Hi guys,

I understand a new professor (Dr. Hilchey) is teaching Eng 4A03 this year. Would someone be able to provide me with the 2013 course outline as I plan on taking it next semester?

Also, is the course as birdy as I have heard it is? Do you need to go to class?

Thank you very much!

Are you in art? If so, I feel like you can't take this.

Also, if you're in art: Go find a course that MATTERS to what you want to do in life! Stop digging for the easiest course, literally no matter how far away it is from your interest!

Joel has been teaching 4A03 for the last few terms so I'm not sure where you are getting that he is new from.

This is an amazing course. You will most probably get a 12, or an 11 at very least. The lectures are full of discussion and are very engaging, and yes, you will have to attend class because there are random quizzes which will account for 20% of your grade.

Originally Posted by blackdragon

This is an amazing course. You will most probably get a 12, or an 11 at very least. The lectures are full of discussion and are very engaging, and yes, you will have to attend class because there are random quizzes which will account for 20% of your grade.

I'm not sure if you're trolling, but this is definitely not an amazing course.

Joel is a giant tool. This was literally the most asinine course I've ever taken. Yes, everyone gets a 10, 11 or 12, but you literally learn nothing. The speakers generally give terrible advise, such as "it's not about what you know, it's about who you know". Ya.. everyone really values a shitty engineer who only knows how to manipulate the social ladder.

If we weren't watching stupid self-righteous TED-talks, we were watching Joel masturbate his ego by spending entire classes looking at his vacation photos or hearing about how "influential" he is or about how he wrote his own kids book (a blatant rip-off of Jack and the Beanstalk with a dumb twist).

The guy's not knowledgeable on anything. He's all about the "everyone's opinion matters" and "there are no stupid questions". If you just listen to his dynamic in class, he has no input on anything. Just the whole "oh really, wow!!" to anything anyone says. His academic background: graduated from McMaster in 2006, worked for a year, became an inspirational speaker. I was not aware you could become inspirational without actually, you know, doing anything...

It's actually pretty devastating when you look at what this course is supposed to be about: a course on essay writing skills, engineering case study analysis and PEO exam preparation. Joel emphasizes these things are boring and unimportant. They are essential skills students need for success in engineering, and they need to be taught by someone with many years of experience in the profession.

The only way you could this this course was great: You've truly never opened a book or you value courses based on how little effort you can put in to get a 12.

Look up courses by Cameron Churchill. His teaching style is similar to Joel's, and I believe he teaches similar courses, except he's very knowledgeable and isn't afraid of calling students out on their bullshit and "hurting their feelings".

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

I'm not sure if you're trolling, but this is definitely not an amazing course.

Joel is a giant tool. This was literally the most asinine course I've ever taken. Yes, everyone gets a 10, 11 or 12, but you literally learn nothing. The speakers generally give terrible advise, such as "it's not about what you know, it's about who you know". Ya.. everyone really values a shitty engineer who only knows how to manipulate the social ladder.

If we weren't watching stupid self-righteous TED-talks, we were watching Joel masturbate his ego by spending entire classes looking at his vacation photos or hearing about how "influential" he is or about how he wrote his own kids book (a blatant rip-off of Jack and the Beanstalk with a dumb twist).

The guy's not knowledgeable on anything. He's all about the "everyone's opinion matters" and "there are no stupid questions". If you just listen to his dynamic in class, he has no input on anything. Just the whole "oh really, wow!!" to anything anyone says. His academic background: graduated from McMaster in 2006, worked for a year, became an inspirational speaker. I was not aware you could become inspirational without actually, you know, doing anything...

It's actually pretty devastating when you look at what this course is supposed to be about: a course on essay writing skills, engineering case study analysis and PEO exam preparation. Joel emphasizes these things are boring and unimportant. They are essential skills students need for success in engineering, and they need to be taught by someone with many years of experience in the profession.

The only way you could this this course was great: You've truly never opened a book or you value courses based on how little effort you can put in to get a 12.

Look up courses by Cameron Churchill. His teaching style is similar to Joel's, and I believe he teaches similar courses, except he's very knowledgeable and isn't afraid of calling students out on their bullshit and "hurting their feelings".

A good friend of mine had the "pleasure" of working with him on the Beanstalk Project thing he does. Terrible experience-- he didn't value her inputs and would just go ahead with what he wanted, regardless of what others said.

The course was decent and a refreshing change, but it is disappointing that it's just pure fluff with no substance or substantial benefit.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Look up courses by Cameron Churchill. His teaching style is similar to Joel's, and I believe he teaches similar courses, except he's very knowledgeable and isn't afraid of calling students out on their bullshit and "hurting their feelings".

Cam's a pretty cool guy, pretty much the Childs/McLean of Eng and Society. He's your first look into what the Society program is with 2Y03 in second year and always leaves a good impression.
Then you see him three years later in 4Y03, the Society Design capstone course. In between, he teaches Eng Econ but other than that you'll only see him if you're in Civ Eng or B. Tech.

From what I've seen though, he doesn't really call students out on BS--rather, he does a good job of spinning stupid points that people bring up during class discussions into positive contributions. He's never actually been rude to anyone as far as I remember.

Originally Posted by mike_302

Are you in art? If so, I feel like you can't take this.

Also, if you're in art: Go find a course that MATTERS to what you want to do in life! Stop digging for the easiest course, literally no matter how far away it is from your interest!

Lol nah, I'm in engineering.

And wow thanks for the responses guys. I didn't think any engineering course could be that birdy and useless. Quite shocked!