Richard K. Wiersba

I took it online and so I never went to the lectures nor did I watch them until Exam time. The lectures have some good information but it is not necessary to pass the class.

His exams are based on the textbook and homework so his lectures are pretty much a waste of time because it's freaking long and boring.

3 Exams. One on the text, one on Excel, and one on the text. (Study the sample questions he gives out, most of them will be on the test)

His homeworks can be frustrating because his instruction can be hard to understand. So make sure you start early and e-mail him if you have questions. He is very good about answering e-mails. Make sure follow homework assignment details because few mistakes result in no points for the assignment.

Read the Excel because that's where the homework will be based on and 2 exams.

Haaaa...just follow the review posted "below" mine, it's correct. Thanks to TA-Harry for helping me with the homework. Prof. Wiersba is an excellent teacher if you meet him in his office. But what can you do, Online classes are not the greatest, but someone has to do it with hundreds of students in it. *ISYS 263 is not a BUS core anymore so you can take it CR/NR if you wish.

I am currently enrolled in ISYS263 with Professor Wiersba. Professor Wiersba is a incredibly intelligent man. Unfortunately he is unable to relate the material to students. He gets irritated if you go to his office with questions concerning the homework and will almost always tell you to ask the T.A. at the lab. Wiersba is the ONLY instructor for ISYS 263. It would be wise to go to the community college to take an equivalent class if you would like to learn something.

There are a total of 9 assignments and 3 tests in his class, with the final being cumulative. A few (maybe 4)assignments are somewhat time consuming. The T.A.s this semester were very helpful. "Thank you" Mert and Harry. As for the test, they are straight out of the testing banks.

Wiersba's lectures are monotone and EXTREMELY boring with him staying on the same subject forever. It took him 1 and a half hours to go through a 1.5 page syllabus at the beginning of the semester.

This is a 3 hour class and after the first test there was a lecture for an second half of the class. The next week the Professor was still lecturing on the material he just tested us on. I have almost never missed a class in my college career but I make it a point not to go to his classes.

To get a good grade: 1. Read the book on your own, 2. Download powerpoint slides and online quizes, 3. Get to know some people and get a homework group going to exchange ideas about the homework. 4. Don't ever waste your time in class except on the first day because the whole class in online. He communicates any changes in assignments, tests, cancelled classes through blackboard.

The average grades of the first 2 test are as follows: Test #1 62% and Test #2 56%. 60% and below is an "F". He did say he reserves the right to grade on a curve. Here is the problem... Wiersba says, "Don't drop my class because I will probably grade on a curve. I'll let you know after I see all the grades at the end of the semester." Hey Grandpa... what about those students that are borderline and need to know so they could make a informed decision to continue or drop your class?

For those who are going to take Wiersba's class... READ THIS to get an easy "A"!!!!!

I only went to the his class in Stonestown theatre for the first day and the test days. His tests were based (as of Spring 2002)on two textbooks, the "Excel" book and the "Computer" book. The "Computer" Book has an interactive website. You don't even have to buy the book. Just look at the website. Take the "Practice Tests" (a lot)and memorize all the answers. All of his "Computer" Book questions are from the website "Practice Test"questions. By the end of the semester, I didn't go through any of the other sections (in the book nor the website)- just the practice test.

Helpful Hint: (There are four types of tests. I think its A,B,C,and D. Try to get an "A" type exam. The answers to the multiple choice questions are all in the same order (a,b,c,d) so its exactly like the practice tests on the internet. )

The "Excel" book also has a website but he did not ask the ALL the same questions from it. He makes up maybe half of the Excel questions himself so you have to study this section. (However, the website helps a lot)

In his syllabus, he says some of his questions will be directly from the lecture. This is true, and its impossible to know the answer if you weren't in his class. But its only 1 or 2 per test so it doesn't really affect your grade.

Overall, I gave Wiersba a B because its an easy class to pass. All the other reviews are right. He is exremely boring. But with my method, you don't even have to go to class.

The classes for BICS usually takes place in the movie theatre in Stonestown, for those wondering what "OFFCAMPUS" means. Professor Wiersba is a good teacher, in the final analysis. However, the material is woefully simplistic. I've grown up with computers, so I knew to a degree all the stuff he was lecturing about. So consequently, I found them mostly boring. However, for those that are new to computers, I think they would find this course highly informative.

I didn't quite like the fact that he went through the material as packaged by the publisher. I think if he just consolidated those points he wanted to make, well, that would have been more helpful. I guess that's one reason why people don't stay for the lectures. I did, but I felt I didn't learn much of anything new.

The exams are m/c and generally straight forward. I did hate to read through the chapters in the book though, because it grated my nerves endlessly (because the material is just so ... drool). I didn't study at all for the first exam and got a "B." So that says something about the difficulty of the material for those who know computers.

Wiersba is really boring. His lectures are dry and sleep inducing. As a result, class attendence dwindles to just a very small handful of people by the end of the semester. At least the class is easy and you should have no problems passing the class with at least a B as long as you browse through the book the day before the test.

I suggest reading the book as most of the exam questions are taken from the book or from the lab assignements. Maybe just a little from the lecture.

The lab assignments are easy too.

I've read the reviews on him and trust me most of them are very accurate. His lectures are very boring and while he is "teaching", a large class, one would conclude that he might as well be lecturing to the walls since most of his students don't show up and the ones that do end up using it as a napping period. His Excel homeworks are the worst, however it does get easier. Personally I think he has his concepts twisted. He teaches Excel as though one is very familiar with the application and teaches his "internet online" portion to the class as if, the "www dot" concept just landed from Mars. He doesn't have the best personality, but the grade he gives you is the grade you worked for. His grading system is strictly on merrits you earn doing the work and taking the exams. Personally I would not recommend him to my worst enemy.

HOWEVER!! I will admit that his class is rather easy to pass. First, do all the homeworks and do them well, if you can't figure it out at home on your on, go to the lab and have his T.A. assist you. Secondly read the text books, 95% if not 100% of the exam questions will be from the book. If you do these two things, you should have no problem passing his class. Just don't anticipate learning anything from him.

Despite all the bad reviews everyone gave poor Professor Wiersba, he really is a good teacher. People have to take into consideration what this man has to deal with - he's teaching 12 sections at once for God's sake!! What do you really expect from any teacher that has to work in these conditions? It's true that this is not really a class you HAVE to show up for, but try to give the man some respect and stick around for his lectures. He's a really nice guy. The tests are kind of long (75 multiple choice questions), so you really have to read the book to get a good grade. The excel homework is pretty easy (he practically does it for you during the lectures). Overall, the class is definately not the greatest due to the context it is taught in, but give the teacher a break!

This guys lectures are soooo boring..half the class sleeps or leaves early during his class (at stonestown theatre). He drones on and on on one single point until it bores the hell out of you. His homework was pretty easy but they penalized the slightest mistake on it. His tests were very tricky at times too. You definitely have to read the textbook to ace the tests, because most of the exam questions are based on the textboook. I didnt like his personality much either...he has somewhat of a pompus personality.

Past reviews on Prof. Wiersba is pretty much accurate. His lectures are extremely boring, and it became apparent to me right away that going to his class wasn't gonna help me. He regurgitates what's in the book, so I just went to the library to read the assigned chapters. I hardly went to class, which was my biggest mistake. Sometimes, he would go over the homework in class, and he lets students re-do them. Because I didn't go to class, I missed out on a lot of points. I busted my a** to get a good grade on the final, and fortunately for me, I was able to pull off a B- in the course.

I went to see Prof. Wiersba twice during his office hours to talk about my grade. I wouldn't go as far as calling him a racist (I don't throw hurtful words around like that), but he did make a derogatory comment to me. I was more shocked than upset. He needs to think about what he's saying, but I really don't believe he has malicious intent. You have to have thick skin to talk to him.

Here's my advice to his current and future students:

1) Read the chapters, and make sure you know even the smallest detail. It's guaranteed that he will include that in the exam.

2) Do ALL the homework! You can get a lot of points, which will definitely help. His exams are multiple choice, but they're surprisingly difficult.

3) As hard as it may seem, go to his lectures at least once a week. He sometimes goes over the homework.

4) Study at least 2 days before the exam. Know the smallest of details. I suggest making flash cards.

Good luck!!!

The first day that I was in his class, I already figured that it was going to be extremely dull. I was right. All of his lectures are based in the text. In fact, you can skip his lectures, read and study solely from the text and get an A. He gives 3 quizes, 2 midterms and a mother of a final, which are all scantron. Don't even bother questioning him during his office hours; he often gets annoyed. Overall, if you're a book person, this is the class for you!

A lot of the reviews you've heard are true about Professor Wiersba. He's very boring and goes off on his own tangents in lectures. I tried to attend his lectures, but felt myself get so sleepy afterwards that I eventually stopped attending all together. The good news is that most of what's on his exams come from the book or from the lab assignments. I skipped the lecture, attended the lab, and read the book, and did pretty well. Wiersba's like some bad medicine you just have to swallow since there aren't any other professors teaching this course out there. He's not horrble, but if you read the book, you can most likely avoid his lectures.

Everything in this class is by his out-dated book. Go to class and bring your book. You'll notice that it's all out of the book. Just highlight it all when he lectures. But good luck trying to stay awake. If you want to pass the class (and possibly get a good grade), read the book thoroughly. Tests are fair. There's nothing else you will learn except from what you will read. He may be boring and out-dated, but at least he's not Garfolo! That's the next class after BICS263 and I suggest you make your escape plan away from Garfolo. Wiersba I can stand.

i've been to about 7 of his lectures and all i can say is that he doesn't know his shit. i actually went to class early one day (i have no idea why) and he didnt even know how to shrink the screen size on the comp. because it was too big for the movie screen!!! i think he spent like 5 mins working on that until someone had to help him (one of the students in class)!!!

Wiersba has really boring lectures. Near the end of the semester, about 25% of the class was still going to the lectures. All you need to do is to read the book and do the homework. Some of the exam questions are like his lectures, most of it isn't helpful. Some of the material is useless and no one will ever ask you in the real world. It's a good thing that this is only an intro course, so the material isn't too hard.

Wiersba is horrible. His lectures often wonder off some 30-years ago when he was an up-and-comer using Fortran. The class was about C++ yet he spent most of his time talking about the greatness of COBOL for business applications. Other than being irrelevant, his lectures were extremely boring and directly from the slides. If you get stuck in his class, read the book on your own and complete the projects and you should do fine. His test is more comprehensive than the concepts you use for the projects so be careful. Also, the group project is a bear with usually over 1000 lines of code, so make sure you partner up with some people that already have programming experience or you'll spend some sleepless nights at the end of the semester.

He isn't such a bad teacher, it's just that he is extremely boring. Sometimes he starts talking about useless stuff that doesn't relate to the class. The exams aren't too hard, but make sure you read the chapters thoroughly. I suggest reading the book, since his lectures seeem like a waste of time. Also, you don't get your exams back, so it's difficult to know what you did wrong. You can only look at it in his office and that doesn't help at all.

Completely boring! In his lectures, he would go off the topic so it was hard to write notes because in my opinion, he was just BSing. The thing is, his lectures hardly had to do anything with the exams. But some idiot asked the teacher why there weren't anything from the lectures. So on the final, he decided to add quite a few questions from his lecture on the final exam. I also met with him a few times and he was inconsistent with the information he gave me, such as things on the test, or how he was going to grade. His review for exams was pointless and this class is pointless. I wish this class was optional because the topics covered in the class were soooooooo basic. But for some reason, Wiersba made this class more difficult than what it should have been.

Professor Wiersba does a competent job of imparting information about the subject matter of the course (BICS 263, Introduction to Computer Information Systems). This course covers pretty basic material which he explains and supplements with general information about current trends and practices. Lectures are held at the UA Cinema next to Stonestown, which is dark and smells of decomposing popcorn. Professor Wiersba uses slides which are provided by the textbook's publisher, but these are poorly designed and don't really add anything beyond giving you something to stare at. I found it more useful to follow along with the textbook and highlight definitions or explanations. There were 3 multiple choice exams which are based on the textbook. I skipped most of the lectures and aced the exams by reading the textbook thoroughly.