The class material is definitely interesting and she makes it engaging by incorporating lots of videos and guest lectures and encouraging discussion and things like that. However, the exams were much more stressful than anticipated for a class with such straight forward material... To be honest, I have worried about my grade in this class far more than I ever would've wanted to, and if I knew I was going to feel as bad after the midterm as I had I probably would've taken another class. I ended up getting an A because after the midterm, I knew how to study better for the final because I kind of knew what to expect. But it was still not a good way to test student knowledge of the course material.
The exams she made for our quarter were entirely short response, no multiple choice. In her previous classes she did use multiple choice, however, but she said students complained that it was the hardest exam they've ever taken so she tried to change it. Short response didn't work well for her either, unfortunately. I think she's just not a good test maker. The questions and the subject matter are all fair, her main issue is that she doesn't make it clear enough what she actually wants from you. Even in class when she's have a practice multiple choice question up for us to answer, oftentimes I felt the she would ask a question expecting a certain answer, but she would word the question so HORRIBLY, that literally nobody would be able to answer it correctly. She just thinks the answer she expects is so obvious that she doesn't bother making the question clear enough.
Overall, I do think she's a really nice and relatable woman and I like her. I've taken EEB100 with her and loved her in that class. So I don't think she's a bad teacher. I have learned a lot in this class that will stay with me forever, even though I am not in the least interested in pursuing conservation. However, I stressed out a lot in this class. So I don't know if it's totally worth it. If your options are few, you should take this class. If there are other classes that sound good to you, maybe go with those just to save you the trouble of panicking about your grade on a midterm that you literally know all the answers to, but potentially didn't provide the answers she was looking for or didn't have enough time to complete (because that test was super long).

100L is a drag. It's not difficult to earn an A, but of course, work is required throughout the quarter to design your research project, turn in proposals, presentations, results, etc. There are no tests. I recommend Alyssa as a TA, she is helpful and chill

The animal behavior portion with Gorlitsky can be pretty interesting but challenging. Lipman's ecology section is definitely very important stuff especially with climate change, but personally I don't find it all that interesting.
Tests were kind of hard and I had to study far in advance.

If you don't have to take this class I would recommend finding easier ones, but if you do take it definitely take EEB 100L for a lab requirement because it's pretty easy compared to other EEB labs. That's the main pro of this class unless you want to go into similar research.

Took this lab with Alyssa and she is the bomb.com. The class itself is pretty boring, but she did her best to keep our spirits up during the pandemic. Unfortunately, in an online format the research design is pretty limited so i'd recommend taking it in person. Although it is an easy A for an online class IMO.

Amazing!! This class is highkey extremely life changing and will affect the way you see and do things in your day-to-day life. I HIGHLY recommend taking this at some point.

Professor Lipman is really cool. Documentaries in this class were spectacular. This class is also super doable!

I loved the class and professor Lipman so much. It's a perfect science GE for those who are not pursuing a major in STEM, but who are interested in current events going on within the realm of the environment or science. I thought the material discussed in the course was relevant, engaging, and very important. Prof Lipman is very well versed within this field and she's laid-back and funny.This class honestly changed the way I think and act. Due to COVID, the midterm and final were 24 hour open-book and were pretty easy as long as you watched lectures and maybe lightly skimmed the course readings and films. There is quite a bit of extra material, I found it interesting so I didn't mind watching it. I don't think its completely necessary if you'd rather skip it. There are a few group projects in the lab which were kind of difficult online. Overall, TAKE THIS CLASS! It's seriously awesome.

Grading was:
50 points -- midterm which we had a weekend to complete (four short answer questions, with multiple points)
50 points -- final exam which we had 24 hours to complete, or could go during the 3-hour time slot and do it with a group they assigned on zoom (same structure as midterm)
70 points -- quizzes based on lecture and readings each week, not too bad if you paid attention, worst quiz grade is dropped
80 points -- discussion section, includes a 10 min group presentation on conservation organizations and a 30-40min partner presentation/discussion you lead based on a reading, as well as general participation in other people's partner discussions

Prof Lipman is very passionate about what she teaches. Her lectures were super relevant for the exams but she also gives a lot of very specific examples of conservation efforts that are interesting but take up a lot of lecture time and don't come up again. I never read the textbook, but I did check it a few times during the exams.

The exams did mark off on specific things (like if you didn't mention MEAT agriculture when you said agriculture) but were doable if you take decent notes and can come up with general ideas for conservation plans. Pay attention in lecture when people brainstorm ideas/annotate on the slides because you can use those ideas on the exams.

Discussions require participation but Alec is a really chill TA so take him if you can. The presentation aren't too bad.

Even though I received an A, I would not recommend this class. TA's are extremely unclear with expectations for the midterm. Your grade is highly variable and there is no way of knowing what the professor/TA wants at any given moment. This extends to the midterm and final. Even though I answered all parts of the question with factual evidence, points were continuously marked off with TA's saying "this is correct but you also could have said this..." TBH this class could have gone either way for me and I could have just as easily gotten a B. I just happened to get lucky.

There was a lot more reading, writing, and talking in this class than I expected. Lectures are quite enjoyable and engaging, and the content is definitely interesting. Discussion sections are almost two hours long, which can be pretty excruciating. Participation also matters, and you are expected to speak in sections at least twice to get full credit. You are given a lot of time for exams but they are really long and took me forever to finish. Grading seemed pretty fair to me, but I think it depends on your TA. Overall, do not think this is a super easy class because quite a bit of effort is required. That being said, you will learn a lot and Lipman is a nice professor.

I really did enjoy this class, because of how passionate Professor Lipman, the TAs, and other students are about the subject! Most students who are taking this class actually are interested and care about the subject, so class discussions are very engaging. Professor Lipman tries to make these lectures engaging by using polls, annotate activities, and breakout rooms. There is a lot of reading for this class, that isn't necessary to understand lectures, but is super helpful for exams. My quarter she structured it with a midterm, final, weekly quizzes, and discussion grades (discussion grades comprised of participation, a group presentation on a reading, and a group presentation on conservation organizations). Discussion readings were pretty interesting, and the contents often come up on the weekly quizzes. The exams were hard because of time constraints and page length constraints. Both the exams were all short answer, but multiple parts of each question. The difficulty was that we were given a limited amount of space, but asked to answer many questions with a wide breadth and depth. She pushes for group writing for the final, but you had the option to take it alone, which I did and did just fine.