This class isn't hard. I could have gotten an A in non-COVID times, but alas.. I didn't really enjoy this class as much as I thought I would. It's essentially political science, and I've just switched from poli sci, so maybe that's why.
Anyway, the lectures were very clear and easy to follow, but on 1.5x speed. The pre-recorded lectures are good quality, but unfortunately I found the pace and volume to be very sleep-inducing. I couldn't make it through a lecture without a break or other distraction. However, when I did pay attention, I understood everything. But usually I preferred to just read the slides myself without the lecture.
Super easy quizzes, just make sure you understand all of the slides and you'll be fine.
There were a TON of readings, so much so that scared me into not doing them. They were interesting when I read some, tough.
The policy memo is why I have a B; it was my first kind of paper like that and I didn't do well. The op-ed is a lot easier, though.
Overall, not a good choice for a GE unless you just want political science. But easy and interesting depending on your attention span.

Content:
This class focused on how we can change people's decisions for the better. Professor Christensen does use some math at times, but this math is not necessary for understanding (though it does help make things a little clearer). A large portion of this course was on policy implementation--while it was not exactly what I had expected, I enjoyed the class nonetheless. We considered how people might react to policy differently based on the situation and how best to tailor said policy to a given scenario.

Grading:
Professor Christensen distributes the grade relatively evenly across multiple sections, helping to reduce the stress caused by a single assignment or exam. Starting early on the two papers does help because you can discuss ideas with your TA (mine was Laurelyn, who was extremely helpful) to help focus your paper. The exams are not too difficult, but do pay attention to details and the careful wording of the questions on exams.

Overall, this class was an exciting class with Professor Christensen helping us understand the material and ensuring that we had a place to talk if we ever felt uncomfortable. I enjoyed this class and wish I could have taken it in person because it would have been that much better. Do be prepared to learn a little about policy implementation and how that affects people's decisions; a willingness to use math can help make the material more easily digestible.

Professor Christensen does a great job at teaching this class. In the midst of all the COVID panic, he has been more than understanding and accommodating. You really get the impression that you can come to him if you have a problem. He teaches the course material really clearly and is always receptive to clarifying something. The tests are not necessarily easy, but they are also not crazy hard. The key is in the wording as some of the questions can be tricky. The other assignments are pretty fun and easy to do as long as you pay attention to lectures and do most of the readings. There is also a manageable amount of reading.
That being said, he did not round my 89 to an A so keep that in mind. Make sure you do that extra credit!!

Prof. Christensen's lectures were somewhat engaging but could definitely get a bit dry sometimes, but I don't think that it's his fault. It definitely felt at times that the class was moving very slowly, but I appreciated the fact that he and the TAs wanted to make sure everyone had an understanding of each topic. I thought that grading for our midterm policy memo was a bit arbitrary, but I ended up doing better on the video we had to make at the end of class. Christensen also made the midterm no-harm following the encampment attack, which I appreciated, especially because I did a lot better on the final. He also sprinkled in easy extra credit, so getting an A in this class ended up being pretty easy.

I took this during winter quarter 2021 for a GE. The first 3 lectures or so were over zoom and attendance was tracked. However, then the class switched to asynchronous lectures so obviously attendance didn’t matter anymore.

It’s required to do the readings before every lecture but I stopped doing them because they could get super long and they’re covered in lecture anyway. Even though there’s math mentioned in the readings and lectures, there was never any math in the midterm/final so I just didn’t worry about it. The exams are based on the lecture slides so as long as you know those I think you’ll be fine. I definitely thought the exams were fair.

After every lecture there is a short open book lecture quiz that are basically just taken from the slides, these are really easy and just to pad your grade a little. Discussions are mandatory but I didn’t really find them too helpful

There are 2 papers, one op-Ed and one policy memo worth 30% of your grade . I thought these were graded pretty easily (but that depends on your TA) and there are lots of examples and guidelines provided. There’s also more than enough time to complete them imo. There isn’t a big workload for the class, just go to lecture, do the lecture quizzes, and the papers and exams

Overall I thought the class was interesting and not too hard for a GE at all. The prof was super nice and accommodating throughout the entire quarter too. Sometimes lectures could be a little boring but I do think I learned some valuable things lol. I’d recommend this class!

As a public affairs major, I am absolutely obsessed with game theory, strategy, and hypotheticals, so keep in mind my review may be slightly biased towards that. A couple thoughts about this elective class:

Primarily, I did enjoy lecture a lot; I thought that Christenson covered content crisply and coherently, for lack of better language. He was engaging, I loved our TAs, and I think he gave really great examples in lecture. Cool content too. I would honestly just rename this class game theory tho, bc that was what it mostly was. What I enjoyed most was our policy influencer final project video. It allowed us to really use anything from our lives to show a concept in this class. It was also really helpful to learn how to write policy memos, as those are useful for skills in careers later on.

I will say that the content was a little bit more difficult to grasp than I realized. I wasn't aware of this until the midterm - I think maybe the MCQ questions were trickily worded and SAQs were graded pretty strictly. But what seemed self explanatory during class turned out to be more complex to identify than we initially believed. My piece of advice would be to pay attention to the examples he gives, recognize patterns in social dilemmas, and use this to correctly identify on the exams. Chiller tho at the end, I would definitely recommend this as an elective for the major.

The actual time spent in Professor Christensen's class was always worth-while. He is a very engaging lecturer who clearly is very wise and cares about the learning of his students. That being said, the class itself was not my favorite major class thus-far. He assigns quizzes after every lecture, which are honestly just annoying to keep track of. It feels like busy work and doesn't significantly impact my grade. The assignments were also relatively vague in their prompts, yet I felt the grading was harsh. The professor also made almost all the midterm true/false questions, which was just rude lol. Overall, I love attending Professor Christensen's lectures, but the work outside of class felt like a waste of time.

I loved this class so much. It is part of the reason why I decided to double major in Public Affairs. Dr. Christensen is amazing; his lectures are super interesting and engaging, the assignments were informative and fun to work on, and he is very helpful when approached. I would definitely recommend this class because I think what I learned in it can be applied to issues and dilemmas we have in life even outside of academics!
In terms of difficulty, I think assignments were graded fairly, and we even got extra credit on the final for doing course evaluations.

Dr. Christensen if you're seeing this, please do more undergraduate courses!

PA 30 was one, if not my favorite, PA prereq I have taken. Professor Christensen is hands down the best professor I have had here- he is so knowledgable and engaging and actually makes lecture fun and interesting. He just acts like a normal person and is very relatable. He doesn't let you have any electronics out during lecture, but it was honestly really nice and helped me learn better. He goes over concepts in great detail and reviews a lot, so you don't have to study that much for tests because you already have it engrained in your brain.

He is lowkey a master at designing tests because they are not terribly difficult, but he phrases some questions in a strategic way that can trick you. If you study, you will do fine on these.

The writing assignments were really interesting because you got to pick topics that interested you and were graded pretty easily.

The name of this class is kind of misleading because it's more about game theory and ethics and not really at all about money. But it's still super interesting and I would highly recommend it as a GE or prereq for the pub aff major!

Professor Christensen is an amazing teacher. His slides are clear and he explains everything incredibly thoroughly. I didn't even need to study for the exams because he made sure we knew everything just by attending lecture. The midterm was super easy and the final was a little bit more complicated but not too difficult. We had to write two papers on topics of our choosing which were short and interesting. He does have a no electronics policy in class which I didn't like at first, but taking notes on paper actually helped me stay focused and learn. Overall, this class is an easy but interesting GE with a great professor!