This professor is knowledgeable and skilled, but his frequent use of "uhhhh" can be distracting. During the first eight minutes of class, I counted 70 instances of him saying "uhhhh" which may affect some students' ability to focus. However, if you can overlook this tendency, it is an engaging and informative course.

I'll split this review into the class and the professor: (NOTE: I took this class during the TA strike so my experience was much different)

The class is pretty interesting the topic is really cool and the lectures are pretty engaging. Attendance is taken by a sign in sheet so you have to be there. The workload can get kind of heavy when you have to read alot. Sometimes those readings don't even help with the assignment. The midterm is like an LEQ for AP History classes with some vocab words (Term IDs). The final is a doubled midterm. The TA's grade everything. My TA graded strictly making the class a bit harder for me.

The professor is fine, I would suggest sitting in the front because his mic often cut out and it was hard to hear what he was saying when it did. He's pretty helpful in making sure you understand the class and is pretty interesting to talk to. Overall, this class is not too bad and if you like the scientific revolution or are a history buff, take this class. Good Luck!

Lecture: The professor's lectures are very boring with him talking about dry material with slide shows largely consisting of pictures and few bullet points as reference. Also, attendance is mandatory as its part of your grade.

HW: The readings for this class can be very time consuming if you actually take the time to do them and fully process them. It is probably better to just skim the text or look up main ideas for the weekly reading responses.

Exams: The exams consist of knowing certain vocabulary (which is pretty managble) and also writing down an essay (which is much harder especially with the time constraints).

Overall, this class is a very middle of the road GE in that an A is defintely attainable for most, but it is incredibly boring

I took Professor Alexander's History 20 class for a GE. The lectures are very boring and the hour and 15 minutes drags on. Bring your laptop if you want to type your notes. He puts up a picture on the screen then just drones on about the topic, so pick and choose what you want to write down. The textbook is very helpful, since a lot of the material is straight from it.

That being said, the discussions are pretty interesting, depending on your TA. You get some pretty good debates about past cultures and philosophies and how they can relate to current events. Also, the paper is fair, they give you ample time to prepare and lots of guidance if you go to office hours. The tests are also alright. You have to memorize a ton of useless IDs (100 or so), and he'll give you about 8 to define. Then there's some essays on the tests too, but you can pretty much guess what's going to be asked. Try to avoid his class if you can, but if you enroll in it, it's not the end of the world. I got an A, you can too.

Course taken: His 3A
Boring lectures, good discussion, work well with your TA and you will be fine. Make sure that you have enough time to work and revise your paper in the way your TA tells you.

Like the person before me said, Alexander puts a powerpoint slide up on the projector and talks about it for a good 30 minutes each lecture. I only went to one lecture and then realized it was pointless. The way to get an A in this class is to first, go to every single discussion section. A lot of your grade is dependent upon your participation in section, and your TA will thoroughly discuss the readings and various topics that Alexander attempted to discuss that week. The second thing you should do is go to your TA's office hours--I went to my TA's OH a few times and he told me exactly how he would grade the midterm/paper/final and pretty much told me what I needed to write to get a good grade. Your whole grade is basically dependent on your TA, so don't worry too much about what Professor Alexander is doing and focus mainly on what your TA talks about/looks for in a paper.

I ACTUALLY took History 3A with professor Alexander, and i really don't think he deserves that low of a rating.
But I'll be honest...

-His lectures are really boring and as other people have said, his power points are useless... BUT he also posts the outline of the actual notes he covers in lecture so even if you don't take notes, he provides them for you. He also made attendance mandatory since he had the TA's check off their students but some people would just sign in and leave. Professor Alexander would also stutter a lot but it didn't bother be much. He is very repetitive and basically takes an hour and 15 minutes to cover what he could have covered in 45 tops.
-This class was made up of a midterm, final, a paper, and your discussion grade.
If you keep up with at least most of the readings, pay attention in discussion and study his outline notes you should be able to pass with an A.
-The TA's are ultimately the one's who give you your grade so participating and going to office hours will definitely make your discussion section grade! So maintain a good relationship with them.
-Lastly I personally thought this was a really interesting class and even though I didn't learn it from the professor, he definitely provides you with the readings and notes to do well in the class

Professor Alexander was nice in the sense that workload was not heavy and exams were not ver hard. Actually, it's probably quite easy compared to other history classes. If you are here for a good grade, it's definitely there if you do all the required work (and there weren't so many). In this way, the professor is pretty concerned about the students. One thing that could've been better is the lecture material. There are only a few pictures in every lecture without any notes on the slides, and the professor doesn't write notes on the board either. Everything I learned through this course is from Wikipedia and the textbook. The TAs were very helpful and nice. Overall, I would recommend this class as a GE.

He's a great professor. Exactly what I expect for a college environment. His lectures are informative and he goes over key points more than once, so taking notes for his class is a good experience. I really enjoy him and wish I would have taken more classes with him before my senior year. I haven't personally interacted with him but he absolutely is nice and will help you if you ask. 180A is so interesting I have actually done all the readings for the class! He deserves a much higher rating. Very solid class and professor.

Alexander is not a fun teacher. He clearly does not prepare for his lectures and often stalls to find the next thing to say. However, his class is easy to understand and pass. He does not require much work, but attending the classes is counted toward the final grade. The subject itself is interesting but is a misnomer. The course is actually about the history of the philosophy of knowledge. Take this course for an easy A.