I like how Professor Demko's lectures allowed discussion between the students. I enjoyed hearing other students' experiences and different takeaways from the course material. I think one criticism is that the lecture goes by a bit too fast, but it helps that the presentations are posted and the structure of the class asks for comprehension of the concepts and application rather than information dense memorization. Professor Demko is a really engaging lecturer and I really appreciated the design of her assignments and exams. I also enjoyed hearing the TA's research/areas of study.

grading breakdown: 3 reading reflections (10% each), 1 midterm essay (30%), final essay (30%), class participation (10%)

reading reflections are 1 page, double spaced based on a reading of your choosing and both essays are incredibly straightforward

professor demko is incredibly sweet and a good lecturer, i also really enjoyed my ta (stephanie)

i wasn't as interested in this class as compared to my other pub aff classes, but thats because i find psychology to be boring lol

overall incredibly easy, some stuff i learned i considered to be extremely valuable (mostly later in the quarter) and i really appreciated how organized and clear professor demko is!

This course was not at all what I expected going in, and I think that was for the better. When I added Public Affairs as a second major I thought it strictly covered public policy, but in PUB AFF 80 we focused on the social and welfare aspects of it. Professor Demko was incredibly kind and understanding, and you could tell she genuinely cared about the material she was teaching. I was never afraid to contribute to class discussions or ask questions because Professor Demko always gave positive feedback and really took each student's opinion to heart. Her lectures are more discussion-based, which was helpful as it allows you to connect the material to real-world experiences you had or other people had. The lectures were always well-organized and thorough and Professor Demko left ample time to ask questions. I also enjoyed the guest lectures given by the TAs, as it was interesting to see how they are actively applying the material we are learning in the course and it gave me a wider view of the applications of Public Affairs. We had three one-page reading reflections you could choose to complete over any three weeks in the quarter, and the midterm and final were both remote writing assignments. Overall, this course was very enjoyable and I was thankful for the chance to learn more about topics like social welfare, child development, psychological themes, and the effects of public policy.

Dr. Demko is a very understanding teacher. She lectures are very straight forward and always include great information. The readings are not bad at all and very reasonable. She always stays on topic and do not go off on random tangents. This course was very insightful and easy to follow for non-public affairs majors. I would highly recommend this course and professor.

Super easy class. In fact, it was my easiest class this quarter but I overheard from other classmates that your experience could vary depending on your TA. My TA (Stephanie) was amazing!! She was really approachable and very responsive to questions that we had. The discussion sections were comprised of breaking up into small groups to discuss one of the week's readings, and usually 1-2 people would share with the rest of the section what they discussed. Attendance is taken both in lecture and discussion (10%). You can only be up to 15 minutes late to lecture or else you cannot sign the attendance sheet.

The course is very similar to AP Psychology but a lot of the concepts are applied to the different stages of life (adolescence, adulthood, etc.) I enjoyed learning the content and the assignments were really easy. There were only 3 writing assignments (30%), where you write a half to 1-page reflection based on a week's reading. You write one in a week of your choosing (you are limited to completing only one reflection each week), so I suggest knocking out all of them before midterms. They took me around 30 minutes to an hour each and they are essentially graded on completion. The midterm (30%) and final papers (30%) were both take-home and scenario-based essays that were around 3-4 pages each. They only took me about 2-3 hours to complete. During the final, she gives up to 5 points of extra credit (5%)

Although I personally have not interacted with Professor Demko outside of class, many students felt comfortable approaching her after class. She seemed really sweet and understanding toward students. The pace and structure of the class felt right to me and I enjoyed how we got to focus on the different stages of life throughout the quarter.

Very easy to get an A in the class, just do the work and be engaged :)

This class was one of the most frustrating experiences I have had at UCLA. Professor Demko provides almost no feedback and is extremely unorganized. The majority of the class consists of reflections that provide no feedback and a midterm and final that are graded extremely harsh. After providing no support she just bashed everyones paper for no reason and without clear expectation. She also released the midterm halfway through Week 9 AFTER the final was already distributed. In addition, the majority of the class was taught by outside professors and TAs which made it really confusing as these lectures were often not related or important to the actual content of the class. I have genuinely never had a more frustrating experience in the Public Affairs department and I wish that I had never taken this class. IF you are interested in this class I HIGHLY recommend you take it with a different professor as I have heard more positive reviews about different ones (particularly professor small). Professor Demko is not interested in student learning and is more interested in arbitrarily punishing students and destroying their confidence. She also became extremely defensive post-midterm and passive aggressive to students who desired clarity on their grades. She also just generally seems like she doesn't know what she's talking about. When I went to her office hours she referred me back to the READINGS instead of giving actual insight.

Grade breakdown:
- 10% participation/attendance
- 30% reading reflections (3 --> 10% each)
- 30% midterm paper
- 30% final paper

Pros:
- genuinely interesting content
- lectures are organized, all on slides
- readings are largely optional
- engaging guest lectures
- grading on paper explainers is pretty easy

Cons:
- midterm grading was harsh (grading was somewhat confusing, varied between TA)
- it can be hard to focus at times because lecture content is not super connected to graded assignments
- lecture/discussions are mandatory