Professor
Soraya de Chadarevian
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - The lectures were unclear, confusing, and altogether unhelpful. We often wasted time at the beginning of classes on technical difficulties and other things rather than lecture material. Soraya's explanation of the material was all over the place, I had no idea what content to even study for. I did learn a lot in discussion sections, and I don't think it would be too hard to get an A if you have a good TA who helps to clarify things, but in my opinion the lectures were essentially pointless. That aside, what was most concerning were Soraya's policies regarding the pandemic and general accessibility concerns. She refused to upload lecture slides for the first week of class. Her reasoning was that posting slides would disincentivize people from coming to class, and give 'spoilers' to the material. I personally have never had a professor who has refused to provide slides, and as someone who prefers to take notes directly on the slides during lecture this was a bit frustrating. To her credit, after many students brought up their concerns during lecture, she eventually agreed. The biggest issue was when UCLA announced the transition back to in person classes mid-winter quarter. She stated that she would only hold lectures in-person, and offered NO virtual options such as recordings. If you had to miss a class, she said you could come to in-person office hours, but even then she said she was only able to clarify lecture material, not teach content you missed. She argued that this is how things would be 'in normal times,' even though we are clearly experiencing extraordinary circumstances (and even pre-pandemic many professors offered Bruincast). As far as I know this is completely unheard of, and very insensitive to students' concerns for health, not to mention students with disabilities or those who were unable to travel back to LA at such short notice. It essentially punishes students who are unable to come to class even if they have COVID, and puts every student's health at risk. Pretty ironic for a class about scientific ethics.
Winter 2022 - The lectures were unclear, confusing, and altogether unhelpful. We often wasted time at the beginning of classes on technical difficulties and other things rather than lecture material. Soraya's explanation of the material was all over the place, I had no idea what content to even study for. I did learn a lot in discussion sections, and I don't think it would be too hard to get an A if you have a good TA who helps to clarify things, but in my opinion the lectures were essentially pointless. That aside, what was most concerning were Soraya's policies regarding the pandemic and general accessibility concerns. She refused to upload lecture slides for the first week of class. Her reasoning was that posting slides would disincentivize people from coming to class, and give 'spoilers' to the material. I personally have never had a professor who has refused to provide slides, and as someone who prefers to take notes directly on the slides during lecture this was a bit frustrating. To her credit, after many students brought up their concerns during lecture, she eventually agreed. The biggest issue was when UCLA announced the transition back to in person classes mid-winter quarter. She stated that she would only hold lectures in-person, and offered NO virtual options such as recordings. If you had to miss a class, she said you could come to in-person office hours, but even then she said she was only able to clarify lecture material, not teach content you missed. She argued that this is how things would be 'in normal times,' even though we are clearly experiencing extraordinary circumstances (and even pre-pandemic many professors offered Bruincast). As far as I know this is completely unheard of, and very insensitive to students' concerns for health, not to mention students with disabilities or those who were unable to travel back to LA at such short notice. It essentially punishes students who are unable to come to class even if they have COVID, and puts every student's health at risk. Pretty ironic for a class about scientific ethics.
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