.. EE 508 / DS 537: Data Science for Conservation Decisions

What students say
=================

Students tend to like EE 508.

They gave the course an average evaluation score of **4.68** (out of 5) in recent years (4.8 in 2025).

Evaluation summaries
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These are the anonymous evaluations we instructors get to see. I picked a few favorite quotes.

- :download:`Fall 2025 evaluations <evaluations/ee508_evaluation_2025_fall.pdf>`

   - "Perfect as a complement to other geospatial classes."
   - "I think out of my 4 years at BU this is the class I've learned the most from."
   - "I felt very inexperienced with spatial data processing at the start of the course, now its shocking to see how much I was able to cover in these months."
   - "It is one of the best and most supportive classes I've ever taken."
   - "I appreciated how comfortable it is to ask questions and get help."
   - "[I] already referred back to past assignments for work in the 'real world'."

- :download:`Fall 2023 evaluations <evaluations/ee508_evaluation_2023_fall.pdf>`

   - "For those interested in conservation approaches or geospatial data processing, this class is ideal."
   - "This was such a fantastic course. [...] The processes, materials, and organization of your course ought to represent the gold standard!"
   - "(ha, in your face ArcGIS Pro)!"
   - "We learned helluva lot in this class."
   - "The labs in this class really helped clear up most of my questions [...] when I got into the lab and followed the step–by–step process, things started to click."
   - "It was always helpful when Christoph made us talk for 2–3 minutes at the beginning of class to see if we had problems or questions."
   
- :download:`Fall 2022 evaluations <evaluations/ee508_evaluation_2022_fall.pdf>`

   - "This emphasis on learning from mistakes takes the pressure off students and makes for an excellent class experience."
   - "This is easily one of the most valuable courses I have taken."
   - "EE508 is one of my favorite classes that I have taken at BU."
   - "The labs were extremely in depth and well conceived, and it felt like I was addressing real world problems and solutions."
   - "Very accessible for people with different backgrounds."

- :download:`Fall 2021 evaluations <evaluations/ee508_evaluation_2021_fall.pdf>`

   - "The labs were excellent. I learned so much from them, both on the technical (coding) and theoretical (ecological, sociopolitical, conservation theory) side."
   - "This course is rooted in real-world applications and skills that are relevant beyond the classroom."
   - "This is by far my favorite class ever at BU, thank you so much!"