Professor
Steven Peterson
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2017 - This class is a joke. You basically teach yourself from his online articles he posts to his class website. He goes over the same articles in class and may not even get to them. Peterson is always off topic and going to class is a waste of time but participation is 20% of your grade even though he never takes attendance. The entire class is based on coming up with a product to sell and pitching the idea to investors or a team but he is super vague on everything he wants and going to his office hours is not even worth it or any way helpful. He expects a lot from this project which takes the entire semester but he does not explain anything well at all, so you basically have to figure it out on your own. The project is over 50% of your grade and he is not helpful at all. He also grades super harshly compared to the actual information and help he gives you. Take this class if you are serious about being an entrepreneur and have an actual idea you want to pursue, if not then don't even waste your time. This class is not worth taking if you need a communication practicum course!
Winter 2017 - This class is a joke. You basically teach yourself from his online articles he posts to his class website. He goes over the same articles in class and may not even get to them. Peterson is always off topic and going to class is a waste of time but participation is 20% of your grade even though he never takes attendance. The entire class is based on coming up with a product to sell and pitching the idea to investors or a team but he is super vague on everything he wants and going to his office hours is not even worth it or any way helpful. He expects a lot from this project which takes the entire semester but he does not explain anything well at all, so you basically have to figure it out on your own. The project is over 50% of your grade and he is not helpful at all. He also grades super harshly compared to the actual information and help he gives you. Take this class if you are serious about being an entrepreneur and have an actual idea you want to pursue, if not then don't even waste your time. This class is not worth taking if you need a communication practicum course!
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - Professor Peterson is one of the worst professors in the Comm department at UCLA. Let me make this clear - I am not saying this out of bitterness. His class is not that difficult and I received an A. However, the topic is the most useless in all of Comm (he basically just makes you memorize a list of intricate terms) and goes on tangents the whole class that are not even remotely related to what he tests on. If you try and seek help from him, he is a huge asshole - arrogant and condescending. I wonder if he knows how truly useless the material he is teaching is, or if he has somehow convinced himself that it is useful or interesting. The problem is that he is almost untouchable, since his wife is Pia Svenson, the head of the Comm department. You will really gain nothing from this class except an extra 2 hour nap twice a week during class, and stress trying to teach yourself all the material before exams. Avoid if you can.
Fall 2018 - Professor Peterson is one of the worst professors in the Comm department at UCLA. Let me make this clear - I am not saying this out of bitterness. His class is not that difficult and I received an A. However, the topic is the most useless in all of Comm (he basically just makes you memorize a list of intricate terms) and goes on tangents the whole class that are not even remotely related to what he tests on. If you try and seek help from him, he is a huge asshole - arrogant and condescending. I wonder if he knows how truly useless the material he is teaching is, or if he has somehow convinced himself that it is useful or interesting. The problem is that he is almost untouchable, since his wife is Pia Svenson, the head of the Comm department. You will really gain nothing from this class except an extra 2 hour nap twice a week during class, and stress trying to teach yourself all the material before exams. Avoid if you can.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2017 - This class was absolutely terrible- hands down the worst class I have ever taken at UCLA. To say that it is unorganized is an understatement. During our last section immediately before the final, the TA literally stood at the front of the class and gave conflicting answers to questions being asked by about two people at the front of the room, while the rest of the class was talking loudly amongst themselves.... I guess they thought they would gain more from that than from the class itself (which is arguably true). The professor is a nice person, but the class is just awful....
Winter 2017 - This class was absolutely terrible- hands down the worst class I have ever taken at UCLA. To say that it is unorganized is an understatement. During our last section immediately before the final, the TA literally stood at the front of the class and gave conflicting answers to questions being asked by about two people at the front of the room, while the rest of the class was talking loudly amongst themselves.... I guess they thought they would gain more from that than from the class itself (which is arguably true). The professor is a nice person, but the class is just awful....
Most Helpful Review
The idea of the class is interesting but professor Peterson is all over the place. He didn't seem to cover much in lecture, barely touched on the readings, and spent the rest of the time going off on tangents or anecdotes about current events. While the news he talks about is generally interesting, he doesn't really teach you anything and you are left pretty much on your own for this class. The exams were multiple choice and based on the readings. The assignments were very vague, which is somewhat frustrating. Overall, it's a pretty easy class (both grading and exam-wise). I just wish I could have learned more on this topic but the professor was too disorganized.
The idea of the class is interesting but professor Peterson is all over the place. He didn't seem to cover much in lecture, barely touched on the readings, and spent the rest of the time going off on tangents or anecdotes about current events. While the news he talks about is generally interesting, he doesn't really teach you anything and you are left pretty much on your own for this class. The exams were multiple choice and based on the readings. The assignments were very vague, which is somewhat frustrating. Overall, it's a pretty easy class (both grading and exam-wise). I just wish I could have learned more on this topic but the professor was too disorganized.
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Most Helpful Review
He's pretty nice, if you go talk to him about your paper he'll try and raise your grade (if there were points taken off for silly things and it was your first time, for example). Tests are extremely easy, but you have to read all of the readings and take good notes during his lectures (everything. Even if it seems trivial and stupid, just write down everything he and the guest lecturers say). He asks some specific things sometimes. I enjoyed the guest lectures he had every week. The group presentation was limited to 2 minutes because we had so many.
He's pretty nice, if you go talk to him about your paper he'll try and raise your grade (if there were points taken off for silly things and it was your first time, for example). Tests are extremely easy, but you have to read all of the readings and take good notes during his lectures (everything. Even if it seems trivial and stupid, just write down everything he and the guest lecturers say). He asks some specific things sometimes. I enjoyed the guest lectures he had every week. The group presentation was limited to 2 minutes because we had so many.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2017 - Super easy way to get internship credit- you don't even need to have an internship to be in the class, you just need to be actively looking. You write a few mini projects throughout the quarter based on the # of units you want for the class. They are all super easy. Example projects are writing a daily journal of tasks at your internship or interviewing a staff member. Online it says lecture is 3 hours but it is really around 1 hour. There are guest speakers most weeks. You only have to go to like 7 lectures. Final is just a 4 page paper about your internship. Syllabus says like 10 page paper, but its really only 4 pages.
Spring 2017 - Super easy way to get internship credit- you don't even need to have an internship to be in the class, you just need to be actively looking. You write a few mini projects throughout the quarter based on the # of units you want for the class. They are all super easy. Example projects are writing a daily journal of tasks at your internship or interviewing a staff member. Online it says lecture is 3 hours but it is really around 1 hour. There are guest speakers most weeks. You only have to go to like 7 lectures. Final is just a 4 page paper about your internship. Syllabus says like 10 page paper, but its really only 4 pages.
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