Professor
Vilma Ortiz
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - For anyone interested in the topics covered by this class, I HIGHLY recommend you take it. Clusters are a great way to get GEs out of the way and from what I have heard, this cluster, in particular, is one of the better ones. In addition, the content included in this course is relevant and is certainly beneficial to you as a college student in the United States. The course content is very easy, and the workload is what you make of it. Lectures are engaging if you choose to pay attention and the weekly assigned readings are bearable (most of the time). The only downside to this course is that there is a fair amount of reading. As I mentioned previously, there are weekly readings, and in addition to that, we had to finish reading a relatively short book by week 7. However, I can assure you plenty of classmates never even touched the reading materials, but it is in your best interest to actually read the book as your final essay is centered around the content of the novel. It is a decent book and as someone who hates reading, I found it pretty easy to finish.
Fall 2020 - For anyone interested in the topics covered by this class, I HIGHLY recommend you take it. Clusters are a great way to get GEs out of the way and from what I have heard, this cluster, in particular, is one of the better ones. In addition, the content included in this course is relevant and is certainly beneficial to you as a college student in the United States. The course content is very easy, and the workload is what you make of it. Lectures are engaging if you choose to pay attention and the weekly assigned readings are bearable (most of the time). The only downside to this course is that there is a fair amount of reading. As I mentioned previously, there are weekly readings, and in addition to that, we had to finish reading a relatively short book by week 7. However, I can assure you plenty of classmates never even touched the reading materials, but it is in your best interest to actually read the book as your final essay is centered around the content of the novel. It is a decent book and as someone who hates reading, I found it pretty easy to finish.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - Absolutely loved this quarter! If you are looking at this review then you are probably already committed to the year long course. Professor Fong and Professor Brown were Professors added in this quarter and they were very engaging and would play music at the beginning of lectures. Professor Bunten and Ortiz were great Prof's as usual. Professor Ortiz also really was compassionate and understanding this quarter, she's actually so sweet! Grading: Participation (40%): Same as last quarter (during covid) 40% of your grade is easy participation points if you just do the readings, do lecture participation, and talk during discussion. Media Paper (30%): They shortened the media paper from previous years so now its only a 1500 word paper, and they just want to see your writing improving across the quarters. Final (30%): They implemented "biweekly" reflections and the average of those one-pager's was your final exam grade. (Ortiz even cancelled two of them because of our media paper deadline so the writing in this class isn't too overwhelming.)(She might not do the reflections after covid though) Take Laura Terrance as your TA if you can! She is a really sweet, knowledgeable, and welcoming TA. Her grading is also extremely fair if you put in a good effort! Final Course Grade: A+ Participation: 100%, Media Paper: 97%, Final Exam (reflections): 100%
Winter 2021 - Absolutely loved this quarter! If you are looking at this review then you are probably already committed to the year long course. Professor Fong and Professor Brown were Professors added in this quarter and they were very engaging and would play music at the beginning of lectures. Professor Bunten and Ortiz were great Prof's as usual. Professor Ortiz also really was compassionate and understanding this quarter, she's actually so sweet! Grading: Participation (40%): Same as last quarter (during covid) 40% of your grade is easy participation points if you just do the readings, do lecture participation, and talk during discussion. Media Paper (30%): They shortened the media paper from previous years so now its only a 1500 word paper, and they just want to see your writing improving across the quarters. Final (30%): They implemented "biweekly" reflections and the average of those one-pager's was your final exam grade. (Ortiz even cancelled two of them because of our media paper deadline so the writing in this class isn't too overwhelming.)(She might not do the reflections after covid though) Take Laura Terrance as your TA if you can! She is a really sweet, knowledgeable, and welcoming TA. Her grading is also extremely fair if you put in a good effort! Final Course Grade: A+ Participation: 100%, Media Paper: 97%, Final Exam (reflections): 100%
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2017 - The spring portion of Inter-Racial Dynamics was taught in Seminars by Instructors and Teaching Assistants. I had TA Ariana Valle, who was great! The entire course was weekly readings, three Instagram posts, an Analytical Memo that summarized 4 readings, and an interview research paper, as well as in-class discussion. She made the class engaging by using lectures with slides, reading summaries, discussion, documentaries, and songs / youtube videos. It was also helpful to learn the process of an interview research paper - it's something I had not written before and I now feel prepared and confident if I get assigned other Interview Research papers in the future. The seminar was termed "Deconstructing Latinidad" and looked at different Latino/Hispanic groups by origin country, discussed panethnic identity and more. It was extremely interesting and I would recommend to anyone!
Spring 2017 - The spring portion of Inter-Racial Dynamics was taught in Seminars by Instructors and Teaching Assistants. I had TA Ariana Valle, who was great! The entire course was weekly readings, three Instagram posts, an Analytical Memo that summarized 4 readings, and an interview research paper, as well as in-class discussion. She made the class engaging by using lectures with slides, reading summaries, discussion, documentaries, and songs / youtube videos. It was also helpful to learn the process of an interview research paper - it's something I had not written before and I now feel prepared and confident if I get assigned other Interview Research papers in the future. The seminar was termed "Deconstructing Latinidad" and looked at different Latino/Hispanic groups by origin country, discussed panethnic identity and more. It was extremely interesting and I would recommend to anyone!
AD
Most Helpful Review
You can call it an "easy course" because there is no midterm or final, but this class is by no means an easy A. You will find lectures and discussion sections pointless because they are so unstructured and irrelevant. The readings will be pointless because there are no exams. Everything that can be learned from this entire course can be learned through simple research online or through simply having a conversation with a member of surrounding Latin@ communities. Don't waste your time on this course I can assure you that you will be left with boredom and regret. Do something more exciting like actually going out and talking to some Latin@s and discovering these issues through your own experience. Don't waste your time on the course, trust me, don't do it, don't do it.
You can call it an "easy course" because there is no midterm or final, but this class is by no means an easy A. You will find lectures and discussion sections pointless because they are so unstructured and irrelevant. The readings will be pointless because there are no exams. Everything that can be learned from this entire course can be learned through simple research online or through simply having a conversation with a member of surrounding Latin@ communities. Don't waste your time on this course I can assure you that you will be left with boredom and regret. Do something more exciting like actually going out and talking to some Latin@s and discovering these issues through your own experience. Don't waste your time on the course, trust me, don't do it, don't do it.
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