Ridgely, John  

I liked him. He does give a lot of homework but I actually enjoyed (well didn't dread anyway) his lectures. He doesn't write a whole lot on the board but I'd rather pay attention than mindlessly copy a bunch of crap down that is already in the book anyway so I was fine with that. Also he has kind of a witty/sarcastic/nerdy sense of humor that, if nothing else, makes the class a lot more amusing. I had him for the lab too and he's not nearly as anal as many of the professors are about proper reporting when it's obvious that you understood and performed that lab. I'd take him again...there are many many worse ones out there.

Ridgely was an alright teacher. In lab, he was pretty much worthless. I will say that he grades fair and I did like the examples he gave.

Ridgely gives tons of homework and takes forever to return it. He's not very good at explaining material and most of the class is pretty confused. Its very rare that the lecture actually prepared us for the homework.

Dr. Ridgely was a pretty good teacher overall. Even though I came out with a C, he was more about you learning the material than tests and grades. He didn't write too much on the boards but explained the lectures well and made them interesting. He has a sort of qurky humor that makes the class more bearable. He is pretty chill in the lab. As long as you showed that you put in the effort, he will give you a decent grade.

Professor Ridgely is one of the best professors i've had at Cal Poly. I've had him for intermediate design and mechatronics. His ability to answear student questions is uncanny, half the time he knows what the question is better than the person asking it. I thought he was better for mechatronics than design, but he did a great job in both classes. He's very knowledgable when it comes to electronics and microcontrollers. I think he is one of the least lazy professors at Cal Poly, he writes all of his own homework problems and makes new tests every quarter, so there's no chance that a large portion of the class has the test before hand when you dont, like when i took Kamalu for fluids and wondered why i was only getting average on all the tests. Besides all this, he's one of the nicest guys i've ever met, always willing to take the extra time to help you understand.

Ridgely is ok at best. He seems like a real nice guy, but he just didn't impress me much at all. I took Design I with Mello, who is ridiculously good and enthusiastic, and Ridgely just doesn't hold a candle to him. That said, I got a C in Mello's class and a B in Ridgely's. His tests were pretty straightforward/easy.

Ridgely is a very cool guy, but the lab project was HARD. No one's robot actually fully worked, which was a bit of a dissapointment when we all worked so hard on them. He completely changed the lab project from before, and, from what I hear, made it a lot harder. BUT, it was still a great class. One of those classes where the lecture starts and you wonder if your in the wrong room, but by the time it's over, you feel fairly confidant. I haven't learned this much in a class in a long time, and it's all very real-world. The class gives you a good sense as to how to use a micro-controller to operate a mechanical system, something no other ME class even mentions. I highly recommend this class to all MEs, even those who hate electronics. Learning them from another ME is much easire and more pleasant than hearing an EE prof explain it.

He knows his stuff and will not tell you wnat is wrong with your lab but will point you in the right direction which seems a tad hard in the beginning but really pays off in the end. his leacture is out of there since he can go off on tangents easily.

This is the first rating I have ever given a professor, but Lord save me his lectures were painful. Maybe it's just because I didn't think he was that funny or maybe it's because I actually wanted to learn but I hated his teaching style. It has to be the least efficient way of teaching students I have ever seen. He writes everything on the board in a jumbled mess and tries to squeeze in a corny or political joke every 30 seconds. There is nothing posted online about the lecture so the only thing we had to go off of for the tests were jumbled class notes. The entire course could have been taught in a three hour period of actual lecture time. The only thing valuable about this class was the hands-on experience of the lab. These are my thoughts and I got an A in the course. Unfortunately, I believe he is the only one who teaches this course.

I had Ridgely for ME 328 Design and ME 422 Controls. I thought he was far better in Controls than Design. In design his lectures were useless and did nothing to help with the homework or tests. Don't bother taking notes because his lectures are very unorganized. Most of his lectures are delivered orally and little is written on the board. As a result, it is hard to go back and review anything from the notes. In Controls, i was able to learn from my experience in 328 and was better able to follow his lecutes. Don't avoid Ridgely, just know that he's not the easiest to follow in lecture.

An outstanding professor. You should take him for anything you can. He presents the material really well, tests fairly, and will work with you for as long as it takes for you to understand.

Wow. Ridgely is a smart guy and awesome professor. I had him for lecture and lab which complemented each other nicely. Controls lab can be lengthly, but its one of the more interesting labs. The theory is well-connected to the labs. My only complaint is that Ridgely sometimes mentioned important stuff without writing it on the board. I tanked one problem on the final and came out with a B+. But overall, Ridgely is good for controls. Take him if you can.

Had him for both ME405 and ME507. Seems to know everything. You have to use Linux for the lab, and even though it's annoying sometimes, you get used to it. He's also very relaxed on the grading for his exams and is mainly just concerned that you deliver an awesome project/attempt at a project at the end. Just be sure to write a really good report for it at the end.