Steve Cole
5 courses · 35 reviews
Courses
All Reviews
4-6 hrs/week
Professor Cole can have dry lectures but genuinely cares about his students. Overall fairly easy, especially if you’re fine with interpreting assembly code.
1/12/2025
2 or less hrs/week
Idk bout these other reviews but legit no one showed up to lecture by the end of the year there were less than 15 people at the start of the year there were like 100 The class was chill and pretty easy
12/26/2024
6-8 hrs/week
Tough class but useful. Overall class structure could be improved: lectures are little more than speeding thru a 50-100 slide ppt, but the quizzes (not for a grade) at the start of class on content from last studio are usually helpful. Biweekly lab assignments are very time consuming and may require a lot of time invested in office hours, but exams are weighted lightly and you can earn up to 5% extra credit.
5/21/2024
2-4 hrs/week
The first unit is the hardest and has a big learning curve but IMO it gets way easier from there. The most helpful thing is to watch youtube videos on the algorithms/concepts and ask TAs questions. Pretty easy A as you can do bad on exams and still get an A.
5/20/2024
4-6 hrs/week
TL;DR: this class can be painful, but it\'s doable.\n\n247 has quite a lot of stigma around it, and the class subject itself is known to be difficult across universities. Though the course offering at WashU can be challenging at times, it is overall doable and the majority of students pass, a good portion with an A or B.\n\nThe course followed a flipped-classroom structure, using a digital textbook (Zybooks) with completion-based exercises that were due the night before the week\'s lecture. One day of the week was devoted to lecture recapping and attempting to expand on materials covered in the Zybooks. The other day was a studio where students group together to work through an assignment related to the week\'s topics, TAs present to offer help. The studios were mandatory while the lectures were optional (but encouraged). Some studios were found to be good explorations of the topics, but most often felt dull. They are clearly meant to make students think about topics, but most of the studios work was spent answering questions in ways that didn\'t seem as beneficial as playing around with source code or working simulated real-world related examples.\n\nIn addition to the Zybooks were accuracy-based homework assignments called labs. Labs were not always weekly; they would often go with an overarching topic such as the week\'s data structure (a hash map, binary tree, etc.) or algorithm (AVL tree rebalancing, Dijkstra\'s shortest path, etc.). Most labs came with three parts: a pre-lab write up, coding portion, and a post-lab writeup. The write ups are expected to be typeset; the course provided a Latex template. Labs can be difficult, but there were excessive and accessible TA office hours, both in-person and online through Zoom. Office hours are truly the key to completing the labs. The labs can be finished in one sitting (1-4 hours) with or without TA help, depending on how well the content is understood.\n\nThis class had three exams, two in-person and a final that was administered online through Gradescope the last week of classes. The exams were probably the most stressful for students. I hated all of them as I found them boring and ugly. The exams are lengthy in the number of questions, and often times verbose. They were also typeset poorly with often little space to work out problems (drawing binary trees, performing calculations, etc.). Exams, fortunately, are not a make-or-break to getting a good grade in the class. You can get a score slightly below average on all three exams and still get an A in the class.\n\nAs for the courses instructor, Cole was a wonderful professor. He was very knowledgable and understands the course content exceedingly well. I cannot recall a lecturer where I thought he was unprepared, nor can I remember a time he stumbled on his words. The lectures are 80 minutes, and sometimes I found them boring, but they can be a great space to ask questions about content as Cole appreciated a question-/interaction-driven lecture. He was also available 1-2 days a week for office hours.\n\nAs with other CS courses at WashU, TAs are a hit or miss with 247. Some only know how to do the labs because they have solution code available. There are few that can properly explain course concepts in a way that is coherent. Professor office hours would be a better place to ask questions about content questions (exam prep, the *why* behind 247) while TA office hours are good for getting work done.\n\nTalking grading, this was the breakdown provided in the syllabus:\n42 Labs (7 pts. each, individual)\n18 Studios (~1.5 pts. each, group)\n30 Exams (10 pts. each, individual)\n10 Exercises (e.g. zyBooks “pre-lecture")\n1 Surveys/evals (if 90% class completion)\n4 Extra credit (e.g. zyBooks “extra credit”)\n105 Total Points\n\nGrading is fair and regrades for the labs\' write-ups is permitted. The inclusion of the extra credit makes it possible to bomb an exam and still pass the class, and it\'s greatly helpful for those who are at the cusp of letter grades.
5/19/2024
2 or less hrs/week
Literally a free extra credit. Ran by TAs and you don't actually have to do anything, although you can if you're motivated. You only get two attendance drops which is pretty annoying if you go out the night before but yeah, not exaggerating I did zero work in there.
5/18/2024
Just finished this course. Prof. Cole was really a nice person, and he cared about his students' thoughts. The most important tip was GO TO THE OFFICE HOUR! Exams might be difficult, but only take up 30% of the final grade. Be serious about the labs and Zybook. Extra credits are a huge surprise.
5/15/2024
I stopped going to lectures mid semester as I could not pay attention in class. I think the content of the class is better learned using the book and online resources. Some aspects of the class are poorly managed in my opinion but getting a good grade in the class is highly achievable.
5/13/2024
Professor cole seemed like a really nice person, lectures don't help that much in this class, I wouldn't recommend attending. Do the extra credit, it isn't too difficult, and will really boost your grade. Nice prof, but didn't interact that much. The content is pretty challenging, but stay on top of your work and you will do fine in the class.
5/2/2024
Cole is so nice and accommodating, he is a lovely man. The class is super interesting but he's not the best lecturer. Lectures didn't help anyway though.
5/1/2024
Professor Cole is very caring and always happy to help, but lectures are somewhat boring and the pacing is way too fast. It would be more helpful if there were two 80-minute lectures per week instead of blowing through 70-100 slides in a little over an hour, or just have students watch Professor Siever's videos instead. Very kind person regardless.
4/29/2024
Lectures are terribly boring and not coherent, I don't recommend going to class since attendance is not tracked and such a waste of time. Seems like TAs are more in charge of the course. If you read and try to understand the textbook, you should do fine. The professor is super nice but doesn't explain the materials well.
1/17/2024
The class itself is manageable if you put in the time, but lectures are not worth attending in my opinion. Lots of homework and exams are tough, but can be done utilizing Office Hours. The professor himself is really nice though, and regularly came to studio to answer any questions students had about content in general.
12/26/2023
Lectures are incredibly boring and disorganized. Material is primarily taught through TAs in studio or office hours. That being said, Cole did do a good job listening to student feedback, which helped the course.
12/18/2023
This class teaches important concepts of algorithms and DS needed in the real world and the class does well in teaching those concepts. However, do not go to lectures, so incredibly useless no offense. Assignments are fair in my opinion and exams are not too bad. However extra credit in this class is insane, do the extra credit readings DO THEM
12/18/2023
Honestly it's 247 you probably already know what you're signing up for.
12/14/2023
He actively tries to make his process better over time. Solicits students feedback and makes considerable changes to listen to it. His lectures are mostly review of the book, but his explanations are very helpful.
12/10/2023
Very nice guy; checks in on his students, gives them opportunities to ask questions, and listens to/implements feedback. However, incredibly boring and hard to follow lectures. It's a straightforward class though so as long as you do the required work you should survive.
12/7/2023
Super boring lecturer. But incredibly nice, always willing to answer questions (though not necessarily well) and much more helpful one-on-one. nnAs a class, 247 is a slog but doing the readings and going to OH to check homework before turning it in will mean you'll probably pull off a good grade and get a reasonable understanding of content.
12/4/2023
Prof Cole is very kind - his piazza posts are so sweet! The class also has a lot of extra credit, which is really nice. The only thing is that his lectures put me to sleep. However, everything else makes up for it!
11/21/2023
Really nice guy, but a terrible lecturer. So bad in fact that I never went to class after the first two weeks. It is nearly impossible to stay up as he lectures. Easy exams, good grading, interesting course material, nice homework, but terrible lectures.
3/13/2023
Never saw the guy. Only thing I know about him is that he has a beard. A class where you can learn nothing and still get a 100.
1/19/2023
He's a really nice professor! His lectures aren't necessary but when I did go because a prelecture had an unclear topic he made it understandable. 247 is not easy material but he wants his students to succeed and makes the class doable. I will say he and his TAs are pretty bad at answering on piazza but office hours are almost always happening!
12/16/2022
Lecture is often an unnecessary and dull repeat of the pre-lecture assignments. Otherwise, an ok professor.
10/25/2022
Dr. Cole makes CSE247 well-organized. This course includes reading, lab, lectures, and studios, which greatly helps students to strengthen their understanding of concepts. Exams are fair, and it's an easy A class because there are 5% extra credits. Dr. Cole is also accessible outside class as long as you reach out to him on Piazza.
10/14/2022
I loved having Dr. Cole, he was incredibly caring, and knew all the students in his class by name despite it being a larger lecture class. The class was difficult, but very interesting and rewarding. Cole really wants his students to succeed and will help you if you need it. I recommend doing what you can to get Cole if you want to take 247.
5/4/2022
Cole was great for 247. He clearly cared about teaching the content and beyond that, he cared to learn each student's name that he talked to in a large lecture class.nn247 is very manageable the only downside of the class is how long it takes for important assignments to come back however that is on the class and TA's more so than Cole.
4/27/2022
Cole is a great professor. His lectures aren't the most engaging, but he is very caring for students and encourages participation. He is very caring and answers any questions thoroughly and really makes sure the students learn from his class.
4/14/2021
Cole was a great lecturer, but, more importantly, a personable professor. He answers questions with great detail at office hours, is always at studios, and really cares about how students are doing with the material. The 247 material can get a little dry, but he does his best to keep it as engaging as possible. Can't go wrong taking his class.
1/3/2020
Dr. Cole is super wholesome. A good professor to learn from and a person to know. He will answer questions online ASAP, but don't expect him to give you the complete answer; most times he'll lead you in the right direction and you must get to the conclusion yourself, which isn't a bad thing anyways.
11/27/2019
Cole is a very caring professor. He is humble and understanding. However, the TA's for 247 can be annoying as their mindset while grading is negative, think they r god. They try to find every possible way to deduct points rather than finding possible ways to give more points. I would definitely take him again. Just hope the quality of TA's improves
11/13/2019
Cole is a great guy who genuinely cares about his students. He constantly seeks out feedback on his lectures and content, both of which are engaging and reasonable. He's not like the greatest teacher on earth but he's understanding and approachable and the class itself is fairly easy and interesting.
4/25/2019
Super awesome guy. Not always the most engaging lecturer but really goes out of his way to try to help everyone succeed. Super respectful and just overall a really caring and great person. Plus his exams, while not easy, aren't above expectation and are very fair. Definitely would take another class with him.
4/7/2018