Professor
Caroline Ford
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Most Helpful Review
I took 1C with this professor. I know the person who wrote the previous evaluation who is a total jerk and egoist, who has no concern with learning. Professor Ford taught a serious and somewhat difficult course, not for jerks. It took us deep into modern European history, which is a complex subject. My TA Mr Zevin was great. I find it detestable that some creeps want to destroy everything with their own egos, rather than let other students understand what is out there. This is a good, serious, course for beginning students like me.
I took 1C with this professor. I know the person who wrote the previous evaluation who is a total jerk and egoist, who has no concern with learning. Professor Ford taught a serious and somewhat difficult course, not for jerks. It took us deep into modern European history, which is a complex subject. My TA Mr Zevin was great. I find it detestable that some creeps want to destroy everything with their own egos, rather than let other students understand what is out there. This is a good, serious, course for beginning students like me.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - This class was pretty easy for a first quarter GE. I am a non-humanities freshman and it was pretty good for a GE. Weeks 7-10 were a breeze because everything post 1870 was covered in APUSH or AP World. Weeks 1-6 were very interesting (1715-1870). The class is very independent and there is not much collaboration, despite the best efforts of the TAs, but I guess that's to be expected from a history class. Final and midterms were tedious, albeit very easy. However, I do think that you could probably learn everything in this class on your own quite easily if that's why you're taking this class.
Fall 2024 - This class was pretty easy for a first quarter GE. I am a non-humanities freshman and it was pretty good for a GE. Weeks 7-10 were a breeze because everything post 1870 was covered in APUSH or AP World. Weeks 1-6 were very interesting (1715-1870). The class is very independent and there is not much collaboration, despite the best efforts of the TAs, but I guess that's to be expected from a history class. Final and midterms were tedious, albeit very easy. However, I do think that you could probably learn everything in this class on your own quite easily if that's why you're taking this class.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - I took this class asynchronously and if you put the time in to actually watch & take notes on all of the lectures, you are pretty much set for the rest of the course. You need to be able to take a lot of reading and writing though--if that's not your thing, I don't think you will enjoy this. That being said, as either a History course or a GE, this was not hard at all.
Fall 2021 - I took this class asynchronously and if you put the time in to actually watch & take notes on all of the lectures, you are pretty much set for the rest of the course. You need to be able to take a lot of reading and writing though--if that's not your thing, I don't think you will enjoy this. That being said, as either a History course or a GE, this was not hard at all.
Most Helpful Review
I highly recommend taking any course taught by Professor Ford. She is a brilliant professor and her lectures are fun and engaging. I have taken two upper division classes with Professor Ford and I think she is the best professor in the history department. I recommend attending every lecture, taking detailed notes and completing all the reading she assigns. The course load is very manageable and her exams and essays have no surprises. She wants students to do well and if you put in the work, then you will not only receive a good grade, but you will actually enjoy learning about French history.
I highly recommend taking any course taught by Professor Ford. She is a brilliant professor and her lectures are fun and engaging. I have taken two upper division classes with Professor Ford and I think she is the best professor in the history department. I recommend attending every lecture, taking detailed notes and completing all the reading she assigns. The course load is very manageable and her exams and essays have no surprises. She wants students to do well and if you put in the work, then you will not only receive a good grade, but you will actually enjoy learning about French history.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - I was originally a bit worried to take this course because i had never taken an upper div history course and prof Ford did not have many reviews; now that I have finished the class, I am SO glad that I did! I found the material to be quite interesting, even though I originally had very little knowledge/interest in France, I now feel like a mini expert in the field and have been able to talk about the topic with others which is really cool lol. The class is structured pretty easy with this grading scheme: 15% attendance/ participation, 40% take home midterm + in class ID Quiz(2 900 word papers), and 45% take home final (2 900 word papers again). The paper prompts were nice because we were given multiple prompts to choose from, so you could choose your paper topics on things that you had more notes on/ knew the material better. I stressed out a lot about the In class ID Quiz, but that really was not bad either as prof Ford included like 10 different topics that we could choose from to ID, so if you didn't know some things, you could just choose a different topic. The painting ID wasn't too tough either cuz the paintings were shown on a ton of slides and you did not have to provide much information. The papers in general were not very difficult either, it was a bit tough to stay under 900 words, and the Prof's citation policy is kinda weird, but honestly nothing too difficult. The one thing I will say for this class though: GO TO ALL THE LECTURES. Prof. Ford DOES NOT upload any bruincast or recordings of lectures, and the slides have minimal to no information on them, so if you want to do well on the papers, you absolutely must go to lecture( plus attendance is 15% so you kinda have to anyways lol). The professor is a very good lecturer, gives me the "classic history professor" vibes, ngl at times the lectures were a tad bit boring, but definitely manageable since theyre only 50 min. Overall definitely recommend the course, pretty easy A if you show up to the lectures and do a bit of research for the papers.
Fall 2022 - I was originally a bit worried to take this course because i had never taken an upper div history course and prof Ford did not have many reviews; now that I have finished the class, I am SO glad that I did! I found the material to be quite interesting, even though I originally had very little knowledge/interest in France, I now feel like a mini expert in the field and have been able to talk about the topic with others which is really cool lol. The class is structured pretty easy with this grading scheme: 15% attendance/ participation, 40% take home midterm + in class ID Quiz(2 900 word papers), and 45% take home final (2 900 word papers again). The paper prompts were nice because we were given multiple prompts to choose from, so you could choose your paper topics on things that you had more notes on/ knew the material better. I stressed out a lot about the In class ID Quiz, but that really was not bad either as prof Ford included like 10 different topics that we could choose from to ID, so if you didn't know some things, you could just choose a different topic. The painting ID wasn't too tough either cuz the paintings were shown on a ton of slides and you did not have to provide much information. The papers in general were not very difficult either, it was a bit tough to stay under 900 words, and the Prof's citation policy is kinda weird, but honestly nothing too difficult. The one thing I will say for this class though: GO TO ALL THE LECTURES. Prof. Ford DOES NOT upload any bruincast or recordings of lectures, and the slides have minimal to no information on them, so if you want to do well on the papers, you absolutely must go to lecture( plus attendance is 15% so you kinda have to anyways lol). The professor is a very good lecturer, gives me the "classic history professor" vibes, ngl at times the lectures were a tad bit boring, but definitely manageable since theyre only 50 min. Overall definitely recommend the course, pretty easy A if you show up to the lectures and do a bit of research for the papers.
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Most Helpful Review
I am a history major, and Professor Ford is perhaps the best teacher in the department. Some students complain that her lectures are dry and boring, but I think it comes with the subject. Ford is very professional in regards to her course, and she is available in office hours or by appointment. Most of her exam questions come from her powerpoints or from the notes she writes on the board. I would highly recommend taking any class she teaches. Received an A in both Hist 1C and Hist 124C
I am a history major, and Professor Ford is perhaps the best teacher in the department. Some students complain that her lectures are dry and boring, but I think it comes with the subject. Ford is very professional in regards to her course, and she is available in office hours or by appointment. Most of her exam questions come from her powerpoints or from the notes she writes on the board. I would highly recommend taking any class she teaches. Received an A in both Hist 1C and Hist 124C
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2015 - When I took it, this class was a seminar titled Paris: Biography of a City from 1715 to WWII. Grades consisted of: -A final research paper -A midterm paper -Discussion participation The class was structured such that we would be assigned a lot of reading (150-300 pages) a week, which we would discuss during the three-hour seminar. It was a lot of work, but if you're interested in French history and culture, it isn't too bad. We read some interesting texts, including two novels and some guy's personal diary from the 18th century. The midterm paper was fairly easy. All we had to do was write 8 pages based on class texts. The final research paper was...not at all easy. It's 12-15 pages on a topic of your choice as it relates to Parisian history. Some topics that people chose include the cholera epidemic of 1832, the history of bread, the birth of the Parisian fashion industry, etc. To find all the information I needed for my paper I had to use over a dozen books, journal articles, theses, etc. It was so much work, but in the end I wrote a paper that I'm very proud of. My advice: start early. If you're really into French history, I recommend this class. You'll learn a lot.
Fall 2015 - When I took it, this class was a seminar titled Paris: Biography of a City from 1715 to WWII. Grades consisted of: -A final research paper -A midterm paper -Discussion participation The class was structured such that we would be assigned a lot of reading (150-300 pages) a week, which we would discuss during the three-hour seminar. It was a lot of work, but if you're interested in French history and culture, it isn't too bad. We read some interesting texts, including two novels and some guy's personal diary from the 18th century. The midterm paper was fairly easy. All we had to do was write 8 pages based on class texts. The final research paper was...not at all easy. It's 12-15 pages on a topic of your choice as it relates to Parisian history. Some topics that people chose include the cholera epidemic of 1832, the history of bread, the birth of the Parisian fashion industry, etc. To find all the information I needed for my paper I had to use over a dozen books, journal articles, theses, etc. It was so much work, but in the end I wrote a paper that I'm very proud of. My advice: start early. If you're really into French history, I recommend this class. You'll learn a lot.
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