Reviews of professor Dantong Yu

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Prof. Yu is unable to communicate clearly in the English language.  He was unable to do many of the homework problems he assigned when asked and lacks competence.  Lectures are mostly a waste of time.  Do avoid if possible.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Dr. Yu is very knowledgeable, you will learn a lot from him. The course is inspiring and will help you learn many data mining techniques. The 2 textbooks are required and you need to read them carefully. The exams are open books. Knowing basics Python is a plus and will help you work on the projects. I highly recommend taking this class with him.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Dr. Yu is a good professor. We have weekly meetings online to go over the material, There are 2 group projects, a 3-4 page paper about data, midterm and final. The exams were both open book, and notes so make sure you know the material to look up. If you need extra time for any of the assignments, just ask him for it. Was a pleasure to work with.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
Lectures for the entire three hours, one homework and one project (see the TA to get full credit), lots of quizzes (unlimited attempts), midterm and final (open notes/book). The in-class lectures are very confusing especially if you don't have a coding background, but he does want everyone to do well and will curve the class.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
The professor is passionate and extremely knowledgeable about Data Mining. He is not, however, bridging the gap between my lack of knowledge, and his expertise, which, after all, is what learning is all about. He obviously spends a lot of time preparing for this course, but he is not getting through to the students. Class runs WAY over time.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
Inconvenient online class, avoid if possible. There are three group projects. The last project requires your group to present via WebEx. He enforces Respondus for the midterm and final even though they are open book. Both exams are difficult if you're new to data mining. Two textbooks are required. Lectures are confusing and difficult to follow.