Interesting topic. Wording in quizzes and exams can be confusing.
Projects are fun, but difficult to create networks using the software.

Overall this class wasn't too bad in the end but ONLY take it if you're SURE the other computer system communications core classes are harder...

- This whole class covers unnecessary concepts that you natively know but don't think about, and it ALL revolves around the same point he makes clear in the FIRST class... It just gets boring and boring...
-His power points have VERY few words so it is very useful to take notes.
-He makes us do 6 easy in class quizzes but the lowest grade is cancelled. The quizzes are all like 5 questions consisting of true or false, multiple choice (of 2 options), and drawing ones.
-There's no textbook required
-His midterm is like the quizzes in question types but WAAAAY harder (multiple choices have up to 5 choices this time) and he basically said after everyone got a bad grade "the midterm was hard so I can separate who just knows the facts, and who knows how to apply these facts"
-He assigns some readings online but they are not necessary at ALL
-There's 2 homework assignments in the Gephi application he makes you download, and theres one class he devotes to teaching how to use Gephi (for these homework go to the professor or T.A. since this is the only thing the useless T.A. will know how to help its students so use him/her!!!)
-Office Hours are horrible cuz the professor is suuuuuper nice and helpful but he has too many students who want to ask him questions so there's even times when a student won't get time to speak with him (by the end of the quarter he used a system of signing up for 10-minute slots for office hours) which means only 6 students could sign up which is horrible.... make him invent a newer system for office hour that will benefit everyone...
-The final was SURPIRISINGLY more easy than the midterm (and sooooo short to be a final exam) and people did way better in the final. The final exam was actually more like the quizes than the midterm.

Professor Lamberson is a really funny guy but lacks clarity when it comes to teaching.
The first half of the class is manageable if you attend class and do the HW assignments. It’s key that you take notes in this class because his slides are useless.
The second half becomes a lot more stat based and a lot more confusing. Lamberson fails at explaining the concepts very well and made it more confusing than it had to be. I heavily relied on YouTube videos to understand the concepts and to do the HW assignments.
His class consists of a midterm, a final, 7-8 HW assignments and a group project. The one bad thing about the final is that we’re not allowed to have a calculator so a bunch of us were stuck trying to solve the math during the final.

Comm156 with Lamberson can be frustrating. He's a funny guy and that's nice, but it's also clear that a lot of the quizzes (six per quarter) and tests (midterm and final) are meant to be tricky. That's part of learning, obviously, but it doesn't necessarily feel like genuine learning vs. figuring out the ins-and-outs of his questions. The tests felt easier and were what boosted my grade. I attribute that in large part to figuring out how he words things.

Lamberson is arguably one of the most intelligent individuals on campus. He primarily taught PhD students at MIT and other top-tier universities. His studies on social networks are complex and very noteworthy. At first, I didn't care for him, mostly because his tests are pretty difficult and are meant to trick you. But this class seems too basic for him to teach, as you can tell when he tries to explain the basics of statistics. There is a group project that requires you to do your own "experiment," coming up with a hypothesis and elaborating on your fake results. There are a few homework assignments, as well as a midterm and final. If you have a good TA, then the grading is pretty fair. Lamberson cares about his students. He's willing to help people outside of his office hours, which I respect. It just requires more studying than other Comm classes to obtain a good grade.

Lamberson is a great guy, and the other class I took with him was awesome, he was clearly very passionate about it. The problem with this class is that he lacks passion, I really feel like he didn't care what he was teaching. The first half is fine, things you've definitely learned in other classes starting in about 6th grade. The second half is Stats based, and I've just been racking my brain to pull up information taught in Stats 10 because it is a lot more helpful than what he teaches. He's a nice guy and means well but lacks clarity and organization. Often times he would start teaching a concept and then in the middle say, "you guys don't need to know this though" which made it hard to know what we should and should not know. Tests are multiple choice and a bit tricky, group project isn't too bad if you have helpful group members.

I had very mixed feelings about this class throughout the quarter. In the beginning I loved it, the professor was super passionate about what he was teaching, the slides were well organized, lectures were thorough. But then the class took a turn with some very simple but unexpected math and the use of a software program that made me hate it for a bit. At the end however, I am back to really enjoying the class, I mastered the use of the software and found out some information that I think is relevant beyond the class. Midterm exam was very easy if you study, all multiple choice and True/False. There are quizzes every Monday, the lowest one is dropped, but that means attendance is pretty necessary. The professor was willing to clear up any questions and really elaborate if the class was confused. There are no TA sections but the TA was readily available to help if need be. This class is about real social networks in life, not about social networking sites, just FYI.

Heavy on stats

As a graduating senior at UCLA, this is hands down one of my favorite -- if not-- my favorite class I've ever taken. Professor Lamberson is a very adept professor who teaches at a great pace, ensuring everyone is following the materials, and seems to really care. The concepts of this class are super applicable in the real world, especially for people trying to go into marketing and social media, and I find myself leaving the class more interested in this area of study than I would have expected going in. I actually enjoyed going to class lol

None of the workload was too much or out of left field. The quizzes are definitely hard... and I think some of them are worded somewhat ambiguously but the tests are more moderate.

If anyone is looking to take a class that is super interesting, and taught by a really nice and caring professor I would recommend it!

Class can be difficult. Quizzes and exams are intentionally hard. Professor had a student who had an anxiety attack during the midterm and asked us to "not do that."
Material is interesting but very theoretical at times. The TA saved this class for me.
Homework assignments take a long time, start them early.
Overall not terrible but I recommend another comm for this required core.