Do not take this class if you want an easy upper division, but if you are interested in the Vikings you will get a lot of their history intertwined with the films. Expect to spend a decent amount of time outside of class- 2 movies a week which are sometimes 2 hours long each, and some articles. The movies were hit or miss. Some of the movies were really hard to get through, and you still need a pretty comprehensive analysis for the exam. I thought the exams were pretty detailed and difficult for a film analysis class. You need to take notes on all the slides, movie plots, articles etc. The essays are manageable if you watch the movies but the fill in the blanks are really really hard. I wish I had more good things to say because she is a nice professor but I have nightmares about the exams.

I was not engaged by this professor at all. The material was very interesting but she was so boring that it made it hard to attend lecture and even pay attention. She seemed like a nice person though. She was a hard grader for the allowed time for exams. No curve. I would not recommend this class if you are someone looking for an easy A.

Ball is an overall amazing person and professor however this class proved to be really confusing and difficult. I would say that I went into it with the impression that it would be easy and know previous knowledge would be required but that's not the case. It seemed that many of the students in the class had background on the subject even though this was a lower div. The readings are challenging and the tests are even more challenging. You really have to pay attention and just reading the text is not enough, a deeper analysis is required especially because the English is an older style from Old Norse. Participation is required and is a part of the grade as well. 1 midterm, 1 final and 1 final paper.

I took Scand 40W and really enjoyed the class. The readings are very interesting and the classes give a good recap and give students a better understanding of the course. We had 3 essays which accounted for our entire grade, and the grading was lenient. What was a little annoying was the i-clicker questions at the beginning of every class which was based directly on the readings assigned, so we had to show up for class on time. This class was overall very enjoyable and intriguing.

I'm selling the Kalevala Book (required) for $10. Please text me at 714-331-4627

I took Scand 40W and really enjoyed the class. The readings are very interesting and the classes give a good recap and give students a better understanding of the course. We had 3 essays which accounted for our entire grade, and the grading was lenient. What was a little annoying was the i-clicker questions at the beginning of every class which was based directly on the readings assigned, so we had to show up for class on time. This class was overall very enjoyable and intriguing.

I'm selling the Kalevala Book (required) for $10. Please text me at 714-331-4627

So glad that I took scan 40w as my writing II. If you are someone interested in Scandinavian culture and the story of Odin, Thor, giants and dragons, this is a perfect class for you. A lot of readings but all writing II have readings and trust me, this is probably the most interesting reading you've ever read for classes. She really cares about students and loves what she is teaching. Papers were fairly graded and be sure to always talk to your TA. There were required iclicker questions each time at the beginning of the class about the assigned reading, so be sure to read ahead of time and not late to class. She only counts 15/20 of these questions.
Please take it. It's such a great experience.

I absolutely loved this class and the professor. Professor Ball was excellent at explaining the material, and her class was always enjoyable. All the books and stories we read were interesting, and most were available online for free. For the class, attendance is required and checked with clicker quizzes that are very simple, but tied to the reading. I very much enjoyed how the participation was divvied up, allowing students to post on the discussion forum or speak in class. This was one of my absolute favorite classes, and Professor Ball remains one of my favorite professors.

I went into the class with zero knowledge about Vikings or Scandinavia in general, so this was my first exposure to the topic. I found the material quite interesting. The class is graded based on the following: reading responses, in-class iClicker quizzes, two exams (weeks 5 and 10), and a take-home final essay (4 pages, double-spaced).

The material covers a wide range of topics from social structure to religion. It's honestly very difficult to not be fascinated by the history. Most of the readings are taken from various sagas and can be read like any other fun story. The lectures are just like any other lecture, but they're interesting as long as you are paying attention. There are some details the professor goes over that aren't too specifically written out in the lecture slides, so you do want to pay attention, but it shouldn't be a problem since the topic is quite captivating.

There is some amount of reading due every day which can sometimes get rather lengthy, but you only need to do 10 responses in total, with a minimum of 350 words. It takes all of 5 minutes and if you do all 10 early, you won't have any left to do after less than 4 weeks into the quarter, giving you more time to focus on other things. The iClicker quizzes are incredibly easy; if you did the reading then you'll get the right answer, and you can miss up to 5 or 6 quizzes and still get full credit.

The two exams can be slightly iffy. You need to do 40 fill-in-the-blank questions and answer 2 essay questions within 50 minutes. But, if you had been writing decent notes in class through the lectures and go back to review them, there is absolutely no problem. It may seem like a lot, but it's honestly quite easy. The answers for the fill-in-the-blank questions should pop right out to you if you had done some amount of reviewing, and the essay questions are analyses/interpretations that you can very easily do if you had been paying attention in class. There is nothing in the exams that wasn't present in either the lecture slides, the reading, or the lectures themselves. Also, for the essay portion, it doesn't necessarily have to be a formal essay; you can use bullet points and sentences that aren't exactly full sentences. It's absolutely possible to finish the exam with a few minutes left over.

The final take-home essay actually kind of got me, as I scored significantly lower than I thought I would, but I don't think it was because it was difficult. It's only 4 pages double-spaced and doesn't take too long to do, so it's possible that I underestimated it. Overall, it shouldn't be too difficult to get an A in it if you spend more time on it than I did (a few hours).

I wouldn't recommend this class if you absolutely hate reading. If you can tolerate it, then I do recommend it. I'm not lying when I say they're interesting. The only real complaint I have is that there is an exam on week 10 and then a final essay, but it's not the biggest deal in the world since the week 10 exam is NOT cumulative and the essay doesn't take too much time, so honestly the total time spent for those two should be about equal to the time spent studying for any other one final exam.

Professor Ball is absolutely fantastic, though, so if you want to take a class that is quite easy and interesting with a great professor, this is a good one.

Good, straightforward class. Selling The Kalevala and The Poetic Edda, if interested text me at 503-880-4378

I would say the content and the lectures were super engaging. However, the course's tests are randomly tough in the sense that the questions are random making the test tough. The participation comes from iClicker questions. The essays were graded really well and fairly. I actually got like a 95 on the essay and a 72 on the midterm, so I went with pass/no pass. I think passing the tests is the goal of the class. You only have a limited amount of time so know certain dates and people. I did learn a lot about vikings in this class, and I found that really rewarding.