3.8
Quality3.6
Difficulty72%
Would Retake87
Reviews72%
Would Retake
87
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
46
4
12
3
9
2
9
1
11
What Students Say
“If you don't agree with her opinion, forget it”
LITR337 - 2.0 rating“No quizzes or assignments to better writing skills”
ENGL101 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
96%
Textbook Required
27%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.63 avg changeRatings by Course
ENGL100
5.0
(2)ENG101
4.6
(10)LITR324
4.5
(2)LITR221
4.3
(9)COLL300
4.1
(21)Difficulty by Course
ENGL100
4.5
ENG102
4.5
330
4.0
LITR330
4.0
LITR337
4.0
Reviews (87)
Was not impressed. Was very critical of spelling and grammer docking almost an entire letter grade sometimes because she did not like your word choice. In addition all comments are the same and don't tell you how to fix problem. Felt like a computer graded my work. Get another proff for this class.
Dr. Rigney offers lots of feedback, is informative and her lessons are clearly detailed.
Prof. Rigney, is a character. She is very picky about the work that she grades. She will take 2-3 points here and there and it will easily be enough for her to fail you for your assignment. This is a Intro English course not a Grad Level.
A very detail-oriented person & grades accordingly. Syllabus is lengthy, but spells out everything expected from the class. Grades fairly & quickly. Allows students to IM her with any quest & responds immediately. While I wasn't thrilled about the class, I learned quite a bit from Prof. Rigney & felt she made it worth my time. I would recommend.
Dr. Rigney does a great job! This is a relatively straight forward class preparing students to write in various formats (APA, Chicago, MLA). Dr. Rigney builds, in a very logical manner, each week during the course. I appreciated her comments and continue to use what she taught in my other classes. Highly recommend.
She failed me. This was my first course with AMU. I did all the written assignments but had no idea the quiz's were in a separate portion of the portal. I realized this the last week. I explained my situation to her and she still was not willing to work with me. Grades hard and expect to type alot.
Worked hard for my A- which is fine by me. Not an "easy A" class. Prof Rigney does participate in discussion boards which I always enjoy. I did ask her for assistance on an outside project, I was writting an essay for a scholarship @ the time she agreed to look it over, but never got back to me with comments. Class covers great material though.
Considering most students do not like writing essays, I myself had low interest in attending this course. Considering my work schedule did not work with me for this class, I still did ok. Be prepared to write a persuasive final essay not a normal essay like most classes. Overall she was a good instructor.
Meh. Asked quite a few ?'s some responses instructed me to "google it"? Really? Class seemed more like a philosophy class than a lit class. She does participate in forums so that is always appreciated. Grades normal not too hard not too easy. Everything about this class and prof was average.
She was an ok instructor. I would not take her again as she does not teach anything. Feedback on the essays were minimal at best. Might make minor format comments and then say overall great paper, good thesis and a few other compliments and then give you a 'B'. I do not mind lower grades, but tell me how to make get better.
Not an easy class considering it is labeled as a 101 level class. No quizzes or assignments to better writing skills. There are 4 essays (70% of grade) and 2 part forum posts (30%). Feedback given was minimal. She deductions major points for minor mistakes. Would not suggest taking this professor.
Prof allowed me to take a different spin on some of the assignments and let me work outside of the box. She participates in DB discussions and is quick to respond to emails and questions. Fun class, fun professor, I would recommend her for any lit class.
Eight DBs (5 have two parts). Four 4-6 page papers. One small, EASY project. Dr. Rigney was active in forums and helped students understand difficult, philosophical theories, but she wasn't clear on how to improve essays. It takes a paper or two to adjust to her standards. However, it is possible to adjust and make an A. Would take her again.
This class is a literary theory class were you learn different perspective like feminist, Marxism, psychoanalysis etc... Well you don't. You are learning theory in terms of a philosophy outlook. It was a very hard class to understand. Dr. Rigney did not help much basicly you are on your own, and she grades hard with little feedback.
While taking Dr. Rigney's class I was a little nervous because it was my first online course. She was very helpful when I had questions and is a fair grader when it comes to papers and forums. I would love to take a class from her again.
Thank goodness, no final paper. Instead, several short papers due throughout the course. The entire course is these short papers and your forum posts, so be attentive. This course has some super dense concepts, so if you're a little light in the noggin, you might want to move along. Good instructor, interesting subject, fair grading, and nice setup
If you don't agree with her opinion, forget it! In other words, write what she wants to you to write, not what you really believe on the subject if you want a decent grade.
This is a GREAT class! The supplemental reading materials were amazing. She is a wonderful professor, you have to work but you will come out better because of it! I wish I could take another class with her.
This was my first class at APU. Missed 1 quiz (had no idea where they were) & a big fat 0 brought my grade to a "D". Contacted Professor for help & she could care less. First week says posting 3 days is waived, still grades w/ that criteria. Very little guidance on papers. Gives B but no real feedback. Also does not answer questions directly.
Grades incredibly tough for an ENG101 class. She provides poor feedback on papers and her minimum requirements for posts are double what the school's are.
Dr. Rigney is a tough, but fair, grader. She is among the most active professors at APUS. She contributes to the forums on an almost daily basis and I never waited more than 24 hours for a response. Even on the weekend! If you are interested in learning, I definitely recommend Dr. Rigney.
Its a lot of work however she helps you through it. I learned a lot through her class and she would randomly send emails encouraging you and telling you to keep up the great work. Fair grader. I would recommend
Good professor.
Overall, this instructor is a good choice. The essays required are mostly on topics you pretty much pick, which is helpful. Meet the minimum requirements in the forum and you will typically get full credit. Gives good feedback on the essays submitted.
I had a tough time in her class. She would often contradict what was learned from the book readings. You were pretty much expected to agree with her point of view even if the book said otherwise. Assignments instructions were pretty vague so if you did anything wrong she would ask you to redo it and who has the time for that.
His forum posts are rather straight forward. Nevertheless, his writing assignments or papers seem to correct more than just grammar and spelling errors. If you use a word such as "Francophone" for example, this will not go over well. Even if it coincides with the topic you are discussing, just remain diligent about the readability of your work.
If you do not comprehend ENGL well, this is NOT the professor for you! Very tough grader.
Honestly, this was the worse class that I have ever taken. Do not take her class if you dont have to. Does not explain course content well at all, and then penalizes you because of it. Other students complain about her, but yet somehow she still has a job. If I were you, I would find another professor.
Absolutely worst professor ever taken! College had no other options during the term of my selection. This teacher provides no discussion rubric & gives failing grades. I have numerous articles published within the professional industry. Yet, this teacher has graded my coursework less than subpar. I will be filing a formal complaint with college.
She gives a lot of feedback on the essays and provides a lot of extra links and examples. Fair but tough grader. Do the work. If you slack you won't do well. Learned a lot and would take again.
Dr. Rigney is very knowledgeable. I am older and been out of school for over 20 years. Dr. Rigney made me feel I was worthy and could do anything I set my mind to. I will never forget this instructor.
Not sure where the bad ratings are coming from, but I would take Dr. Rigney again in a heartbeat. Shes very active in the forums. Shes a fair grader. My first paper wasnt perfect, but she provided constructive feedback to help me become better for next time. It is a little reading and writing intensive for a lower level class, but I enjoyed it.
English is not one of my favorite subjects, but I really enjoyed this class. I think the course is perfect. I especially liked the way the instructor provided feedback.
Dr. Rigney was very helpful and gave great feedback. You can tell she cares about her students! She teaches the class perfectly with detailed instructions. The course was great and communication was always clear.
Dr. Rigney kept me on my toes throughout the course. I learned quite a bit from her feedback. This class was great! I have learned so much!
There were no examples of presentations/projects to follow. Professors expectations were not clear enough. Received my first low grade on an assignment and did not get opportunity to make corrections. Currently have high GPA but that will now lower. Do not recommend taking this professor unless your work is flawless because effort doesnt matter.
A helpful and kind teacher. The professor worked very promptly and kept the course organized. Doctor Rigney is doing a wonderful job.
I turned in every single assignment on time. I had an A in this class. Then I forgot to turn an assignment in. She has a strict no-late work policy because obviously, you need to be perfect. Emailed her that I cannot take the clas again, then told me I should take it again, is not understanding. She is the reason that my degree is put on hold now.
The instructor did a good job in teaching this course and interacting with the students She is a hard professor but makes the class worthwhile. If you are lazy then you will not do well. She expects a lot.
I have enjoyed the professor. Doctor Rigney answers her emails fast and is very detailed. Overall, an excellent experience and would highly recommend.
The instructor was excellent. The assignments are paced very well, enough resources are provided to complete the course with the guidance of Dr. Rigney. Great professor.
The Instructor was very informative. I learned a great deal from taking this instructor's course. THANK YOU DR, RIGNEY.
The instructor was great. I enjoyed taking this class with her. It was fun.
Overall, this instructor pushed me to become a better student and writer! I truley enjoyed the class.
Professor Rigney is a fantastic professor. I want to thank her for her patience and comments. She has definitely given me the tools I need for my future classes.
This class will have an everlasting effect on my writing skills. The professor retaught me the basics on how to analyze what I am reading and how to structure the topics for the reader to understand. First and foremost, thank you Dr. Rigney for making this experience so worthwhile for the last 8 weeks.
Very hard but my writing improved a lot. Grades went up in other classes too because I used the professors feedback. She gave lots of feedback, more then all my other instructors.
The instructor gives a lot of clear and specific feedback on assignments. More than any other teacher. I logged in to write how good she is!
Prof R is great! I cant wait to get to my next class. She got me ready and was so nice and smart and helped me when I was confused. I am ready now!
Im only halfway through class but gotta rate her. So awesome! Unlike all of my other instructors, she actually knows what she is talking about. Maybe her expectations are too much for online but it is still a cool class. Loving this class.
I agree with the previous review. Dr. Rigney is, indeed, a very good instructor. I have taken online classes and on-ground classes at several colleges and universities. Although there are frustrating things about AMU and the way they do things, Dr. Rigney is still a top-notch instructor who understands military obligations. She was great.
Make sure to post initial discussion responses by Thursday each week to avoid mark downs. Class isn't hard per say, just is very uninteresting. In terms of online professors, she does grade harder than the norm.
I really enjoyed Dr. Rigney. I thought she was so attentive to the students and our needs. She gave lots of helpful feedback and engaged in the discussion board posts all the time. She also left feedback on papers and was a quick grader so we could see that feedback in a timely fashion.
As a new student, there was an online learning curve during the first few weeks. Dr. Rigney was on point with her immediate responses and guidance in which I was able to overcome this obstacle and focus on the course content which were all available on Canvas.
I very much appreciated the encouraging comments that always went along with any instruction or constructive criticism. Dr. Melissa Rigney is a very good teacher.
What I liked best about Dr. Rigney was her open and honest feedback and edit suggestions for the assignments allowing me to from my mistakes and implement the suggestion into the following weeks assignments.
Instructions for course are vague. No samples are given for expectations. Notes and feedback directly conflict with what the instructions say. I consistently had feedback saying to be more specific while the assignments were left to creativity and interpretation. Feed back in assignments conflict with the expectations of professionals in my field.
This professor grades hard. I put a lot of time and effort into my writing assignments and had them proofread by several highly academic people, yet I still received grades in the 80s. The feedback she gave was not helpful. Sometimes the feedback was 1-2 very subtle things that she would change and my grade would be a low 80. It doesn't make sense.
Dr. Rigney is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to the subject she is teaching. She gave plenty of resources to use as examples. The videos she shared with us were very helpful. She was very responsive.
Her grading needs to make more sense. She is not very helpful nor clear in her expectations. I've taken challenging classes with difficult professors, but they were helpful, and I was learning from my mistakes. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Dr. Rigney.
I really appreciate how quickly Dr. Rigney graded assignments and how active she was with everyone in discussions! Getting essay feedback in a timely manner gave me more time to ask questions, and prepare for future assignments.
Dr. Rigney is incredible. I haven't had an english teacher who makes me love writing like this in quite sometime
She gives terrible feedback so it's very difficult to understand what she expects. Her final paper requirement was extremely lengthy and she didn't give enough opportunity to focus on working toward the final during class assignments. Instead, she gave a lot of busy work and then still expected a ten-page final paper that was virtually error-free.
Dr. Rigney was wonderful from the beginning of this class to the end, and I truly appreciate all her help. Thank you for everything.
You can fail this class in your last week even if you have an A the whole time.
This professor went against her grading rubric. Unclear on all guidelines asked. She was very minimal on feedback.
I would take Dr. Rigney's other courses and would highly recommend her to others.
Dr. Rigney is a remarkable teacher. She always answered my questions, ensuring that I understood and learned.
When I first started this class, I was not too thrilled. I felt like reading and writing have always been a weakness of mine but having such a knowledgeable teacher made it a positive experience. Thank you for everything, Dr. Rigney. I will miss you!
I appreciated that Dr. Rigney reached out to me concerning my grades and helped me to stay on track with a weekly update on my grade and what areas I could improve on.
Professor Rigney is a very outgoing and professional instructor. Every time I had a question about the course and leave a message, she would reply to me in the first place and no delay. In other courses you know, professors are not so responsive.
Dr. Rigney consistently communicated and showed interest in my academic success on the course.
Dr. Rigney was very knowledgeable and helpful throughout the class.
Dr. Rigney was very knowledgeable and helpful throughout the class.
I didn't approach this class any differently than my other classes. I followed the rubric carefully, but still received lower marks because the work wasn't considered “exemplary,” which I found to be subjective and frustrating. Overall, I don't believe this class added meaningful value to my degree or justified the impact it had on my GPA. First B+
Subjective grader and unclear/subjective expectations. Will easily give you a zero on an assignment where expectations were unclear, ironic.
She is a wonderful teacher, I am so happy with the experience.
Good feedback.There is a lot of writing and a long final essay but I wished I had taken this class earlier in my program. I would have done much better in my other classes. I don't get why some people complain about getting a B+ That is so dumb. I worked hard and I feel like I got a fair grade. Ineeded a lot of writing help.
Good class. Helped my research skills the most.
She has a heart of ice. I hope nothing bad happens to you while you are taking her class because she doesn't waiver from the school suggestions at all. My grandmother, who was like my mom, died mid course and I asked her for some flexibility. She gave me a whole 48 hours. I asked her if she would work with me and she refused.
Overall this has been one of my favorite course that i have taken in a long time Dr. Rigney has been an amazing professor.
This was my first time taking a online course and Dr. Rigney was very helpful and made the process easier!
Professor Rigney has high standards when it comes to critiquing our writing assignments and although it may have seemed tideous and nit picky it was meant for us to learn and grow from our mistakes and I appreciated it. Hope she teaches more advance English classes within the school
I feel like Dr. Rigney did an incredible job with this class. The layout was easy to navigate around, and the information was easy to understand. I never felt lost or confused about anything. Dr. Rigney responded to emails in a great amount of time and ALWAYS answered my questions (even if they were silly).
I have no complaints about the class. This was my first English course in over 15 years so I was extremely nervous when it began but I quickly felt reassured with Dr. Rigney's feedback and the resources she provided.
For someone who teaches an "effective comm" class, she's not good at it. She will drop your score for things she doesn't have guidance for. Don't bother questioning your feedback because she'll respond rudely and defensively, refusing to alter the grade. I considered sticking this class through but it's NOT worth the GPA drop.
I took English 226 from Dr. Rigney and I felt she prepared me well for this class. Dr. Rigney gave great feedback and in way that was easy to understand where it didn't have to be a back and forth dialogue. There is so much more to writing than I ever knew before!
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
96%
Textbook Required
27%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.63 avg changeRatings by Course
ENGL100
5.0
(2)ENG101
4.6
(10)LITR324
4.5
(2)LITR221
4.3
(9)COLL300
4.1
(21)Difficulty by Course
ENGL100
4.5
ENG102
4.5
330
4.0
LITR330
4.0
LITR337
4.0