Alfred H. Schainblatt

Not exactly the funnest guy. Plus, you will spend most of your time trying to figure out a program that will distract you from really learning the subject. And it'll take up a lot of time. If you don't have a computer, don't take this class. It's too much hassle. You are better off taking this class at a community college (like Skyline w/ Professor Brown- guaranteed "A"). The other stats class professors are just as difficult.

Not included in the most patient group of teachers, Schainblatt was highly unaccomadating to student needs. Those students who either became ill, planned far ahead for trips, or had emergencies were not given any slack when it came to work or tests. None of the work can be done without going to class - and none of the work can be turned in unless the test is taken, and there are no make ups for the tests.

He teaches through the minitab computer statistics program, constantly hammering that we should understand the concepts, and not the button pressing. But, he doesn't understand that he's not teaching the concepts. He's very rude to students - in general and not sensitive to cultural differences. He talks to students as if they were either idiots or rocket scientists. It just seems that he doesn't enjoy teaching.

I've heard - and only heard - that many students have complained, but nothing can be done because he is tenured. Well, if enough students were to complain, maybe something can be done. Most of the students in the class end up taking credit/no credit and either come close to failing or failing.

I agree with the last reviewer that this professor doesn't deserve an A, but I don't think he deserves an F either. I learned a lot in the class, specially Minitab, which I use at work a great deal. The problem is he demands too much work, too many cases to do. I spent 10-15 hours a week on this class. Like my other classes, work, and family don't require time. If this is the only class you take, and you don't have an outside job, then take the class. Otherwise, be forwarned.

This is the way to go for this course. You work cases with Minitab and take brief quizzes on the case. The quizzes are open book. Schainblatt is very patient about answering any question, and almost works the cases in class. He does have one problem, which probably accounts for some of the criticisim in some reviews: he treats his students like adults, and lets them know when they behave like children.

Don't take his stat class because he tells you to use MINITAB and that is a useless program to learn. People end up learning the program and not the stat ideas. People spend to much time figuring out what buttons to press and lose sight of the stat concepts. It is better to learn traditional stats with other teachers. He is a bit mean, but always asks if there are questions. He has little quizzes about every 2 weeks and no final. You do case analyses and then have the quiz on that. He takes 10 or 15 or sometimes even 30 points off if you miss one question, so don't think that it's easy. Practically everyone in the class opted for CR/NCR, which is not a good sign. Pick any other teacher but him if you care about your grade point average.

Well, based on some previous negative reviews of this guy, either he's changed completly or those reviews were sour grapes. One thing he did change, he got rid of those stat-chats people complained about and now gives a quiz on each case. The quizzes were fair and he was very willing to answer questions, either in class or in his office. My only complaint is there were too many cases to do, but he dropped one case and distributed the weight to your 3 highest quizzes. This seemed very fair to me. I'd recommend this class to anyone who has their own computer.

Really enjoyed this class. Its in the Ethics GE segment 3 cluster, and the best of the three courses I had to take in the cluster. The class is very relaxed and interesting. We discuss cases from movies, tv shows (star trek), and other videos. Two short papers are required but the professor lets you turn in drafts for feedback which improves your final grade. The papers are on your own cases, so they are more interesting to analyze than text book cases.

I think the previous reviewer has Schmidbauer and Schainblatt confused. I've had both instructors and Schainblatt is by far the better instructor. In fact, Schainblatt is one of the best instructors I've had, whereas Schmidbauer is one of the worst. Schainblatt's stat course is great. You learn statatistcs by working cases, and you learn Minitab, which I continue to use and find useful.

I notice that this professor not only teaches the course I took (quality), but also teaches statistics and ethics. The quality course was the most useful course I've taken at SFSU. Projects involved improving your personal life and your work life. The quality tools we learned are useful in almost any situation you want to improve. Class time is very enjoyable. We did hands-on work on cases or he presented interesting demo's and experiments we worked on. Schainblatt has a lot of real world experience and is involved in the Malcolm Baldrige award which is also part of the course.

Is this guy controversial or what? You may love him, you may hate him, but if you're a pragmatist you'll quickly get over the personality issues and learn to work the psychology to your benefit. Sure he's difficult, but I've got news for you guys: your boss in the real world is more likely to be a Schainblatt type than your favorite uncle. So deal with it. Read the text before class, make sure he knows you're interested in the subject, pay him a compliment if possible, and you'll do fine. Besides, his case study approach is the BEST way to learn statistics.

Professor Schainblatt has made some changes since the last reviewer took the class. He now calls the cases meetings stat chats and he takes appointments for stat chats outside of his office hours. This is the way to go to satisfy the stat requirement. NO quizzes or exams. You just work cases at your own pace. There are three hands on classes at the beginning to learn the basics of the Minitab software. As far as I can tell, except for a couple who dropped during the semester, everybody in the class got a credit (this is a credit/no credit class).

I took this class three years ago; it was the second semester that he was teaching it in the case style format so we were kind of like the guinea pigs. I have to say it was the biggest pain in the ass ever, only because of all of the time you have to spend in "pow wows" with him, which he would only do outside of class time. I was working 20 hours a week at the time, and I remember having to take time off on at least three occassions to go meet with him for a pow wow. And there was never any guarantee that you would get to pow wow with him because he wouldn't allow you to sign up in advance and he would stop the pow wows at the end of his office hours, no matter how many other people were left to see him. One day, towards the end of the semester when all the pressure to pass the required # of cases was on, I took the whole day off so I could wait outside his office from 1:00PM til his office hour at 6:00PM. I also lost a really good friend because of this class because she thought I cut in front of her to see him. It was just really a sad environment for learning. But aside from all that brouhaha, I learned a lot about stats and developed some critical analyzing skills.

As with a previous reviewer, I also write this several semesters removed from taking the course. I found this one of the most satisfying classes I've taken as SFSU. I didnt understand most of the material in another stat course I took, but Schainblatt's approach of working cases using software made the material very clear to me. Having the chance to correct your case analyses and improve them without penalty removed all of my anxiety about taking another stat course.

I'm an Asian female who found Professor Schainblatt the best math teacher I've ever had. I've never had math concepts explained as clearly as he does. And I much rather work cases than memorize techniques for exams and quizzes. He pointed things out in stat-chats that I would have missed on exams. A couple of my case reports helped me get a summer job.

This is a very relaxing and fun course. Professor Schainblatt uses movies, videos, and even Star Trek programs to present ethical cases for class discussion. Two papers are assigned and he lets you turn in drafts but only grades the final version. As to the dumb and dumber reviewer of this class, I took this class as an undergraduate two years ago because a friend recommended it to me who had taken it a couple of years before that. So Professor Schainblatt has taught this class for a number of years.

Looks like a lot of procrastinating males are reviewing this course. If you don't keep up on the cases, you're going to be in trouble. If you try to do the work, Professor Schainblatt shows lots of patience, going over the same material as often as you need. I like this approach much better than working book problems and taking exams.

I also like doing cases instead of taking quizzes and tests. But professor makes you do to many cases just to get credit. And more stat-chats should be done during class times. Otherwise, professor is fair and explains things good. I liked learning minitab to.

I don't see where some of the reviewers are coming from. The class is a credit/no credit class and to get a credit you have to pass 9 cases. Sure, Schainblatt insists you know the stuff, but he gives you unlimited chances to pass each case. To do this he spends hours and hours outside of class each week to meet with students. And you learn a stats program called minitab, which I use in other courses. I think doing cases is a great way to learn stats.

First of all, he is so picky. He offers conferences called" Stat Chat." This is the only way to evaluate your understandings of this subject. No tests. However, there is a obvious difference between prefered students and unprefered students. In the stat chat, you will talk about a case by using stat software. To get credit, you have to pass all cases he prepared. If he likes you, you will pass cases easily. If he doesn't , you will have difficult time even if you have a same contents of a case with people who already passed. so I can't say to you that whether you are going to feel easy or not. Just try it.

This teeacher is great in explaining and reviewing information but the way that the grades are given in his classes are really so bad. his classes consist of 12 cases to study,and his way of giving you the grade depends on how many cases you pass,and how many times he wants you to come to see him for a stat chat,andthe point is he will never tell you from the begining what he wants,he gives himself the right of waisting your time doing something that he won't like.and the result you will neverfinish the cases that you are supposed to finish to get the grade that you deserve,and most student drop the class,or take it for credit no credit. this is not right and this is not fair.and i beleive that something should be done in this contest, because as an A student he pushes you to take it for credit no credit,and when your done with the minimum number of cases that you need to get the credit you stop coming to his class,and you will never get all the information that you are supposed to get out of this class.