Professor
Eric Avila
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2021 - Professor Avila is a very passionate professor. He did a great job keep people engaged with his lectures and was interactive and opened to questions during his class. (Please keep in mind I did his class on zoom.) But I did find a lot of fault in the way that he conducted his midterms, on his syllabus he had part 2 of the midterms listed as “Short Answer” only to know a few days before that it was in fact a 2+ page double spaced essay. He also had the ridiculous request to cite our sources using MLA format yet the exam was closed notes. The summer class went by quick, and it's easy to get behind on the readings. I would suggest buying the $20 textbook ahead of time to avoid that. But yeah, as a person he's great, as a teacher I did find some faults.
Summer 2021 - Professor Avila is a very passionate professor. He did a great job keep people engaged with his lectures and was interactive and opened to questions during his class. (Please keep in mind I did his class on zoom.) But I did find a lot of fault in the way that he conducted his midterms, on his syllabus he had part 2 of the midterms listed as “Short Answer” only to know a few days before that it was in fact a 2+ page double spaced essay. He also had the ridiculous request to cite our sources using MLA format yet the exam was closed notes. The summer class went by quick, and it's easy to get behind on the readings. I would suggest buying the $20 textbook ahead of time to avoid that. But yeah, as a person he's great, as a teacher I did find some faults.
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Most Helpful Review
What can I say, this guy is a waste of time. His lectures are weird, to say the least, and does his best to show how smart he is--at least he thinks he is--and dumb the class is. He wears these weird outfits that look as if they belonged to John Travolta in the 70s, he spends time talking about how gay is the new black, and answer questions as if he is God's gift to Chicano Studies. Its people like you, Eric, that give the dept a bad name. His lectures are nothing more than a soapbox. This class is a real waste of time. The TA's also left much to be desired. My TA, who was Avila's 'teacher's pet' spent more time following Avila around like a lil lap dog than teaching us. Moreover, in lecture, he tried to act like he was Avila--real good training he is getting. This class sucked.
What can I say, this guy is a waste of time. His lectures are weird, to say the least, and does his best to show how smart he is--at least he thinks he is--and dumb the class is. He wears these weird outfits that look as if they belonged to John Travolta in the 70s, he spends time talking about how gay is the new black, and answer questions as if he is God's gift to Chicano Studies. Its people like you, Eric, that give the dept a bad name. His lectures are nothing more than a soapbox. This class is a real waste of time. The TA's also left much to be desired. My TA, who was Avila's 'teacher's pet' spent more time following Avila around like a lil lap dog than teaching us. Moreover, in lecture, he tried to act like he was Avila--real good training he is getting. This class sucked.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - Avila’s lectures can be really poetic and interesting if you care about architecture or history, but they can also feel like a grandfather rambling about buildings and shapes if you don’t. However, he really is a sweet and knowledgeable person who specializes in the city of LA and Chicano history, so his content is pretty unique and gives that specific perspective on the cluster. He doesn’t have a big role in the first quarter (I believe he only gets 3 lectures), but all of his lectures build off of one another and he has a large focus in winter quarter, so pay attention to those few fall quarter classes. His assigned readings can range from very minimal to extremely broad, and I felt they were overall unnecessary to be successful in the class because his lectures are pretty thorough.
Fall 2024 - Avila’s lectures can be really poetic and interesting if you care about architecture or history, but they can also feel like a grandfather rambling about buildings and shapes if you don’t. However, he really is a sweet and knowledgeable person who specializes in the city of LA and Chicano history, so his content is pretty unique and gives that specific perspective on the cluster. He doesn’t have a big role in the first quarter (I believe he only gets 3 lectures), but all of his lectures build off of one another and he has a large focus in winter quarter, so pay attention to those few fall quarter classes. His assigned readings can range from very minimal to extremely broad, and I felt they were overall unnecessary to be successful in the class because his lectures are pretty thorough.
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