I could really go on and on about how amazing this class was. The workload was perfect, the lectures were unbelievably, astoundingly good (seriously Prof. Green has some talent to give lectures that good during COVID), and the grading was more than fair. For online, it was all asynchronous, and while I ordinarily don't like the format, it fit this class really well because the workload was forgiving. You were graded on one 8-page midterm (50%) and one 8-page final (50%). It may sound daunting, but if you speak with him during his office hours, it'll help a ton. Spend a good amount of time outlining it to really nail the organization/thesis and the rest will flow naturally, because the course materials complement the prompt so well. The sources came entirely from the weekly readings which never ever exceeded more than 75 pages per week. There was never a boring reading and this has actually inspired me to take more classes on Iran offered in the history department. Insofar as the material, it explored the expansion of the Persian language and culture from 900AD to 2000AD and I thought it was a really interesting intersection of linguistics and imperial dominance/conquest. If I could take this class every quarter I would.

This class is naturally asynchronous, as all lectures take the form of prerecorded podcasts. Your entire grade consists of three essays—4 pages on an ancient artifact, 4 pages on an ancient primary source document, and an 8 page synthesis on ancient religion—with no homework, projects, exams, or anything else. The weekly workload consisted of two hour-long lecture podcasts, about four supplementary documents, one chapter of the textbook, and one discussion section. Conceivably all one has to do to get an A is read all the supplementary documents relevant to your essay topics and listen to the one lecture podcast associated with it—you can honestly get by without listening to most lectures and completely ignoring the textbook, though I wouldn't recommend doing this as it creates bad habits.

The workload as described above is very, very light, and if you're an able writer with any remote interest in ancient history or religion in general, this is the GE for you. I've heard that some TA's for this course are rather harsh and nit-picky graders though; I had Cristi Whiskey as my TA and I thought she was very fair and accommodating, I would definitely recommend her.

Prof Green is very charming and well-spoken. The lecture: Some key dates, places and people hand written on the chalkboard then he lectures for the rest of the class. Most of the class is his verbal lecturing so if you are not there to take down verbatim what he says-it'll get confusing to borrow notes from someone who just wrote a few dates that he wrote on the board. There are no slides or lectures posted online but he assigns weekly readings that include primary sources. You don't HAVE to read them but if you go through them the class makes so much more sense so if you skip a day you won't be totally confused. His midterm was a take home paper. He provided 2 questions from each of the weeks 1-5 and we had to choose one and write a paper on it using that weeks primary sources, readings and lectures. I did not try my hardest on it and was a little scatterbrained and I got a B. He writes e-mails back very fast and I've been to his office hrs once and he seemed approachable. He can come off a tad intimidating but you can tell he just wants students to learn. I am in week 9 but the final is the same format of the midterm except it is in class. He is going to give us a week in advance to look and study the question so on final day we come in and write the essay on the spot. Overall, he is a good prof and very passionate and colorful in his teaching style. He is also very open-minded and provides all different historical views! Good prof, take him if the actual subject matter is of slight interest to you. So if you can handle a class that has no online post of lectures-no slides, only a midterm/final essay style but with a good prof relaying it to you-then take it!

I took this class in the fall when it was asynchronous. I would definitely NOT recommend taking this class if you need an easy A. The class is easy in that it takes almost no work to complete. You literally just have to write 3 papers. The 3 papers count for your entire grade though, and it definitely didn't seem like the professor and TA were on the same page about what the paper was supposed to be about.

The instructions for the papers were just one or two questions that you had to base an entire 4-8 page paper on. My TA definitely had no idea what was going on in the class or how to grade the papers. There was no rubric, and she didn't know what the heck she was talking about in discussion. I got an 86% on my first paper (which was 25% of the overall grade) and I asked the TA what I did wrong, and she cited things that she told me to do, such as putting "/" between quotations. I emailed the professor and he said there was nothing he could do about the grade and that he and the TAs thoroughly talked over how to grade the papers.

It definitely didn't seem like it because the TA was telling us to write a different prompt than was given by the professor.

Overall, the workload is easy. Just read whatever you want to write your paper on, and write 3 papers over the quarter. But be warned, the grading is whack, so you better get a good TA.

I agree with the person above me. He is a very approachable guy, good lecturer, and very open to questions or comments. I had no interest in the topic matter prior to the class, I joined the day of when my other class got canceled, and ended up really enjoying the class. He is a mildly hard grader, I got an A- on the midterm after putting a decent amount of effort into it. Saw a few Cs from other people. Lecture material and online readings cover everything. Books aren't really needed. No surprises on the final (which I am about to take)saves a lot of headache. Overall I would highly recommend him. I plan to take his 175 class next quarter (assuming I get a good grade in this class! :D)

Actual Course Taken: 2010 Winter - HIST175C-1
Special Topics in Contemporary Indian History: Muslim Reformation? Islam, Modernity, and Empire in British India.

Structure: Midterm: 50% , Final: 50%

Midterm: You get to pick one question from weeks 1-5. He provides 5 questions or so and you need to answer one. His syllabus is all online with all online readings organized week by week in themes. He gives a week's advance for a 5-10 page paper. I left it till last minute (Same as I did in the other class) and received a B+

Final: He gave us one "theme" question everyone had to do and then a question chosen from 3 possibilities. He gave the questions 5 days in advance and it was on the spot bluebook. I received a B+

Overall, he is a good lecturer, he is interesting but there are NO slides or no overarching textbook to refer to. The readings every week are helpful and you don't need to read every one(Just the weeks you choose to write about). That is good because there were some weeks (Like the Christian missionaries in British India) that did not interest me. I've taken him twice, each time got a B but I would take him again. It does not demand much of you, and if you're into the subject take it! Even if you're not interested in the subject his passion and English accent will make you into it.