First of all, Dr.Anderson's lectures were so easy to follow along. Since this class was set up to be asynchronous the lectures were recorded and discussion was not mandatory (which is nice). Anderson seemed incredibly concerned about students and reminded us to inform her of any mishaps or such that interfered with our work. That said, the workload for this class is not light for a GE. Usually a week consisted of maybe two lectures, chapter readings from the sociology book required, additional readings (some of which were like 20+ pages yikes), and towards the end of the class , some films. This material would then be used to form a discussion post due on Thursday and responses to peers due on Sunday. All of that said, the material was usually very interesting, but still a lot. HOWEVER, all of this eventually helps make the final 7-8 page paper pretty easy. Essentially, your discussion posts are preparing you for that paper. This is reinforced by the huge weight participation (the discussion posts) has on your grade.

IF YOU TAKE SOCIOLOGY 1, TAKE IT WITH PROFESSOR ANDERSON!!!!! SUCH a great class omg. Keep in mind that I took it asynchronously. It was still super engaging and interesting. I came in with no sociology class experience (but with knowledge and opinions on the social matters we discussed) and honestly, I thought that this class would just be "common sense" and I know that with other professors that's basically how it is. Nevertheless, Professor Anderson had a very interesting approach. She thought of Sociology as a way of seeing society and the examples that she gave were very helpful to make the concepts more digestible. Super light workload. TAKE IT!!!!!

I enjoyed this class but would have enjoyed it a lot more if the workload was cut in half. Anderson is an amazing lecturer - she's very engaging and I really liked going to class. I was scared to take this class because of the bad reviews below but it honestly was a lot better than I thought it'd be. That said, this class really does require more work than other classes. There's a lot of readings to do and 5 essays which are basically due every other week. You have to do the readings because there are 5 pop quizzes - a lot of people I know failed them, but honestly they're manageable and if you do the readings and actually pay attention to them (don't skim) you'll be good. Reading definitely took a decent amount of time but it wasn't the worst thing ever because the material was usually interesting, albeit a little redundant at times. Essays were frequent but not hard, they had rubrics that told you exactly what to do, and it's not too difficult to get good grades on them. You have to go to discussion bc participation is part of your grade, which is fine bc the TA's were all pretty cool. I loved my TA Ashton, he always facilitated great conversations and was super helpful for the essays. Aside from the workload, I really enjoyed this class. If you put in the effort it's not impossible to get an A or even an A+ so don't let the other reviews scare you. You basically just have to go into class knowing it's not gonna be an "easy a" GE.

BEST CLASS EVER! I'm taking this class asynchronously and it's just amazing!

The lectures are so clear, so awesome, and I'm learning so much from them. The homework consists of a discussion post and replies to two comments which is not only easy and a light workload, but I actually learn so much from it.

This class made me fall in love with Sociology and I'm thinking of changing my major to it now. Take this class and pay attention -- it's so valuable!!!

As my first ever sociology course, I was not disappointed. I loved how interesting her podcast-style lectures were to listen to. I probably would have processed it more if I didn't save all of the recorded lectures (typically two per week, twenty-forty minutes MAX each) better if I did not watch all of them in one day, haha! I did enjoy the freedom of asynchronous classes and felt that all of the deadlines were paced well, coming from a working student.

Textbook: I'm sorry, but you do need it. The author states how he wants it to read 'like an actual book,' at the beginning, which is funny because it is so obviously not the case, but the technical language is well defined with plenty of modern-ish examples and interesting theories! Taking reading notes and watching the lectures genuinely prepared me very well for the final!

Quizzes: all multiple-choice, timed. As for the quizzes, I did not like how each week's quiz would ask cumulative questions instead of sticking to what we learned within that week, as I often confused my information. They weren't extremely difficult, but I did feel that the questions, being based on cumulative info, were repetitive and tricky to narrow down sometimes. HOWEVER, this was a tolerable nuisance since we did not have a midterm and the final was a paper instead of a test.

Final Exam: Again, it was a paper instead of an actual test, the prompt is intimidating at first but I reached out to my TA and we just talked out various points which was super helpful! The professor offers plenty of office hours options as well, although honestly I never made time to go and still processed the information relatively well.

Dislikes:

-I would say that I did not enjoy needing to respond to other's discussions post every single week, it felt highly unnecessary on top of the lengthy posts themselves. The prompts for discussion would make you think half the time, so not necessarily boring but tedious.

-I did not like that for the final we had to cite a high number of readings and discuss the films-the films was not very engaging and more time-consuming on top of readings and writings. Again, highly doable within two-three days, but tedious.

Likes:
+The professor and TA were amazing! From excellent breakdowns to clear class outlines, I never felt lost in this course! Would take a class with this teacher again!

If you're looking for a light GE to take this ain't it. The material itself isn't necessarily challenging, but I took this class with upper divs for my major and found myself spending more time on this class than any other. The work isn't hard but it is A LOT. I was a bit frustrated that by week 8 and 9 she was assigning us up to five hours in lecture videos, plus additional reading assignments for our discussion posts. I was beyond frustrated because these weren't things you could skip without your entire grade suffering. I spent way more time for this class than I ever should have to for a GE.

This class was super interesting and engaging! Prof. Anderson is an excellent teacher and explains the material in a way that's very comprehensible for students. The grading is as follows:

-Essay #1, #2 and #3: 10% each
-Essay #4 and #5: 15% each
-4 out of 5 best pop quizzes: 20%
(Quizzes consist of 10 multiple choice questions, and are based on any and all course materials covered up to that point.)
-Participation: 20%

The essays were all very manageable and students were given a rubric by which to follow, so as long as you included all of the required material, it was very easy to get an A! There is no midterm or final exam for this class! In terms of the workload, there is a set of required readings for each lecture, so be prepared to read! The readings were all pretty interesting and were based on the textbook, in addition to the material posted on CCLE. Overall, I would highly recommend this class!

I found this class to be very interesting. A lot of reading is involved and there are 5 essays that can be a bit challenging but the instructions are pretty clear on what is required of you. Not an easy GE but I feel more prepared for other classes.

Prof. Anderson is very clear and experienced. Overall, big but reasonable workload and thought-provoking class topics. Besides discussion participation, class is made up of a lot of readings with pop quizzes to test and 5 five-six page essays checking content understanding. You have to put your effort into the essays, but if you do should be a good grade. Really is one of those classes where you put in the effort, you do well. No effort, do poorly.

This was a very demanding class. I spent so much time on essays, reading materials, and I got an A- which shows how ridiculous this class is graded. Even my TA agreed that Professor Anderson assigned us too much. I had to take this class as a pre-major requirement, so I found it very interesting. The workload was way too much though. It makes me mad how much time I spent on this class lol. The quizzes were always so scary and hard. I would read all the materials and still have trouble with them. Professor Anderson did not care; in fact, she explained once how her quizzes were actually very fair like ok boomer.

She assigns reading from the textbook and the quizzes have some questions from the textbook, so I am glad I got it. I am selling it so text me 9493717372