Harbison, Rebecca  

She opened the class by admitting she is good at astronomy but bad at teaching. She mutters, constantly contradicts herself in lecture, and seems to have no sense of students' background knowledge and ability to understand information she presents. She is extremely socially awkward and there seems to be no organization to her lectures. Of course she gets some leeway for being so new but there is no excuse for her level of teaching. I dread going to this class and plan on just teaching myself instead of trying to follow her muddled lecture and blatant contradictions

In my opinion, Dr. Harbison is vastly overqualified for the type of lectures she's giving. She got her PhD from Columbia and is has worked on some cutting edge research on Saturn's rings. So, in my opinion, she doesn't fit teaching a GE course. She's pretty shy and reserved, so she has a hard time conveying her thoughts to the class. This all being said, however, she's really nice and easy to talk to.

I went to class 10 times the entire quarter to turn in homework and take exams. She posts all lectures online. This class is literally easier than classes I've taken in high school. She's not a great lecturer, she's pretty awkward and sometimes rambles, I feel like I learn better on my own reading her slides. She's nice and the class is easy, just don't expect to learn anything (or enjoy lectures)

I really feel bad for Dr. Harbison. Last quarter was her first time teaching and she got totally trashed on PolyRatings. I super freaked out to take the class so I took it Credit/No Credit, but I think to compensate for how badly she did last quarter this class was ridiculously easy and I ended up getting A's on both midterms and the final. I didn't even go to class, just looked at the lecture slides, it's exactly the same. Throughout the quarter she apologized multiple times for her poor public speaking skills so I think we all started to feel bad for her - she really is trying. In a few years she'll probably get the hang of it, but for now she's pretty awkward. Astronomy with her was an easy A (wishing I didn't take it credit/no credit) but you won't learn much from the lectures. I basically taught myself.

I also decided to take the class Credit/No Credit because I was scared by the Polyratings, but this class was an easy A. Professor Harbison tries really, really hard to communicate the ideas and uses as many analogies as she can to explain the more complex theories. She also brought in several demos. Although she was nervous at first, she's gotten a lot better at lecturing. I went to almost every class and I thought the 50 minutes sped by (toward the end it was more like 45, because she finished early). Basically, you should take this class. She's a really nice woman and she doesn't deserve the Polyratings she got last quarter.

Like someone else pointed out, Dr. Harbison is overqualified to be teaching general ed. astronomy courses. If you do a quick google search, you'll find her research of Saturn's rings very fascinating and complex. You can tell she's extremely intelligent by the way she writes (her publications). Alas, she is a painfully shy/awk person, and you have to force conversation with her. Office hours is like small talk. Also, she got her PhD from CORNELL, not Columbia. Idk why you dumbasses are saying the wrong school. Overally an extremely highly intelligent lady with a socially awkward personality. I feel like she might have Asperger's Syndrome.

She was a super awkward professor. Her class was boring and for us it was four times a week and you had to actually go because she used Top Hat for attendance (unless you got a friend to text you the passcode). Do not buy the textbook you won't need it. She grades on attendance, homework, one midterm, and final project. Like I said she grades on attendance so you can only miss four classes for full credit. The homework is due every Monday. Some of the answers come from her powerpoint. Some of them I have no idea where she got them from but just google it and write a lot and she will usually give you full credit. The first midterm is easy. She lets you use a notecard and its only off of about 4 weeks of information so you can basically fit everything on the card. The average was like an 88%. Then after that you don't need to pay attention in class since the final has nothing to do with what she talks about. Its a project where you choose a planet, write an individual paper about some mission or discovery, and then as a group you present on all the stuff you found. Essay is 3-5 pages so not bad and then the group presentation is during the final which sucks cause she makes you stay the whole time but she did not grade hard at all. If you just want an easy and chill GE class take this! If you want to actually learn do not take this. Simple as that really.

Everyone is pretty hard on poor Rebecca but she really tries. Sure, she's boring sometimes (a lot) and I spent most of the class on my phone but I got an A and you'd really have to try and fail to get anything below a B.

Professor Harbison is very sweet and so passionate about Astronomy. We learned interesting things in a variety of ways. Sometimes the topics were hard to follow since she was so advanced and the students had never learned anything about astronomy. You have to be able to keep up with the reading and follow along in class or you will be lost. The tests aren't that hard if you take your time on the homework. Pretty difficult for a GE though so don't take it unless you are really exciting about astronomy.

She is a brand new professor at Cal Poly, meaning Fall 2014 is her first quarter teaching...ever. Unfortunately, she makes Physics intensely boring. This high school level physics class should involve a certain amount of simple Algebra math to help student visualize the scenario and to make things a little funner, but she insists to keep the class conceptual. By conceptual, I mean she makes it into a history/English-like class. Homework and quiz problems are all in word problem format. Worst of all, she is bad at phrasing her questions. She needs to understand that math is invented for a reason. Calculus exists for a reason, and it is to help us understand Physics!If you go to her office hour for help, she still cannot explain it well enough. If you ask her what type of answer she is looking for on the test, she says as long as she understands you, you will be fine. Oh, how vague. If you are thinking of taking Phys 104 as an easy alternative to fulfill your science general elective, do not take it because it has a new professor, and she is terrible. And she definitely does not take constructive criticism very well, because she often appear offended at students' suggestions to improve the class.

Worst professor I have had thus far and I've had some pretty bad professors. Some classes you can usually teach yourself and grasp things on your own if your professor is bad at lecturing, but this class is just insanely confusing thanks to DR. HARBISON. She's not even a real teacher, she just has Ph. D and is the most socially awkward person I have met who does not even try to connect or reason with you. She tries to be nice, but you can tell she's forcing it. I don't know if it's just me, but you can sense a feeling of great superiority from her which is understandable except shouldn't she be sharing her understanding of physics? Everything makes sense to her in HER mind, but somehow her words don't make sense to the rest of the class. I took physics in high school and we even used basic algebra to help visualize and understand the class, but the fact of keeping it conceptual with her lecturing makes no sense at all. Everyone attends class, but for the most part half the class is clueless that's how bad it is. Don't take her! She clearly states her love for astronomy and she would probably be a better professor teaching a class she actually likes and can genuinely verbalize her thoughts into words that make sense to everyone.

Avoid her at all costs.

"Basically.... you know...." How the fuk would I know. If I knew, I wouldn't ask you. Clearly, she needs to retake a coms class or two, or a lot, considering her failed ability to articulate anything. She needs to get off of Facebook and spend more time in improving her teaching skills.

The person who wrote "She mutters, constantly contradicts herself in lecture, and seems to have no sense of students' background knowledge and ability to understand information she presents. She is extremely socially awkward and there seems to be no organization to her lectures. Of course she gets some leeway for being so new but there is no excuse for her level of teaching. I dread going to this class and plan on just teaching myself instead of trying to follow her muddled lecture and blatant contradictions" is pretty much on the money. Except there is some organization in her lectures, but she is still extremely difficult to follow. She seems like the type that will always follow procedures, as a professor, and she has no interest in getting to know any of the students. I was waitlisted for two weeks this winter quarter, and started emailing her since finals week of the previous quarter. When classes started, I talked to her every day after class and sent her several emails, yet she had no idea who I was, or my name when I finally got to add. (BTW, dont count on getting priority as a senior, she just goes by the numbered waitlist). She doesn't answer questions or explain most things well. Sometimes she won't even finish her sentences, or just end it with, "you know?", and quickly moves onto the lecture. Many of the things she explains could make so much more sense if she just explained it more mathematically, instead of studdered words. I still have 8 more weeks to go so I really hope I can still do great in the class simply by teaching myself out of the book, but it all depends on her tests, which I haven't taken yet. If her tests are worded the way that some of her handouts are, then I'm in trouble!

Professor Harrison seems like a nice person, but she is definitely awkward. Sometimes she will begin a sentence and then just stop... and start a new one. I feel like she is trying to be a good teacher and wants her students to do well. The examples she uses in class are often really complicated when first introducing a new topic, and just end up confusing me. I have much more success just reading the chapter and practicing the problems in the book. Although, she isn't the best at teaching she is a fair grader. She has 5 point online quizzes every week and you get 3 attempts at each one, no time limit. 10 pt homework every week and if you try you get at least 1/2 credit. The exams are pretty straightforward and don't have overly complicated questions, you will often get at least partial credit on them. We just got our 2nd midterm today with a class average of 75 and she curved it because she felt she made the exam too hard. You also get to take a notecard into the exams. I think I will end up with a B in the class. She's really not that bad... she's trying.. but be prepared to teach yourself most of the material.. she's better than some of those other physics professors that are out to fail you.

A lot of people talk poorly about Dr. Harbison. She is a really nice lady and is very smart, possibly too smart to be teaching basic physics class. She can be kind of awkward but I believe it is her second year teaching so it is just fine. Homework can be pretty hard, but quizzes are pretty easy. We had no midterm (just weekly quizzes instead) and an 8 question final. All in all good professor and as long as you pay attention in class, do your homework work, and go into office hours if you aren't understanding the material you will get a great grade.

Harbison is a very very nice lady, but she lacks people skills and cannot clearly explain physics. She is very knowledgable but has a hard time controlling the class. She often stutters and is extremely awkward, but her quizs/final exams are extremely easy. I got an A without even trying.

At the beginning of this quarter, I knew the popular opinion of Dr. Harbison, but I couldn't get any other classes, so I figured I would stick it out. In my case, I don't regret taking this class as opposed to my other options, but what you need to know is that you should ONLY take this class if you don't have a single other option to get the units that you need. Though she does obviously know what she is talking about, Harbison is the single most awkward person I have ever encountered. She doesn't explain the material well (simply copies the equations from the slides to the white board), she doesn't explain any of the concepts or relate them to the equations (she frequently starts a sentence, pauses a moment, and then moves on to a completely new idea without finishing the last), and she doesn't field questions with any level of competence (even questions like, "would like us to return the equation sheet after the quiz?" are too much for her to handle at any point in time). Regarding her explaining (or lack thereof) of the material, I have an anecdote. In the middle of the quarter, Harbison had to take some sort of trip out of state, so she missed a class. In her absence, Dr. Carmichael took over the class. During his lecture, he took a few steps back to the basics of the topics that we had been learning, and started explaining from there. As he talked about things we had already been tested on, I looked around and could see peoples faces light up as they finally understood these topics that we had long since seen on slides. He then proceeded to cruise through roughly three lectures worth of material (Harbison was shocked when she got back), and everyone understood the concepts with full confidence. This just goes to show her lack of skill in explaining and catering to the students. These are just the big things that stick out in my mind when I think about the class. This being said, you definitely can succeed in this class. It's not hard. The labs are trivial (yet time consuming) and the quizzes are representative of the online homework. As long as you have some idea what's going on with charges and circuits before you go into the class, you can definitely do fine. However, if you aren't apt with electricity, this is not a class you want to take. There are much better professors out there. Harbison will not explain the material well, and you'll spend the whole quarter bored out of your mind as she tries to figure out how to simplify an equation on the board. And her handwriting is GARBAGE!

For those who skim the evals: AVOID AVOID AVOID S O S DO NOT TAKE HER IF YOU CAN HELP IT She is a nice lady, and knows her stuff. However- all that knowledge is locked within her mind never to be drawn out without a monumental effort on the part of the student. She is very timid and socially awkward to the point of lecture being some of the most boring experiences i've had since high school. She cannot express the material well and has no presence in the classroom meaning everyone tunes out and plays Slither.io. She commands no respect and cannot effectively teach (99% of your learning is doing the lon-capa homework and struggling for hours) and overall her class is just a painful experience.

Although you could tell she was trying to improve, Harbison simply is not good at teaching. That being said, the class was also a joke to get a good grade in, as we had really easy quizes instead of midterms. Homework is online lon-capa, which is annoying, but at least it's free. The class was also incredibly boring. I can't really recommend this professor for Physics 3 just because of how boring the class was, and if you struggle with the material you will not have a good time with this professor since she's pretty bad at teaching the course. If you already know a lot of the material though it's an easy A.

It all goes back to her being the most socially awkward person I have ever met. Imagine that horribly awkward encounter you had in middle school where you and the other person kinda stared at each other and scrambled for something relevant to say. Every lecture is like that, without fail. This makes the class uncomfortable, boring, and pretty difficult at times, as she is SUPER bad at getting info across.

This is the absolute worst teacher I have ever encountered. I have no idea how she got a job teaching, especially at poly. Harbsion is the weirdest and most socially awkward person I have ever met. People who havnt had her don't understand. Everything she teaches makes sense in her own mind, but she can't formulate her thoughts into words. She studders every other word, and then mid sentence will drop off of what she is talking about and pick up somewhere completely different. If you want a class to just sit in and learn nothing then this is the one because she is awful and nobody has learned anything from her. Multiple occasions half of the class has walked out of lectures because she was spewing nonsense. I highly recommend dropping out immediately if you get this proffessor. You will learn nothing and the entire workload will be put on you. I have to teach myself physics, and it is not fun. I pray for those who get stuck with her.

Honestly, this woman is a mess. Get out now

Even though Harbison is a new teacher and is awkward, she isn't a completely bad teacher. The good thing about her lectures are the examples, she is ok with her speaking but if anything go for the examples. However you should form a study group and do the homework together and review for the midterms.

Dr. Harbison may be a new professor this year, but she isn't a bad teacher. The first week or two you could tell she was nervous about teaching but she soon got the hang of it. There are generally two quizzes a week on the readings, so be sure to do ALL the readings. It definitely helps when you are doing the homework if you did the reading too. There are also 3 midterms and a final for the class. She also lets you have a 3x5 card with all of the equations that we learned in class to use on the midterms and final, which is very helpful. She is fairly organized and her powerpoints are very clear and are good to review when studying for quizzes and midterms. I think once she finishes a quarter or two, she will be able to present the material a lot better.

Before I begin, there are 2 things that you should know: 1. She is horrible at teaching the material. 2. Even she knows it. The lectures are hard to understand because she makes a mistake for every single example problem, without fail. Her lectures come straight out of the book, so you are better off taking notes out of there instead. Because she knows she can't teach the material clearly, her tests aren't very difficult and she curves each one so the average score is a B. Our class learned almost everything from the book and the optional Workshop (Munir, you da real MVP), so you still learn the material, just not in the traditional fashion. Everybody hates on her, and for good reason, but don't let that be the reason you get a bad grade.

She's new. It shows, painfully, in her ability to properly convey concepts during her lectures. Do not go into her class expecting to adequately learn any of the concepts. Your best bet is to avoid her if at all possible. If you have a previous background in the class you can get away with showing up for quizzes (at least 1 per week) and ditching the class. Spend your time reading the book, doing homework problems and using online resources. It's a much more effective use of your time as opposed to sitting in her class wishing you'd left.

Dr. Harbison is really bad. Yes, she got her PhD in Astrophysics from Columbia, but she got her PhD literally months ago. She has not teaching experience whatsoever and it shows. She's socially awkward. She makes mistakes on examples she "supposedly" did before coming to class. And she's not like .5 off, she's been COMPLETELY off sometimes. She sucks at teaching. Don't take her. Try to get out. If you can't, just suffer through it and take the Supplemental Class. You're going to have to learn it on your own.

Harbison is a very awkward professor. She is definitely intelligent but she gets so nervous in front of a class that she can't even get through a lecture. Her quizzes are dumb, they are basically vocab quizzes with no relation to her tests whatsoever. It was a better use of my time to read the book instead of going to her lectures. Avoid her if you can you will not have a strong base in Kinematics if you get her.

Like most of the other people say she is very awkward and does not seem very comfortable in front of the class. On the other hand, she wants the best out of every student and really wants everyone to do well. As long as you do the homework and read through the book you can get through this class just fine because the quizzes are very easy and the midterms and final are easy as well. I would much rather have her if she is awkward rather than a painfully difficult professor.

he sure does like his women, wet!!