Professor

Donald Browne

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1.8
Overall Ratings
Based on 23 Users
Easiness 3.1 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 2.3 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 2.3 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 2.2 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (23)

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March 16, 2019
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: A

Mostly going to echo the remarks of previous quarter's reviews to illustrate that not much has changed in terms of this course improving.

Don does half the lectures on ethical case studies which are mildly interesting but can often be tough to stay awake through (doesn't help that it's (I think always) 8am). The contents of these lectures don't show up for more than 10% of the exams so I pretty much stopped going to them after the midterm.

On that note, the exams are a bit of a joke... they consist of 40% content from Jon's lectures, 10% content from Don's lectures, and 40% content from the textbook (which is barely, if at all) covered in class. All I needed to do to pass the exams was make a cheatsheet with definitions of the book chapters and notes from Jon's lectures.

As for Jon's lectures, they're highly relevant to the group project that runs throughout the course and are posted online so you can probably get away with not going to those lectures either. The group project itself seems like it has improved a bit from previous quarters but is still generally a hot mess that is confusing and redundant in terms of what needs to be included in the submission and ends in having to print over 100 pages at the end (colossal waste of paper, ink, and money).

TL;DR Don's ethical case study lectures are mildly interesting, exams are super easy, Jon's lectures + group project are cool but still quite disorganized.

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June 26, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A

I feel bad for Don and Jon when they teach this cluster of a class. The engineering department should be ashamed of making 183 and 185 EW as writing and ethics requirements for engineers. The essays are a joke and can be BS'd very easily depending on if your TA cares enough. The group project only depends on if Jon likes your project or not. We went to office hours every week and used one of Jon's suggested topics. He then went on to praise our final presentation report (probably because it was his idea lol).

Don's lecture was pretty much useless since the philosophy portion was half baked and the engineering case study portion was so boring. He spins this tale that engineering management is corrupt and that engineers are always there to save the day. I would suggest doing work for other classes or shopping online during Don's lectures to save yourself from sleeping. The essays were such BS since one of the essays was literally a summary of a engineering failure with some half assed philosophical analysis. They do not teach you how to write or make a proper essay even though they bring in an english professor to see how the essays are coming along.

Jon's project portion was VERY stressful and probably not worth the extra effort compared to 183EW. However, I learned a lot from this portion sine Jon discussed many important life lessons from industry and the product development cycle. Just follow the instructions and MAKE SURE HE LIKES YOUR IDEA.

Overall, this class is the worst one I have taken at UCLA and I am ashamed to have this as a requirement for all engineering majors. Please fix this SEAS. It just feeds into the idea that engineers shouldn't have interests outside of engineering.

I challenge you to take another writing 2 as a GE to see how to actually write and create a well studied and strong argument about a topic that you find interesting.

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Dec. 25, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: A

His lectures are like story time, which are pretty cool and engaging. Problem is that his slides, which are supposed to accompany his story, have no words on them. As a result, it is extremely difficult to study and understand what the main point of the lecture is and what you should be taking notes on. In addition, his lectures do not cover topics from the textbook, which the midterm and final are comprised of.

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ENGR 185EW
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 27, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A

This class suuuuucked. Granted, it was during the COVID quarter. However, this was the most disorganized class I have ever been a part of. Browne stopped posting lectures week 2, and didn't tell us why until week 9, leaving us in total confusion for most of the quarter and forcing us to catch up in the two weeks before the final. Jon was a little better, but still not helpful whatsoever. You don't really have a choice in taking this class, though, so good luck. From what I've heard, 185 and 183 are equally bad.

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June 14, 2023
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A+

Ethics could probably be more interesting, but a large part is that most people don't want to be there, so the class ends up being a drag. More of a history class than anything. Lots of writing, but the bar is low.

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March 12, 2024
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: N/A

THERE ARE IN-CLASS QUIZZES NOW. AT 8 AM. NO MAKE UPS. One of the worst courses and professor I have taken at UCLA, as a senior with only one quarter left. Professor Browne is uncommunicative and puts little effort into running the class. First off, he has no syllabus for the class on BruinLearn, so students are left with little to no expectations for the class and nothing to refer back to. His main problem is that he lies to students constantly and never responds to emails. He claims over and over again to email him if you have any problems and he will get back to you, yet despite my many emails to him this quarter, he has never responded to a single one. My section had problems with a missing TA our first section and he said he would email us that night and later in the week with information on what was happening, yet he never emailed us once about it, and the only way I knew what was happening with our section was by having to talk to him in person after class. He has the most boring and bare lecture slides, and his voice is quiet yet he doesn't use a microphone so you can't even hear it. Try not to fall asleep in class challenge, impossible. For this being a class about ethics, he only discussed case studies and almost every time blamed it on the management not the engineers. In a class that's supposed to teach ethics to engineers it feels wrong to just always say its never the engineer at fault and always the management. One time in the quarter, he switched to zoom due to the storms, but posted the wrong zoom link so no students could join the lecture and never addressed the problem. He also promised to post the recording for that lecture and never did. And of course, since he never responded to any emails, I couldn't contact him about the course problems. Another problem with the course this year were the in class quizzes. This was the first quarter with in class quizzes and they went terribly. He said there would be 10 quizzes, and you literally have to bring paper every class for them, he is too lazy to even print them out. By week 7 there had only been 3 quizzes so far, so he basically lied about the number of quizzes and every time you came to class without a quiz you felt like you just wasted your time. Overall the class needs major improvements and the professor needs to put in more effort. Don't know why this class is ever a requirement as I likely lost braincells taking this class.

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April 3, 2023
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A

Do yourself a favor and take a different ethics class. We had two individual papers and a group paper, which was a mess to coordinate and write. The tests were a mix of multiple choice (which was a joke, you can control+F the answers since it’s open book) and short essays. Other ethics classes just had the multiple choice. You also have to present on one of your essays in discussion. We had to stay the whole 3 hours every week in discussion even though there was nothing to do. The professor is extraordinarily dull and thinks he knows the perfect solution to every problem. This will be the most boring class you will take at UCLA and it won’t be close.

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Jan. 10, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2022
Grade: A

In the first lecture he asks if you want 2 midterms or 1 midterm and 1 final, the 2midterm option is easier bc theyre not cummulative, and are open book/note on canvas. Theyre fairly easier if u know how to search ur book. Other than that we had 2 essays, pretty easy if ur TA helps. I would recommend Mattie Greene bc she helps alot with leaving feedback and has 1:1 meetings. You should also have peer review during section. Also sections doesnt go more than 2 hrs. Yes lecture can get boring but the slides dont rly give a lot of info that will get tested on so its worth it to watch them.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ENGR 185EW
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: A
March 16, 2019

Mostly going to echo the remarks of previous quarter's reviews to illustrate that not much has changed in terms of this course improving.

Don does half the lectures on ethical case studies which are mildly interesting but can often be tough to stay awake through (doesn't help that it's (I think always) 8am). The contents of these lectures don't show up for more than 10% of the exams so I pretty much stopped going to them after the midterm.

On that note, the exams are a bit of a joke... they consist of 40% content from Jon's lectures, 10% content from Don's lectures, and 40% content from the textbook (which is barely, if at all) covered in class. All I needed to do to pass the exams was make a cheatsheet with definitions of the book chapters and notes from Jon's lectures.

As for Jon's lectures, they're highly relevant to the group project that runs throughout the course and are posted online so you can probably get away with not going to those lectures either. The group project itself seems like it has improved a bit from previous quarters but is still generally a hot mess that is confusing and redundant in terms of what needs to be included in the submission and ends in having to print over 100 pages at the end (colossal waste of paper, ink, and money).

TL;DR Don's ethical case study lectures are mildly interesting, exams are super easy, Jon's lectures + group project are cool but still quite disorganized.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ENGR 185EW
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
June 26, 2019

I feel bad for Don and Jon when they teach this cluster of a class. The engineering department should be ashamed of making 183 and 185 EW as writing and ethics requirements for engineers. The essays are a joke and can be BS'd very easily depending on if your TA cares enough. The group project only depends on if Jon likes your project or not. We went to office hours every week and used one of Jon's suggested topics. He then went on to praise our final presentation report (probably because it was his idea lol).

Don's lecture was pretty much useless since the philosophy portion was half baked and the engineering case study portion was so boring. He spins this tale that engineering management is corrupt and that engineers are always there to save the day. I would suggest doing work for other classes or shopping online during Don's lectures to save yourself from sleeping. The essays were such BS since one of the essays was literally a summary of a engineering failure with some half assed philosophical analysis. They do not teach you how to write or make a proper essay even though they bring in an english professor to see how the essays are coming along.

Jon's project portion was VERY stressful and probably not worth the extra effort compared to 183EW. However, I learned a lot from this portion sine Jon discussed many important life lessons from industry and the product development cycle. Just follow the instructions and MAKE SURE HE LIKES YOUR IDEA.

Overall, this class is the worst one I have taken at UCLA and I am ashamed to have this as a requirement for all engineering majors. Please fix this SEAS. It just feeds into the idea that engineers shouldn't have interests outside of engineering.

I challenge you to take another writing 2 as a GE to see how to actually write and create a well studied and strong argument about a topic that you find interesting.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ENGR 185EW
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: A
Dec. 25, 2019

His lectures are like story time, which are pretty cool and engaging. Problem is that his slides, which are supposed to accompany his story, have no words on them. As a result, it is extremely difficult to study and understand what the main point of the lecture is and what you should be taking notes on. In addition, his lectures do not cover topics from the textbook, which the midterm and final are comprised of.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ENGR 185EW
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
June 27, 2020

This class suuuuucked. Granted, it was during the COVID quarter. However, this was the most disorganized class I have ever been a part of. Browne stopped posting lectures week 2, and didn't tell us why until week 9, leaving us in total confusion for most of the quarter and forcing us to catch up in the two weeks before the final. Jon was a little better, but still not helpful whatsoever. You don't really have a choice in taking this class, though, so good luck. From what I've heard, 185 and 183 are equally bad.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ENGR 188EW
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A+
June 14, 2023

Ethics could probably be more interesting, but a large part is that most people don't want to be there, so the class ends up being a drag. More of a history class than anything. Lots of writing, but the bar is low.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ENGR 188EW
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: N/A
March 12, 2024

THERE ARE IN-CLASS QUIZZES NOW. AT 8 AM. NO MAKE UPS. One of the worst courses and professor I have taken at UCLA, as a senior with only one quarter left. Professor Browne is uncommunicative and puts little effort into running the class. First off, he has no syllabus for the class on BruinLearn, so students are left with little to no expectations for the class and nothing to refer back to. His main problem is that he lies to students constantly and never responds to emails. He claims over and over again to email him if you have any problems and he will get back to you, yet despite my many emails to him this quarter, he has never responded to a single one. My section had problems with a missing TA our first section and he said he would email us that night and later in the week with information on what was happening, yet he never emailed us once about it, and the only way I knew what was happening with our section was by having to talk to him in person after class. He has the most boring and bare lecture slides, and his voice is quiet yet he doesn't use a microphone so you can't even hear it. Try not to fall asleep in class challenge, impossible. For this being a class about ethics, he only discussed case studies and almost every time blamed it on the management not the engineers. In a class that's supposed to teach ethics to engineers it feels wrong to just always say its never the engineer at fault and always the management. One time in the quarter, he switched to zoom due to the storms, but posted the wrong zoom link so no students could join the lecture and never addressed the problem. He also promised to post the recording for that lecture and never did. And of course, since he never responded to any emails, I couldn't contact him about the course problems. Another problem with the course this year were the in class quizzes. This was the first quarter with in class quizzes and they went terribly. He said there would be 10 quizzes, and you literally have to bring paper every class for them, he is too lazy to even print them out. By week 7 there had only been 3 quizzes so far, so he basically lied about the number of quizzes and every time you came to class without a quiz you felt like you just wasted your time. Overall the class needs major improvements and the professor needs to put in more effort. Don't know why this class is ever a requirement as I likely lost braincells taking this class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ENGR 188EW
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A
April 3, 2023

Do yourself a favor and take a different ethics class. We had two individual papers and a group paper, which was a mess to coordinate and write. The tests were a mix of multiple choice (which was a joke, you can control+F the answers since it’s open book) and short essays. Other ethics classes just had the multiple choice. You also have to present on one of your essays in discussion. We had to stay the whole 3 hours every week in discussion even though there was nothing to do. The professor is extraordinarily dull and thinks he knows the perfect solution to every problem. This will be the most boring class you will take at UCLA and it won’t be close.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
ENGR 188EW
Quarter: Fall 2022
Grade: A
Jan. 10, 2023

In the first lecture he asks if you want 2 midterms or 1 midterm and 1 final, the 2midterm option is easier bc theyre not cummulative, and are open book/note on canvas. Theyre fairly easier if u know how to search ur book. Other than that we had 2 essays, pretty easy if ur TA helps. I would recommend Mattie Greene bc she helps alot with leaving feedback and has 1:1 meetings. You should also have peer review during section. Also sections doesnt go more than 2 hrs. Yes lecture can get boring but the slides dont rly give a lot of info that will get tested on so its worth it to watch them.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
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