Dr. Blair is clearly a competent and passionate professor who tries to make lectures as engaging as possible. That being said, lectures can get boring and dense, so make sure to reference the lecture learning objectives before and after class. Attendance is rewarded by getting to marvel at the wacky hats he always wears, which is a plus!

One of my all time favorite professors. Absolutely loved his energy and his hats of the day, he is super passionate about biology, and I found his lecture format really informative. Office hours are super helpful and his tests are very doable if you keep up with lecture and do the reading.

He is the best lecturer I've ever had. He explains things very well, understands them very well, and doesn't just read off his powerpoint slides, He talks about the underlying ideas instead of asking you to just rote memorize. Very fast paced class for intro to biology, and without having taken AP bio in high school I would have been a goner.

Lectures were a bit unorganized and his slide deck was very overwhelming. Otherwise fine

Out of the three professors for 151, Dr. Blair was my least favorite. His lectures were so unorganized and what we were expected to know was never clear.

He's a super nice and funny guy who always made lectures engaging. He provided lots of examples for each topic which helped me understand the information better. The exam was very fair and was based off the lectures.

I liked Prof. Blair as a lecturer. His section of Bio 151 could maybe be slightly more challenging than the other two sections as genetics can be confusing but his lectures made sense and were organized, and his exam was decent. Overall nice guy

nothing too special. he is nice

Seth tends to go on tangents during lecture and many of his exam questions are confusing and unfair.

Nice guy and threw in jokes during lecture. His slides were somewhat disorganized which made lectures hard to follow sometimes, especially during the genetics unit. Exams were fair and only based on lecture material so buying the textbook isn't necessary IMO. I did the LLOs and rewatched the lectures to study and got decent scores.

Attendance taken through TopHat which you can access from anywhere. Blair is an amazing and fun teacher. I love his slides and the funny hats he wears every lecture. He cares a lot about biology. Great teacher, wish he taught all semester instead of 2/3!

Felt like sometimes his lectures were a bit disorganized. Slides contained too much words and information. Assumed that we knew some things so he would just jump right into the material without any additional background knowledge.

I didnt enjoy Dr. Blairs lectures. The slides were often very disorganized and had too many things to focus on in them. Often left lecture more confused than I shouldve been. Overall, nice guy but not a great lecturer. Focus on your discussion activities and LLOs- they will help you the most.

Blair was my least favorite of the three BIO151 professors, but he was very kind and funny. His course topics were the most difficult for me personally, which did not couple well with his disorganized/excessively long PowerPoints and often unfinished lectures. Reading the textbook was unfortunately a must when he was lecturing.

Didn't love his lectures as they always felt really long but he was nice! Funny guy and tried to make the material fun. Wasn't my favorite class ever but yea it was okay.

he explained material very well and made going to class at least a little bit entertaining. he spent a lot of time on each slide which was helpful if you process slower and to draw diagrams. wasn't the best but he explained thoroughly and I could figure out what was going on for the most part. assignments were based off lecture which was good.

Prof Blair was great! His slides are a bit ugly and his lectures are a bit disorganized, but it's not impossible to learn from if you can comb through his logic before studying it. He explained things well outside of lectures, though not the most clear but you can tell that he cares about his students' success. Loved his hats!

I personally like Dr. Blair. I thought his lectures weren't too unclear about what we needed to know for exam and he seemed enthusiastic about the content which made lecture more bearable.

Seth was an okay teacher. He's not super organized and the flow of the genetics concepts that he teaches is not great. Genetics is kind of confusing if you don't already know the basics and he assumed we all knew the basics, so his explanations were not always the most helpful. Discussions and reading the textbook are helpful for his genetics unit

Good professor, but a little hard to follow in class. Slides were messy, and lecture felt slow so it was hard to stay focused in class for the full 50 minutes. Exams followed lecture content well, and textbook was referred to but not necessary to read (in my opinion).

Out of all 151 professors, not my least favorite but not my favorite. Easy to follow his slides but hard to stay focused all 50 minutes. Exams were fair. He was always accessible and was clear on what we should know for quizzes and exams.

Dr. Blair is a decent professor. His lectures covered my least favorite topic in biology- genetics- so I wasn't much interested in the content, but his tests were fair and he was clearly passionate and knowledgable about what he was teaching. His slides didn't have all too much info, so watching the lectures back were important.

Seth teaches like his students understand doctoral-level biology, and his slides are always littered with grammar and spelling errors. Not the worst professor ever, but certainly not the best.

I really liked Dr. Blair, he was very enthusiastic and brought a lot of energy to lecture. His slides/explanations could've been clearer, and he does have a tendency to go on tangents that leave you wondering what exactly you will be tested on, but I think overall he did a good job teaching the content and being approachable.

I loved 151 with Dr. Blair, I'm so sad that we're switching professors. He makes the content interesting, even when the subject matter is painfully boring. The class itself is easy, it's just a lot of textbook readings and the labs are really annoying. Overall I would for sure take a class with Dr. Blair again.

Dr. Blair is very intelligent no doubt; however, he loses his students when he goes off on tangents. His lecture slides look like he did them blind folded with no attention to logic, grammar, or even overall student comprehension. Dr. Blair consistently breezed through the material like everyone had their PhD in neuroscience.

Filling Dr. Gilroys shoes for the second part of the course must not be easy, but Dr. Blair was amazing too! He is very knowledgeable and is genuinely interested in student success. The material for the exams is all covered in lecture, so there is no need for buying a textbook.

This professor has the worst lecture style. His slides are extremely hard to read/understand because of grammatical errors/run on sentences. He does not teach, he just glazes over topics as though students already know the material. The material is not too hard, you just have to teach yourself.

Dr. Blair is a decent lecturer and writes alright exams, but 151 as a whole had issues. Whoever was behind organizing was either too lazy or too proud to change up the style to accommodate the online/pandemic format. I recommend waiting until this is in person. Labs had some group work and will boost your grade so take 151 not 153.

Dr. Blair is a very smart and capable professor with a lot of experience under his belt. There are many times when he goes off-topic and sometimes you can't quite tell if those tangents are discussions that you will be tested on or if you won't be tested on it. His exams are somewhat hard even though the class doesn't have a curve. Lecture heavy.

Seth is great when it comes to office hours (if you have a specific question in mind) but his lecturing style is rough so your textbook is going to be your best friend. His exams arent easy to read and he goes off-topic a lot. He's clearly very educated, just not the easiest to listen to or communicate with.

Amazing lecture slides. He makes you love biology but is a little fast paces because of the course.

Professor Blair clearly cared about students succeeding and was extremely knowledgable. His tests and quizzes were very challenging and based mostly off of lecture notes. If you stay on top of studying and prepare for exams ahead of time they weren't that bad.

He taught the first half of my Bio151 class and was WAY better than the second lecturer. The class was hard, but that was because of the material, not Dr. Blair. The lecture were okay, nothing to write home about, but he gave you the slides from class and 90% of the test was from lectures.

Dr. Blair was a pretty decent professor. The exams are very specific so make sure you know your stuff! But on the plus side there is never anything on the exam that is not talked about during lecture. The textbook while considered necessary really isnt unless you need more clarification on certain topics.

Dr. Blair is a good lecturer; however, he requires you to know very specific information from lectures so focus the most attention on lecture slides. Luckily, if you ever miss lecture he posts recorded lectures, and I would recommend re watching them. Averages were about an 81 on the exams and the class is not curved so try to keep up lab grades.

Seth is very nice, but his lectures are not the best. His information is all over the place on the slides, and he over-explains everything so much that most of the time, one slide series goes through two lectures. Tip: Write your notes on the slides before lecture, and write down what Seth says (that is not on the slides) during class.

On a personal level, I wish him well but I do not necessarily like him. He has interesting lectures, knows his stuff and is pretty straightforward. I think he puts on a facade as an approachable professor but he was the better lecturer of the too. Maybe a slight sensitivity warning if dealing with personal issues and taking one of his classes.

Seth's lectures are the most confusing I have taken at UW. He makes sure to talk a mile minute and go off on tangents that are extremely specific for an intro bio class. He makes his tests off of just lecture- which is nice. But his questions are ridiculously specific. Get ready for "a, b, c, a and b, a and c, just c, and b, all of the above).

Dr. Blair is a decent lecturer and doesn't put anything on the exams that he doesn't talk about in lecture, but exams were super specific and relatively difficult. Overall pretty boring class with not many assignments to redeem yourself from a bad exam or lab which is not ideal.

Everything you need to know for an exam is on the lecture slides. If he has study guides available, do them! They make you think about the content in more depth, given that the exams are pretty detailed. Funny nerdy guy

Great guy, great material, all around phenomenal class. Loved it. Grading criteria is rough. The class is 90% exams, ultimately your entire grade is based off 200 multiple choice questions. This is one of those classes where you get half of what you give, that's the nature of the material. Get ready to get to know your local librarian very well.

As a lecturer, I enjoyed him & thought he was good at explaining things;Both his exams&his teaching was SO much better than Gammie,The structure of the class however is AWFUL & needs tobe CHANGED;They evaluate students on 200 multiple choice questions, no curve no dropped no retakes;No consideration for students who learn differently,they dont care

Dr Blair was a great prof for Zoo 523. Tough material but he explains it well and his exams are very fair. He assigned interesting outside reading but the exams were still lecture based which was appreciated. He's goofy enough to keep you entertained but still a professional. Highly recommend him!

Dr. Blair sometimes went off topic in class, but he tried to keep lectures interesting. He put almost everything you need to know on the slides and posts the slides. Focus your time on knowing the information on the slides rather than reading the book. Discussion quizzes were a little difficult, but aren't worth much. Tests were multiple choice.

Dr. Blair was very passionate about biology and research. However, he rushed through lectures and quickly went over major concepts. His tests are crazy difficult and detailed.

Seth Blair is a great lecturer for a rather miserable class. The content wasn't terribly interesting, but Seth's lectures were always organized and he seemed very knowledgeable about the subject. Textbook wasn't required, but I would recommend it since it covers things in greater detail.

Seth is a good guy, but his lectures are not very inspiring or exciting. Uncurved class, and exams are pretty difficult. Lab sections are very boring and sections in this course is disorganized. However, many parts of the class are relatively easy, like discussions and homework. Doesn't offer second chance exams like other Bio 151 professors.

Seth's lectures can be fast and hard to keep up with, but he explains things well. Power-points and lecture notes are available online which are very helpful and have all the material that is on the exam. His exam covers more content than the first 3, so make sure you keep up with it. He also takes questions right off the problem sets so do those.

Blair talks quickly, so being able to follow his thoughts for an entire lecture is a miracle. He conveys the material in an overwhelming manner that forces you to go back and review the notes multiple times. Lecture is a hectic whirlwind, but if you succeed in keeping pace with him, you'll do great! The readings are insignificant; skip them.

Everything you need to know is on the lecture slides. I never opened the book once. But you have to make sure you know how to apply the material to different situations and scenarios; it's not just questions about definition.

He's genuinely enthusiastic about the course material and reenforces important topics across multiple lectures. He usually limits the test contents to lecture material, and the lecture slides are very clear and accessible online for further review.

While Blair didn't exactly point at the words and ideas you needed to know and scream, "KNOW FOR TEST," he bolded the words he thought are important. Study the lectures (powerpoints) and know vocabulary, and you'll pass the lecture portion of the class with flying colors.

Blair has a pretty straight-forward teaching style. Going to lecture and following along his powerpoints is crucial to doing well. Ppts and lecture audio are always on Lean@uw. I would suggest downloading the powerpoints and taking notes directly on them, on your laptop. He can go very fast sometimes. All-in-all, a great professor.

It's not super easy to get an A in, but with my average amount of effort I got an AB. Lab reports are graded pretty harshly and worth a lot of points. Lectures were pretty good, but reading the assigned textbook chapters was necessary for me to fully understand the material. Exams are not horrible (you get a huge notecard), but there is no curve.

Dr. Blair is a good lecturer, he knows his stuff well. I would download the power points and take notes on a laptop, really cuts down on having to copy stuff and he has a tendency to talk fast. Everything important is on those slides. All in all a fine professor, but be ready to put in work, 151 is not curved and As are hard.

Lectures are pretty easy to follow, as notes and power point slides are available to students before each lecture. Take notes directly on the printed out power point slides! Dr. Blair tends to speak fast, but he starts off each lecture with a brief review of the previous lecture. Co-taught with Tony Stretton, and both offer 2nd chance exams.

Talks far too fast to fully understand material. Too many graded components of class in general. Far more difficult than other biology classes despite being an introductory course.

He's a really funny and interesting lecturer. Gives a lot of opportunities to meet with him outside of class.

I suggest learning as much as you can from the lectures and not the book. What sucks is that readings are required to be done before lecture (every lecture has a prelecture quiz). The reading goes WAY more in-depth than he does. Exams are pretty easy if you study whats in lecture well. My discussion period is when I really learned stuff though

Only study the lecture notes, book material goes way more in depth then the exam. I would still kinda readskim the book, but only focus on the parts that he covered in class(he gives way more required readings than what is on the exam). Make sure you know the lecture notes REALLY well. He sometimes puts iclicker questions on the exam.

No complaints. Exam was fair. Gave lecture notes for each lecture. Used powerpoints that were also posted online.

He is a good lecturer and covered the material well. Exams were harder than the material presented because a majority of the exams are applying the concepts rather than just memorizing facts. The organization of the class is horrible and covers a lot of seemingly random topics in the same unit that makes the exams harder.

First test was easy, second quite a bit harder. The tests were a lot more about applying knowledge logically than regurgitating facts. Only go off what he presents in lectures, the book is helpful for explaining through diagrams but that's about it. He is fun to listen to in lecture and makes concepts very clear.

As a engineering student, biology was a class I had to take even though it does not relate to my career whatsoever. His enthusiasm, humor, and interest in the topics covered made the lectures worth while to attend. Some tricky test question, but study up, its college.

Most useless professor ever

This dude LOVES biology.

Dr. Blair was one of my favorite professors so far at Madison. This was a required class for me that didn't relate to my major, but the lectures were still incredibly interesting. His exams weren't necessarily easy, but manageable if you go to lecture and at least skim the readings. I learned much more than I expected.

Blair has extremely lively lectures that follow directly from his quirky personality. He's very approachable and very helpful when it comes to getting your questions answered. As long as you go to lecture and spend at least a little bit of time studying, his exams are very easy. Overall, Blair is a great professor.

Blair made lectures fun with his anecdotes and informative slides. His tests seemed more like a logic test than a biology test. You not only had to know the information, but apply it in the most random, confusingly worded questions. Everyone did poorly on the second test and there isn't a curve. I preferred Rouse.

Erratic professor. Interesting guy but not very clear. Talks fast, scatter-brained.Seems to try to make tests complicated and memorize minute details, not important concepts.

Great prof, made lecture interesting. Kind of all over the place though. Everything on exams comes from lecture notes, but make sure to understand key concepts and processes well. See book if lecture notes not clear. Every piece of info just as likely to be on the exam. Would recommend printing lec slides and typing what he says in class.

For his portion of the bio 151 lecture, I mostly went off of the book to study. Notecards allowed for the exams (which are not cumulative), which I found pretty easy. He is an entertaining guy, so I'd recommend him.

Prof Blair is very knowledgable about what he teaches, and he clearly loves it. He is good at explaining concepts, but I thought his tests were really hard and had really complicated and tricky wording. He uses lots of clicker questions which is fun, and he makes lots of strange (but distracting in a good way) jokes. Definitely take him for bio 151

He's great. A bit scattered at times during lecture, but he's obviously very interested in the subject and wants you to be too. He makes lots of (terrible) jokes during lecture, which helps keep things interesting. If he's teaching your class, take the class.

great

He's great! He makes jokes all the time during lecture so it's easy to pay attention. He's obsessed with videos of biological processes. His tests were pretty fair, they can be tricky sometimes, and you do have to know what they're asking you about. But his classes were always fun to attend.

What a fantastic professor! His lectures are extremely clear and organized, with nicely laid out powerpoints. Also very clear and helpful about what is expected on exams. He loves teaching his subjects and it shows. He's also pretty entertaining and energetic as a lecturer which helps, definitely recommend him.

Professor Blair is the best professor I've had so far! He's passionate about biology, clear in his explanations, and doesn't expect you to memorize details. He has a good sense of humor and really wants you to do well. Tests are extremely easy, and you get a notecard too! If you attend lecture and read some of the book, you'll get an A.

GOOD PROFESSOR. Need to attend lectures AND pay attention because all exam material comes straight from lecture. No need to touch the textbook if you go to lecture. Very enthusiastic about topic so easy to listen to. Just copy down all of PP and listen and you'll do fine. You get a notecard for exam so pretty easy. Recommended!

I like him! Very passionate during lectures. His lectures are clear to understand and materials he shows cover all of what he asks you in exams. I highly recommend attending every lecture. You really don't need to read textbook if you take good notes and pay attention to his words. Other students I know all think he's a decent teacher as well.

Good professor whose passionate about what he does. Go to lecture and pay attention, and you'll be golden for the exam. Everything on exam is from lecture, so it's not difficult at all. Plus you get a notecard, so if you do the work you'll do fine. Definitely recommended!

Actually makes Bio151 interesting and worth going to lecture for, doesn't cover that much material and explains it well, so exams are easy. Funny guy

Great Professor. Loves his work and gets really excited about it. He's easy to listen to in a lecture. Although his notes aren't the best, they are understandable, especially if you go to lecture. His quizzes were pretty easy and his exam was cake. The average for the class on his exam was a high B (85%).

yuck. loves his work but is all over the place. loves star trek, and tries to connect with us that way. he can't simplify the material during lecture...i guess star trek is good at that or something. if your interested in fruit flies you should talk to him though

Absolutely loves his job. Going to lecture is useful but his notes tend to be a bit scattered and disorganized. Really makes an attempt to ensure that students understand the material, but the exam wasn't cake.

Great lectures. He gets very involved in his teaching and he is obviously very excited about biology. He also loves to show quick time clips where he adds his own sound effects, and for all you star trek fans he will probably compare biology to something seen in a star trek. Easy to approach. Very much a Hippie professor pony tail and all.

very good lectures, he does jump around but he always makes it interesting with lame jokes. exam was fairly hard but overall an interesting prof.

he is fun, excited about material. but scatterd lectures at times and the exam was not easy.

He's a great professor. His text was kind of obnoxiously hard, but I think that's the course coordinator's doing. He's intelligent, entertaining, and very clear. Good prof.

Blair knows what he is talking about, he is more than willing to clarify topics you are unsure of and his tests are a fair and easy assessment of your knowledge.

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Fun guy, but his notes are extremely unclear