About the coursework/graded assignments: Homework each week included leaving 2 comments on each reading posted (I skimmed through a lot of the readings and I probably dedicated around 1.5 hours per week for it). We also had short activities due at our discussion sections (creating venn diagrams, writing short responses to videos/texts, annotating articles) which took 15-30 minutes each week. At the end of the course, we also had to write a 3 page essay about how one of our historian skills have improved due to this course. The final is just sharing the activities we did throughout the quarter and the 3 page essay with our peers. Overall, the workload is extremely light and manageable and if you try, it is impossible to not get an A.
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About the course material: Each week we covered a different topic: pre-modern medicine, slavery and medicine, germ theory, eugenics, the Flexner report, the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments, the Civil Rights Movement, The Cold War, Schizophrenia and homosexuality, ongoing healthcare disparities. All of the things we covered were genuinely interesting (and I’m not a STEM major) and changed my perspective on medicine greatly. I truly believe this class holds immense value, particularly to those looking to go into healthcare as you can really see how history has created health disparities that may not be obvious otherwise (just google race correction). No textbooks required.
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Lectures and Discussion: Attendance was mandatory in both and the professor used Arkaive to track attendance. However, the things we learned in lecture are not used in any of the graded assignments as the professor wanted us to learn and enjoy the topics.
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About the professor: Professor O’Brien was genuinely one of my favorite professors at UCLA so far. She has a clear passion for what she is teaching and is always excited to answer questions and discuss with her students. She is also one of those professors who wants to reward students for their efforts and wants to give her students As. You can also tell that she dedicates a lot of her time to the course (reading and responding to a lot of student’s comments on the homework despite not really having to).
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About the TA: Meg was the TA for all the discussion sections and I believe the professor has repeatedly kept her as TA in the past. She was good at facilitating discussion and creating a comfortable atmosphere (I’ve had other TAs make discussion a little awkward sometimes and uncomfortable to participate, but this wasn’t the case). She was also the person who grades the weekly activities and checks to make sure they are correct (99% of the time gives green check mark which means 100% or gives clear feedback of what your missing and allows you to fix them).
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Overall, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS CLASS, THIS PROFESSOR, and THIS TA!!