This class during quarantine had minimal interaction between professor and students, all lectures were recorded and posted. These lectures were mainly reviewing concepts from the required textbook, and videos instructing students on how to navigate using the QGIS software. The class was set up as follows: weekly readings/videos on which we had a quiz (you can take as many times as you want but you have to wait a certain amount of time between attempts), we had a weekly forum where we read an article or watched a video and responded through a forum post, lastly we had a weekly QGIS mapping project. I thought the mapping projects were really fun, because we got to take and manipulate visually real data, and we were looking at the 2016 election statistics during the 2020 election so I could actually compare the 2 different results. QGIS is a bit hard to navigate, but I had no experience and was fine. Professor Burkhart gives very clear videos on how to use QGIS, and my TA Jason was very helpful in trouble shooting any software issue I ran up against.

Very interesting and worthwhile GE. The material was very clear and easy to learn. Assignments took a little bit of time, but were enjoyable. Would recommend.

This class was overall quite easy, and also taught me skills that I expect to be useful in my career. The one thing I really object to was the fact that weekly assignments had to exceed the requirements for a full score. I felt that the amount of time it would have taken to go above and beyond each week was not worth it, so I did not get an A. I suppose that is my fault, but I was somewhat annoyed that even when I was showing growth in learning the topic, points would be taken off for both making small formatting mistakes as well as not doing extra.

I thought this class was very interesting, knowing how to work with QGIS is a helpful skill and I would definitely recommend this class. The weekly assignments were manageable, if you need any help office hours with TAs and the professor are extremely helpful.

This class was entirely asynchronous when I took it. The lists of things you need to get done each week were very straightforward: lectures, weekly quizzes, and projects (with technical videos). The lectures were very clear and concise, like those in GEOG7 but added on some more concepts/ reviewed the old ideas from GEOG7. The weekly quizzes had multiple attempts, and they were open notes so that you could expect good grades from that portion. The projects were definitely the longest and most challenging part of the weekly assignment. Unlike GEOG7, especially in the second half of the class, you need to figure out how to do some stuff yourself. The technical screencasts would not walk you through all the processes. You will have a final project on any topic, very open-ended, but you are expected to use techniques you have learned from this class.

Overall, I think it is a very useful class for people interested in learning GIS. The course structure was the same as GEOG7, so it is not hard for you to get used to it. However, I think I would have a better experience in the class if there were assigned time sessions (but voluntarily participate) that you could drop in together with other people and ask the TA/ professor the questions. GroupMe is very helpful, so please make one so you can connect with other people in the class. I went to the office hours, but there was such a long wait. My TA was responsive to the email, which was excellent and helpful. The projects you complete every week are very cool, and you would be proud of them. I enjoyed the class and would recommend that anyone interested in GIS enroll in this!

This class is so entertaining and helpful. Everything is online so its pretty easy. if you take this class always remember to start your assignments early in the week because although they may not look time consuming they can be. My TA, Scott, was really helpful and easy to talk too. The quizzes are largely based off the textbook so it is necessary to have. The assignments overall where pretty easy and the quizzes too. The midterm was also super easy to do. for the final you get to choose on how to demonstrate your understanding of the subject. Overall pretty laid back class and also very helpful.

Overall I really enjoyed this class! As an env sci major it’s required and I was nervous to take it but it was actually really fun and I think I learned a lot. Everything is posted in easy video tutorials and it’s clear what is being asked of us each week. The TA’s mainly teach the course, I never heard from the professor besides the weekly videos and a weekly announcement. I loved my TA and she was really helpful, if you go to their office hours they can give you helpful pointers and review your assignments. I highly recommend this class !

If you would like to take GEOG 7 with a really easygoing, resourceful, and considerate professor, I strongly suggest you take this course with Dr. Burkhart. (Btw, he got a PhD in geography at UCLA!)

The course content is mostly online. No regular class meeting (lectures), only labs in-person or online just once a week, but participation matters a lot (more than 10% percent, depending on your TA's grading styles since all your assignments and even the final project will be graded by the TA you have chosen at the beginning.)

The course is "capped", namely, not accepting enrollment after the end of week !

Workload may intimidate you if you have never be exposed to geography, cartography or learn and master new things in a fast way. Remember, both the midterm (like a online quiz, but you need to use a software called "QGIS" to get the right answers to submit, i.e., the test is mainly on your software operation) and the final project are counted as 15% of the total grades of this course; however, 8 regular assignments matters much, much more (40%)!

He's a great professor and a very nice person. I would 100% recommend going to office hours, because you can do almost 90% of the work in office hours and he will help you out a ton, because he really cares that you excel in his class and understand the material.

It's definitely a good amount of work, and coming in with little cartography experience made it a little hard for me. But after the first couple of weeks, the work load eased up because I understood a lot of the stuff from previous weeks.

The workload is pretty large but not necessarily difficult. An A is definitely manageable if you can stay on top of the assignments and pay attention to the details on your maps. The TAs can tend to nit pick on certain details which is annoying but the class is overall pretty laid back.