Selling the second edition book: Conservation Biology. Message **********

Pretty interesting class, with a heavier emphasis in the Discussion portion. Here, there are weekly quizzes, two group presentations (one on a book and the other on a volunteer organization), the actual volunteering event, and an individual book report (on all books being presented by the groups). The exams would be done in the Lecture portion, which were quite ambiguous in what was wanted. It seems to ask questions that allows for many potential answers, given proper reasoning, but the grader would want something specific. The lectures are not recorded, although the slides are uploaded.

This was a genuinely great course. I was never bored with any of the material, and actually looked forward to coming to class. The professor was super clear with what she was going to test on, as I feel she learned from previous students feedback. If you went to class she would tell you what topics of questions she would test on, saying "I always put this type of question on the test". Lipman also seemed like a genuine person who cared about her students. Gina was also an AMAZING TA. Super well informed and kind. Take this class, it will honestly change the way you see the world!

Where do I start? This class is ridiculously annoying. While the material is easy to comprehend, the professors methods of testing are very unclear, specific, and out right frustrating. I feel I was constantly having to mind read what the professor and TAs were expecting in terms of answers to the very specific questions. Don't let the free response format fool you! The professor delivers the necessary information, but it is difficult to gauge the simplicity/difficulty of each test question. Lastly, the TAs, at least my TA was useless!! She always looked at me awkwardly and with confusion. I felt perpetually screwed in this class because even after seeking for help, I didn't know what to expect

Meh. I'd avoid it honestly.

Prof. Lipman did conservation work before becoming a professor, so her lectures are fascinating to listen to and are always illuminating, especially from someone as passionate about the subject as her. Her slides are relatively clear and include videos, though she sometimes assigned them as homework if lecture ran behind. There were pop quizzes in lecture, but they were based on completion and acted more like an attendance sheet. Plus, we were given an extra credit diary assignment (~1.8%). It wasn’t too bad, and I’d recommend doing it.

For the discussion section it's pretty free, though you do have to work a little bit for those points. Participation points are only given if you actively engage and speak during discussion. There are weekly quizzes based on the lecture material and a weekly documentary + research paper. At the start of the quarter, you are assigned to groups. With your group, you are given the entire quarter to read a book and give a presentation plus book report. Additionally, you have to volunteer at a local NGO and give a presentation on that volunteering event. Now the book report and volunteering event wasn't too bad, but it is too much for a class worth only 4 units. So make of that what you will.

Now getting to the exams, you have a midterm and final which are group-based, open-ended, and short-answer. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, since they are open-ended, each question has multiple different correct answers. The issue is that the grader appears to be looking for one specific response, and if you put anything else you lose points. And no, the question stem doesn't even lead you towards the "true" correct answer. There's no rubric, no guide, no nothing for how the grader takes points off. It's just a crapshoot to hope you add in the right keywords, and you lose points for missing the littlest of details.

And this issue is only exacerbated with how uncompromising Prof. Lipman is with the grading. While the TAs are helpful and will advocate for you, Lipman has the final say and is so combative against the concept of a regrade request. In her syllabus, she literally dubs it "grade bullying." Most grades are final, even if the exams lend themselves to getting subjective responses and subjective marks. The fact that the problems I've mentioned have been raised in previous Bruinwalk reviews since 2018 (since I was in middle school!) should speak for itself.

The tests, which are the class' biggest and only major problem, would be so much better with more direction and clearer grading standards. But Lipman just chooses not to change and doubles down. Her announcements about regrades often come across as defensive, and the extra credit assignment is frequently cited in response to grading concerns, despite not addressing the underlying lack of clear grading standards.

Prof. Lipman clearly cares about the course topic, and each lecture is always interesting and informative. But the exams and grading are so asinine and opaque that it's honestly not worth the stress and you should avoid the class as a whole. Cool lecturer, bad professor.

I loved the content of this class. Dr. Lipman is extremely experienced and knowledgeable on conservation planning, and I found the lectures to be engaging. The main critique I have for this class is that it is impossible to get an A+. Even if you get 100% on every discussion quiz, and A's on every presentation, you can not get an A+ unless you get at least a 90 on both the midterm and final. That makes sense at face value, until you realize that there is basically no communication between the Professor and the grader, and the rubrics are very confusing. I do not want to critique the grader as they were doing their job, but my midterm score was originally a low B, due to a rubric that was seemingly outdated and/or not congruent with the way questions we were actually structured. The TA's advocated for us, and my grade went up to an A. For the final exam, the TA's told us that they had worked more with the grader, and Dr. Lipman clarified it with them. However, I got a B again. The tests are taken in groups, and personally I believed my group was more than capable to get at least a 90. In my opinion, the tests are not built fairly to reflect the actual knowledge of students.

Take a shot every time Dr. Lipman mentions Bolivia.

The exams are very open-ended with many correct answers as long as you explain your answer.
Discussion sections involve group presentations and weekly quizzes.
Her slides are so ugly and lectures aren't recorded but the way she lectures is so convoluted and confusing.

Overall I regret taking this class LOL I was vaguely interested in conservation biology and Dr. Lipman made me take it all back. Honestly, listen to the reviews, avoid the class, it's so annoying.

The subject material is interesting and the workload is very manageable. However, I hesitate to recommend this class unless you are sure the grader for your exams is actively involved in the class and will be accessible to answer questions. Often the grader would place red question marks next to answers with no explanation or advice for improvement, or deduct points for reasons such as a solution already being implemented in a region of the world.

I loved this class with Dr. Lipman. Her lectures were great, and discussion sections were my favorite of any class taken this year. The class overall was engaging, the material was interesting and accessible, the grading was very fair, and I felt like I learned a lot. Definitely one of my favorite classes I've taken so far.

As for the class structure itself, there were two books: a traditional textbook and Half Earth by E. O. Wilson. Half Earth was required while the other textbook was not, and you do not need the other textbook. Lectures and discussion sections are plenty for the content. The class was hybrid where the lectures were over zoom and recorded while discussion sections were in person.

The grading scheme of this class was focused heavily on exams and quizzes. The exams were open for a day and were collaborative if you chose to work in a group (although you didn't get to pick your group). The questions were multi-part short answer. Overall the tests seemed very fair, and if you knew the content, I thought that they were decently easy to get through. You also had to make a study guide, and there were evening study sessions ran by the TA, so I definitely felt prepared. The quizzes were short and 5 questions, given at the start of discussion sections. They were easy and really just there to make sure you did the weekly work (reading the chapters of Half Earth, reading the assigned journal article, watching the weekly film, and lecture content).

The rest of your points came from discussion section. A small amount was just pure participation. You also had two presentations, but those were informal and easily graded. You also had to volunteer, which was basically free points.

Overall the grading scheme felt fair with a decent buffer from the discussion section. If you do the work, you should feel prepared and get a good grade and learn a lot. Again, I highly recommend this class!