2.5
Quality3.6
Difficulty25%
Would Retake83
Reviews25%
Would Retake
83
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
10
4
14
3
16
2
22
1
21
What Students Say
“Absolutely no clarity, no guidance, no class structure”
HNR242 - 2.0 rating“Blackman is probably the most scatterbrained woman I know”
HNR242 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
85%
Textbook Required
45%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.09 avg changeRatings by Course
BIO100
5.0
(1)CMB622
5.0
(1)112
4.0
(1)BIO496
4.0
(1)BIOLOGY11
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
BIO496
5.0
112
4.0
907
4.0
BIOLOGY11
4.0
BIO423
4.0
Reviews (83)
Shiela is very nice and explains things well, but she is a grade crusher
Dr. Blackman is a very detail-oriented professor. She crushes grades.
Prof. Blackman knows her stuff...too well. A difficult class and grade crusher
Never again will I take a class taught by her
She is a very tough grader
Knows the info but cannot communicate it in a way understandable to students
very excited about what she teaches, that is evident in the way she teaches
Smart lady, but boring. Has absolutely no idea who her students are
No Comments
she was a very oddball professor who i had a very hard time learning from lectur
She is very energetic and knows what she's doing. I like her
Blackman is an interesting prof-but kind of loses me in lec somtimes
She is a horrible professor. Get out why you can!!!!!!
She's a nice lady..but she grades REALLY hard. Tends to get to get pushy!
If you want to ruin your GPA, take her as a Prof., if not run for the hills!!!!!
She seemed to teach only the things she liked instead of all of it.
The grading is rougher than sliding across a bed of nails
Pay attention in class, its really not that hard. Study guides helped me a ton
exams, quizes, etc. straight from notes, good teacher
No Comments
should be labeled botany 112 if shes teaching...get out of her class
failed miserably in drains class. have an a in hers. GREAT!
She is very disorganized, which causes hard tests. Reading book doesn't help.
I feel bad for anyone who has her, so unclear and disorganized, difficult tests.
Liked the class. She's very energetic; class interesting. Study and its easy!
She is probably the worst teacher I have ever had! My advice: GET OUT!
No Comments
she can't teach
I would NEVER want to take this class with her again...
boring, difficult tests, can't really teach all that well
Horrible tests! Makes you feel stupid if you ask a question. Wacko lady!!
HORRIBLE!
Not good at explaining information, she's enthusiastic and nice, but not helpful
Where do I begin? If you plan on doing well in bio. then get a different pr
No not return assignments and test in a timely fashion...
GET OUT NOW!She is very unorganized, test are very hard..use her study guides!
She's interesting, but very hard on her tests, which counts for most your grade
Late at passing back and unorganized
IF THERE IS STILL TIME, TRANSFER CLASSES!! it's horrifying. =0
She is very scattered, doesn't teach, you have to teach yourself.
She is energetic, good lectures, very unorganized, tests are kinda hard but fair
very nice and enthusiastic but teaching isn't her strong point.
ummm.....bad!!!
UGH!!! I am a biomed major and she was rediculous. Stay far away as possible.
Horrible teacher! She knows what she is talking about, but she cannot get the point across. Treats her students as if they were in pre-school!
She's very scattered, but you'll survive if you take all the notes from her presentations and follow the tests reviews.
No Comments
kinda scatter-brained. very willing to help with lab projects or lecture material, though. obviously very passionate about the class (she designed it, I think.)
Great Teacher, very interested in student understanding...willing to take time to explain the difficult-to-explain as long as you take the time to ask.
Scatter Brained Did not help at all when I asked questions. Very difficult material and she doesnt know how to present it
Very knowledgeable teacher, straightforward lectures, followed book closely, study your notes and review the book and you will do fine on tests, i think she used text-book-created tests, so USE YOUR BOOK!!!i enjoyed the class.
teaches completely different material than what shows up on test. had to reteach myself and spend days on the study guides literally reading through the book myself. as a side note, never really got past wardrobe and the "now check out 'figger' 12.8&
I did not like her class at all. She gets anxious while "teaching" and can be impatient with students. Rarely available to help and expects students to know all about cell/molec already. Please avoid her unless you want to spend a semester self-
RUN!!!!!!!!!!! RUN 4 YOUR LIVES!!!!! AHHHH! GET OUT NOW! :(
Wow, take a chill pill. Way too much energy, seems like she's going to start panting any minute. She's a nice lady once you can keep her in one spot, available and explanitory with questions, and pretty laid back with tests.
No comment :(
terrible, no direction, doesn't tell you what she wants, so unorganized. don't take her
great biologist who loves what she does without question...maybe her grant/lab work more than teaching, but she was more than willing to share this with me as well
Absolutely no clarity, no guidance, no class structure. I'm still unclear as to what the course objectives were. It wasn't a lot of work, but what work we did do didn't make any sense. Her only upstanding characteristic is that she's nice.
First-time Honors prof who I think had a tough time teaching a science course to non-science majors. Real nice lady and very helpful in e-mail correspondence. I didn't like how a huge chunk of our points came in the last month of class, though - exams 2, 3, the final, the lab (in a non-lab course?!), the debate, etc. made end-of-year burdensome.
Dr. Blackman was awesome! She was really energetic and excited about the labs we did and was really helpful while we performed our experiments. Like others previoulsy mentioned, she was a bit scatterbrained at times, but what prof isn't? I would highly recommend for BIO 406.
She is a great prof who cares about her students. However, she is disconnected from her own material, jumps all over a lot, and gets really backed up on the syllabus schedule, which can be very frustrating. She means well, and the course is interesting, even to a non-science major. The material is straightforward. Good prof.
She taught the lab course well. A nice and helpful professor. i recommend the tissue culture course.
She is a really good teacher, and really cares about her subject. There is just a huge 15 page paper at the end of the semester, and the tests are over really obscure information that she barely covered in class (making it hard to know what to study for). Easy for a honors class though, just be prepared to write!
She's very enthusiastic about her subject. She's kind and wants you to learn. However, she has a difficult time communicating to the class. Her thoughts and lectures are jumpled.It's a lot of work with very little guidance. I love her as a human being, and I know she has tons of knowledge she could share,I just don't think she makes a good teacher.
A vey nice professor. Teaches lab class quite well. Gives good tips and advice. Gives a lot of material to read and summate from. Exam is easy. A very easygoing person but expects job done correctly.
she wants all her students to be plant biotechnologist which in all actuality most people are not she was very difficult to understand in her lectures and her grading is very unfair
i do not suggest her at all she expects everyone to be as interested in plant biotechnology as she is i went into finals with a b+ and 75% of you grade is decided at finals came out on my report care with a c-, was not happy and i refuse to retake this class or any other class with this women...beware
I thought this class was fun and informative. I had low expectations at the beginning, but I loved this class and I'm glad I took it. Super easy, small paper and exams weren't bad. Prof Blackman is really kind and knowledgeable, but she is a little scatterbrained.
Tough grader, stumbles over her words. Doesn't explain assignments
she was horrible do not take harder than lecture !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had Prof. Blackman for BIO-120 lab, and honestly it was harder than lecture. She lectures during lab and she gives out so much extra work. She is not bad and lab is not boring, but be prepare to be there the full 3 hours and also be prepared to take a pre-quiz and a post-quiz every day you have lab.
I had Sheila for BIO 319, "Global Agriculture Sustainability" and this was by far my least favorite class I've taken at GVSU. She's a kind woman with good intentions, but a horrible communicator. Lectures were usually very long, boring, and she really seemed to beat a dead horse. She does a poor job of getting people excited about the material.
pretty good professor. for a lab there was a lot of homework, two quizzes per class and usually a graph or two, but she was very nice, helpful, and seemed to want to help students pass
Blackman is probably the most scatterbrained woman I know. The class is really easy, but the expectations are pretty unclear and half the time nobody (including her) knows what she's talking about.
I had Blackman for bio lab and she is very disorganized. Her grading criteria is not very clear and she doesn't give much feedback. Her disorganization is the reason I did so well in the class. She would get behind on grading and end up dropping assignments or giving everyone an A.
Literally the worst professor I've experienced at Grand Valley. She's so disorganized that the hardest part of the class is understanding whats going on. Everyone in the class was completely frustrated & I felt that I didn't learn anything about plant biotechnology, which I was excited about. Seriously listen to these comments don't take this class
For my case, I took her for CMB 155 for a gen ed class. This prof gives wayyyyy too much homework for a freshman level class, even if its your major. The material isn't too difficult but the amount that she gives makes it hard to do well in the class along with the others your taking.
Probably the worst prof I've had at Grand Valley. Very disorganized; very hard to follow and know her expectations. She is very rude when you try and gain clarity. Just not a reasonable person at all. She wants everyone to love plants as much as she does, and that's just unrealistic. Good luck.
I'm currently taking her class. It's a lot I get less work doing the CMB labs where we work with RNA and make a conference poster to present. This is during the pandemic and it's all online no zooms just read all the material she gives and you better have it memorized. I have been yelled at by her for taking notes and looking back on my notes.
This is my second semester at GVSU but not my first year with college classes. Professor Blackman truly cares about her students... No Text pur. HOWEVER - She assigns approx 15 - 20 things to do a week from readings, homework, quizzes - REQUIRES students to attend a zoom meeting (half on Saturday and Half on Monday). Its like 1/3rd of your grade
I was hesitant to take her course because of the low ratings, but honestly she is amazing. Very willing to work with students and VERY clear grading criteria. Not sure if she changed the way she teaches the course/assigns homework but she is hands down one of the best professors I've taken. Absolutely take her.
Very easy to work with and responds quickly to emails! Super clear about instructions and exactly what she is looking for.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
85%
Textbook Required
45%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.09 avg changeRatings by Course
BIO100
5.0
(1)CMB622
5.0
(1)112
4.0
(1)BIO496
4.0
(1)BIOLOGY11
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
BIO496
5.0
112
4.0
907
4.0
BIOLOGY11
4.0
BIO423
4.0