing is going to be your life when you take this class. Nothing is good enough for him, and he outwardly says your work sucks. It is going to make you a better writer, but if you aren't going to do journalism or something in the writing profession, you will not enjoy this class. It has been 4 weeks of class and I'm already dying. perfection
The next biggest thing to his textbook is his ego. Arrogant. Intimidating. It's clear that no one observes how he teaches - if they did, he'd have been gone years ago. He looks as if he's always thinking of ways to torture people. Run away!
John is an excellent instructor with a bad reputation, He can be difficult but if you show interest and ask relevant questions he can be quite entertaining and enjoyable. He is very fair with grading and after taking his class respect him for not being too easy.
what a reptile. Slithers around looking for students to torture. Has no clue how to reach students in the classroom. Heard he was the one that went after Prof. Daniel - and Becky. DO NOT take this man for a class!!!!
Very good techer if you are willing to learn.
The worst professor I've ever had. Doesn't post grades and is vague on assignments. Never ask a serious question of him and expect a clear answer, instead he'll get philosophical and answer with another question. Arrogant and completely vague.
Most students found the course too difficult. If you show interest, however, and apply yourself when he asks (rather than becoming defensive), you could come out better than the points show.
I managed to get an A with him but it was HARD. You need to attend class and really apply yourself. Be willing to show an interest and visit his office to ask questions. He likes the initiative. He's horrible at getting grades back and answering questions. He wants to push you to think of the answer yourself but sometimes you just need an answer.
He kind of just gave us a general deadline for our articles at the end of the semester. Makes fun of your hometown. Kicked me out of class and gave me 0s on first 2 assignments because I didn't get the book yet.
I have had Vivian for 3 classes. His classes are hard work and very time consuming, but in the end you are better educated. However, he seems different this year (2009) than previous years. He seems much more disorganized, and cancels 1/3 of all the classes. Sounds cool, but isn't when you're being tested on material you haven't covered in class.
Attendance is a must to take pop quizzes. Show up, do the work, ask questions. You can easily pass the class but you won't learn anything valuable from this man.
Attendance is a must to take pop quizzes. Show up, do the work, ask questions. You can easily pass the class but you won't learn anything valuable from this man.
he is completely arrogant and expects you to know how to do his class work already. this class is complete crap, and to top it off, he always references jesus. this is news writing, not church... oh and he grades ridiculously hard.
John is sometimes difficult to work with. If you visit him and stay after class to talk with him, your grade will be better. He always says " This is a very rigorous course" even when it is not. There are also times he cancel classes a lot, but still expects you to know material from lectures that never took place.
If I didn't have class, I'd say really awful things about this professor.... but I do... so I won't.
He was a very nice guy with good intentions, but just had no structure to his course. Tests and quizes were given via email, along with assignments due via email. I added the course late only to drop it before the semester ended. I didn't ever know what to study for! He jumps around!
I wouldnt recommend this professor to anyone, unless you are willing to put alot of time into it. The class is unstructured and the quizes are very difficult.
I had him for News Gathering and instead of assigning us to interview people for our articles he had us go to Youtube and write articles on the political campaign candidates. He also tried canceling class for the entire semester thinking we could just contact him through e-mail. In the end the dean removed the class from my transcript. DONT TAKE!
First he canceled about 5 classes which is a lot since we only had class T TH. He is the hardest grader and contradicts himself. He is extremely hard headed. Wish i took a different teacher. Seriously dont take him.
He gives a quiz everyday, most if not every person fails it. He then gives them back (scantron) and he does not write down your grade. The points you get/don't get on the quizzes do not matter, in the end, he will give what he wants you to give regardless of your actual point total. He doesn't go to office hours, try to talk to him after class.
Professor Vivian is very passionate about MCOM and is very approachable. He is one of my favorite professors in the program.
Vivian is very approachable, and his classes are fairly laid back. Homework is participation based and always sent through email. You will have to travel places for this course. Don't need textbook. Pay attention during class and seem interested, and he'll like you, even if you're not that great a writer. Vivian can be condescending at times.
He definitely knows what he is talking about and that is the one good thing about the class. Other than that, you have a daily quiz which everyone fails, he gives you a final academic journal to write but never talks about it other than the first day of class, he is hard to approach for help. Overall I would for sure take another teacher.
Dont ever take a class with Vivian. Avoid at all costs. He is rude, cranky, and will purposely embarrass you in front of the whole class. He has the weirdest grading scale, 80% is a C. Pop Quizzes almost every day, but quizzes dont make sense and they don't affect your grade.
He's not only a horrible professor, but a horrible person. It seems that he gets a joy out of ruining people's days with his rude comments. He is sexist against girls and hates PR majors. He has called students worthless and unintelligent. He loses your work then blames you for never turning it in. If he doesn't like you he will fail you.
If you don't give him the exact wording that he has in mind for a question you will get 1/5 on every assignment. Everything is through email, spent at least 2 hours a day reading and doing assignments, was called an idiot and a horrible student multiple times for simply not phrasing my sentence how he would have. Would absolutely never take again.
Horrible teacher, one of those classic "better then you" profs that knows allot and is not afraid to belittle you. Will want answers in his language, and will dock points heavily for Grammer errors and wording not up to his crazy high standards. Stay away even in an online only class.
It says no definitives but I would NEVER recommend this prof. to anyone EVER. He is rude, condescending, and speaks to you like a child. Grammar not 100% perfect? No points. Assignments through email. Only redeeming factor is that he gives you the opportunity to re-do the assignments you failed. If I could give him a 0 rating, I would.
Yes, he expects a lot and is a tough grader but rate him poorly because he demands correct grammar use in a course with a Writing Intensive flag? Sometimes his feedback is cryptic, but students need a dose of reality. Learn to adapt to different people and situations to earn success in the real world. Your future boss isn't going to spoon feed you.
I had Prof John Vivian from 1990 to 1993. The man is a tough cookie but believe me you will learn a lot from him if you can get the best of him. The writing skills I learnt from him have helped me throughout my career. He liked me a lot because I tried my best. I even won a State award for investigative journalism under his guidance.
Class consisted mostly of exercises sent via email. Has a polarizing reputation. Textbook is mandatory. Demands hard work and respect from his students. Do not take him unless you like journalism. Despite difficulty, objectively improved my writing and gave good feedback. Very personable when sought out for advice during office hours.
Professor Vivian's class structure is basically non-existent. There was no syllabus given at the start of the semester so you have no idea how your grade is broken down. I recommend if you sit in the front of the class and ask questions frequently. He seems to base your grade off of effort and attendance in class. If you can, avoid taking Vivian.
He wrote the textbook & it 's all online. You show up to lecture, he talks for 30 min then gets tired so you leave. He emails questions relating to the lecture and you have to answer to get participation points, but they are difficult. Each week an online quiz is due from the book, so how well you do on those determines your grade. No final.
I don't know why he is even considered a professor. You read the things he posts on D2L and then answer the questions he emails you every week. This class is a joke. No syllabus was given, and no instructions were given as to the point and end goal of this class. Vivian either doesn't care at all, or has no idea what he's doing.
I took two online classes with John Vivian, Mass Communication of Law and History of Mass Communication. There was a textbook for each course but I never ended up using them as the answers are on his D2L. His online classes are SUPER easy! I recommend them for someone who is not a Mass Comm major but needs to take an elective. Super Easy.
I clicked 'yeah' on textbook use but only barely. The text covers Media history in America, right up to the present. But we never got past the late 1700's. Mr Vivian posted one-question quizzes each day, anywhere between 1 and 6, and asked for one-sentence replies. He also grades down for punctuation as though his history class is an English class
not professional and rude
Grading scale is 5% less, grades only by email questions, no quizzes or tests, and is a veryy hard grader. Worst grade ive ever got. do not take this dude.
He is by far one of the worst professor's in the Mass Communication Department at Winona State. He doesn't explain any of the material to you and you literally only respond to emails. He doesn't care if you succeed and also he harshly critiques you of your spelling but can't spell worth his life.
DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH THIS PROFESSOR! He literally doesn't care about his students. Even if you are struggling and having a tough time, he will tell you there is nothing he can do to help you. Basically if you don't know law like he does you are a failure. I'm sad that he is still apart of my dept. because he is horrible man!
Vivians blunt feedback makes him unpopular among students. Perseverance is required. His expectations are more in line with those of a copywriting job than a standard college course. If you are struggling, send him an email citing specific feedback he has given on your assignments and questions on how to improve. He will be helpful.
Dr. Vivian grades terribly. He will give 0% for comma splices or run-on sentences. He emailed us after our first round of assignments, telling us all the problems he doesn't want to see. I used an ampersand (&) and got docked 50% because apparently, it is a twitter character and "THIS IS NOT A COURSE IN TWEETING" (yes his exact words, all capped).
Worst professor ever. I make the dean's list every semester and I am at risk of failing this course. He is so rude that you do not want to ask questions. My girlfriend took this class before I did and she cried multiple times because of him. Even if you study and know the answers, you will get bad grades because of his cryptic grading.
I am baffled by how little he cares about his students. I wish I could rate a 0. The class itself would have been enjoyable if it weren't for him. If you ever need help in classes do not take his.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
63%
Textbook Required
67%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.38 avg changeRatings by Course
130
5.0
(1)NEWSWRITI
5.0
(1)MEDIA
5.0
(1)COM101
5.0
(1)MCOMLAW
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
COMM
5.0
MULTIPLE
5.0
TOOMANY
5.0
MCOMLAW
5.0
MLAW
5.0