Williams, Dennis  

Dennis is an excellent teacher. He explains accounting in a simple straight forward easy to learn method. He is very educational, as well as a funny interesting guy. He has many funny stories and experiences. He is probably one of the best teachers I have had!!!! i highly reccommend taking classes with him!

Not a really exciting topic for a class, but he's pretty easy! You get a full page of notes front and back on the exams, and does his best to keep it entertaining. He is able to bring real world examples to the table, but he can sometimes get really boring. He posts all the answers to the homework online, so if you at least copy it you are assued all the points on the homework! Take him to fufill a class, and not be to stressed with the difficulty!

He's the worst professor I've had so far. He is SUCH a jerk. The powerpoints are from the publisher of the book and the answers to the homework are straight from his manual. It's obvious he does nothing to prepare for this class. He is monotone, boring, and actually really rude if you ask questions. It's nice that you have notes for the tests but the material is soooooo boring that it's really hard to study for his tests. He is cocky and self-centered. I really would recommend taking another professor.

Williams is a funny guy, I am just pissed that I earned a B+ and he gave me a B.

When I enrolled in this class, I was a first quarter incoming freshman. I was interested in switching my major to accounting and wanted to take this financial accounting for non-business majors class to see if I enjoyed it. In short, accounting isn't for me. Professor Williams is not the greatest, nor the most interesting teacher. Every day, his lectures consist of him reading straight from the power points that the company who wrote the book provided. He even has the power points linked through his website so you can look at them. So you technically don't need to go to class except on test days and days when he collects homework. Which is what probably 80% of the class did everyday. There are 10 written homework assignments, which he goes over in class before they're due and gives you the answers. So, like the majority of the class did, you can wait until the day the homework is due to actually copy the answers off the board. There are 3 tests in his class and no final. I got a B+ in the class and was surprised to see an A- as my final grade...apparently he curves. All in all, the class isn't hard. It's just extremely boring and there's really no need to show up everyday for class.

The material was dry and the lectures were dry as well. There was no cumulative final which was great. He also allowed us to use a reference sheet for the tests. But to be honest, none of the material stayed with me. If you were to ask me anything about accounting, I would have no clue. The lectures were so difficult to sit through and to pay attention to (especially when the class is at 8 am).

Williams is a very nice teacher. I could have done better in his class but kinda slacked off. There is no reason you shouldn't get at least a B in this class. To me the first test was very easier, and they gradually got harder and harder. He doesnt give +'s or -'s. Overall, i liked the class and he was pretty cool. 3 test-- none cumulative. you turn in homework almost every class, but dont worry, everyone goes with a blank sheet a paper and he goes over them completely and you have time to do the homework right there with him. Also, you get a full page front a back (not typed) for the test! -overall easy class! however, i should have spent more time studying and understand the math part of it and i would have easily got a B.

This class is a huge waste of time. Williams talks like the clear eyes guy. You have hw but he goes over every problem in class. The class is 90% tests and 10% hw. You get a cheat sheet for the tests and he gave extra credit 3 times just because people stayed for the whole lecture. So boring

He's an awesome teacher. I've had him for three classes now, and he's a lot of fun. He's a lot of work, though, so watch out!

He is a good professor who is very entertaining and makes the time go very quickly. He is down to earth and likes to talk about practical matters. There is a lot of work, so be prepared, but if you keep up with it and use the study guide, you will be in good shape. I definitely recommend the study guide. His tests are very comprehensive and difficult, but they are fair and they accurately represent what was in the book and discussed in class. I would recommend him for this subject.

This guy is great! The course is hard to begin with, but he is willing to help. The best thing about this class is he goes over all the homework, so you would know how to do it. He can be off-track couple times, but he gets everything across. Tests get harder everytime, but like the above evals, he grades fair. Great teacher, great sense of humor, I would recommend him for this class.

I do not know what the other students who submitted their evaluations were talking about. If you think going over the homework means just reading out the correct answer so people can quickly write them down to turn in for credit then okay, I guess he does go over homework. As for going off on tangents, he does this every five minutes and for the content of these tangents: HIMSELF! He has a huge ego and talks about himself, his past jobs, his trips, his cars etc more than he ever talked about accounting. If you are the type of student who can teach yourself, and do not mind a professor using their classroom as a forum for boosting their own ego than I recommend him but I was warned from many other students to not take him, and I wished I would have taken their advice.

Dr. Williams is a great teacher. He has a very down to earth personality and conveys material very well. His tests are tough but fair. Business 214 is a very challenging, extremely demanding course and takes about 2-3 hours 3-4 nights a week for hmwk which is required in Williams' class, so be prepared fo it. I'd suggest taking only two other classes.

I loved Dr. Williams for BUS 214. He reallys knows his stuff, and does a great job of teaching accounting!!!! He does give a lot of work, but I feel I learned a ton! He is very interesting also!

This is a very hard class. Don't take it with 16 units like I did unless you want to shoot yourself in the head later, esp. taking it with Williams. Negatives: he's very into himself, spent a whole hour talking not about class objectives on the first day, but about himself and his hobbies; has a total of 2, yes only 2 hours of office hours a week and I don't think he even showed up for those all the time, and he won't make appointments with you if you can't make those (how the hell are you supposed to do the comprehensive problem without peer help if the teacher's never available??); the homework every week takes like anywhere between 3-5 hours every week; this tests are really hard, and he always seems to expect we will pick up accounting as fast as he can spew out all the stuff he's been doing as a profession for all his life. Positives: all that experience as a CPA in the real world makes for some good real world accounting examples in class. That's about it in a nutshell. 2 midterms, one final, and one ridiculous comprehensive problem that really sucks with no instructor help.

Most importantly, know that this class is not about learning definitions. You need to know all financial statements he presents backwards and forwards for open questions, as he demands it of you. Though his grading was a little more...precise than others, he was fair. Plus, you get to hear interesting stories from the accounting world direct from his own life.

Reading the reviews about Williams has made me laugh my ass off. Take a couple of things away from them thought: Yes, the class is boring - but so is accounting and MIS. The professor that can make these interesting is sitting right next to the lock ness monster and bigfoot. There is also a lot of work. If you choose to go into the profession of accounting or finance, or choose to run a business or manager, you'll need to know this accounting. If not, take an easier teacher. I've worked in financial reporting for the past three years and still remember lots of what he taught.

This teacher was fine for me. I read the reviews about how his tests were difficult and all that but honestly they seemed pretty straight forward to me. Yeah you have to know the financial accounting statements but look at what class you're taking ..."FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING". His tests did have a few tricky questions in which you don't even understand what he's asking for but there isn't enough to lower your grade drastically. His lectures are rather boring since he reads straight from his powerpoint but he does have side stories to break up the monotony sometimes. There is a lot of work though for this class. All the homeworks and excel projects and other stuff add up. So this is a rather time-intensive course but just budget your time well and you'll do fine.

Cocky asshole. HW's took about 8 hours. Reduced his office hours to one hour a week! Do not take him!

I can't say that Williams is that bad of a teacher, because he pretty much just teaches exactly from the book and tells you a lot of what is going to be on the test, but I can say that you DO NOT want to take him. He gets pleasure from torturing his students, and making them struggle. I'm serious. He takes off WAY too many points for little mistakes, and theres no negotiating with him. Also, he makes the class stay the entire 2 hours (down to the very second) beause he wants us to "get our moneys worth" (which doesn't make sense because he spends at least 30 mins each class wasting our time by telling us random stories that are completely exaggerated and probably made up). Also, the homework is VERY repetative and time consuming. It takes hours and hours, and most of that time is spent doing the same damn problem but with different numbers. We think he does that on purpose to piss us off. Oh, and he collects the hw randomly, so you could have stayed up until 4 am the night before doing it and he won't even collect it. Also, the comprehensive problem is IMPOSSIBLE and will drive you crazy. And like the person below me so elequently put it, he is a "cocky asshole." So in short, DO NOT TAKE THIS TEACHER! If you select this class with Staff, and find out the first week that he is your teacher, get out ASAP! If you don't believe me on any of this, just take a look at his "school" website www.dennis-williams.com where you can learn all about how great and cool he is for riding motorcycles, mountain biking, surfing, actually having the money to travel to Europe on a teacher's salary, etc.

Read off of slides that were provided by book (straight from text - no personalization). During lecture completely talks down to class with tone and emphasis. Completely wastes class time to fill the 2 hour time slot instead of working consistently and letting class out early.

Williams is a great professor. He's really good at presenting the material clearly so everyone understands, and he's got some really great stories-very funny. Do the homework, it's graded and about 7 or 8 percent of your total grade. The rest of the grade consists of class participation (attendance), 2 midterms, a comprehensive problem, and the final. His grading is very fair, and if you go to class everyday you'll do well. He's a very good professor and I give my highest recommendations.

Williams did improve from when I had him in 214, but he's still really lazy. He knows his stuff for sure, but it's annoying that he tries to assume that everyone else is going to get it right away as well. I'm terrible at accounting, and looking back, I don't think I would choose to take him again for that reason. If you're decent at accounting naturally, take him, it won't be that bad. Also, he has office hours for two hours a week, and if you can't make those he won't schedule any other ones, it's just too bad for you. I even asked ahead of time if he would meet with me sometime before my final on thurs. to go over my last midterm, and he told me he wasn't coming into school until the day of the final....absolutely no help at all. So just keep in mind that if you take him, you're going to have to teach yourself everything. Oh, and he just reads his powerpoints off in lecture, so it's not a big help. But you still have to go to class to turn in the hw. Good luck!

very demanding course. i did very-very well on his 8 homework assignments, 3 Excel projects, and Group project. The exams, on the other hand, killed my chance of swimming with the current. part of the reason falls on the fact that i took 16 units this quarter, but largely due to all the assignments he offers DO NOT give you an adequate picture of what's expected on the exams. his tests involve tons of statement creation, which is expected, but you had better know the minor details of the statements - that's what he tests you on, NOT on conventional knowledge. this class is IDEAL for Accountant majors, not for other business majors. moving on, as a professor he's enigmatic, confident, and full of character, i really thought the class was going to be a piece of cake the couple of weeks. he knows accounting. this course is for those who have PLENTY of time to study (do not base your success in the class on your performance from 214 - which i received an A). bottom line, enjoyable lectures, but discouragingly inapplicable homework and arduous exams.

williams is an alright guy. his test are extremely difficult though so make sure you know what you are doing. his lectures consist of him reading the power point slides, which follow the book. there are 2 midterms, a final, 3 projects, and 8 homeworks. if you are a person that needs office hours, this is not your guy because he doesn't like to help at all. the cool thing was that if you did bad on the midterms and good on the final, he would raise your grade to a 70% for the midterms. he also posts grades on a website, which is cool because you always know what you have in the class. he graded and posted the tests within an hour. i would recommend roy for 215 but if you get stuck with williams he is not that bad.

STAY AWAY FROM WILLIAMS!!! I'm in the class right now and it's HELL! He doesn't teach anything. He goes off the powerpoint slides that are exactly the same as the book (which is waaay boring), but he takes attendance so you have to go to class. I approached him a few times throughout the quarter and went to his office hours, but he could care less about a single student. If he finds out that your into watching pro sports, he loves you, but that'll get you no where. I've asked him for help a few times and he just ignored me. I was actually looking forward to this class b/c friends said it was easier than BUS 214, but this guy totally ruined it for me. And his tests are sooooo hard, even if you study well! DO NOT TAKE THIS GUY!! YOU'LL BE COMITTING SUICIDE!

This class is very dry. Besides the fact that the subject matter isn't exactly the most stimulating, the way the class is structured, lecture is basically a reiteration of the book, with pictures on a powerpoint. Assignments take a while but aren't graded too hard if you know what you are doing- none take as long as the major project in 214 but some are arduous. Exams are LONG and discouraging because the answer to one question might depend on information that you had to solve for in the previous question- therefore, difficult to skip questions that are hard. By long, I mean chunks of people stayed over an hour after class was over (as long as he would let us before kicking us out). The final took over 4 hours. Projects are fairly easy points if you do the work, so make them count. Besides the fact that you turn things in, you will NEVER miss anything in lecture. Curves the class at the end.

sure he's a bit of an ass, but thats really not a problem at all. my big problem with him are his lectures. they contain no useful information. large portions of his test are on things that he never even mentioned once. going to his class is completely useless, but he take attendance so you have to show up. i wouldnt reccomend him because he just doesnt teach well.

Dont take williams if there is anyone else taking 215. he doesnt present the material that clearly, seems to like himself very much, and talks about pointless crap for most of class.

If I knew about this teacher beforehand I would have never taken this teacher. The books were horrible. Too bad we had to be test dummies for this class. A lot of work for a 200 level class. Lectures were very useless. He thought he knew everything about technology!! I learned more from the main textbook then I learned from him. Why does Cal Poly even pay him? Pompous and Arrogant! I didn't learn anything new from him. He takes attendence which I think is totally useless. You don't learn anything from him. Just fall asleep. I would never take this teacher for anything again.

Williams is a good guy. He's willing to help, grades fair. I recommend him to my friends. Don't get me wrong his class is a lot of work but if you do it he will reward you. Keep in contact with him. Let him know your concerns. Email him! It will help if you show him you are putting in the time and effort.

Dr. Williams is a good teacher and I learned a lot from his class. He is always willing to help and makes the class quite entertaining. It's a lot of work but it's not hard at all. The lowest grade in our class was a C and I think only one person got that. If you do the work, you should get an A or B. Take him if you can!!!!

I think that Williams is much better with accounting than with MIS. He knows his stuff for MIS, but he doesn't do much more than read his PowerPoint slides. He gives a lot of work for MIS that seems to be repetitive of previous classes. Williams is a very nice guy though and I would take his classes in the future because I liked his as a teacher.

Mr. Williams is an awesome teacher! I learned a lot of valuable information.

Great guy, tests are hard, but from the book and he grades fair. He's willing to help out those in need any time. Group projects and web page design were fun.

What are these people talking about? He droned on and on about his own personal life, relied completely on his boring power point slides in his monotone voice, and forced us to listen to his ramblings. He's the type of teacher that would stretch out a class till the end just because. I learned a lot only from the lab books, but the main textbook was expensive and pretty useless. He was moody and sometimes graded accordingly

He can be a dick, but he is not that bad once you figure him out. If you put effort in, an A is totally possible. But the workbook work is very detailed and it is easy to slip up. Pay a lot attention to detail in the work he assigns. He really pays attention to it. I would recommend taking him.

Dr. Williams likes to hear himself talk, about HIMSELF. His lectures were straight out of the book. They didn't clarify the material. Be sure to do the workbooks and stay on top of it. Do not leave them to the last day because inevitably you will run into a glitch and not be able to change it. If you have a couple numbers wrong on your workbook assignments, you will get a VERY bad score, even if you spend 10 hours on the assignment. Also, if you try to ask him why he gave you a certain grade, he will say "because." So, when you do your Web Page, don't be surprised if you do an excellent job and get a C. It's whatever he feels like. I do not recommend him. I have heard McQuaid is great. Do yourself a favor and take her. You'll have a much happier quarter.

Easy class, he's just boring as hell. The homework takes forever and he grades it really hard, but most kids did well on it. Be careful of the midterms though...they are random!!! You have to really read the chapters, and not just the bold words but every piece of writing that's on the page. If you can get B's on the tests you'll get an A in the class.

This class is not hard just be sure to turn in all of the assignments which are very time consuming. do not stress out too much over the website he is pretty easy on them. most people got as and bs i did not turn in 2 assignments so i got a c. i would not reccomend wasting time to study for the midterm and final just review the powerpoint slides online because there is not much more you can do unless you are an mis major and you are really into the book. hes cool and a bit full of himself which is pretty funny, i would reccomend this calss because it is not very stressful just takes many many hours at the computer.

Dr. Williams teaches an easy class. There is a lot of work to do for BUS 391 and there is no way around that. He is an easy grader if he doesn't lose your homework... I didn't learn a damn thing in this class. Well I learned what the internet is(sarcastic). That is about it. Unfortunately this class gives no insight into MIS as do all the other support courses. This class just breezes through 13 chapters froma text book and about 12 chapters or so of labbook work... The group presentations are jusr rediculous, nobody pays any attention to them and he is anal about the garding on that. You need to put a picture of him in your power points somewhere so that he can see himself... THen you'll get a good grade on the presentation.

391 is a very basic and easy class so it didn't matter if the professor is good or not, but williams is a pretty good teacher. He also has some interesting stories to tell you when the class get boring.

Dr. Williams is great, just ask him! The class was easy, but getting past the ego and BS and staying awake was the hard part. Likes to brag, and the assignments were tedious, but an easy class.

Incredibly boring and if you know anything about computers this class is a waste of time. I'm not an expert at computers, but the stuff the he teaches is so basic you fall asleep no matter what. The lab is a joke, you would think if a computer lab you would use the computers, but nope, he makes you turn off the monitor and continues to lecture. It's an easy class but incredibly boring. Tests are true/false and multiple choice and have lab exams on excel, access, and frontpage. Don't read the book, just the summaries and do all of the lab assignments.

I earned an A, but he ... gave me a B+.

Williams is a nice guy, however his lectures are very boring and he will tell you continously where he has been on vacation and his motorcycles and love of technology. Most of the work is busy work and the labs can be tedious that you do out of the lab books. We only had ONE required lab to go to, so don't plan on staying past the hour lecture each day. The tests are hard because he tests off the powerpoint and book info as well. The lab tests on access and excel are not bad at all, just like the labs we did for homework. He tends to read straight from the powerpoints and then goes on tangents, so get ready for this. Overall not a hard class at all, just time consuming and at times annoying that he talks about himself so often.

391 is a class for people who aren't familiar with Excel, Frontpage, and Access...and computers in general. Williams is an okay guy, nice if you get on his good side. The lectures are boring and this class is time consuming. If you want an A, you really have to try to get full points on every assignment and do well on exams. You have to answer questions from the end of the chapter (usually 2 questions - 1 to 2 pages) and projects from the programs. If you aren't familiar with these programs, be prepared to spend a lot of time working on them. Try not to hate it, because it's valuable to know the basics. Williams has an Excel exam, Access exam, midterm from the textbook, and a final from the textbook. Make sure you read the textbook carefully when taking the midterm and final. Some definitions, concepts, and some times statistics. The fun thing I enjoyed in this class was making a personal website. So, I learned a lot in this class...from the books, not from Williams.

Pretty boring but he did try to spicen things up every once in a while. I didnt find him as bad as I thought I would but, the boring part is true 90% of the time. Good luck on the tests, studying the power points didnt word as well as everyone said it would. If you want an A study the power points and the summary section to upp the odds. Thats It!

Awful professor. Arrogant and cocky, Dennis thinks he knows everything. All the guy does is read WORD FOR WORD off of powerpoint slides. He doesn't know anything about MIS and also, makes up stuff to make himself look good in his examples. Easy class, doesn't write his own test cause he is lazy, so questions are drawn from the test bank, show up to class, don't it doesn't matter, just review the slides the night before that are on his wesite and you will do just fine.

This could be an extremely useful class if more effort was put out by Williams to highlight and teach us important applications. You can't blame the guy for being lazy because it is totally feasible when the text book provides power points to read from and a test bank to pull from. The Excel and Access applications are extremely useful, however, you won't learn much in this course. Williams is a nice guy and a reasonably easy A.

Williams you are an arrogant loser, typical SLO white trash. I hope someone punches you in the mouth and eggs your house.

The class is just a bunch of busy work, not rocket science. You do Excel, Access, and Frontpage. You use Frontpage to make your website. As for Williams, he's a bitch. I think he beleives he's really cool because his old company he used to work for let him fly for free and stay at hotels for free when they travel. Hey dumbass, the company I do an internship for does the same you joker. He lectures are the most boring thing you have to endur. All he does is go on tangents in ways to try and make himself look good. Again all he does is brag about petty things. I agree with the previous postage, I hope someone punches you in the mouth so you would shut up.

Dennis sounds interesting. He Rides motorcycles and surfs and has business experience, and ocasionally you will hear about it. It will never have anything to do with anything. The class is structured as such: He comes in and turns off the lights and closes the windows, then reads the text book through the powerpoint provided with the text, taking occasional breaks to talk about himself or bitch about liberals, then back to reading. Class requires lots of caffine.

Very fun and amkes classes interesting. Talks about subjects relative to daily life. Outstanding teacher for any subject!

Excellent instructor who tackled dry material and made it as interesting as humanly possible. Very fair in grading, put no trick questions on tests, and was easy-going. I recommend for any class.

Dr. Williams Bus494 class was not difficult at all. There is textbook homework and Quickbooks homework to turn in every week, so it keeps you busy with work. The homework will take you about 1 hour for quickbooks per week and 45 minutes for textbook homework. His tests are directly from the book. Lectures are very boring and he sometimes takes attendance. Bring something to read. Homework, tests, final and Quickbooks homework is all equally weighted.

Dennis is great. Just ask him.

Perhaps the best cure for insomnia out there. He once lectured for 2 hours and 20 minutes straight. No breaks. Monotone voice. I fell in and out of conciousness.

I didn't learn SHIT. The material covers concepts like explaining that the primary goal of a company is to make money. FUCK!!! REALLY??? Why don't we make information technology to make those business processes more efficient and cost-effective? OKAY!!! That's the course in a nutshell. He'll say the material is dry and that he couldn't do too much about it. It sounded to me he didn't care about teaching the material, the material itself, and subsequently didn't want to try too hard to MAKE it something worth learning. He does care enough to answer your questions about whatever you might have in mind, but I could tell people coming in late really got on his nerves. Whatever, another tech elec in the bag.

Williams is a reasonable guy, but not a very good teacher. The material is dry, yes, but the class is not very hands on. It is a IS class, and we all had computers, but we're only using them to view PowerPoint slides. I wish he would give us projects to work on in class instead of requiring all work on Quickbooks and other work to be done outside of class. The class is VERY boring, and difficult to pay attention for 2 hours because he hardly ever, in fact never, gives us a break. Try to avoid him for this class if possible, or take another class altogether.

In my years at Poly I've had some classes that insulted my intelligence, but never, and I mean NEVER have I had a (supposedly 400 level) class like this. This was absolutely unbelievable, this would insult the intelligence and waste the time of a high school student. If Mr. Williams has to pitch the class at this level, I am deeply sorry for him. If in fact that is the case it is also a sad commentary on the intelligence of Poly Business students. This shouldn't qualify as a 100 leel college course. The manner in which he speaks to the class is so incredibly condescending I was amazed and apalled, it was like listening to a nursery school teacher addressing their class. Buy a quick books tutorial and do it yourself do not under any circumstances waste your time in this class. This is in no way meant as an indictment of Mr. Williams who seems like a reasonable enough guy.

Williams seems like a cool enough guy, there just isn't that much to work with as far as subject matter. You won't be able to pay attention during lecture but if you read the chapters and do the homework you will get an A. Boring, but completely non-strenuous.