Widmann, James  

I would avoid this guy. He prepares you well for the final, and his midterm is fair. However, he makes you work WAY too much. In a normal week you have normal homework, team homework, an online quiz, an in class quiz, daily powerpoint examples to view at home, and reading. Oh and also 3 pointless group projects throughout the quarter. You can avoid some of it, but not all. I never did any reading and got an A-. Also, you only really need to look at the ppt examples the night before the in class quiz, cause half the time there will be a question from the ppt. I recommend Kennedy - I had her for statics and hear she is similar in dynamics. She preps you for the final well, without all the BS that comes with Widmann (Also avoid self, they team teach or something - have exactly the same class setup).

I will credit Dr. Widmann with a few things: he has at least an adequate understanding of what he is teaching, and he has some very good in-class demonstrations that help the class grasp certain concepts (coefficient of restitution, normal-tangential coordinates, ...). However, aside from that, he is a terrible professor and I do not recommend taking his class. He does not have his own curriculum (he uses Brian Self's), assigns WAY too much work (I found myself putting about 30 hours per week into this three unit class, and still failed. Every week you can expect to have individual homework, team homework, an online quiz, an in class quiz, powerpoint examples to review, and lectures to review, plus three group projects throughout the quarter). He is very unfair when grading, especially when it comes to projects, often docking for things with little or no relevance to the student's ability to do dynamics operations. Do yourself a favor and take Jane Kennedy's class instead. It is very fortunate that Dr. Widmann is not representative of the majority of Cal Poly professors.

Do yourself a favor and don't take Widmann. Let me start by saying that Widmann is a very nice guy and extremely easy to get along with, so my problem is with his teaching style and structure of the class. I am writing this before I finish the class so that people can read this before they register for classes. The class is structured so that there is 1 midterm (which I'll add that I got an 85% on to establish some credibility...the average was 66) 3 projects (all done in groups), an individual homework assignment every week, team homework problems every weekend, an in class quiz every week, and an online quiz every week. If that sounds like a lot of work, its because it is! Widmann bases his class on the premise that you are only taking one class: ME212. He expects you to do everything on your own outside of class, which sounds feasible but proves to be impractical. Class time is spent covering administrative business or doing group problems that he hasn't taught us anything about yet, and he hardly ever finishes any examples. The homework is also assigned on topics that he doesn't even cover until the day the HW is due. The projects are possibly the most pointless things I've done since I've been at Poly. I don't mean to rip on Widmann, but these things are 100% irrelevant. My groups have spent more time trying to figure out what he wants us to do than actually doing the projects themselves (no joke). Once we figured out what we were supposed to do, it took us about 30 minutes to do the relevant calculations, then about an hour and a half to write the memos (yes memos) that go along with the project. Like I said, Widmann is easy to get along with and a really nice guy. However, the way this class is taught is irrelevant, time consuming, unnecessary, ineffective, and flat out terrible. So I'll close with my opening statement which says it all: DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DON'T TAKE WIDMANN.

Widmann was awesome for dynamics. Even though it is a tough class conceptually, his lectures, powerpoints, and activities made it understandable. The class is hard, and you need to make sure you keep up with the work. I put in about 15-20 hours a week to keep up with all the work and make sure that the material made sense. If you are struggling, go into office hours. He goes way out of the way to help his students. If you need help with homework, quizzes, concepts, life or whatever he is more than happy to talk with you. He is a ton of work, but this forces you to understand. All the work prepares you for the final. Awesome teacher, I would definitely take him if you can.

Dr. Widmann was the best teacher I have taken at Cal Poly so far. He was very knowledgable and very straight foward. His exams were fair and nothing was tricky on them. He was very good in office hours and was very good at explaining any questions you had. I would highly recommend taking Dr. Widmann.

Widmann is a great professor who really wants you to succeed. I would not recommend taking one of his classes if you have a tough quarter because his class is the ONLY class you will have time for. He assigns a lot of projects, team homework, and individual homework, but they will be helpful in the end (except for the team homework, which I thought was useless). His tests are very difficult, but also fair. I ended up with a C+, but I have a firm understanding of all the material...I just made a lot of careless mistakes on the first test.

So widmann, man, what to say bout this guy. well he's not a horrible teacher, understand that, he does present everything that u need to know as far as equations, but the way he has apply is just.... wooooow, did he really just do that? the hw is due every friday, and was at max 5 probs maybe 2 or 3 times, the rest usually 4 probs. there are a couple group quizzes, and it is a fun class to be in if ur social, he's not strict but a laid back dude. i would recommend starting his hw sunday or monday and if you get stuck, just go on to the next problem and go to his office hours for questions. he is really good with helping with problems. i would say that his worst asset is that if you're not good with matlab, you're fucked unless you have a partner that does. mainly because he gives you the lab project and leaves up to his office. not good at all with help on matlab, but very good when it comes to problems on the hw. beware tho, i prepared for a whole week with classmates (around 8 or 9 of them) for the midterm, and we all got raped -______- avg was a 50 out of a hundred with a high score of 80. and i think the avg was a 50 because everyone i knew got somethin in the 40s, so not many in the 60s or 70s. i would def recommend him tho because its a tough class, and he makes it bearable. its intermediate tho, so it wont be a walk in the park with anyone that u take it with

Collected a large homework assignment every week, weekly quizzes, insane lab schedule. His lectures are more of an overview of the material, he rarely worked full examples - which some people hated, but I liked. Very entertaining classes filled with guessing games and videos that help clarify concepts. I always have a lot of trouble paying attention to lectures, but Widmann\'s almost always kept me awake. However, the cost of that format is that you are expected to struggle through a lot of the work on your own. He\'s real good in office hours though, so if you have trouble just visit him there. He also knows his stuff, and has a lot of outside experience to share.

I hope he does not act one way and then do things in completely different fashion. You don\'t have to be all tactful in class and office hours and then end up grading ridiculously harsh and failing people. it is fucking irritating and deceptive.

He is a very good teacher, and he respects students a lot. He makes you work a lot but the materials and projects will be very useful. the tests are hard and projects took lots of time, but he has always been very on top of things and encouraging to students. he is a generally a very great guy with a really cool personality. I think he genuinely cares about students. I think whoever that would have him for senior projects will have a great and rewarding experience.

He\'s a nice guy most of the time. Presents very general information during class but expects us to learn the details from the book (it\'s a good book though, so don\'t worry). He\'s got a lot of industry experience which is a plus, but don\'t try to prove him wrong... you won\'t win. He gives a LOT of work. Overall a good teacher.

Professor Widmann has an odd teaching style. His lectures are not very good, but in a one on one situation he is very good at clarifying material. Design 2 was too much work. First time in college that I had a class workload detract from my other coursework. You will not have enough time to do your work. So don\'t try. Do what is necessary to pass. I think the lab was the most important part of the course. The final project was insane, but the things I learned from it have already helped me at my internship. Widmann would probably be a great senior project professor.

Professor Widmann is an effective teacher due to the fact that his classes drive the material into your brain with the delicate touch of a sledgehammer. His lectures are marginally useful but being powerpoints they are difficult to learn from. Something is due every class period (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) so be prepared to have the life sucked out of your quarter and work for other classes deferred. I have had him for Dynamics, Intermediate Dynamics and Design II and the only thing I remember from those quarters is countless hours spent living in the ME labs doing projects/hw/team hw/ studying for quizzes & tests. You will learn the material well, but I suggest taking easy classes alongside his as you will not have much time to set aside for other things.

It was a fast-paced marathon. Unfortunately my legs gave out so the end game wasn't very pleasant. Where the strength and talents of students are put to the test, Professor Widmann eagerly awaits you at the finish line.

I had Dr. Widmann for both lecture and lab. Needless to say, all I thought about that quarter was design. This class is structured so that he introduces the material and you are expected to go home and learn the rest of it. There is simply too much content for this class to be any other way. Our first lab project was simple and not very technical such that if it worked by trial and error, you got a decent grade. The second lab project was theoretical and was one of the few times we actually did "engineering" work at Cal Poly. Overall, if you are interested in design, I would recommend Dr. Widmann. Although he assigns a lot of work that takes up more time than a girlfriend/boyfriend, it is definitely worth the amount of material you will learn.

If your focus is design, Widmann would be an excellent professor to have. His experience and expertise really shows when you ask him questions. Be prepared to learn on your own because there is too much information in this course for Widmann to cover, but he expects you to understand it. If you complete and understand the homework, you'll be more than prepared for the quizzes and exams.

poopy?

I've had Dr. Widmann for several classes, and I must say that he is one of the best professors I have come across at Poly. Here's my breakdown: Vibrations (ME 318) - He's decent. I think it was his first time teaching it when I took it but he knew his stuff. He did a bit of vibrational analysis in industry so he had some cool stories sometimes. The class sometimes just turned into a glob of equations, but I think that's the nature of the class, not Dr. Widmann. For some reason, though, he couldn't get through to much of the class involving Rayleigh's method. --- Controls (ME 422) - awesome. It was his first time teaching it, but it didn't show at all. He did pretty well in vibes, but he was leaps and bounds better in controls. He's tough for lab and sometimes frustrating, but the lecture was great. --- Senior project (ME 428 and 481) - pretty good here, too. The lectures for 428 were helpful about half of the time, but never a waste of time to go to. More importantly, he was helpful during lab for the most part, which is probably tough having to manage so many students at once. Overall, I'd take him for anything he happened to be teaching. Oh, he's pretty down to earth, too, and is a cool guy just to talk to.

Widmann is ok. The 428 lecture is pretty boring, but Widmann doesn't help. He also came across to me as painfully insecure, demanding people call him "Dr. Widmann" and flipping out if people call him just "Widmann".