I took this online in Fall 2020. It was an awesome class; Professor Goff unfortunately had to take a leave of absence in the middle of the quarter due to her son getting COVID-19, so Professor Scott Johnson took over briefly and the class was made asynchronous. That's about my only gripe with this class.

Other than that, 130 is pretty smooth sailing. There are NO TEXTBOOKS AT ALL: the most you'll have is to watch a short video or two that accompanies lecture. The class is out of 150 points with 2 possible extra credit points for responding to a related Netflix episode. All sections were optional; you still had homework every week in submitting a short written assignment (8 assignments worth 10 points each). The TAs have rubrics outlining exactly what to write each week though and it's moreso graded on completion and if you wrote something relevant. Midterm and final were 50 questions each and although originally they accounted for 35 points each, the lower of the two got weighed less (out of 28 points and the better scored test out of 42). I didn't do so hot on the midterm (got a 80+%) but did get a 96% on the final and clutched an A+ by scoring full points on everything else. This is one of the best Column Bs you can take!

Grade breakdown: Out of a total of 150 points

Two Midterms- drop the lowest out of the two (best score out of 50 points)
Final: 50 points
Discussion: 15 points for attendance (allowed to miss once), 10 points for participation, 25 points for 5 written assignments due every week
Extra Credit: Top Hat questions done during lecture. Max of three points possible ( it's like clicker questions but on your phone or laptop)

Lecture is cool. Professor Goff is real nice and she does talk about her kids a lot, but only really ever to connect to lectures. TopHat is needed for lectures in order to answer questions asked during class. If I remember correctly, it cost like $30-$40. You download it on your phone or laptop and answer questions as you would clicker questions. Both participation and correctness are taken into account for the extra credit so try to be correct. Not much else to say. The lecture was cool and interesting.

Discussion is cool too. You're put into groups on the first day which you'll stick with the whole quarter. There are no group projects though, it's just for group discussions. You usually talk about what each person wrote for the writing assignment for that week. The writing assignments are easy too. Read an article and answer some questions about it. About a page long, maybe a little longer. Overall really easy. Emily Neer was my TA.

r/ucla

I've never written a review on here, but this class was so great that I thought I should this time. Professor Goff is probably the best professor I've had at UCLA. She is engaging, funny, and extremely clear. She makes the class content super interesting and includes tons of videos of little kiddos that are honestly adorable. She doesn't require a textbook - you just have to read a few articles which she provides. The only work you really have to do for this class are weekly reading responses that are pretty much graded on completion. There are two midterms which were both very fair, and she drops your lowest midterm score (so if you do well on the first one, you don't even have to take the second one). Honestly, I did almost no work for this class and still learned A TON and pulled out a good grade. I'm now doing the applied developmental psych minor because this class was so great. Even if you don't think developmental psych is your thing, this class is really interesting and should probably be required for anyone who ever plans on having kids lol. TAKE THIS CLASS!!

Bonnie Goff is a L E G E N D. I had such a fun time in this class. I took this class as a Cognitive Science major elective and am really glad I did. Professor Goff is engaging and super easy to understand, and she often incorporated examples from her own kids in lecture. She's also really funny! I would really recommend this class as it's fun and also small workload. Here's what the class consists of:
Lecture:
Every week we look at a topic in developmental psych, connecting material to past themes with examples and psych experiments. Lectures were somewhat fast paced, but you can rewatch recordings to see if you missed any. The course material is pretty clear so I never had to ask for clarifications.
Discussion:
The first discussion was required, but the rest were optional. Basically, they functioned as review sessions for the previous week's material. My TA was Soph, she was super kind and knowledgeable. Every week we have a written assignment where we explain and connect lecture material to our lives, and these were graded pretty easily.
Exams:
We had two exams (during week 5 and during week 10), that were application-based. They weren't hard, I just rewatched lectures once to review and got a 90% on both exams. The average on both was around an 86% if I remember correctly. There's only a few tricky questions on them. Although they were multiple choice, the exams were somewhat stressful because you take them during lecture, and so you only have an hour and fifteen minutes for 50 questions.
Other:
Professor Goff offered 2 points of extra credit if you wrote a mini essay after watching a documentary. Everyone had their first midterm grade boosted by two points because the exam took place on election day, which was more than generous.
Grade Breakdown:
Exams - 65/70
Written Assignments - 80/80
Final Grade - 145/150 (A+)

Professor Goff was most amazing professor I had at UCLA. She was extremely funny, passionate, charming professor that made me look forward to her lectures. She often use her kids as example which I found it extremely helpful to learn some of the concepts. Her lectures are recorded by her personal phone which is more reliable than bruin cast as sometime there are some technical difficulties. Lectures are posted on CCLE as well which makes it very flexible as it is sometimes difficult to attend lectures everyday depending on life circumstances. She was extremely clear in the time of pandemic and handled final extremely well in such short notice with extreme flexibility, empathy, and kindness that I could not find for other professors in my other classes that I was enrolled in for that quarter. The class does not require any materials (save money) that will affect grade. However, she assigns free online articles that are very helpful and relevant to the course.The only thing you might have to pay for is top hat which is completely optional as it is only providing some extra credit. I think her exams were extremely fair and moderately challenging. I felt like I learned a lot in this class and would love to take more classes with her! I promise you would not regret taking class with her.

Professor Goff is amazing. The exams were a little tricky but other than that this is a MUST-TAKE course. 100% would recommend.

Professor Goff is one of those professors you have to have before graduating. She cares about student learning and makes sure that everyone understands the material. The only (optional) thing you have to buy for her class is TopHat, and that's only if you want extra credit.

The grade distribution for her class is as follows:
Midterm (you take two and she drops the lowest one): 50 points
Final: 50 points
Discussion: 50 points (15 for attendance, 10 for participation, 25 for written assignments)
Extra Credit: 1% overall grade boost for participation on 50-79% of TopHat questions, 2% for 80+%, and 3% if you have one of the top 5 scores on the questions

She records her own lectures and posts the slides before the end of the week. Her lectures are engaging and she takes questions and asks TopHat questions during. Although attendance isn't mandatory, I would still recommend going to lecture because the exams are entirely based off of lecture. Even so, I have rarely zoned off because she puts videos of kids being cute, or finds a way to relate the material to your own life. She also drops your lowest midterm score and offers extra credit for participation; you don't even need to answer the questions correctly. I would still recommend buying TopHat for the quarter, however, because her exam questions are just like the TopHat questions. She also holds extra office hours during finals week, and hosts a review session prior to each exam at the end of class.

Overall, Professor Goff is one of the most engaging, caring, and dedicated professors you'll have at UCLA. She clearly cares about children, and you'll leave her class loving children as well, as well as having learned about human development.

One of my favorite classes ever. Her lectures are clear and engaging, plus she drops your lowest midterm score.

Take this class. Just do it.

Professor Goff is so incredible, she really brought this class to life (especially important during times of online learning). The class was straightforward, her lectures were clear and there was no gap between the information taught in lecture and what was expected of you on the exams. Some relatively short writing assignments to deepen your knowledge and reflection on the material that were pretty easy. Overall, a great course that I would recommend to anyone interested in the content material