Good professor, however it's very bland. He's a funny guy but it's just a hard subject. Mandatory attendance with iClicker, and class only consists of midterm, attendance, and final. But, he is nice enough to replace a higher score.
Very straight forward class; he lectures, you take two multiple choice tests (and a take home final). I really liked the material even though I am not an Anth major. I learned so much. Take lots of notes and fill out the study guides. Don't buy the books.
I enjoyed Dr. Blackwell as a teacher, he made a class that would have been not so interesting bareable and actually enjoyable. His lectures were straight forward and well detailed and his tests were not too difficult if you thoroughly study the lecture slides. He posts these slides online after each lecture however going to lecture really helps!
Really cool guy, doing interesting research, but his expectations for assignments can be kind of confusing. Kind of awkward to talk to one on one but he's a decent lecturer.
161 really wasn't that hard. If you do your work and attend lecture you can get an A. I am horrible at Stats and I got an A on all the homework assignments because I asked questions. You are allowed a full page of notes on the midterm and final (which are tricky) but if you study, shouldn't be too hard to do well.
Please whoever is truly interested in biological anthropology do not be deterred by these other ratings. Yes it was a heavy stats course, however, it was nothing that you wouldn't already be expected to know. You can use notes on midterm and final. Only the hmk tested your stats knowledge the exams covered basic theories from lecture and the text.
Blackwell is a nice guy–he's funny & easygoing when he's lecturing. That being said, he's also an extremely difficult professor. My biggest grievance were the unclear & obscure homework assignments that involve pretty intricate stats computation. He expects you to just know it and get it and doesn't do much in the way of explaining anything.
Be forewarned. I have taken two classes with this professor. He's a very nice guy, but a tough instructor. There are a lot of difficult assignments that he doesn't explain clearly. He treated this class as a statistics course.