Vorst, Keith  

Industrial Technology

2.61/4.00

33 evaluations


IT 341


5th Year Senior
N/A
General Ed
Nov 2005
This class used to be considered fairly easy and was supposedly fun but although the material is not difficult to understand, Vorst was completly unable to present it in a way that would make the information useful. As a GE Area F class you should not be expected to have background information on the subject or the supporting classes, but in this class we were expected to and almost required to do well in the class. Vorst perpetually was going off of the subject and also changing his mind on not only the materials but project requirements, just days before they were due. There was also instances where he changed the test question as we were taking the test. Vorst has the potential to be a good teacher, but he requires some instruction on how to teach before he continues on in this field.


Sophomore
C
Required (Major)
Dec 2007
Vorst is a very interesting person and a generally good guy. He has a lot of background with the subject and is extremely knowledgable. However He sometimes has trouble presenting the information. He is a very tough grader to. Good class though and a good experience.


Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
Dec 2007
The subject matter of this class is interesting, however Vorst is a horrible teacher and prefers to preach about how he is the God of plastics. If you enjoy dealing with assholes take this class. I do not recommend this for anyone trying to fill their GE area F since it is a ridiculuos waste of your life. Also, he will grade harshly and unfairly, so quit while you are ahead and DO NOT take him.


Junior
B
General Ed
Dec 2007
Wow - I agree the project can be confusing but I showed to class and pulled a B without too much work. QUIT WHINNING AND DO YOUR WORK. His tests are ridiculous but he curves at the end. He wins all these project awards even though ours sucked. Do well on the project and midterm and you will be fine. SHOW TO CLASS OR YOUR SCREWED.


5th Year Senior
B
Elective
Dec 2007
For all of the students who complain about how IT 341 is not a cake walk and Vorst is unfair, transfer yourself to Cuesta and have a nice life. College is not a cake walk so get freaking used to it. Keith Vorst is straight up brilliant. The man knows plastics: the products, the manufacturing, the industry, the trends, everything. And whats more than that, he has a burning desire for you to know what he knows, call it "passion." I felt he graded perfectly fair, if not leniently, as he knows that his class (IT 341) is an introductory course. Just do the work, and you'll be fine. And if you have questions, just ask him. He'll be more than happy to explain anything. If you want to waste your time and money at Poly, don't take this class from Vorst, you won't like it. If you actually want to learn something, however, Vorst is the man!


Junior
F
General Ed
Feb 2008
I hold a 3.4 at Cal Poly, which I am rather proud of. I have taken many science classes, pride myself on doing my work. I am very strong at math and pretty good at science, but this man's attitude and ability to present the material in a way that made sense was horrible. I was told to take this class from my friend, they said it was so intersting! Well the teacher had changed since. The things we made were pretty fun, but the lecture was horrible. bottom line, do not take this for a GE!


Junior
A
General Ed
Mar 2008
I got an A but worked for it. It was well worth it and I plan to use this class for my internship. The dude is really busy so he can be difficult to contact. Email him before going to office hours. The final sucked but he curved and I pulled an A. Good overall and glad I took the course!!!!!!!!!!!


Senior
N/A
General Ed
Feb 2010
Mr. Plastic Him Self.... He is a very intelligent man and know anything and everything anyone would ever need to know about the subject mater. Definitely a smart person who is out to make a difference in the world in regards to Plastic and everything related to plastic. Horrible teaching style.... but a really eye opening class.. the Labs are FUN>>> we get to make plastic toys boats and bottles and footballs... Way cool to learn how plastic products are made. I recommend taken the class but expect a bad teaching style.. just get use to it, you will still learn.


Sophomore
B
Required (Major)
Mar 2010
this class is cool and Vorst knows his shit and is really well connected. If you want to get involved outside the classroom with companies he\'s the man to talk to. This class is not hard. The person below who failed and claims to have 3.4 must be retarded and a REC major most likely. Its super basic chemistry, easier than high school chem. Its interesting and definitely worth taking and not very hard, I mean its IT how hard can it be?


Junior
C
Required (Support)
Dec 2010
He cusses all the time! He always brags about his achievements but honestly, I do not care. I just wanted to get out of that class.


Senior
B
Required (Support)
Dec 2010
I feel like I could have learned a whole lot more about plastics if Vorst had spent less time talking about himself and all the amazing things he has done in industry and all of the people he could have sued. He would spend the first hour and 20 min talking about how horrible industry is, all of the exploitation that goes on and about people\'s stupid marketing mistakes. The last 10 minutes was spent rushing through the days lecture. This class wasn\'t particularly hard but I feel like there are better uses for your time.


Senior
B
General Ed
Dec 2010
Dude is awesome.. Not sure what the last two are complaining about.. This is about the only class at poly I did not fall asleep in. Didn\'t cuss that much unless it was necessary to prove a point.


Junior
N/A
General Ed
Dec 2010
Dr Vorst is pretty sick.. The guy I had for lab wasn\'t, but he\'s leaving so that\'s good for everyone. Lectures are cool. He spends the majority of time ranting and telling stories about the business world and all the stuff he\'s had to deal with. It\'s nice because it make our learning seem applicable. Unfortunately the stuff he tests you on only gets like 20% of the lecture time. O well, the class was still really good, and I\'m very happy with it. The lab could have been really cool, but the instructor blew it for me. Take this guy if you don\'t mind an unorthodox teaching style and want to understand plastics.


Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
Feb 2011
take his class he is not that bad!!!!


Junior
B
Required (Major)
Mar 2011
if you want to sit through a class where the professor talks about himself and yells the entire time, vorst is the lecturer for you. we barely learned anything and when we had quizzes, they would be on powerpoints that we had to teach ourselves and never go over. he has the biggest ego out of anyone at poly so beware. the first midterm was a lot of memorization and was pretty easy and he talked so much that we never got around to the second midterm. the final was writing a three page paper that wasn't bad at all. definitely wont take him again.


Senior
N/A
General Ed
Mar 2011
Enjoyed his class thanks to the brutal reality of recycling. About the only class at Cal Poly that I did not fall asleep in. Take is class unless you are a wuss.


Senior
Credit
General Ed
Oct 2011
Pretty much... if you enjoy independent learning, being yelled at every day, treated like you are a moron, take this class. The topic is fascinating, this class falls a little short. Maybe if Vorst would just actually teach for once....


Senior
A
Elective
Nov 2011
Not super hard, but not a great teacher. If you don't mind getting yelled at for an hour and twenty minutes, no worries. When he tells you to know something, memorize it.


Senior
N/A
General Ed
Nov 2011
Best Professor I ever had.. Reality Sucks and he tells it like it is.. I don't know how anyone can sleep in this class..


Junior
A
Required (Major)
Nov 2011
He is a dick and inappropriate but also hilarious. He yells at the class but not at anyone specifically. He is passionate about the subject and can keep you interested. If you go to his office hours he is actually a really nice guy looking to help, he just has a front in class that he is a dick. The tests are fair, and he is one of the few professors that is real with his students. I would recommend him.


Senior
D
Required (Support)
Apr 2012
Lab is extremely difficult because the instructors don't really know what they're doing and tell you on the first day basically you're going to fail and expect 4 page lab reports every week and mark off 1 pt out of 10 for every little mistake like a comma in the wrong place. I got a 1/10 on the first lab report and I worked on it for 5+ hours. It's ridiculous how the lab is graded. As far as the lecture goes, Vorst is a cool guy with a passion in plastics but really fails to teach us anything and tests are basically blank sheets of paper that you have to write down every answer on and are based off slides he doesn't teach you! Hated this class as it is extremely difficult to do well unless you are an IT or Chemistry major. Beware I would never recommend this course to any business major.


Senior
A
General Ed
Jun 2012
Vorst is a great teacher. On the first day of class he makes it seem like the class is going to be really difficult, but attending class and studying for exams will earn an A. I learned a ton in this class and am able to take a lot away from the experience. I really recommend this class with this teacher, he is a very good instructor.


Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
Mar 2013
So I actually really liked this class even though it was pretty challenging. Vorst is a really cool guy and knows a lot about the plastics industry and was really entertaining. The only problem with this class was that there was simply not enough time for Vorst to teach us all of the material. A lot of the material we were tested on we had to teach ourselves (which I know is expected in college) but I think it was overboard for this class. The midterms are challenging because he doesn't give partial credit but he let us take a replacement midterm instead of having final, so we got a chance to improve our grade. Just make sure you write down literally everything Vorst says during lecture because some random side not he says can end up on the test. The lab is really fun because you get to make stuff. Overall, good class but I wish we had more time to properly learn the material and actually cover everything Vorst wanted to cover.


Senior
N/A
Required (Major)
Feb 2014
Let me start by saying I have no doubt of his knowledge in IT and plastics. That being said, he can't teach for shit. He misses 75% of the quarters lectures, and when he does decide to give a lecture, he uses the time to talk about how great he and his accomplishments are, how "bean counters" (business people) piss him off, and how "fucking morons" (marketing people) are the stupidest people he has ever met. This guy has his head so far up his ass, its amusing to watch. He is loud and obnoxious, he WILL call you out (and probably make fun of you), and generally just doesn't give a fuck about teaching. You will do all the learning yourself, you will not get much from lectures as he tends to go pretty fast through them, often doesn't cover things on the slides and just says "already went over that." I heard he is pretty chill in office hours, he only puts on this show in front of a crowd, quite obvious its ego issues. If you want to do all the learning and researching on your own, don't mind being insulted at every lecture he decides to show up then this is your guy. P.S. Don't give me that political correctness bullshit. He is a PHD at a university and he should act like one, not like a raging 12 year old. TL;DR...he's garbage


Junior
N/A
Required (Support)
Feb 2014
I love this guy.. Being one of the few non BIZ students, I get a kick out of this class. He calls it like it is and the biz students I have worked with on projects UHHHH F**** morons is dead on. Other units on campus actually expect you to read and learn the material. BIZ students well they just want the fill in the bubbles if they guess right they think they are smart. Anyhow, he is harsh but I like and some of my friends who have graduated have told me to appreciate. WHY- well because life is rough!! I recommend this dude even if the exams are well sucky


Senior
B
Required (Major)
Feb 2014
Love him or hate him or rant on here all you want it does not matter. He is leaving Cal Poly forever in the spring so none of this matters.

IT 371


Senior
N/A
Required (Support)
Apr 2011
Keith is a businessman that flies by the seat of his pants man.... He has a lot of knowledge, and an ability to put what he teaching into practical terms and real-life situations. That is the part that I really enjoy about this class. The part I don't like is being thrown into the fire on a daily basis... He doesn't teach concepts, you are learning on the go, and that is frustrating. He also gives you assignments and doesn't clarify what he wants. He just doesn't give the attention to detail that is required of a good teacher to promote a quality learning environment. I'm not second-guessing his credentials, because he is totally legit from an experience standpoint, and he is super enthusiastic, which is refreshing... But he needs to learn how to channel it into something positive. He literally gets louder and louder, and your ears are bleeding by the end of each class. Its the first time he's taught this class, so i such take it easy on him, but he is making the class more difficult than needed. Lots of busy work, and a little bit of a ME complex, but there is hope for him. Its nice to have an actual professional in the department, as opposed to someone who has only taught the material.


Junior
N/A
Required (Major)
Apr 2011
Okay the person below me was a bit critical, although I sit in the back so bleeding ears wasn't really a problem for me. Vorst doesn't really teach the material, but he doesn't test you on things you don't know and he is extremely fair. Starting off in the quarter I thought he was really arrogant but he's not. He's done A LOT in his life and he likes to share it. He tells us what he thinks is important and doesn't bog you down with busy work. He seems to have a misunderstanding of our ability to follow example problems because he went over 5 problems for an hour and a half that were basically all the same and incredibly easy. However he puts in the time to make sure you learn it. He's not one of those teachers that tests you on a ton of material and has to curve the grades to make up for the discrepancy. He wants to make sure every person can keep up. He's really unclear about what he wants but also doesn't seem to grade you down on it. Granted I'm not all the way through the quarter and I may eat my words. However the best adjective I can give Vorst is FAIR. Because of this class I'm now extremely interested in supply chain management and I think he is a good teacher. I'm enjoying the class so far!!!


5th Year Senior
A
Required (Major)
Aug 2011
The only two things that Vorst and I could not agree on were the credibility of hookers and Wal-Mart shoppers. My dads a prostidude and my mom buys all our clothes, groceries, etc. from Wal-Mart. On good days we get to eat at Sizzlers.


Senior
B
Required (Major)
Sep 2011
Vorst is blunt, hilarious, and wildly inappropriate. I had such a great time in his class! He is very real with his students and will listen to student complaints and adjust as necessary. He might be one of my favorite professors. He doesn't waste your time with material that won't be used in the real world. He gave it to us straight up and did his best to prepare us for the work force. If you get a chance, take him for 371! However, if you're sensitive, quiet, or don't like to be called on in class, you might want to steer clear. He has no shame calling on people that don't want to speak. Figure it out though and you might make it to the top of the mountain. Vorst is amazing so take him if you can!


Senior
B
Required (Major)
Apr 2012
I thought this guy wasn't teaching in the OCOB anymore or so I was told. By far the best teacher for IT371. Rigorous but not too hard. I was surprised to see him in class again. I was told he was off doing research. If you can take him for 371, do it while he is still here.


Junior
N/A
Required (Support)
Sep 2012
Vorst has Napoleon complex and it will be very apparent once you take the class. He will constantly try and tell you that this is what the "real world" is like and will do very little to actually prepare you for the "real world". Vorst does have the knowledge and background to be a good professor if he could only learn how to teach. Some students may say that he is only being "real" and students should just accept it, but they find it hard to explain what they have actually learned in the class. Take someone else if you have a choice.


Senior
B
Required (Major)
Mar 2013
He is legit. Checked him out with some family connections in industry and he is legit. That is about all I can say. He did piss me off at times and his exams are nearly impossible. Study for the exams cuz they suK! He does call you out in class but lets face it poly is a bunch of whiney ass babies.