Teacher Profile: Robert Jantzen
Average Overall Grade: B -

This professor is a professor in the Mathematics department. There are a total of 21 reviews for this professor. If you would like to write a review of this professor, click here!

Name: Dustin Getz
Grade Level: Class of 2008
Class Taken: Calc III & Diffy Q
Posted: December 16th, 2005

Value of Quizzes/Exams: A
Value of Homework: A
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: A
Punctuality: A
Use of Required Materials: A

Handwriting of Professor: A
Value of Attending Class: A
Personality of Professor: A
Speaking Skills of Professor: A
Organization: A
Presentation Format: A

Full Review: Dr. Bob knows his stuff. He puts emphaisis on understanding the material and his tests reflect this. Weekly quizzes are easy and don't count for much, they are deigned to help you learn. Do the homework, you need to keep up with him, if you fall behind you will struggle to catch back up come exam. Dr. Bob is very accessible outside of class, is in his office all day and wants to help if you give him a chance. If you are looking for an easy A this is not the guy to take, but he is by no means a grade grinch, and if you make an effort a good drade is well within your reach. Keep on top of the material like you should and you will be in good shape. He is an extremely fair grader. Dr. Bob uses Maple extensively, which is also a good thing because if you bother to learn it you can check your exams and final with it (and no more integrating nasty functions by hand ala Calc II). There are three Maple HW assignments but you do them in groups, gives you maple template files to show you exactly how to do them, and he lets you resubmit until you get a perfect score. If you don't like math, and aren't in the class to learn, you should probably take an easier teacher, because you will do poorly without motivation to learn. If you play minesweeper in class then you deserve to fail.

Name: Engineering Major
Grade Level: Class of 2008
Class Taken: Diff. Eq with Lin Alg
Posted: May 19th, 2005

Value of Quizzes/Exams: A
Value of Homework: B
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: A
Punctuality: A
Use of Required Materials: A

Handwriting of Professor: A
Value of Attending Class: A
Personality of Professor: A
Speaking Skills of Professor: A
Organization: A
Presentation Format: A

Full Review: Dr. Bob is a great professor. Granted, he is a bit difficult to take, but that is also because it is a difficult class. Like any good math teacher, he doesn't just teach the formulas, but rather the ideas, theories and principles behind what you're learning so as to give you a better understanding of the concept so that it's easily applied to more things. But all bias aside, the details of the class I took are as follows (in random thoughts about the class): 100% of your grade comes from Quizzes and Exams. There is a weekly quiz, about 10 total, that are all extremely easy if you even remotely follow what is going on in class that week or even just read over the worksheets (which basically explain the theory of the lesson of the class) that he gives out during most classes. Homework is neither collected nor checked, and thus is only of the value that the student makes it - that is, he or she can learn from homework or do none of the homework, but the value of your homework will change accordingly. Dr. Bob is easily available outside of class; he hands out his office hours on the syllabus and is also readily available for an appointment. He had three tests, one of those a take home test and then a final. If the first or second of the tests is the lowest of the three, he gets rid of that test grade. He also gets rid of the lowest of the 10 quiz grades. Generally his quiz and test questions aren't difficult at all: for each question, he separates it into parts A, B, C, etc and guides you through what you need to do (he doesn't just ask for the final answer, he tells you what to do first with part A, then tells you what's next with part B, etc) which is EXTREMELY helpful. He is also big into using technology and requires use of Maple (accessible through the computers in the classrooms) which (if you are good with computers) can be an EXTREME advantage or a small hindrance. Again he is available for help with this -- he even puts up a maple worksheet of useful maple commands to help. Cons: Dr. Bob talks VERY fast and it is often times difficult to keep up if you don't quite understand what's going on. Make sure to at least have some idea of what's going on... The way the questions are worded are very...esoteric...that is, the questions are difficultly worded -- you may not have an exact idea of what it is you're supposed to be doing (but ask him and he'll tell you). Aaaand it's easy to get distracted in class -- with the computers in front of you available for maple, it's really quite easy to go online and play a game, and when your entire class is doing it, it's even harder to pay attention. Overall, Dr. Bob teaches well and expects a moderate amount of work from his students, but should be taken by people that WANT to take a math class. If you want an easy A without much work, it's not that this isn't the professor for you, it's that DIFF EQ W/LIN ALG is not the CLASS for you.

Name: Anonymous
Grade Level: Class of 2004
Class Taken: Calc I
Posted: November 15th, 2004

Value of Quizzes/Exams: B
Value of Homework: A
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: C
Punctuality: A
Use of Required Materials: B

Handwriting of Professor: A
Value of Attending Class: A
Personality of Professor: A
Speaking Skills of Professor: C -
Organization: A
Presentation Format: C -

Full Review: I took calc in High School so I knew a lot of the material coming into this class, but I can't really understand why everybody gives Dr. Bob such bad reviews. Yes, he goes through the material quickly, but we spend the entire begining of class asking questions AND he is really accessable outside of class. This guy is SO smart so its worth it to get what you can out of him. His quizzes are tough sometimes because the homework problems are more straight forward than his are, but he gives you as many points as he can for partial creadit, etc. Tests grades are awesome...we only have three and we drop one and the third is take home. How his class is doing is really important to him. Super guy, read your book though.

Name: anon anon
Grade Level: Junior
Class Taken: something much higher than calc 1 :-)
Posted: May 3rd, 2004

Value of Quizzes/Exams: A
Value of Homework: A
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: A
Punctuality: A
Use of Required Materials: A

Handwriting of Professor: A
Value of Attending Class: A
Personality of Professor: A
Speaking Skills of Professor: A
Organization: A
Presentation Format: A

Full Review: he's not THAT bad. OK, he's kinda a genius and it's hard to understand the concepts from his explanations. But, it should be obvious that his classes are for math majors. I had him and enjoyed it thoroughly. I think I learned alot, too. You have to focus on what he is telling you, though.

Name: Arts & Sciences Major
Grade Level: Freshman
Class Taken: Calc I
Posted: February 19th, 2004

Value of Quizzes/Exams: A
Value of Homework: F
Access Outside Class: A -
Quality of Instruction: F
Punctuality: A
Use of Required Materials: D -

Handwriting of Professor: C
Value of Attending Class: F
Personality of Professor: C
Speaking Skills of Professor: D
Organization: C
Presentation Format: F

Full Review: Give me a break. Do not take this teacher. I'm a mathetmatics major who received an A in High School for Calculus, came to Villanova (a poor mathematics majoring school by the way) and took him, i received a C-. This guy is ridiculous. It's nothing except the fact that he can't teach and REQUIRES the use of MAPLE. You have to use Maple in order to do well in his class. I am not about to learn a computer progrma to pass a class as easy as Calc. He should be fired soon, if not tomorrow.

Name: Anonymous
Grade Level: Freshman
Class Taken: Math 1500
Posted: January 11th, 2004

Value of Quizzes/Exams: D
Value of Homework: D
Access Outside Class: A -
Quality of Instruction: F
Punctuality: A -
Use of Required Materials: D

Handwriting of Professor: A -
Value of Attending Class: C -
Personality of Professor: C
Speaking Skills of Professor: C
Organization: A -
Presentation Format: C

Full Review: Dr. Bob is a very intelligent man, but can not possibly understand how people do not understand calculus. I went for extra help and he completely insulted me, and it was of no academic value. He can not explain things well at all, and going to class and paying attention will just confuse you more about calculus. If you do take him, make sure you do the homework, and ask very basic questions, or else you will not get an interpreable answer.

Name: Engineering Major
Grade Level: Freshman
Class Taken: Math 1500
Posted: December 23rd, 2003

Value of Quizzes/Exams: C
Value of Homework: C
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: C
Punctuality: A
Use of Required Materials: C

Handwriting of Professor: B
Value of Attending Class: C
Personality of Professor: A
Speaking Skills of Professor: A
Organization: A
Presentation Format: C

Full Review: Dr. Bob is a brilliant man, but maybe just a little too brilliant. He is very caring and truly cares how his class is progressing, but he is too hard to understand. He wizzes through complicated application problems and seems agitated when someone asks a question on it. The tests are some of the hardest I've ever taken, especially the final. If you have a good understanding of calc before this class it is very possible to get an A, but it will take more work than expected. If you haven't taken calc before you will struggle greatly in this class. I looked at tests from other teachers and they were a joke compared to Dr. Bob's.

Name: Anonymous
Grade Level: Freshman
Class Taken: Calculus I
Posted: December 16th, 2003

Value of Quizzes/Exams: D
Value of Homework: A -
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: D
Punctuality: A
Use of Required Materials: B -

Handwriting of Professor: B
Value of Attending Class: A
Personality of Professor: B -
Speaking Skills of Professor: B -
Organization: A
Presentation Format: C

Full Review: alright, here we go...dr. bob is a very kind hearted, extremely intelligent, sincere guy, his door is always open and he is always accesible..HOWEVER, he cannot relate to the students on their level of understanding math. he speaks and does math problems way too quickly, is unwilling to listen to students arguements, and cannot possibly understand why ANYONE, i mean especially college students, cannot grasp the concepts of derivatives, i think that he is just finds that mindboggling. he doesnt know how to use a graphing calculator (gasp!) but rather relies on an evil evil evil evil computer program named MAPLE....AHHHH i think that its creators seriously didnt understand the concept of simple language and basic format. another thing: dr bobs tests suck, i mean hard. he teaches you the basics and funementals in class, and when it comes time for the tests, you have to relate all the information into some crazy application, its impossible. FOR EXAMPLE: this years final....ABSOLUTLEY RIDICULOUS (period). 8 problems, no a single person finished within the 2 1/2 hours but rahter had to stay an extra hour to completely finish about 5 out of the 8, unbelievable. i took ap calc last year and got an A and it doesnt matter how much effort i put in this year, i will probably get a C, and i have no idea what the person who last wrote a review is talking about, for math dont take this man, youll just find yourself playing mindsweeper all class.

Name: Arts & Sciences Major
Grade Level: Freshman
Class Taken: Calculus I
Posted: December 13th, 2003

Value of Quizzes/Exams: A
Value of Homework: A
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: A
Punctuality: A -
Use of Required Materials: A -

Handwriting of Professor: A -
Value of Attending Class: A
Personality of Professor: A
Speaking Skills of Professor: A -
Organization: A
Presentation Format: A

Full Review: Dr. Jantzen, also referred to as Dr. Bob, is one of the best math teachers I had. This does not mean that his class was easy, on the contrary it was probably the hardest class I had during for first semester at Villanova. However, Dr. Bob's door is always open when you a question ranging from differentiation to maple (an evil computer program). Dr. Bob's assistance is always available, but it is the job of the student to take the initiative.

Name: Engineering Major
Grade Level: Freshman
Class Taken: Calc I
Posted: December 10th, 2003

Value of Quizzes/Exams: C
Value of Homework: C
Access Outside Class: A -
Quality of Instruction: F
Punctuality: B
Use of Required Materials: B

Handwriting of Professor: D
Value of Attending Class: D
Personality of Professor: C
Speaking Skills of Professor: C
Organization: C
Presentation Format: C

Full Review: Dr. Bob, as most will come to affectionately refer to him, is a smart guy, really, but he can't communicate to lamen at all! I didn't have calc in high school and I couldn't understand anything he talked about. If you don't understand calc very well or haven't had it before: AVOID THIS MAN AT ALL COSTS! He's one of the nicest professors I've had here, but you could not pay me to take class with him again.

Name: Arts & Sciences Major
Grade Level: Junior
Class Taken: CALC I
Posted: April 3rd, 2003

Value of Quizzes/Exams: D -
Value of Homework: D
Access Outside Class: B
Quality of Instruction: F
Punctuality: A
Use of Required Materials: B

Handwriting of Professor: A
Value of Attending Class: F
Personality of Professor: F
Speaking Skills of Professor: C
Organization: C
Presentation Format: B

Full Review: This guy thinks hes Jesus! DO NOT TAKE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! He is the hardest calc teacher ever and you will get a D knowing less then when you started!

Name: Charles Ziegler
Grade Level: Junior
Class Taken: calc3
Posted: November 6th, 2002

Value of Quizzes/Exams: A
Value of Homework: A
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: B
Punctuality: A -
Use of Required Materials: A

Handwriting of Professor: C
Value of Attending Class: A
Personality of Professor: B
Speaking Skills of Professor: A
Organization: A
Presentation Format: A

Full Review: Dr Bob is the smartest man in the world. No joke. He has published a million things, but only 2 people inluding himdelf can understand them. Check out his website, he's got cheesecake recipes up there and pictures of his wife! Hubba Hubba. No wonder, he goes to the gym on west all the time with the funniest tank tops i've ever seen. I can't say he is a great teacher skill wise but he really does care about the class and students. He is a huge liberal and grades very fairly. He actually drops one test grade, WOW! He is just too smart and he cant put the material into understandable words. His speed is amazing though. He can do four examples on the board at one time. One in each hand and one with each foot. If you like teachers that are very flexible and where socks with sandles, Dr. Bob is right for you!!!

Name: Anonymous
Grade Level: Junior
Class Taken: Calc 1
Posted: November 6th, 2002

Value of Quizzes/Exams: C
Value of Homework: F
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: F
Punctuality: A
Use of Required Materials: A

Handwriting of Professor: D
Value of Attending Class: N/A
Personality of Professor: C
Speaking Skills of Professor: F
Organization: F
Presentation Format: F

Full Review: I had Dr. Bob for calc 1. He talks really really really incredibly fast and never gets anywhere. He runs around the room like gerbil in a wheel and goes crazy when maple doenst work. However he is a very smart man but I would never take another class with him. He gets so into his math he sometimes ends up with marker on his face, this is they enjoyable part of class. All in all I learned one thing from taking class with him: MAPLE IS THE DEVIL!!!!

Name: Anonymous
Grade Level: Junior
Class Taken: Calculus 1
Posted: November 1st, 2002

Value of Quizzes/Exams: C
Value of Homework: D
Access Outside Class: B -
Quality of Instruction: F
Punctuality: C
Use of Required Materials: B -

Handwriting of Professor: B -
Value of Attending Class: F
Personality of Professor: D -
Speaking Skills of Professor: D
Organization: C -
Presentation Format: F

Full Review: Bob sucks. If you ever get stuck with this sick freak you better switch out as fast as you can. He doesnt explain anything in an understandable way. He just rattles off his knowledge and leaves students clueless. His test show nothing of what you know. You may think your gonna get a 100 back on your test and you get a 75. He is obsessed with maple and his little friend(the projector). He talks and things in "wizzy wig" mode and "pretty" mode. He has referred to some math problems as cute. Just save yourself some time and get out of his class NOW!

Name: Anonymous
Grade Level: Freshman
Class Taken: Calculus 1500
Posted: November 1st, 2002

Value of Quizzes/Exams: D
Value of Homework: C
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: F
Punctuality: C
Use of Required Materials: C

Handwriting of Professor: D
Value of Attending Class: F
Personality of Professor: D
Speaking Skills of Professor: F
Organization: F
Presentation Format: F

Full Review: Calculus was my best subject coming out of high school. Dr. Jantzen is nice in the sense that he's available when you need him, but you shouldn't have to end up going to him everyday because he can't teach in class, which is how it practically is. DON't take his class. Transfer if you can. If not, and you've had calc before, just don't pay attention or else he will confuse you even more.

Name: Engineering Major
Grade Level: Freshman
Class Taken: Calc I
Posted: October 31st, 2002

Value of Quizzes/Exams: F
Value of Homework: F
Access Outside Class: F
Quality of Instruction: F
Punctuality: F
Use of Required Materials: F

Handwriting of Professor: F
Value of Attending Class: F
Personality of Professor: F
Speaking Skills of Professor: F
Organization: F
Presentation Format: F

Full Review: I was assigned this class in the beginning of the year, but when I read these reviews on Jantzen and talked to upperclassmen, I wanted to transfer even before classes started. "Terrible" is what I heard from everyone I asked when inquiring about him. I decided to give him a chance so I went to the first few classes but my friends were right, he was the worst ever. He started teaching MAPLE right away to freshmen that had no clue what it even was. Plus, his personality is nil. I transfered out to Joyce Longman's class and I'm much happier.

Name: Arts & Sciences Major
Grade Level: Sophmore
Class Taken: Calculus II
Posted: Spring 2002

Value of Quizzes/Exams: F
Value of Homework: D
Access Outside Class: B
Quality of Instruction: F
Punctuality: N/A
Use of Required Materials: N/A

Handwriting of Professor: C -
Value of Attending Class: D -
Personality of Professor: F
Speaking Skills of Professor: D
Organization: N/A
Presentation Format: N/A

Full Review: Dr. Bob (as he calls himself) is a very strange human being. He has no teaching skills what-so-ever and the quizzes and tests do not reflect your knowlege of the material. He loves MAPLE which is almost as worthless as his teaching. Do not take unless you want to drive yourself insane.

Name: Anonymous
Grade Level: Sophmore
Class Taken: Calculus 3
Posted: Spring 2002

Value of Quizzes/Exams: F
Value of Homework: D -
Access Outside Class: A -
Quality of Instruction: F
Punctuality: N/A
Use of Required Materials: N/A

Handwriting of Professor: B
Value of Attending Class: F
Personality of Professor: F
Speaking Skills of Professor: F
Organization: N/A
Presentation Format: N/A

Full Review: This man cannot teach his way out of a wet paper bag. He encourages you to come see him only to further humiliate himself as a professor. I do believe he is very adept at mathematics, he just cannot convey it to students. Also, he's a MAPLE (poor-man's MathCAD) freak.

Name: Anonymous
Grade Level: Freshman
Class Taken: calc 3
Posted: Spring 2002

Value of Quizzes/Exams: A -
Value of Homework: A
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: B
Punctuality: A
Use of Required Materials: A -

Handwriting of Professor: B
Value of Attending Class: A -
Personality of Professor: A -
Speaking Skills of Professor: B
Organization: B
Presentation Format: B

Full Review: i know a lot of people don't like dr. bob but he helped me a lot and his teaching worked for me very well. although he may seem unorthodox at times i think he really cares about the students and will help you as much as you want.

Name: Anonymous
Grade Level: Freshman
Class Taken: calc 3
Posted: Spring 2002

Value of Quizzes/Exams: A
Value of Homework: A
Access Outside Class: A
Quality of Instruction: A
Punctuality: A
Use of Required Materials: A

Handwriting of Professor: C
Value of Attending Class: A -
Personality of Professor: B
Speaking Skills of Professor: A -
Organization: A
Presentation Format: B

Full Review: Dr. Jantzen is just a misunderstood individual. The guy is a pure genious and knows what he is talking about. His handwriting is hard to read sometimes. Tests were pretty easy if you did the work. Do the work and you will succeed. The only thing I didn't like was maple, it is useful however to check tests with it. Outside of class he is pretty cool. I think a lot of people blame him cause they dont get an easy A for not doing the work.

Name: Anonymous
Grade Level: Sophmore
Class Taken: Calculus III
Posted: Spring 2002

Value of Quizzes/Exams: F
Value of Homework: F
Access Outside Class: B
Quality of Instruction: F
Punctuality: D -
Use of Required Materials: C -

Handwriting of Professor: F
Value of Attending Class: F
Personality of Professor: B -
Speaking Skills of Professor: F
Organization: C
Presentation Format: F

Full Review: The vote is in... Dr. Bob is the worst teacher at Villanova. I am not an angry student of his. I actually think his is a nice guy, but he can't teach. It seems that he really doesn't care about his students; he just cares about getting the lecture over with. Don't bother asking him to go over an assigned homework problem because he will speed through it, it just seems that he just wants to get it done. He always says that he will slow down if you just ask. Others and I have asked, but there is no change. He gives out so many problems that there is no chance of you actually understanding them all. If you ask a dumb question, something you really just don't understand, he gets mad. After taking this course, I have come to the conclusions: 1) Maple is dumb, 2) Dr. Bob has no teaching skills whatsoever, and 3) With him as a teacher, this course is worthless.