Patricia Amlin

Patricia Amlin is one of the most amazing teacher I have ever had the pleasure of taking a class from. She not only motivates those that seek out help, but helps to develop their creative mind through her ideas and concepts. Those that seem to have problems with her teaching style seem to be those that cannot motivate and create on their own. Her class is structed for the true artist/animator. She does not define how one should be, but allows the students to find their own creative style. She is an amazing artist, mentor and teacher.

As a student in her last animation class before retirement, I found Patricia to be more than helpful in her relationship with her students. She gave us great advice on how to make our final piece the best ever. She stressed professionalism and had a very good command of the techniques needed to do traditinal animation. Her friendly nature and enigmatic smile made a day in class very pleasureable. She could laugh at her own mistakes and was truthful about her knowledge in the digital media. You have to learn to walk before you learn to run and she made sure we did !

As the previous review stated, Pat requires that you act like an adult. I believe that the reason some students don't do so well in her class is because she doesn't hold your hand and "instruct" you to do this or that. She lets you explore your own ideas and encourages you to fullfill your own expectations. So, if your motivated and have goals, Patricia will help you in every way she can!! If your laizy and don't do anything, she's not going to be on your case about it...she'll just watch as you sink into your own pit. Overall, Great person and Great teacher!

This instructor has some serious issues with communication and relating to students. All of the classes I have taken with Ms. Amlin have been perhaps the most badly organized, badly taught, and badly evaluated classes I have taken in my life. Her attitude towards students can best be described as "us against them", meaning she seems to view students as bothersome and an annoyance that must be tolerated.

Ms. Amlin obviously knows a lot about her field, but she has a lot of trouble expressing it. She is excruciatingly vague, which makes 310 students uneasy, since they're all beginners. Some of the problem is probably because they were restructuring the class the year I took it, but she didn't do much to help. I liked the fact that she wanted to see work in progress as well as finished materials, so she cold see progress and give advice. But even with the opportunity, she didn't give much advice at all. It would really help if she could communicate with students better.

Patricia Amlin perfectly illustrates everything that is wrong with the concept of tenure. Ms. Amlin should have been "let go" long ago. She displays little interest in teaching, and even less in the students. Her views, knowledge, and ideas are dogmatic and outdated. If a student dares to not pander to her concept of what animation "is" and "should be", she is rude, insolent, short, and , in general, not very helpful to that student. Ms. Amlin seems to be just putting in her time, waiting for retirement. I have never given much credit to the myth that people become more rigid and narrow-minded as they age, but Patricia Amlin certainly fits that description.

ALL of the classes that I have taken un Pat's instruction have been fantastic! She is not only a great mentor, she knows her subject matter, and in my case it is animation. She helped me refine and develop an undertanding of what it takes to make a better animated short. She has a wealth of knowledge in the field of animation and is an excellent instructor, one that has helped the students in the animation department shine! If you enroll you will know how easy going she is & most importantly how she really trusts the students to do what they say they will do. So on that note, she treats all of the students as adults, you are accountable for your actions, plain and simple. Take ANY class she teaches in animation and you will love it. But remember you will only get out of the course what you put into it, so do your absolute best and everything that Pat says will make sense! Excelsior!