CIVIC 50SL
Engaging Los Angeles
Description: Lecture, two hours; discussion, two hours. Service learning course with focus on diverse communities of Los Angeles. Analysis of general shared history of Los Angeles. Comparing or contrasting of experiences of several different racial/ethnic groups. Engagement in meaningful work off campus to reflect on assets, injustices, and inequities that have shaped experiences of native or immigrant communities. Analysis of Los Angeles in which residents coexist and interact while managing tensions and social justice issues inherent in minority/majority city. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - This class is a really easy GE and as long as you do all the participation and put in a bit of effort, you'll get an A. You have do weekly volunteering 2-4 hours a week. The volunteering sites are usually fun. Just make sure to pick places that do not have far commutes. You have to do a weekly writing assignment about society and your volunteering site. The writing assignment is usually 1-2 pages double-spaced. The assignment is usually a reflection so just write about whatever happened and answer the prompt. There are no exams, but you do have to submit a midterm paper and a final paper. It really depends on your TA. If your TA seems strict week 1 of discussion, then switch to another TA's discussion. I was fortunate to have a very nice TA who was a very lenient grader.
Spring 2018 - This class is a really easy GE and as long as you do all the participation and put in a bit of effort, you'll get an A. You have do weekly volunteering 2-4 hours a week. The volunteering sites are usually fun. Just make sure to pick places that do not have far commutes. You have to do a weekly writing assignment about society and your volunteering site. The writing assignment is usually 1-2 pages double-spaced. The assignment is usually a reflection so just write about whatever happened and answer the prompt. There are no exams, but you do have to submit a midterm paper and a final paper. It really depends on your TA. If your TA seems strict week 1 of discussion, then switch to another TA's discussion. I was fortunate to have a very nice TA who was a very lenient grader.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - This class is very easy. As long as you show up to class and do your work, you should be fine. There isn't much reading, and the midterm was pretty easy. HOWEVER, you need to volunteer five times for three hours each time throughout the class. The service sites are actually fun, but it is time consuming to go to your service site, volunteer, and then come back.
Winter 2016 - This class is very easy. As long as you show up to class and do your work, you should be fine. There isn't much reading, and the midterm was pretty easy. HOWEVER, you need to volunteer five times for three hours each time throughout the class. The service sites are actually fun, but it is time consuming to go to your service site, volunteer, and then come back.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2019 - Overall, I really liked this class. It was the most eye-opening class I've taken at UCLA, but it's really up to you as to how much you'll get out of it. You really get what you put in. Professor Staub is a really engaging lecturer, and you can tell that he really cares about educating the class. He facilitates difficult conversations, tries to get as much feedback as possible, and welcomes all viewpoints. I had David as my TA and he's such a funny, approachable, and overall helpful TA. The main component of this class is the 3 hours/week of service learning you do from week3 -10. A lot of the locations are pretty far away, so it ends up being more than a 3 hour commitment per week but many people enjoyed what they did. For the workload, there's weekly readings, reflections, and 3 hour blocks of service learning you have to complete. The weekly assigned readings which actually aren't that long and he says their mandatory but you could totally go without reading them. That being said, I personally found the readings to be really interesting and valuable going into lecture, so as I said earlier, you get what you put into the class. The reflections varied week to week- most were reflections based on our service learning, but there was also a cool bus riding assignment and setting goals for the course. My recommendations would be to: Take your time researching the site you want to do service learning at (make sure you'll get something useful out of your time there!), be open-minded, and enjoy the course!
Spring 2019 - Overall, I really liked this class. It was the most eye-opening class I've taken at UCLA, but it's really up to you as to how much you'll get out of it. You really get what you put in. Professor Staub is a really engaging lecturer, and you can tell that he really cares about educating the class. He facilitates difficult conversations, tries to get as much feedback as possible, and welcomes all viewpoints. I had David as my TA and he's such a funny, approachable, and overall helpful TA. The main component of this class is the 3 hours/week of service learning you do from week3 -10. A lot of the locations are pretty far away, so it ends up being more than a 3 hour commitment per week but many people enjoyed what they did. For the workload, there's weekly readings, reflections, and 3 hour blocks of service learning you have to complete. The weekly assigned readings which actually aren't that long and he says their mandatory but you could totally go without reading them. That being said, I personally found the readings to be really interesting and valuable going into lecture, so as I said earlier, you get what you put into the class. The reflections varied week to week- most were reflections based on our service learning, but there was also a cool bus riding assignment and setting goals for the course. My recommendations would be to: Take your time researching the site you want to do service learning at (make sure you'll get something useful out of your time there!), be open-minded, and enjoy the course!
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