A sample of anonymous student comments on SOC 101, Introduction to Sociology, taught by Kenneth Westhues in Fall 2004, at the University of Waterloo

The presentations were an awesome experience, great way to meet people, learn to work with different people, and learn the material.

Strength was its unique approach. Very different from other university courses where all you do is read the textbook and regurgitate everything during the test.

The variation of things that the course goes through provides a tremendous amount of learning.

I felt I've learned a lot, the most out of all of my courses so far.

It was really great. Course notes and assigned readings fared better than the text used in other sections.

Amazing course, had an awesome time, Westhues is amazing and very respectable, kept students interested, very fun!

This course is awesome. It allows you to really think about the society you live in and discuss it with classmates and the professor.

I learned a lot, but the first test was the hardest thing I've ever written.

I've really enjoyed myself and have learned a lot. Mr. Westhues is an excellent professor with lots of compassion, humour, and knowledge.

Could have been better. Textbook was useless. First test was HORRIBLE, too hard!

An excellent course. Midterm was hard, but it should be. This course has been a treat for me, and the only time learning has been fun and entertaining.

It is an insightful and valuable course that is useful to our daily knowledge and interpretation of society.

I love sociology and I hope to have Westhues as a prof again.

The reading expectations are high, fair but high. I really enjoyed this course. Thank you. Have a good Christmas.

Wonderful learning experience. Opened students' minds and possibly aided in personal development for the majority of students.

Good. I found it quite interesting and appreciated the fact that it felt like Westhues cared about what he taught.

Pretty good. Teacher is a good guy. Course a little confusing at times.

The info learned and concepts studied actually help me make sense of the world around me. This is an uncommon thing for a University course to change your views in life.

Prof. Westhues was a strength to this course. A prof who is extremely interested and enthusiastic about the material makes for a better learning environment and a great learning experience.

Very good. Info I will use throughout my life.

Not too bad. Interesting. I did not know how to study.

Great course, much better than I expected.

A good course, glad to have it as one of my first courses. Not very interesting material, you need to have interest to start.

Satisfactory. Easy going course and somewhat interesting.

The course allowed personal growth with a greater understanding of how to criticize and when to be open and reciprocal.

A nice professor who put his students first. The first test was extremely difficult. Revising the tests and course notes would improve the course.

Strength was the treatment and care given to the students by the professor, very rare and very appreciated.

Good. I enjoyed the course. There are too many readings.

A fun class to be in, but I needed help to keep me engaged.

It was interesting, for the most part.

Excellent, I would recommend it to anyone. Weakness is that it's a first-year course, others didn't appreciate it as much.

Fair. Tests were hard. Come to our level.

The material was covered well in class, but the readings were not interesting. I would recommend it, but there is a lot of work involved.

Excellent. Strength was the integration of the students into the course material through group presentations.

Mr. Westhues was a very good lecturer, every class caught my attention, which is rare. Weakness was the class presentations; I did not learn much from them.

I found the presentations to be extremely useful as they were able to bring across different points in an interesting way.

I really liked the instructor during the last month of classes, he really brought everything to life.

This course was a great learning experience. My mind was opened up and more strongly developed. Thank you.