2.5
Quality3.9
Difficulty27%
Would Retake143
Reviews27%
Would Retake
143
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
22
4
27
3
21
2
19
1
54
What Students Say
“Worst prof in this university, she doesn't teach us anything”
CPSC233 - 1.0 rating“Group quizzes every day and no lecturing”
CPSC331 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
59%
Textbook Required
16%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.23 avg changeRatings by Course
CPSC335
5.0
(1)CPSC449
5.0
(1)CPSC01
5.0
(1)CPSC313
4.1
(11)CPSC235
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
331
5.0
CPSC219
4.3
CPSC235
4.0
CPSC559
4.0
CPSC331
4.0
Reviews (143)
hard course, but she's pretty clear. teaches off slides but does thorough examples on the board. i recommend taking 313 with verwaal.
Good prof. Uses PP, which I'm not a big fan of. But does examples on the board. Material wasn't too interesting, but it is a course requirement, so I recomend her.
Organized, clear, concise, AND gives bonus questions! Nathaly is a great prof. If you get a chance take class with her!
always makes mistkaes in exams and tutorials..dont blame the TAs
I LOVE Verwaal. She takes a strong organized military approach to boring material. She has to teach ya some really boring stuff, but her use of PP and lots of examples on the board make her a WONDERFUL prof for 313. I just hope she can help me get through 413, didn't go so well without her style.
Best prof ever. Really wants to help students out.
Pretty good, she helps you understand the material, but at the same time I feel that she makes the material seem somewhat dry. I don't know if it's her fault or not. I was very interested in compiler design, but now after all this DFA and CFG stuff, I almost lost all my interest.
Best comp sci prof imo. Puts a lot of effort into her courses and really cares about getting the material across. Very nice lady!
knows alot, tries to push students a bit too much, not flexible at all
Good lecturer, but tends to reuse old examples over and over in labs (bad if you didn't get it the first time). Mostly teaches straight out of the text. Overall, quite personable. Be prepared to read and work a lot, though.
She doesnt teach you anything. She expects you to know what the hell she is talking about and her first assignment was freakin hard.
This prof is very good and generous. She was willing to postpone asignments to go over old concepts, which most profs wouldn't do. People might not like her but that's b/c programming is not easy. Take her for any programming course & your life wont be that hard. Assignments were fair and she even let us have cheat sheets for the exams.
Had Verwaal for CPSC 233 and 313, and I'd suggest not taking her for programming courses. The 233 assignments were easy, but brutally long and complicated. However, if you're taking a theory class like 313, she's not too bad. Still hard, but she explains theory much better and is willing to answer questions and even push assignments back.
Dr. Verwaal is sticky with her marking and docks on technicalities. You should go to her class so you know her preferred way of doing things. She is almost paranoid about information hiding.
Good prof... very approachable and helpful. Helped me switch to a better TA. The assignments are good but LONG. And she's nitpicky don't just get the assgts done, but get them done the way she wants and right. Watch your T.A. though... some are AMAZING while some are HORRIBLE. Overal good course. Midterm and Final are easy to gain/lose marks
Verwaal is quite a good teacher. I've worked in programming & sysadmin for some years and I took her class because I always felt a bit shaky with straight up OO design. She delivered the goods and she gave excellent answers my questions, even the dumb ones. If you want to learn then Verwaal is a good prof.
Nathaly is a decent professor, and her assignments start easy, but become brutally long and complicated near the end of the semester. With little to no help available from the TA's it was very hard to fix numerous code errors. I withdrew from this class as I did not have time to put in 20+ hours for a single assignment.
Nathaly is very efficient and fair, though she can be a bit presumptuous about students' prior knowledge; I had no programming experience before this class, and at first I felt very out of place. However she became more approachable with time and did a great job of preparing everyone for exams, which were surprisingly easy! DO the review provided.
I would warn against taking classes from her if you are female! She told other profs she strongly disliked teaching female students, and there were situations where female students lost marks for things their male counterparts did not.
If you have a good amount of programming experience under your belt, this course is pretty easy up to the midterm. It wasn't until after the midterm that I began to feel challenged. It was also because I miss one lecture. ATTEND ALL HER LECTURES! They are crucial if you want to get a good grasp of the concepts.
Verwaal is very helpful and clear, even though the material itself is dry. Always approach her for questions! Expect to spend a few hours on assignments from the beginning and ~20 hours on the final assignment. The midterm was very easy, but the final was far more challenging. If you attend all lectures and all tutorials though, you should be fine.
Poorly organized lectures. Boring and unclear delivery. Hard marker. I would avoid her.
One of the best profs in CPSC. Organized, clear and caring. Never a mystery what is going to be on exams. Gives bonus marks. If you can't learn from her, and get a good grade, you probably should switch majors. You must attend lectures ! No powerpoints here.
Just a top quality prof! She was super clear and gave all the information needed for the course. Assignments were fair and she was helpful when you had questions. Most of all she was actually interested in teaching people and wanted to be there. I'm looking forward to having her next semester as well. Fair warning the final is rather challenging.
She is not very good for this course, but maybe good for different courses, her notes was not easy. But she tries everything for her students and care about them, in terms of structure of class she makes the class more efficient and easy.
She is a solid prof. Her notes were good but not enough as I found myself looking through notes for similar courses online many times, especially towards the end of the course. You will pretty much need the textbook Approachable prof and a nice person. 313 is highly theoretical course though, and I hated it just for that
The class is completely theory based and everything is done on paper. Normally I hate this type of course but Nathaly made it very enjoyable. Content is organized very well. Make sure you don't fall behind and it's a fairly easy course. A variation of midterm questions told beforehand, and the final isn't too bad with proper prep.
Nathaly is aproachable. She does what she can to explain the material, but she just keeps it so abstract. Her notes, I found them, were a nightmare to follow and/or understand. My quiz marks were always very high, because I studied from the text and the internet, but the midterm - especially first 2 questions were ridiculuous. Avoid her for 313.
Her instructions are not clear. Very little teaching seems to be done in the class, and it is all very basic, as if she expects us to figure everything out ourselves.
Shes hardly teach anything.You have to read the textbook and teach yourself.Unlike other profs,she has group projects.These projects are really hard.If your group members are assigned by prof, and if you have a lazy group,you will end up doing all the work.Addition to projects,you have 2 exercises per week.Be prepared to spend 12+ hours each week.
I would like to say that the work load for this class is extremely heavy and she teaches very lightly for about 15 mins at the end of the lecture.. In result, you do a lot of self-teaching with the use of your text book and google. This class has taken up most of my time during the week, so be prepared for the work load.
Nathaly herself is a great prof. She really cares about her students and goes out of her way to be approachable for anyone who needs the extra help. However 413 is a very difficult course and she tried teaching it with a new group-based method this semester. I don't think it works very well and a lot of us felt like we walked away with nothing.
Verwaal assumes heavily that everyone has at least some programming experience. Luckily, I did. If you don't, take five minutes before class to look over the topic in the textbook. Only about 15 minutes are dedicated in the lecture to actual lecturing but it's helpful and clear. MAKE USE OF IN CLASS TIME. You'll need it, especially close to the end
This is traditionally the hardest course in the CPSC undergraduate degree. I got a decent grade in the course, but I got a C- on the final because one of the questions was difficult to understand, something many other students in the course agreed on after writing the exam.
This class is ALL group work. Be prepared to have an assignment due EVERY day in addition to two major group projects. You will be learning everything on your own time. She doesn't teach. If your code works but you miss something in documentation you will only get 75%. This class is absolutely ridiculous. Don't take it.
Super helpful, but you HAVE to go to class. She has a really awesome teaching method and there's a high level of group work involved. You have to be a team player in order to prevail. That being said,this has been my favourite class to date and I really hope that I get to take another class with her in the future. Awesome lady.
Group quizzes every day and no lecturing. Attendance is de-facto graded in tutorials and classes. She has poor understanding of material and quizzes are not related to the books that you must read on your own
She will not teach during lectures. After teams are assigned, you are to hand in an assignment introduced on that day at the end of every class. There are also tricky quizzes and a project. The language used is Java but you must already have proficient programming experience to be able to do the assignments. Take this with another prof if possible.
She doesn't teach anything. The entire class is based around group work. If you can't learn in that kind of environment, too bad so sad.
Dont ever take classes with her
So much preparation involved because there are in-class assignments for EVERY. SINGLE. LECTURE.
expect about 8 assignments a week no teaching during class if your group sucks, you are screwed
The entire class is a group project. She doesn't give lectures instead you do a pre lecture assignment and a group exercise during every lecture. Her teaching guides for the pre lecture assignments are iffy and you are more or less expected to teach yourself the course via the textbook. Would not take a course with her again.
No lectures, you do assignments every lecture and every tutorial.
If you want to be taught, avoid this prof. You have to read and understand all the material before class, and everything is a group problem. Says she wont take marks off for wrong answer and proceeds to take marks off for incorrect answer. Helpful only if you ask her. Overall this class was a lot harder than it should have been. AVOID.
Lot's of assignments, no proper lectures so you have to love reading the textbook and you will end up searching for the material online or on Coursea or other online resources. The midterm was a little bit tough. But the final was fairly simple if you know your stuff. As long as you know what you are doing you will finish with an A or B
The way that this course is "taught" requires you to literally study everything on your own. However, if one were to need help with understanding a concept, fixing a bug, etc, Dr. Verwaal was more than happy to help. Too bad, really because she really knows her stuff and would make an excellent prof if she had actually taught something in class
Not a lot of teaching done in class, lecture time mainly used as a 'study hall' and time to speak with your group. Code had to be handed in as a hard copy in class which was a little frustrating . Luckily Python is an easier language to grasp and I enjoyed the content, but would have rathered take this course with another prof.
Would have nearly failed the class if I didn't already have prior knowledge about most of the topics. Does not lecture, all learning is done through 50 page textbook readings, with little to no clarification on topics in the next lecture.
Worst prof I've encountered. She teaches nothing, in each lecture and each tutorial you solve an assignment (so 50 assignments in total). Many problems are unclear or wrong, and you have to ask her to get clarifications. Tests are easy. Overall, if you want to pass without learning too much, Nathaly is great. If you want to learn - avoid her.
Doesn't do any lecturing, class time is entirely group exercises. Must teach yourself the content. If possible, take this course with another prof.
not a bad prof. make sure you come to lectures prepared. Group project was a bit of a pain but definitely manageable. Final had some of the same questions on the quizzes word for word so don't lose them.
I started off on a blank slate with no programming experience, and everything made sense as long as I did the readings. She assigns you a group for the whole semester, so be prepared to collaborate. I really enjoyed the class, though. She knows a lot and will give help if you ask. (Also, she bumps up your previous marks if you follow her feedback.)
Terrible class. Thought it would be interesting and could learn something useful but it is just so much work. Everything is done in a group which she assigns near the beginning. She doesn't teach you, you do the readings on your own time and then come to the lecture to get a challenge that is way harder than the readings. Would not recommend.
when I was in her classes, it was tough and there were definitely times where I was very frustrated. Her reversed-classroom methodology relies heavily on independent initiative and lots of group work, but you learn a lot more. If you ever do an internship/job, you'll realize she actually helped developed a lot of your soft skills (e.g teamwork)
She didn't teach anything, you have to read everything from the online textbook. She also expects you to research a lot online for the project, as the textbook is not even close to enough to teach you for it.
Doesn't really teach anything, expects you to read the online textbook and do the quizzes before each lecture (only need to pass half of them). Lots of groupwork. For those without a programming background, this class will be tough.
Absolutely no teaching in class. You have to work hard on your own, if you want to pass this course with her. Gives good feedback on the work done.
Did not enjoy this class at all. Just as everyone has said before me, she does not teach. There are no lectures, and group work can be a huge problem when it comes to understanding the material. Avoid avoid avoid
Awful. She doesn't actually teach lectures. She assigns readings from a textbook. Then has a test on it. You spend lecture time doing group work and the majority of your mark is based on how your group performs.
worst prof in existence
The prep quizzes online before each class and the regular exercises seemed rather tedious and to take up a lot of time, but if you came to class and did the prep quizzes, by the time midterms and finals came there wasn't much to really "study" for the exam. At that point you either knew how to program or didn't.
Has implemented a teaching method where you teach yourself the whole course and have group coursework every class. There is also a project on top of this. Very frustrating and way too much workload. If you can avoid taking this class with her, do.
I've had her for 233, 331, 413 and eventually 559. Would definitely not recommend if you're expecting to learn in lectures. Also expect a relatively high workload. Despite that, if you're a great independent learner and willing to work hard, this prof is for you and you'll probably get an A. Otherwise, take 413 with any other prof besides Eberly.
BEWARE OF GROUP WORK although Verwaal is an amazingly helpful and kind lady her teaching style basically involves giving tons of exercises in class to be solved by your group with almost no lecturing. Your group is assigned from the beginning of the course and your stuck for the whole semester. Also she uses a weird and confusing grading scale.
Read the textbook, ask her for clarification, and pray for a good group. Super helpful when you ask her for clarification but otherwise nothing. I was essentially carried by one member of my group who was really good at writing proof papers so really hope your group members are awesome. You gonna write proofs for days...
She is a horrible teacher and does not know how to teach and communicate with students. She is knowledgeable, but she does not know how to pass it to students. I think this is why she does not teach during lectures. She is not approachable during class or office hours. She dismisses you quickly and judgmentally. I don't recommend her as a prof.
worst professor i've ever had in my entire life and that's not an exaggeration
How can students do well in this class if the professor never teaches. Day before the midterm and almost everything I'm learning for the first time. You'll probably do good if you have some previous practice in Java but if not, you're gonna struggle hard. Learning a new language from scratch with no help, and like 10 assignments every single week.
Worst prof in this university, she doesn't teach us anything. If you wanna pass then google. the prof is not helpful. 1 major project in a language i haven't seen before or used. everything taught is next to useless for Ur project avoid this class like the plague.
She is a very knowledgeable professor but unfortunately she does not teach her students anything. There is a major project over the semester which you don't have any idea what to do or how to do it, so be ready to google everything. The class exercises are irrelevant to the project and so were the tutorials.
If for any reason you decided to take her class then prepare for a HUGE project and a lot of Googling combine with textbook reading, because she won't teach you anything.
Inverted class (you teach yourself the material outside of class and all of the assignments are in class & quiz-like). I'd suggest that if you don't know Java, that you take time to learn the concepts early in the semester (or before, even), before the project course load becomes overwhelming. Pray for a good TA and group for sure.
Literally had 3 actual lectures for the whole semester. You paid for this course to teach yourself Java. She knows her stuff but does not teach. Expect to work hard since this course comprises of a huge group project along with 3 exercises a week. Poorly structured course and prof overall. Avoid this class if possible.
Big group project(Pray for a good group I got a good one and it saved me). No teaching whatsoever(Well she attempted to lecture a grand total of 3 times). Lots of assignments. Textbook and google are your friends. She's kinda standoffish when you talk to her. TA's mark most of the stuff(TA's were good)and tests are fair. Avoid her if you can!
not chill at all
If you get a good group like I did for this course you're set, I had a fantastic time and learned a lot working on the project. If you don't however, you will really struggle. Overall I think she's a pretty good prof. She's nice and approachable and willing to help you solve problems. She barely teaches though so you're essentially on your own lol.
Terrible teacher and doesn't know how to program. You could write a perfectly good code and she will ding you for things she can't comprehend for being confusing. Coding isn't hard, but have to sink to her level of comprehension and follow the style she wants like English teachers.
Took this in the spring semester, so I was focusing exclusively on 233 - I strongly recommend this. Only take if you are a hard worker (Be honest with yourself!) She rarely lectures - the course is based solely on self-led learning and group work, which was hard to adjust to but invaluable. Do the work and you will excel. You fail? Sucks to suck.
Very inaccessible outside of the classroom and lack the motivation to truly teach, the course feels more designed to weed out students than to support their learning. If you have a good team then perhaps you will succeed, but on your own, you must read and learn through other means, because this professor is not there to teach you but to supervise
Asked if she could provide practice questions for the test since we have only gone through a couple TopHat questions. "No but you can make your own practice questions and share them with your friends."
SO MUCH WORK!!!! Between lectures, mandatory tutorials, group project meetings, weekly assignments and homework I averaged 15+ hours per week for this course. The lecture time was poorly managed and there was a LOT I needed to self teach. She is a kind woman and a smart programmer but a very frustrating teacher.
Get ready to get a low grade. Her tests are tricky and the workload is heavy. Although the quality of course work is high, if you are not soley committing to this course 100% (i.e. taking it over the spring/summer) it can get frustrating. On top of that she overestimates the programming skills of a newbie.
Get ready to work and learn by yourself. She doesn't teach so unless you are prepared to self learn you won't pass. Also she gives attitude to students and not very approachable. How she is the head of department is beyond me.
Half of your mark is based on group work, so hope you end up with a good team. She doesn't actually teach the material just briefly introduces it then expects your to learn it on your own. Generally gave poor or unclear instructions for the coding challenges which were worth 25% of the overall grade. Avoid if at all possible.
Nathaly was very unapproachable throughout the semester. Her instructions were very unclear, especially with the coding challenges. She doesnt stick to her words. Doesnt lecture, spends all the time letting us know whats due that week. This class is mainly group based, so hopefully you get a good group. Ridiculous amount of work in this class.
This course was a very engaging experience but some people might not like that. There's constantly little things to do which keeps you busy. Very team oriented too. As for the prof, she was nice and has a soothing voice. She partially posts her lecture recordings online too. Be prepared to do a ton of work that isn't all that hard but lots of it
She has a lazy teaching style where you're paying tuition just to be given resources that you have to study on your own with. She rarely teaches in front of the class and does not seem to care about your progress. If you're willing to learn everything on your own and do not need a useful professor, then take her, otherwise, steer clear.
Pay to be given assignment and start trying to google material yourself. DOES NOT TEACH AT ALL. Her lectures consist of you trying to complete a coding assignment. You know its sad when you learn more in labs than in the lectures.
I had to withdraw from this class and retake it in the spring because it's really a matter of who she puts on your team for the term project. If you get a bad team, say goodbye to about 40% of your grade. Super lazy teaching style, expects you to know everything without her explaining anything really. Tutorials help, but expect to work a lot
Wouldn't recommend
I have been programming for about 7 years and took this class for an easy A. She does not teach, has horrible notes and cannot answer coding questions for her life. I am stuck teaching a group of about 30 students basic Java practices which were "covered" in class. Stay away.
As if a quiz, individual assignment, team assignment and coding challenges EVERY WEEK aren't enough, you have no choice but to go to continuous tutorials because she doesn't teach at all. You also have to dedicate even more time to meet with your team every week. if this is your ONLY class that semester, sure. Ff not, seriously stay away.
Why she expects us to complete a java project utilizing extensive knowledge of Java beyond the scope of what is taught in CPSC 219 is beyond my imagination. Her lectures are very difficult to follow. You have to teach yourself to be successful in this course. Her lectures are a basic intro to concepts and not enough for assessed material.
She only taught concepts at a basic level and then expected you to be able to do tests and quizzes at a much higher level. The group project had a lot of exceptions for a multidisciplinary cpsc class.
Not an easy A but if u got good team shouldn't be too bad to pass.
Everyone gives Nathaly Verwaal a hard time but she is a dedicated prof. She truly cares about what her students and makes changes accordingly. She is passionate and although it is classwork heavy, you can learn a lot. The group project is probably the toughest. I was worried when I read the ratings but found out she was an amazing prof!
While Nathaly Verwaal honestly takes the time to assist students who come to her for assistance outside of class, her lectures only seem to cover the bare bones of the theoretical side of the coding. Expect to do a lot of self-teaching and/or attend extra tutorial sessions if you want to do well in this course. And hope that you have a good group.
Nathaly does a backwards classroom, where you are introduced to topics during lecture and then learn them on your own through the assignments and project. This requires a major project as a final. The coding challenges require studying to do well. Do the practices and do continuous tutorials.
heavy assignment and project. Every week have an individual and group quiz, an individual and group assignment. plus group project and coding challenge read the powerpoint only. it means you have to learn by yourself and go to the continue tutorial. tutorial always have to queue about 40 min. poor organization and lazy teaching method.
Lectures that focused primarily on her working through example problems. Really broke complicated topics into fundamental concepts that were easier to understand. Tests were very fair and really focused on understanding over mastery. Made herself available to answer questions outside of class.
She asks for something in her coding challenges but it doesn't allign with WEBCAT's requirements so you end up with a compiling error or a low grade. Her lectures are very basic, and then the level of quizzes and her coding challenges are on a totally different level. You're in for a ride. May Jesus Christ bless you if you're with her in a course.
She doesn't check her own quiz answers before putting them on a quiz, and when confronted to change these to the correct answer she refused(very unprofessional). Furthermore she demonstrates an aspect of control through the coding portion, if we do not use the exact library provided we cannot gain full marks even when matching the rest of therubric
Her lectures were fine, the time was mostly made up of group work. When approached outside of class she could be somewhat condescending, not particularly welcoming, which makes it difficult to have a conversation with her. As a professor, she is not passionate and doesn't seem to care much as to whether her students succeed.
All her quizzes have had mistakes in them, and when emailing her about the project she doesn't give any proper answers. She teaches the bare minimum in class and expects you to learn pretty much everything on your own. Her lecture is pretty much like 2+2 4 and then the project/hw/coding challenges are like prove quantum mechanics.
Dr. Verwaal is very generous with her grading, allowing you to drop your worst graded assignments (indiv. quizzes, team quizzes, and CCs). Her quizz and cc practices are very similar to the actual tests. Shes very accessible outside of class and will spend a large amount of time (if necessary) to debug and fix your code. Try and youll do fine.
Okay, real talk. Get ready to do your work by yourself. She's a great professor and will go above and beyond if you put in the effort. If you're slacking off, don't expect to get a decent grade.
Course isn't organized at all!
Her videos are text-heavy and dull. They are also brief and not sufficient to complete 70% of the course assignments. 30% of the content is doable if you manage your time between group assignments and learning new content. Scattered content over multiple platforms and did not learn OOP basics well. Would not take a class with her again. Run fast.
Took this as an online summer course after doing the same for CPSC 231. This course was horribly thrown together, with important info haphazardly strewn across emails, D2L and Microsoft Teams. TA was unhelpful often just telling us to fix something rather than teach us how to. The course material was shoddy and failed to explain key concepts.
Took this in Summer and had to submit an assignment or project every week. Get ready to do tons of work and research by yourself. The lectures cover basic concepts, but not enough details required for assignments. She is actually pretty generous with grading, so if you are a self-study type of person and can put in a lot of time, you will do fine.
She puts a lot of effort into her classes and it shows. One thing though: this course has an extremely high workload. I would only take it if your other schedule is otherwise light. Overall I really liked her and she definitely cares a lot about the way she teaches
Adapted well to the online semester and helped students learn how to work with useful applications like Github and MS Teams. Posted very clear lectures and kept us on track with frequent quizzes. Lots of group work, but graded fairly so that even if you don't get a great group you'll be ok. Made learning remotely better!
pretty solid teacher, gets the point across and will help you learn the material.
worst prof I've ever had and expects you to know more than she teaches. If you are taking any other course get ready to have no life outside of school. Acts as if her way is the only way, TA's are nice but very useless. The amount of work for a first-year class is ridiculous. Take this class if you are proficient in Java, because that's who its for
Nathaly legit cares about your success but perhaps isn't the best instructor for students who aren't comp sci majors. She will test you on areas that haven't been taught and there is a slight expectation of comprehension outside of that which has been taught. She is kind of compassionate but this class was hard to juggle with my course load.
Sweet prof, knowledgeable, super helpful during office hours and gives flexible deadlines. I'm very concerned about her choice of TAs though, they mark way too hard and expect pro level stuff from an intro level course, the TAs also helped little during office hours/class and the prof herself is the only reason why I stayed in the course
Please, whatever you do, dont EVER take a class with this prof. Course organization is terrible, her explanation of concepts is horrible, you wont ever be able to receive part marks, she only really accepts your code if its written exactly how she wants it to be. Please just save your GPA and look elsewhere.
I have mixed feelings about Professor Verwaal. She is very knowledgeable and genuinely wants her students to succeed, but be prepared to work. The course work is engaging and even sometimes fun, but there is a LOT. Some inconsistencies and mistakes in quizzes. Ones ability to progress in the course sometimes depends on the success of team members.
The 413 taught by her in spring term was good. The eight quizzes were all made up of MC. There were three assignments, the second one was the hardest one. More than 50% of students in this course got A- or better. However, the group members in your group were randomly assigned to you, you could not choose your teammates by yourself.
Not a bad class but the prof made it hell. Do not, under any circumstances, EVER take a class taught by her. My mental health has been on a steep decline since taking this course. Very poorly organized and she expects you to know and apply stuff she hasn't taught yet. Don't waste your time, find another prof.
Very tough grader, doesn't specify correctly what they expect from the coursework. Unbelievable amount of homework and quizzes. Never take her class.
THE WORST PROF AT UOFC, she never thought stuff well and expected that we teach ourselves, most people either dropped or failed her class, AVOID AVOID AVOID
I urge anyone reading this to avoid this prof. I don't even know how she still works here, quite literally one of the worst profs I have ever had. Crazy amounts of assignments (pass/fail btw) with zero chance of extensions. The only reason I didn't die was that I mastered the use of youtube and stack overflow. Prepare to teach yourself
Nathaly is kind and can even help you outside her office hours. But she's really bad at laying out clear instructions for assignments. Sometimes I felt like I'm confident enough to tackle an assignment, but the instructions were so unclear, I was often stuck trying to figure out what even was expected from me: what to implement, the requirements...
Only my second year at U of C but Nathaly is by far the worst professor I've had. Teaches the absolute bare minimum in class, assignments are pass/fail and incredibly ambiguous as for how to approach. If not done exactly how she expects, you fail. If you already know Java, this is for you. If not, look elsewhere as this will only frustrate you.
Nathaly is a very nice lady and only wants the best for everyone. The way the class is structured is terrible. Coding Challenges are pass/fail which is hard knowing that you can't be marked for your effort. The only content materials are the recorded lectures. But if you are great with time management and are interested in OOP this class is for you
My biggest mistake was listening to the positive reviews saying things along the lines of "students just wanted to be handheld" or "she gets a bad rep because the course isnt discipline specific". Negative reviews on these sites are usually exaggerations but not here, this class is that terrible. Take in spring/summer or whenever u have more time.
As far as learning programming courses go, this one will teach you a lot about CPSC if you get through it. Will definitely say though, it is ill advised to do it with a large course load as there are a lot of assignments and time needed for this course. My experience booking time and talking with the prof was positive. I liked her lecture style.
absolutely under no circumstance take this course with this prof. you will no have time to get anything done unless you already are completely fluent in java. she does not teach, the learning style is watching her code something unrelated then telling you to do something else on your own with no experience. this is the worst course ive ever taken
She was always willing to help. Lectures are meant to get help from the prof or a TA. It was easy to book office hours with her and get help on assignments, quizzes you've done, or the project. However, she is a tough grader and does not teach what we need to know or clearly tell us what she expects. Be prepared to learn java on your own!
Worst class I've ever taken, avoid taking this class with this prof if you can. She does not present material clearly. The course load in this class is ridiculous, you have to teach everything to yourself and there are too many difficult pass/fail assignments. It's just not realistic to spend the amount of time necessary to succeed in this course.
Do yourself a huge favour and find some way to avoid this professor. The time commitment is insane. You will have to teach yourself everything in this course. Material is presented through pre-recorded, sometimes outdated videos that fail to actually teach you the key concepts. Very slow responses to emails. Verwaal does the bare minimum as a prof.
Prof. Verwaal was very kind and accessible outside of class. However, her approach to this course was just brutal. Ridiculous amounts of pass/fail assignments with very ambiguous expectations. Teaches bare minimum for this course and expects the most. If you have no experience with java, find another prof! You'd be better off with Codecademy and YT
Took this course in the first year...more than 50% of the class either dropped or failed the course. Prof made this course a living nightmare. So much time commitment to an Intro Java course...seems to forget we have other commitments outside of her class. Luckily she can't teach this course anymore due to too many dean complaints.
Excellent prof for intro into a computer science class. Online lectures were very chill, with tophats appearing in most lectures.
PLEASE AVOID HER!!!
not caring at all, tough, be ready to read a lot, and requires tons of effort
Took 233 with her when it was online and it was really hard. But she's easy to talk to, and is more than willing to help when asked. I was considering dropping out of school and she met with me and encouraged me to keep going. Just put in the work and you'll be fine.
Verwaal's CPSC219 is a challenging but rewarding course. While the workload is heavy, she's helpful in office hours. For study prep, I found Unstuck study and other resources like ChatGPT useful. Expect to put in the time, but it's worth it to learn Java.
While she makes mistakes few too many times, and the lectures can get boring sometimes, she still taught the material well and was a nice person to interact with! Good explanations, although a bit messy sometimes, but was always open to answering questions.
She is poor at explaining, and sometime misses content. She is also consistently behind other lectures in this coordinated course. If you do not have prior experience with programming, I would not recommend taking CPSC231 with Nathaly Verwall.
She is a kind and nice person. BUT, her approach seems incorrect to me. Her lectures get really boring, although she does tophats and encourages participation, her speech is monotone, 0 humor, and no smiling face. Btw, the nice thing about the exercises she gave us was that they graded us based on our effort, not on correctness.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
59%
Textbook Required
16%
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B+
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-1.23 avg changeRatings by Course
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