Watts, David  

I think Dave is a sweetheart, and he gives valid critiques and is generally able to pinpoint and explain where a student may be having difficulty. That being said, he's also a little one-track, and can be hard to explain design concepts to. Overall I would recommend him though -- he may not be great with names, or good at managing time, or communicating very clearly, but he's got a large, loving personality and is always open-minded, happy to teach/offer advice, and not afraid to be proven wrong.

This class was co-taught by Watts & Reeves, but Watts did 90% of project evaluations. My problem with Watts is that he seems like this really nice guy: encouraging, relaxed, open to discussion--then you see your grade and it's like being stabbed in the back (grading is subjective). I found his instructions to be vague and lacking in guidance or examples---he loves to say, "I am open to anything you want to do as long as you can explain it" (yeah, right). IMO--don't get sucked in by Reeves reviews--unless you are an LA prodigy, take whoever is teaching the other 202 class (every other LA instructor I have had was better than Watts).

Dave….just yikes. The guy is adorable. The sweetest. Learns names, makes conversation, is sooo nice. But seriously, this class is ridiculously difficult. His midterm was absolutely insane. He has such great intentions, but his expectations are just way too high for a GE course.

Watts is such a friendly guy! He seemed really chill, but DAMN, his tests were so hard. Being a GE, I didn't expect this class to be too hard, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Astrid (the original professor that was supposed to teach the course, but couldn't due to surgery) had taught the course to several of my friends and was an "easy A or B". Watts was definitely not Astrid. The material (to non-LA students) was so pointless–we were never going to remember nor put the material to use, yet the tests had some of the most specific details possible. On the first exam, the class did so poorly that he had to curve the grades, and people still failed! Very nice guy, but he expected way too much out of a GE.

dave is awesome! he is from wiscaaansin and he says "ruts" instead of "roots"... but that's ok cuz he is a really good teacher. he is super friendly, energetic, funny, and in a good mood 90% of the time. dave's bad moods come from lack of coffee or too many people not showing up to studio. you can tell when he's in a bad mood cuz he gets all impatient and snappy.. no smile, eyes wide open staring at you like, "what are you doing?" but seriously, that's so low-key for a bad mood, it's almost cute. dave gives a pretty fair amount of work. sometimes in the last couple of weeks of a quarter, he gets excited and starts tacking things on.. but it's never been an outrageous amount. just show up to class every day, try to be in a good mood around him (he totally reflects your mood back at you), and show him that you're getting work done! also, try to stay in studio the whole 4 hours. i know he appreciates it when he's leaving studio for the day and he sees that you're still in there working. oh, and he always has a full candy dish in his office! in conclusion dave rocks! take his class!