Lumsden, Donald  

This guy is a nice guy, but I have no idea as to exactly what makes him deem you worthy of great grades. I was second place in the cal poly speech contest, and still managed to get mediocre grades on every speech I did. This was the case for many of the speakers that I felt to be above average. At the same time the speeches that I would rather die than hear for the ten millionth time (he had us do the same speech all quarter long) were awarded excellent grades. His workload is easy, but yet again, the grades on assignments seem to be arbitrary. Tests were also pretty easy. He isn't a bad teacher, but at the same time, I wouldn't recommend him strongly.

Professor Lumsden presented the material well. His lectures were very helpful. He grades kind of strict on speeches, make sure you don't go over the time limit and you should be ok. One thing I didn't like was if you did something wrong in your speech he would tell you what you did wrong, but wouldn't tell you how to fix it. Very nice teacher. Classes were fun, even at 7am.

Professor Lumsden is an awesome teacher...especially for speech and for students terrified of speech. He grades on the content of the speech, not emphasizing the presentation of the speech. You give four speeches...they get longer as each speech goes by...and write evaluations on your own speech. You receive constructive criticism from Lumsden and many peers from the class. He gives one midterm and a final that are both multiple choice and fairly easy if you just read the book. He is really nice, very open in office hours, and you'll learn a lot more from this speech class than you think!

He was basically an easy A as long as you do all the work. You only have to give 3 speeches and one of them is only 2 minutes long. The other ones are 6 -8 minutes and you have to do one group project. You are allowed to use notecards too.

Don was a great professor. He and his wife, Gay, wrote the book that you read. He's not pompus or anything about it. He's actually very nice, always with a story to tell. He obviously really knows the material. The two hour lectures weren't too bad because there was a lot of spliting up into groups and working together. He emphasized group work and group interaction because he feels that people don't have enough experience in that area. I don't mind pubic speaking, so giving the 6 required speeches wasn't a big deal for me. They range in time from 2 to 8 minutes . . . not a big deal. They are pretty easy. All the requirements are spelled out on the syllabus, and he is more than happy to further explain them and answer and questions that anyone might have about speeches and exams. The two exams (a midterm and a final) were great. All the informaiton was covered and he told us what to review before the tests. The lectures can be boring, but he makes them as interesting as he can. This was a very enjoyable class, and I would highly recommend it for this GE requirement.

good old don, hes a really nice guy, and his class is pretty easy..dont bother reading the book, but you should learn the definitions for the final..all memorizing random vocab terms...well the class is nice because you get to know everybody..but his lectures are pretty boring..but can you expect public speaking to be fun? he gave me a a- when i should have gotten a b because i showed up to class regularly..i'd recommend him!

He doesn't lecture very often but when he does it is directly from the text and itis all common sense. He is a really nice guy but he will not let you bullshit him into giving you a better grade, so don't even try. All of the speeches and papers you do, literally, follow the assignment sheet word-for-word and you will do great. For the papers, he likes to see you integrate the text material. He is very critical on the last speech of the class so make sure you go into see him so that he thuroughly looks it over. Class attendance is part of your grade and you are only allowed to miss class twice before he lowers your grade. There are only 100 points total in the class, so a 2 page paper ends up only being worth 2.5 points.

Although I received an "A" in Lumsden's class, I thought he was a poor teacher. He would never give a complete explanation of what HE wanted for any presentations assigned. Thus, it was a hit or miss grading scheme. I had Cs and As on the main presentations,and the only reason I got an A in the class was because I aced all of the essays. Also, I felt like he would grade based on mood.. If he was in a good mood, you received a fair grade. But if he was in a bad mood, WATCH OUT!!! He will grade lower than usual, and I mean Cs and Ds!

Lumsden is a very nice old man who wants you to do as good as you can. It is not a hard class at all. There are four speeches which aren't even really long or hard. THere are also four papers, but they're mainly evaluating yourself. He grades tough on grammar though. He is very nice, but it can get boring because he goes into a lot of detail. This class doesn't require tons of work either. Don't read from your paper while giving a speech

Lumsden is a very nice old man who wants you to do as good as you can. It is not a hard class at all. There are four speeches which aren't even really long or hard. THere are also four papers, but they're mainly evaluating yourself. He grades tough on grammar though. He is very nice, but it can get boring because he goes into a lot of detail. This class doesn't require tons of work either. Don't read from your paper while giving a speech. The midterm and final are the most basic, common sense, easiest questions.

Lumsden is an awesome teacher. Everything you need to know is covered in lectures, and although reading the book helps, you don't need to. If you just participate in class, and do alright on a couple easy tests and papers, you will get an A. Just don't write the speeches the night before....

Professor Lumsden is a cool teacher. I had the class at 7am-9am on Tuesday and Thursday morning. It's not such a great class to take in the morning though. I was way tired when I had to give my speeches and well.. an A is a 92% and up B is 82% and so on. Unfortunately I got a 91.something in the class and ended up with an A minus. He's a great guy, funny, nice, he and his wife wrote the book that they use for their speech classes. I'd recommend him, but watch your grammar on the papers you have to hand in (4 of them), don't read your speeches (4 as well) and don't sound like you memorized them. (Mainly just watch your grammar, oh yeah, tests are multiple choice and they are straight from his book).

this class was unbelievably boring... he seems like a very nice old man BUT he was NOT a good teacher. he was a model of what NOT to do in a speech. incredibly boring, monotonous with little to no content. thank god i'm done with this class!

lumsden is a nice man. and a tries to be a good teacher. he lectures all two hours about the art of public speaking. but its just soooo boring. it was fun when there were group projects and group effort work. i think its just the TOPIC of public speakin that cant be helped is boring. he's sorta a harsh grader, where he's verrrry picky on ur writin skills on reports. oh yeh and the fact that this is scm 102 means it DOEs consist more of writing and less public speaking, but it was liek another english class the way he was grading! so anyways, he's not that bad, and he really tries to make everyone know each other's name AT LEAST. which is soo great! cuz in all my other classes im lucky if i kno the names of THREE other people, in this class, we know EVERYONES names. so thats a major PLUS.

Professor Lumsden was great. He grading was very fair and you only do 4 speeches throughout the whole quarter. Just dont write out your speeches and memorize them word for word and you will be fine, just give yourself some notes and you will do great. 1 midterm and a final which are not too bad. I did not do too much work and I got a B+ in the class. If you can, take him for any SCOM class.

It was hard to get excited about Lumsden's speech class. Be forewarned, that this professor talks, and talks, and talks, and talks, and talks (get the point?) about absolutely nothing for the whole two hours. At the end of the class, you would wonder if anything was accomplished. Don't worry--nothing happened. It also seems to undermine his credibility when he lectures on and on about how a speaker can keep the audience's attention---when the whole class is passed out and obviously not paying attention to him. If you take this class, you should also be aware of Lumsden's inconsistent grading. He seems to base his grades on his mood alone. Also, he never told the class what he expected for the required speeches--especially the last presentation which was a "half hour group presentation that somehow involves the class". It was pretty much hit-and-miss if you were going to get a good grade. What also irked me about this class: you have to use the book HE wrote, and most of the papers and speeches you do revolve around HIS textbook. AGH! IT'S FINALLY OVER!!!!

Lumsden was SUCH an easy grader! He's such a nice teacher (who sounds like a grandpa) who spends way too much time explaining a topic that could be explained in five minutes. I FEARED taking speech, but I got an A anyway. Just practice your speeches a lot and make sure you make outlines for them. Go to his office hours, he'll like you more. And for papers, just read the chapter and make sure to use those communication terms mentioned. He wrote the book so he'll like that.

Lumsden was just extremely boring. He drags on his lectures, but he knows what he's talking about. He is very flexible and easily aproachable with questions. He's easy to contact and always replies to emails.

Lumsden is just a downright cool man. I've had him for SPC 202 as well and I think he is one of the most genuine teachers at Poly. Although he wasn't a terrific teacher, he was very good at conveying the topics. He is not tremendously hard at all. Any decently intelligent person can get an easy B in his class. The lectures are actually pretty interesting. He is a decent lecturer, but the material is kind of brain-teasing so it is fun to learn. He is not a tough grader on papers and his test are straightforward because he spends an entire day before the exams narrowing down and reviewing what is on the tests. This class consisted of writing a 8-10 paper in several graded sequences. It was simple and by the end of the quarter you are almost already done with the paper...just needing elaboration (i.e. B/S). Take Lumsden...I promise you will like him as a person and as an above average Professor.

Don is so great!! He is so laid back, and really cares about the students. He always pushed back due dates and sometimes even threw out assignments altogether! I even called him in his office the day of the final and he basically gave me the questions to the test. His lectures get kinda boring, but whose don't? I had one 4 pg. paper, 5 "pop" quizzes, which were each 5% of your grade, but he grades pretty easily, one public speech, a midterm, and a final. Overall, it was an awesome class, you call him by his first name and he is a way easier grader than I could ever imagine. Take his class, trust me!!

Don is a great instructor to take for any speech class. He's very approachable, I felt that I learned a lot from his class. He doesn't test on anything he didn't lecture on in class. Great teacher overall.

Dr. Lumsden is a very nice man. He reminds me of a smart loveable grandpa. His class can be extremely boring at times because he turns 30 minutes worth of material into a 2 hour class. Still you will find that the class is pretty easy. His grading is pretty inconsistent but somehow you end up with a good grade. The speeches are pretty weird and he grades them hard but they are not worth that much. He grades papers favorably and his midterm and final are easy. If you can just weather the boring classes you should do very well in lumsden.

the lectures are 2 of the longest hours i've ever sat through. If you don't mind being pretty bored for a little while I'd recommend you take this guy. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met. You can tell he genuinely enjoys what he does and cares about his students. His midterms are really easy, but he grades kind of harshly on his papers. The part of this class that bugged me the most is that we just sat around and over-analyzed everything way too in depth, but I guess that's just the content of a critical writing class. I'd say the positives of this class out-weigh the negatives, so I'd recommend taking lumsden if you have the chance.

Don was definitely one of the better professors. We had a cool class, and he was laid back in regards to grading. Sure, lectures could be boring sometimes, but isn't that typical of many classes? Besides, he always let us out early and he's a fair grader. Overall, a very sweet professor. One of the nicest people I've ever met. Take his class! :)

I learned that if I were to take up hunting, I should shoot deer, not bears, because a bear will hunt me back if I successfully wound it. Fascinating! I didnt know that the key to production and operations management was so brutally simple!

I actually didn't have Professor D. Lumsden, I had his wife G. Lumsden. She was one of the best teachers I have had so far. She is the sweetest person and she really cares that you do well in her class. Your grade consists of 4 speeches and a multiple choice final- which you don't have to study for, it is so easy. You have to write and present your speeches which she will tape and then you must evaluate yourself. You don't really have to be the best public speaker, you just have to show improvement in your speaking abilities. You don't really have to read the book either. Great teacher and I definetly recomend her.

I was nervous about taking speech class, but Dr. Lumsden did a great job making the entire class feel comfortable. We did a total of 4 speeches during the quarter which isn't bad at all. He does a fair job of grading you and always tries to build you up. Dr. Lumsden was always focused on the positive parts of our speech. He is a great teacher and good man.

I came into this class with a fear of public speaking, but I got a lot out of this class and my abilities have greatly improved because of this guy. He taught me that speach is very important, even to an engineering major. You had to do a total of four speaches, though two are as a group, and various assignments. The one midterm he gave was fair. Overall I learned a great deal from Don and I was very impressed that he knew every student's name by the second class period.

Prof Lumsden is a very nice and understanding professor. He really just wants you to succeed in his class. When you are speaking, he is not intimidating at all and makes you really feel comfortable. The workload is minimal, being work on your speeches, and the tests are not difficult and pretty much intuitive. You only need to skim the chapters and you will do fine. Lumsden is a great guy, and is perfect for a class that so many dread.