LRCC Spring 2025 Professors First Impressions

Quick First Impressions on Instructors - Spring 2025

This is just a quick first impressions post on professors for this semester. Not in any order:

Professor Rebecca Smith-Terry: my second time having her. Highly recommend taking any class she teaches. She's on top of things, runs the assignments herself to verify things work in the lab, and is always a quick responder to emails.

Dr. George Efi Agbor: my second time with him. He's slightly different in his teaching approach - he seems to favor papers and discussions. He takes his time making quizzes that require you to think. So far the quizzes have been open book. But you must pay attention to the question. I would have no problem taking another class from him.

Professor Matthew Hansel: my first time with him. I think he's on par with my favorite professor (Dr. El Gbouri). Professor Hansel has gone above and beyond in helping students in a subject I really didn't want to take (Python Cybersecurity). He makes it bearable and he's willing to adjust his schedule to help students out.

Professor Jason Pell: my first time with him as a professor. Initial impressions are that he's engaging and also reviews the online material for accuracy. His fairly quick in responding and engages with the class throughout the week. So far I recommend this professor.

UPDATE 5/7/2025:

Just wanted to update saying this was an overall good semester with great professors. My initial impressions proved accurate.

I think Dr. Efi Gabor's Discussion Board questions were some of the best I've seen during my academic journey so far at LRCC. I wish some of the other students had chosen to engage more with the questions, but overall a great job by Dr. Efi Agbor.

Professor Pell's class was fun learning about digital forensics and getting our feet wet on the topic and I liked how a lot of his weekly lessons started off with a video showing digital forensics in action. Also, a lot of his assignments required verbatim answers from the book - something I prefer.

Python class - the bane of existence for all non-programmers. And yet, Professor Hansel made it bearable and do-able. Kudos to him and the extra time he took out of his teacher availability time in the evening to conduct Zoom meetings going over how to get everything done.

Professor Smith-Terry is one of the most efficient professors I've had. One of the best things I liked about her teaching method was she got things graded quickly and responded fast to emails. I find that really helpful if I'm struggling on something - quick feedback is nice.

LRCC ITE221 Review

 

ITE 221 PC Hardware and Operating Systems/ Dr. Leach Review

Edited December 10, 2024.

This Fall 2024, I enrolled in ITE 221 PC Hardware and Operating Systems at Laurel Ridge Community College, taught by Dr. Josephine Leach. This post reflects my personal experience with the class.

Outdated Course Material

The course relies on a textbook that, while comprehensive in its time, is now over eight years old. Originally copyrighted in the 1990s, some of its content no longer reflects current systems or trends in IT. While certain fundamentals remain relevant, a more updated resource would better prepare students for the rapidly evolving field of technology.

Course Management Issues

Several administrative issues impacted the overall experience:

• Midterm Exam Error: The midterm exam provided was intended for a different class. Correcting this mistake required multiple student emails, as the professor initially insisted there was no error.
• Final Exam Posting Delay: The final exam was not posted until late in the final week of the course, leaving students with limited time to prepare.
• Confusing Instructions: The professor described the final as “open” without clarifying whether this meant open-book. Additionally, the exam was gated behind Respondus Lockdown Browser, making it impossible to use the e-book provided with the course. Edit 12/8/24: Dr. Leach, through an email reply, has indicated that the final is open book/ open notes, but could not explain how we are to use the eBook behind the LockDown browser. She indicated the LockDown browser is to keep people from using Google to get the answers.
• No Study Guide: The absence of a study guide for the final exam was particularly frustrating. Instructors often provide such resources to help students focus their review and perform well. Without a study guide, students were left guessing which topics were most relevant to the exam. Edit 12/8/24: Dr. Leach has indicated through an email reply that the Final Exam is on the chapters only that came after the midterm exam. She also indicated that all exam questions are pooled from the quizzes from each chapter. This is certainly helpful information but, as of writing these edits, Dr. Leach has not posted this information to the class. It was only obtained in a reply to emails.

Exam Retake Policies

The course permits two attempts for both the midterm and final exams. However, while the first midterm’s answers were accessible for review, this does not appear to be the case for the final exam. 

Restricting access to first-attempt answers behind the LockDown Browser prevents students from understanding their mistakes and improving their performance—a frustrating barrier to learning. While the instructions suggest students can “view your quiz results,” it’s unclear whether this includes detailed feedback on the questions or just the overall score. If it’s the latter, the lack of transparency significantly limits the value of having a second attempt. Edit 12/9/2024: I took the exam yesterday and you could not review the questions/answers after the exam. I went back and checked on the Canvas Exam page this morning and there is now a note saying you CAN view the results 'immediately after submission', one (1) time. Day late and a dollar short for me. There were 2 essay questions at the end of the exam that I had to guess at. Overall, I did not see any value in going back and taking the exam for a 2nd 'take'. 

In the end, how the exam is given is the professor's prerogative, but some consistency and clarity would be nice instead of the last minute snafu that happened for the final. 

Pedagogical Approach

A major concern with the course is its focus on memorization over research skills in its midterm and final exams. In IT, the ability to "look it up" is essential due to the field's vast and ever-changing nature. Courses that emphasize problem-solving and resourcefulness better equip students for real-world technical challenges. Unfortunately, this class lacked that forward-thinking approach.

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Conclusion

While I appreciate the opportunity to expand my knowledge, I found both the class and its management lacking. Updating the course material and adopting a more student-centered teaching philosophy could significantly improve the experience for future students.

You may have no choice, due to your degree program, but to take this course. If so, make it a little better on yourself by trying to do it with a different professor than Dr. Josephine Leach. It's my understanding that this is Dr. Leach's first year teaching. I hope, if she were to read this, that it's taken as constructive criticism. As a first time teacher I understand it can be tough. Hopefully, with time and communication from students, she will improve. As an elective, I would look elsewhere than this course to fulfill any credit requirements.

Cengage Lab Tips

 

Tips For Completing Cengage Labs With a Perfect Score

This applies specifically to Laurel Ridge Community College (and probably to all other VCCS schools) classes that use Cengage / MindTap labs.

1. Complete the questions at the end of the lab first, then 
2. go back and do the lab.

The  way the lab system is currently set up, it does not record your score until you hit the final 'submit' button. You can exit out without having it adversely affect you. If you get the answer wrong, it will show you what the correct answer should have been along with an explanation normally. The answers can also normally be found throughout the lab just by glancing over the explanations. 

Take a screenshot or write down notes so you'll understand what the correct answer is and why you got them wrong, then exit out of the lab. Relaunch the lab and when it asks you if you want to continue with your in-progress attempt, just click No. 

Once you know the answers, go back and redo the questions first. Then go back and run the lab step by step as you normally would for a perfect score.

Why do it this way? First, all my classes that use Cengage/ MindTap VM Labs allow unlimited attempts. Who wants to do the whole thing over again, w/ screenshots, just to get a good score?  The way these questions are weighted, missing 1 will often give you an 80% on your score. Avoid this time trap/ headache by going to the end and doing the questions first, then go back to the beginning and complete the lab like normal.

Information good as of Fall 2024.

ITN261 Review

 

Course Review - ITN261 Network Attacks, Computer Crime and Hacking 

This is my review of Laurel Ridge Community Colleges ITN 261 class. It's conducted by Professor Rebecca Smith-Terry. I made the mistake of taking this class in a 7-week timeframe. Don't do this. It's hard to take everything in and really get to know and understand the information that's presented. Especially with 3 other classes to boot. If this had been the only class I took and could have devoted my whole attention to it in the short time frame, I would have been fine. I feel like I'm struggling to get the assignments all done and I KNOW I'm not retaining the information well. 

My poor review of this class should not be a reflection on the professor or the material. I think both are good. It's the time-frame that's killing me. I signed up in ignorance. Don't make the mistake I did in taking a full 3-credit class in half the normal time - unless you're super smart and retain things that are presented to you at a rapid-fire pace well, or it's the only class you're taking.

This class has a TON of hands on labs and projects to do. If you have yet to get your hands on a Kali Linux machine and try out many of the tools it has you are going to love this class! But be aware, you do ALL the labs at home on your own time.

My main and biggest criticism of the class (other than don't take it if it's 7 weeks) is that it was an in-person class on campus in the computer lab and we DIDN'T use the computers IN the lab. 

The in-person instruction is a lecture by the professor going over the Power Point slides we all had access to. There was some minor question and answer, but to me I feel like my time was wasted being required to go into the classroom to have the professor give a power point lecture. I assume this was how the Professor was instructed to conduct the class, but it seems like a wasted opportunity to me. It felt like a handholding session for children whom the Community College wanted to make sure actually attended a class.

Coming into class and actually doing labs and discussing them in-progress would have been a much more productive use of the space we were given and my time. Without that, I felt like I lost 8 hours a week in productivity.

(9/21/2024 update: the professor switched things up a little during Midterm week and allowed us to use the time in class to do labs. I hope this trend continues. I personally would have preferred to do the whole class online but, if I HAVE TO COME IN for class, I'd rather be doing labs.)

In conclusion- 

Do Not: 

• take this class as a 7-week class
• take this class as an in person/ in classroom class

Do:

• Take Professor Terry

I liked Professor Terry. She is responsive to emails and grades assignments quickly so you have feedback on how you're doing. Professor Terry is a machine when it comes to grading all the work we have in such a short time. I don't know how she keeps up, but she does.

 

First Tip of the Day!

I was thinking about starting a new not-a-regular series and calling it “Tip of the Day”. Where I’d highlight something I found, that I thought was interesting.

 

Today’s Tip of the Day is: Humble Bundle.

If you’re into cybersecurity and all things computer like me and you want to improve your personal library, go to humblebundle.com and look under their book bundles. They often have book bundles of 3 – 18 e-books for a donation (suggested donations I’ve seen at $18 or $25). They come in pdf or epub. I’ve seen bundles from PACKT, O’Reilly, and Sybex so far. Not just junk books, but books that are relevant to current certifications and issues.

Resist the urge for piracy and pay for your books (Next Tip article I'll do will be on how to become a book pirate! Arrrrr!). The second-best thing, besides the low price, is that humblebundle.com donates a portion of the proceeds from sales to charity. It’s like double karmic – you didn’t steal and you contributed to charity.

Don’t get taken to the cleaners when paying for books. Expand your personal library with humble bundle! (They should pay me for this paragraph, I sound like an advertisement.) I don't know what their schedule is for putting out new book bundles, so I usually hop over to the site a couple times a week to see if something new is up.

CompTIA Network+ Study Tips

 

How I Studied For and Passed the CompTIA Network+ 008 Certification Exam

This is a brief description of how I studied for and passed the CompTIA Network+ 008 on the first try. I took the exam and passed yesterday after about 2 and a half months of studying.

First I took and passed the CompTIA A+ certification exam(s). I think that they give you some foundational knowledge that helps with Network+.

I started prepping for Network+ specifically a week or so before completing my A+ exam. Here's a list of everything I did that I think helped me to pass.

• Print out and read the official exam objectives from CompTIA.

• Create Anki flash cards with all the acronyms on the exam. I copy and pasted the acronyms from the official exam objectives into ChatGPT and had it produce a list with definitions of each acronyms which I then put into Anki for daily review.

• Review the Anki flash cards EVERY day.

• Professor Messer videos. Over and over and over again. Watch the whole series once. Watch it again. Then watch it when your driving somewhere. Watch them when your working out. Go through his Network+ series repeatedly until you've taken your exam. He's got a new set of videos out for the 009 exam too.

• I took a bootcamp style class from Northern Virginia Community College. The class was 8 hours of lectures and labs for 4 days. It was instructor lead (Professor Nick Pierce) over Zoom and used Certmaster Learn. Make sure to do all the labs and PBQ's in Certmaster. When you get the PBQ's wrong, going back and figuring out the correct answers is a big help in learning to understand things.

• After the bootcamp I went back into Certmaster and re-read each chapter of the online textbook.

• Practice exams. I used the Sybex practice exams. Purchase the Sybex Network+ Study Guide and Practice Exam books and you get access to their online exam test bank. It's about 1200-1500 test questions. I did 20 exam questions everyday. Anything I got wrong, didn't understand, or needed help with I used ChatGPT to explain to me. I also had ChatGPT make additional Anki flashcards to help me with exam topics and concepts I missed.

• The final 2 things I did that I think really helped near the end of my studies were:
•  Jeremy's IT Lab. I got to day 30 of his series. I think that it really helped cement things I had been learning from all the other sources (Thankyou Dr. El Gbouri for pointing me to this resource).
• Professor Messer's Notes. They are an outline of everything and you should read through them for an overview and refresher on everything you've learned.

I didn't do all these things at once. I progressively went through my list above until exam day. Adding and completing things as I went along. Network+ can seem overwhelming. Take it all day-by-day and you will make it through it.

 

LRCC Professor Recommendations

This is just a quick post to either recommend taking or avoiding certain professors at Laurel Ridge Community College. As of my initial writing of this post I've only had 6 professors. I will update each semester as interactions warrant. I'm not going to write details about why to take or avoid the professor in this post (check for details in prior or future blog posts). Feel free to contact me via comments below if you have any questions.

Recommendation: Take 

Dr. Jose Nieves (Intro to Software Design & Programming)
Dr. El Gbouri, Abdessamad (Intro to Networking)
Professor Jamie Coleman (English 112)
Dr. Margaret Ross (Logic)

Dr. George Efi Agbor (Be aware that Dr. Agbor has an accent that can be hard at first for American English speakers to pick up on. Give him some time for your ears to become accustomed to the accent. He's a good professor.)(updated 12/6/2024)

Professor Rebecca Smith-Terry (updated 12/6/2024)

Recommendation: Undecided

Professor Fernando Seminario

Recommendation: Avoid

Dr. James Allen

Dr. Josephine Leach (updated 12/6/2024)