ECE-496
SPECIAL TOPICS
Not in Fall 2026
Term
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that students generally rate the course well. Difficulty runs on the high side even without a single dominant complaint theme. Best for students who can handle a demanding pace without needing constant hand-holding. The sample is still thin, so treat this as directional rather than definitive.
DepartmentELEC&CMP
Terms offeredSpring
Typical enrollment13–13
Semesters of data1
7.6
Hrs / week
5
Responses
13
Enrollment
38%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
4.8
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.8
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.8
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
3.8
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysislow
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 18 comments across 1 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that students generally rate the course well. Difficulty runs on the high side even without a single dominant complaint theme. Best for students who can handle a demanding pace without needing constant hand-holding. The sample is still thin, so treat this as directional rather than definitive.
Student Reports
How hard is the A?
A is doable but not automatic
The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.
Homework Load
Moderate homework load
Homework load looks moderate. The recurring signal is steady weekly work, but not a course that turns every assignment into a grind.
Lecture Load
Regular lecture load
Lectures matter here, but the evidence points to a fairly standard lecture burden rather than a course dominated by long or exceptionally dense lectures.
Strengths
• Instructor ratings are strong even when the comments do not cluster around one obvious positive theme.
Tradeoffs
• Difficulty runs high even when comments do not settle on one dominant complaint.
Best fit for
Best for students who can handle a demanding pace without needing constant hand-holding.
Watch out for
• Most of the signal comes from a limited sample, so be careful about over-generalizing.
• A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.
Student Responses
General software engineering principles.
Spring 2025 · Rahbar, Afsaneh
Design Patterns, Pair Programming, Java, JavaFX, IntelliJ.
Spring 2025 · Rahbar, Afsaneh
Writing good code. Presenting code. Working well, coding with someone else.
Spring 2025 · Rahbar, Afsaneh
I learned to read and write, and additionally speak about code.
Spring 2025 · Rahbar, Afsaneh
Design principles, how to pair program, how to write clean and efficient code
Spring 2025 · Rahbar, Afsaneh
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2025 | Rahbar, Afsaneh 1.0Rate My ProfessorsQuality1.0Difficulty4.8Would retake0%Based on 4 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.8 | 3.8 | 7.6 | 13 |
Instructor
Rahbar, AfsanehELEC&CMP
Also teaches
ECE-495 SPECIAL TOPICS3.5ECE-590 ADVANCED TOPICS IN ECE3.5ECE-650 SYSTEMS PROGRAM & ENGINEERING4.1