2.4
Quality3.8
Difficulty32%
Would Retake109
Reviews32%
Would Retake
109
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
10
4
20
3
18
2
26
1
35
What Students Say
“If you take a class from Prof”
HST469 - 4.0 rating“I really enjoyed taking this class”
SHAY54167 - 5.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
84%
Textbook Required
40%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.07 avg changeRatings by Course
SHAY54167
5.0
(1)HST467
4.0
(2)HSTLOTS
4.0
(1)HST469
4.0
(1)HST203
2.9
(14)Difficulty by Course
HST425
5.0
HISTORY
5.0
HIS203
4.5
HST481
4.3
HST201
4.1
Reviews (109)
Great Teacher, very helpful. Class is super interesting. Hes incredibly personable. This class is really great and I learned a lot, not to hard.
Great Teacher. Don't take if you are looking for an easy A because it is alot of work, but worth the experience. Great lectures and an overall nice guy.
This class is a lot of work. About 200 pages of reading a week. His tests are essays from memory and an A is quoting from the reading. Unless you are extremely interested in the environment I wouldn't recommend it.
Lectures were odd.Would talk about significant events in American history,and then talk on minutia by stating that it puts the time into context.Vietnam was a topic,then the nextslide is on theMagnificantSeven.If you say what he wants you to say,you will do well.If you slightly deviate from what he thinks to be right,then you will be graded poorly.
Lots of reading for this class and course objectives are not always clear. Very nice guy and open to help students when needed.
I did not have a successful time in this course.
Uh, horrible!! His tests (which were partly essay) were HARD, his lectures were BORING, he was a jerk, and the newspaper project SUCKED! I don't recommend him... oh, and by the way... he says "If you will" 45 times in a 90 minute class. I kept a tally.
Yikes... I do not know how anyone would rate this instructor well. As well as being a horrid grader he takes a "god like" attitude towards his students. Proceed with caution.
See the teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off (especially the scene where all the students are sleeping through his boring mono-tone lecture). This is the same teacher from wonder years.
This guy sucks his tests were ALL essay and graded hard. Plus he gave a big project and weak directions and guidlines
Very, very difficult. Harsh grader, with difficult projects and long, tedious reading. Always expect to get one letter grade lower than what you should. Avoid like the plague.
Although he does seem to have fun with his lectures and tries to keep everyone interested, the topic itself isn't that interesting. 7 weeks about pre-Revolutionary war and dealing with the Indians doesn't quite cut it with me. VERY hard grader on strictly essay tests. Lots of reading to do.
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!! I don't even know where to begin. I love history, but the reading is incredibly boring, and there is a ton. Lectures are boring and no class discussion at all! Bring a pillow to class. Tests are essay and random identification words. Average test scores in 70s and highest ever an 83!
Very passionate about his subject and very willing to help you understand. He can be a hard grader so get any help if you think you have a weak thesis. This class's grade is based on a final, presentation, and research paper. Ouch. Nice guy though.
Okay, so yeah he asks alot from you but it's college...so get over it *geez*. 2 issues 1. His random attendance totally sucks, I have scored above average by at least ten points on all assignments. I got a 96 and 92 on tests and the man is going to give me a B, this is college I pay if I pass it's due to my hard work. 2.Does not respond to e-mail
I took this class as a summer course, having heard that most summer classes were more lax than normal classes. Not the case with Dr. Shay. He expected us to give 110% in this class, while he gave about 25%. He had a good excuse, working on his dissertation, but he didn't answer emails or anything, and was EXTREMELY nit-picky regarding assignments.
He doesn't care about the students and puts very little effort into teaching. Not to mention that he is boring.
The lectures did not coincide with the readings. He left all correspondence to the TA, who was clueless. He assigned Field Reports late, and didn't follow the syllabus. This class was organized about as well as the Second Continental Congress organized the Revolutionary War.
Shay expects a lot of you so don't expect to half ass anything you do. He's fair. He leans to the left a bit but never crosses the line like others.
Went to 3 classes, got high B's or low A's on the 3 papers and final, and beat every class average BUT I didn't get many attendance points for his boring lectures. Teacher is so passive-agressive he wouldn't give me the 1 point to get a B-. If I had perfect attendance it would have been an A. Watch out for this kniving dude! hahaha live n' learn
Took 201 and 203 with him and plan to take 202... really thought he does a good job keeping you interested during lecture and is very fair.
There seems to be a lot of students giving shay grief but i thought he was GREAT! came in lookin for an easy A but he does make you read and work for it. Essay test. Good with students, kind of funny, loves that topic, and overall NICE GUY!
This guy is a joke - dry and boring - man can we fire this guy already
Dry and dull. He seems to be quite uptight about things, it is rather annoying.
Awful excuse for a prof. I took his online class and he never graded anything until finals week. he never answered e-mails, and he basically did not communicate with anyone in class for 8 weeks. when it came time to grade research papers he knocked my paper down 20 points(out of a hundred total) because I forgot to include paragraphs on my refs.
Horrible. HE never answered emails and i emailed him literally 20 times throughout the term, 2 were responded to and didnt even answer my question. He gave us our in class final on week 7 but with 1 min left of class and told us "this was it". never even went over to explain what he was looking for.
I liked his lectures a lot, made history super interesting. But his midterm was pretty much.. impossible. I walked out expecting a 10% (it was THAT hard), even though I attended every lecture and studied well. Overall you'll learn alot but expect a low grade.
He is a great teacher! I found the lectures to be interesting and he was able to talk without boring you. The only test was a final and throughout the course there were 2 papers. He will challenge you but he is a good teacher
Professor Shay was very laid back and clear. It was almost like watching a documentary on the History channel. There are two 4 page term papers, 1 midterm, and a final. Make sure to spend alot of time on the paper. I would recommend taking this course during the summer b/c Shay is more laid back and not as much work is assigned.
The lectures were interesting, but the organiztion of the teacher was lacking. Our grades were late getting back to us. He didn't grade my first assignment; I had to bring this to his attention. My mid term was lost along with several other students and my final assignment was never graded. Will never take a class of his again.
His assignments were unclear, he took WEEKS to grade things- even the midterm- he didn't answer emails, and yet he grades papers and tests (the majority of your grade) very harshly and is uptight. He also adds in random assignments throughout the term and doesn't stick to the syllabus schedule. Until he gets his sh*t together, not recommended!
Class is intriguing. Shay will talk for two hours about what students "should have" read, when 95% did not read it, but what should he expect when he assigns 150 pages every two days? The bright side is that the readings have nothing to do with the essays! The essays are graded tough, but if you write well (unlike most students) you will be fine.
boring class. PPT and lectures are not useful but attendance is required. Too much work load as a 200 level class. He "never" check the emails. It is impossible to get quick support. Think carefully before taking his class.
Professor Shay is a very kind and funny man. He is extremely knowledgeable as well.Despite these qualities, the class is extremely lecture based and hard to follow. The wording on assignments is extremely confusing. Lastly, he gives quizzes randomly on the reading that I found difficult because they are to broad to study for.
Shay is very knowledgable about the subject matter which makes lectures somewhat bearable. However he really struggles with technology. The online material is rarely posted in a timely manner. He is not very clear about assignments and due dates. If you are a person who likes things to be organized do NOT take Shay.
He will not respond to your emails. When he doesn't update the website with stuff we need to read. Since he doesn't upload the website its almost a guarantee that your field papers will be turned in late; he doesn't accept paper copy. he doesn't know how to use his own technology either. I would recommend a different teacher.
Assigned readings from books not on list. DB questions from resources not assigned. No clarity for assignments. No responses to email. No bueno.
He constantly bullies anyone that tries to answer his questions. His lectures can be interesting but he is incredibly demeaning.
Dr. Shay is very passionate and knowledgeable about history. I find his lack of clearness or timely instructions frustrating though. He has trouble with technology more than I would expect him to and assigns around 70-100 pages a week of textbook reading for the first half of the term, and an additional 80-100 pages of the secondary required book.
Material may be fascinating but he does not know how to effectively post assignments. I spent an hour every time I sat down to do homework to find out if I had homework or where the homework was.
I really enjoyed taking this class. I found it gratifying, entertaining, and I came away from the class knowing much more about the early American years. Shay does assign a lot of reading. You do not need to read it all however to do well. It's a lot of reading but it makes the quizzes and tests much easier. There could be a surprise quiz.
If you go to all of the classes your participation grade and the worksheets you do in class makes up almost half your final grade. You will have to read a lot and his mini exams can seem like they come out of nowhere but he is a great teacher and I left the class knowing a whole lot more about history.
I am taking this as an online class and it is impossible to every communicate with him. He is extremely unclear about what is actually due. He doesn't post assignments until the day or two before they are due so it is super stressful to see that I have something assigned today that is due tomorrow on a regular basis.
Literally the worst teacher I have ever had in school. Apparently he doesn't know what an email is, and I don't think he's talked to me once to try to help me. His field papers he assigns are stupid and completely unclear. He never grades anything, and always changes due dates because technology is way too confusing for him. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS
Solid teacher who wants to help you succeed. He is a bit of a bad communicator but he is open frequently for students who actually attempt to meet with him. Overall he was hard but a very doable class.
I think Mr. Shay knows his stuff and could be a great teacher based on feedback from him. This is not the experience I had. He never responded to a single email all term, the assignments were opened late, and in one case we skipped a week, and assignments were graded weeks later. The "guess what I am getting at" mini exams were horrible.
The book he selected taught me more about the subject than he did. No clear direction on grading. Graded things extremely late & didn't make materials available. Missed half a week because he didn't open up a module until someone called his personal number. Midterm was a joke & gave a small amount of time to complete. Disappointing from week 2 on.
If you take a class from Prof. Shay, you can expect to have your written work scrutinized. Going into his office hours and getting a clearer understanding of his expectations helped so much. Very knowledgeable professor who's more than willing to help if you're struggling.
IF you are NOT a good test taker I would recommend this class. There are no tests, instead of taking a 2 midterms and a final, you just write 3 papers on american history. If you follow his criteria for the papers its not to bad. However, on 2 of the 3 papers I was confused on the topic and asked him in person what to do, and he was very helpful.
Professor Shay is a very inspirational and knowledgeable teacher. He expects you to come to college with some basic writing skills and engage critically with material. His class isn't easy, but if you enjoy learning about history and don't mind having papers instead of an exam-take this class.
Do not take an online class with this professor. While he has a few office hours, if you can't make those because of class (like me) he may as well live on Mars. He rarely responds to emails and is not good at formatting the online class correctly. Because of this class I never want to take an online class again.
Shay is very into the subject but the class itself is a ton of work. For a bacc core class, it is kinda ridiculous the amount of reading and work that is required. He is not good at giving directions so a lot of assignments are vague and then are graded very harshly. Also, he does not post homework clearly and makes it very easy to fail.
Dr. Shay is very passionate about history, but is not clear with assignment instructions. He gets behind on grading, doesn't respond quickly to student questions, and expects you to figure out complicated, point heavy assignments on your own by looking at them online instead of explaining things thoroughly in class.
Surprising amount of work for a Bac Core class, even though it is 4 credits. Two long-term projects that dominated grading (62% of final grade) plus a midterm and final. Communicates well and gives good feedback in person, but doesn't usually stick to 24-48 hour email response policy outlined in syllabus, which made it difficult when I fell sick.
He is a nice lad, but he asks for too much. There are projects that really don't make sense. I would not recommend him to anyone.
Dr. Shay is an amazing professor. He is passionate about his job and cares deeply about students. He wont put up with your garbage though. Also, as a History major I might be biased. I have thoroughly enjoyed his class and would like to take more of his classes if allowed. This is a difficult class, but if you love history you'll do well. Its fun!
I absolutely love Shay. His class was not easy by any means and he isnt always clear about his expectations for assignments, but he cares about his students very much and is flexible in making things work for people who care about the class. Very very interesting lectures. If you like American history you have to take Shay.
While Dr. Shay had interesting lectures, he also wasn't a very good professor. First his organization of assignments was terrible as he made it very difficult to understand the expectations for each assignment. You can also expect him to take 4-5 days to respond to emails. He also tends to submit grades weeks after the assignments were due.
This dude will give you whatever grade he feels like at the moment, and when you ask him about it, he'll make up some justification, even if that justification contradicts what he told you to do on the last assignment. Kind of pompous.
I dont quite understand the harshness in some of these ratings. I thought he was a really professor with good course work. Too a summer session with him (more difficult) but I still enjoyed the class and his teaching. Highly recommend
A good professor overall and you can tell he's passionate about history and wants to have fun. Some of the assignments are fun and interesting but there's so many assignments and big projects that the fun is overshadowed. Take Shay's class if you want a big challenge and like project assignments.
I took a summer class with him, summer session usually hectic so I can't say how he is in the normal 10 week term, but his class was the worst by far. Had almost no social life with this one class for 4 weeks. Overall, nice guy, passionate about history, not super clear on his assignments but I find a lot of LA professors are like that.
He really cares about teaching his students about history but this is a double edged sword. For hst201 you may be required to preform a couple of speeches for the class in a role as a person from the 1770's. If you want to learn about history take his class, if you want an easy class keep looking.
Prof. Shay was one of my favorite at OSU and gave really good and informational lectures. He's especially good if you go and talk to him during office hours, because he's a really down to Earth guy and enjoys talking to students. I was in an optional book club he set up, and getting to work with him in a smaller group was really enjoyable.
Shay is the worst professor by far at OSU. He never responds to his inbox and is really hard to access outside of class. Lectures are extremely boarding and dont you learn anything from them. His research project is a joke, students have to pretend their interested in something. Grades hard on written work and doesnt even explain why. Such a joke
Dont take a class from this prof. I emailed him about my grade multiple times a week asking about assignments and never got a response. His canvas page was unhelpful and the one time he did email me back he didnt awnser my question. Waste of your money
this is the most unorganized course I ever take. Due dates for assignments were missing, and when he found out, he set the due dates a week back which made me missed the assignment, and he acted like it was normal by giving a lousy excuse. Said he's gonna sit in front of the computer all day to answer questions, took days to get a reply.
Dude is completely disorganized. His instructions seem to be copied and pasted from another class he teaches. Springs 50 point assignments that don't appear on the syllabus. Never gets back to you. Absolute waste of time and especially money. This guy shouldn't be allowed to teach here. The school really needs to audit this professor.
Dr. Shay is a really challenging professor in that he is a very thorough grader. Don't turn something in and expect he will just glaze over it, because the guy doesn't cut you any slack when grading. But that doesn't mean he is a bad professor. I found his lectures interesting (ask questions to start discussions!) and the assignments purposeful.
Although the lectures can be a _little bit_ boring at times, overall I really enjoyed Shay's class. I like the flexibility that was afforded to us on his "Think Piece" assignment. He took ownership of an error he made with deadlines and gave us more time to complete the assignment. Very understanding.
I do not recommend taking this class from this professor, especially if you are looking to fulfill a bacc core requirement. 40% of the overall grade is from one research project and the guidelines are very unclear. The professor is hard to reach and assignments are graded harshly without a clear explanation of why.
I have mixed feelings about Professor Shay. He is helpful and his lectures are very informative and give good feedback on assignments. However, his class is all over the places and some of the assignments on our canvas calendar were often wrong and seemed like they were from previous courses. He is also very hard to get into contact with.
Assignments were assigned sometimes the day of the due date, many times in fact we had assignments get assigned that would endure a lot of reading and only have 2 days to complete it. He also is very inconsiderate at best, he cares not for his student and will assign busywork that will make you feel less of a person and lead you that you are wrong.
Honestly Prof. Shay is pretty chill but he is very much so all over the place. When he makes mistakes (he makes a lot of them) he does own up to them and is reasonable with fixing them but it's happened a lot this term. He also assigns a lot of work, so be prepared for that.
he assigns way toO much work and the due dates suck. DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASSES
Professor Shay is the worst Professor Ive had so far. Hes basically impossible to reach outside of class. He says he prefers to be inboxed on Canvas but never responds. He also makes you get a book and doesn't do anything with it until the final. The only good part of his class was the simulation. I DO NOT recommend taking this class with him
The absolute worst professor at OSU. Had no clue what the final "Think Piece" paper instructions were until a week before it was due, even though the paper is 40% of our grade. Good luck if you take this as a gen ed.
Honestly, HST 202 was rough. It was a little unorganized and assignments had unclear directions BUT Shay was great, he was very caring and understanding and truly wanted the best for students. May not recommend the class but definitely recommend the professor.
I want to preface this by saying that Professor Shay is a good guy, and seems to be very understanding. With that said, his HST 202 class is easily the most disorganized and dysfunctional course I've taken at this university. If you can, avoid this class. It's not worth the stress.
Professor Shay is really nice guy and seems to have a genuine care for his students. With that being said, he is very disorganized and very poor at giving instructions. He makes tons of mistakes with assignment due dates and criteria. He assigns tons of busy work as homework. I would not recommend taking his classes.
I took HST201 in Spring 2021 with Prof Shay. Hes a nice guy but class structure is very disorganized. He encourages us to Canvas inbox him, and I have done exactly that multiple times requesting clarity on assignments he did not make clear from the get go, and receive no reply days before the assignment is due. Prepare to read a lot by yourself.
I took this course as an easy class to get my bacc core requirement fulfilled, BUT this class is the hardest course I have ever taken. The assignments are not difficult, but the amount of busy work is unimaginable. There are assignments due 5 days a week and 3 large books to read for the term. Shay is not very involved, just posts the assignments.
The worst prof that I have ever had. Way too many busy work assignments and things to read. Don't take this course unless you can devote time to it like a full time job. Final paper instructions not posted until a week before it was due. He says he prefers you Canvas inbox him but I tried to reach him many times and never heard back.
Hard for a baccore, bad teacher who never answered questions. It is Week 10, hasn't graded any discussions past week 5, assignment due dates were all incorrectly labeled.Took it over the summer online and it was obvious he did not care about his students or class, MIA the whole time. Unsure about my grade because nothing is graded. Hard assignments
Want to preface this with a nod to how friendly and intelligent he is. However: he is not the best teacher. He isn't clear about assignments, doesn't have anything past week 4 graded going into finals week, and is impossible to reach. Lots of reading, lots of homework. Canvas is set up poorly and he regularly forgets to upload assignments.
I took HST 202 online from this professor and it has been easily one of the most frustrating courses of my college career. He assigns tons of work that is not insightful at all. He also forgets to unlock assignments until the due date (or after sometimes) so you end up having to cram to get work in on time and the assignments are always tedious.
Great lectures, great professor. Assignments can be a little all over the place, but if you try you'll do good and get a lot out of the class and learn a lot.
Lectures are almost never worth attending but they're mandatory, and worse he is quite literally impossible to contact. Yes he's nice, but to me that doesn't really matter in a professor if they're immensely disorganized and unhelpful. I have seriously never had a professor this bad and I didn't want to be mean but My God. Someone save me
Nice guy. But terrible teacher. He is impossible to reach, sent him emails and canvas messages but never got back to me. Instructions and grading criteria is extremely unclear, honestly not sure what mindset he is in when writing instructions. Lots of reading and busy work.
He does not respond to his canvas inbox or his emails. Talk to him after class and he will not follow up with you. No rubrics, arbitrary grading, and grades very late. Expects you to cite sources without access to the sources or prior access to questions on quiz/exams. Changed the format of the final days before. Avoid him at all costs
I don't really enjoy history as a subject, but Prof Shay is a great instructor. He changed the format of the midterm and final based on the feedback that the class gave him, always seemed like he was making an effort to help students, and seemed like a genuinely really good guy. That being said, his class definitely isn't a cakewalk, heavy workload
Has a lot of assignments in the gradebook but is super slow to grade them. Is super unorganized. Dumped a 4 page essay and final timeline on us out of nowhere middle of week 9 in addition to the final. Has no idea how to structure project based assignments. Is unclear what/when certain assignments are meant to be done.
He is nice and understanding and I feel like he genuinely cares for students. He seems disorganized & hard to get ahold of. If you have a question about grading or an exam, stay after class and ask then! His grading isn't standardized so it can be hard to know what you did wrong. I got a 84 on the midterm and he gave no reasoning for that grade.
He doesn't respond to emails or canvas messages. You can't reach out to him in regards to any of the homework he sets out. You manly do paragraphs every week with little to no assignments but when he does throw an assignment out to you it's multiple pages, very strict and makes no sense. Grades very late I'm in week 8 now and he just graded week 2
I have taken a course with Shay twice, Good luck understanding what papers and tests are even on. I am a good student who turns things on on time and he treated me with massive disrespect when I asked for clarification. He is just mean. What a shame and embarrassment that Oregon State allows such a horrific person to teach here.
Professor Shay's HIST202 class is a mixed bag. Lots of busy work, but the material is interesting. Unstuckstudy helped me stay on top of assignments and prep for exams. Overall, a challenging but rewarding experience.
Professor Shay is a nice dude and a good history teacher. There was a balanced mix of reading, online quizzes, in and out of class assignments, and exams. His lectures were pretty detailed. There was quite a bit of writing and responses but they weren't too harshly graded. The final artifact project was a big time sink but was kind of enjoyable.
This class is extremely dysfunctional. He assigned around 10 assignments just in the first week or so, with most of them remaining ungraded til around halfway through the term. He is awful at organizing group projects. Once he sprung a group timeline on us in week 9 with little instruction, I just checked out mentally. Do not take this class
A nice person and straightforward class.
Took a subject that I actually love (history) and sucked all the fun out of it. SO verbose... everyone would be happier if he did video with slides, speaking and photos instead. Ridiculous amount of writing & he can't keep up with grading. Completely unresponsive and unreachable and constantly wrote multiple due dates for big assignments. Pass.
Nice teacher, but the amount of reading is asking too much time for one week. Assignments will feel crammed too. Expect to have stuff graded late in the term.
Loved him. Tough grader, but if you pay attention and write well you can get a good grade. Of the four history professors I've taken, Shay was by far my favorite. There are some extra credit opportunities, but you really have to do well on the midterms and major projects as well, which he does grade a bit harshly (highest midterm grade was a 95).
He started off terribly. He wouldn't grade anything and the assignments he would, would be graded harshly. Over halfway through he turned his act around and started grading assignments and not grading them so harsh. Ended up with an A+, even though at the start I thought I was going to fail. DO NOT skip class, you are graded on attendance.
Get ready to have no idea where you stand in this course, he doesn't grade, and if he does, it won't be for weeks. He grades harshly, and attendance is absolutely mandatory. His lectures are awful, he just talks for two hours, with nothing on his slides but pictures. This class is just rage bait ASMR, if you have trouble sleeping I recommend.
Never finishes notes in class and I have taught myself EVERYTHING. Homework heavy class, online quizzes every week, and long text book readings no one in their right mind has time for. Asked if we were going to have a study guide for the randomly assigned midterm, and acted like I was an imbecile in front of the whole class. Lost love for history.
I loved this class and Shay. The chapter readings and corresponding quizzes were long, but if you're a strong reader you'll be fine. Easiest tests ever; they were both open note and not too long. The projects are what you need to be ready for, they're research and writing intensive, and there's three total. But overall, great experience.
Do not take if you're not a history major. Assigns way too much reading, assignments are minimal in detail, yet he is an extremely harsh grader. He is also impossible to get in touch with outside of class. He's been getting reviews like this since I was a baby, not sure how he continues to get away with it. Nice guy but falls short as a teacher.
I LOVED Prof Shay! The class was very well outlined and it was fun! The class is lecture heavy and he is a tough grader but I learned so much. There wasn't much work outside of class, except for readings and projects. I really liked the class but if history wasnt my area of study i probably wouldnt have liked the amount of time spent for the class
Avoid this man at all costs
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
84%
Textbook Required
40%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.07 avg changeRatings by Course
SHAY54167
5.0
(1)HST467
4.0
(2)HSTLOTS
4.0
(1)HST469
4.0
(1)HST203
2.9
(14)Difficulty by Course
HST425
5.0
HISTORY
5.0
HIS203
4.5
HST481
4.3
HST201
4.1