This class is practically useless. Honestly, all this course does is reiterate Stats 10, so I don't understand why that class is a prerequisite to this one. Personally, I have taken 2 stats classes prior to this one and thank god I did because this professor is not a good communicator. She is extremely reliant on her slides (once when the projector didn't work she kept having to refer to computer as if she didn't know her own curriculum) and also makes concepts much more complicated than need be. Often I would sit in class and think of different ways I would teach the class one of our concepts. When Professor Lamberson was a substitute lecterer, his classes were so concise and straightforward the convoluted teaching style of Kernell really became apparent. Kernell also caters to the lowest common denominator -- she takes so many questions in class that really should be directed towards office hours if people still don't get a concept. She also assumes everyone in the class is super slow and reiterates very very basic concepts/definitions way too many times. The expression beating a dead horse definitely comes to mind when thinking about her teaching style. This is even represented in the homeworks Kernell creates where she would make us calculate the standard deviation of a data set that is over 100 observations -- this is a skill I didn't even have to do by hand in AP Stats and most likely would never do by hand outside of this class. Also I never felt particularly comfortable asking for help outside of class. I once asked her a question after class because I didn't understand a homework problem and she was kind of condescending that I couldn't get the answer right away and put me on blast for having to say I don't know. I will say though that Kernell does create fair exams and (on average, excluding monotonous questions) the homeworks do help prepare you for the exams.

I like Professor Kernell. She is generally very knowledgeable and helpful. Her presentations were well-prepared and she fostered good class discussions. Lecture was a bit monotonous at times, but I think that just comes with the material. I also think lecture could be just a bit slower.

Your grade is based on a midterm (20%), final (28%), in-class reading quizzes (5%), participation (12%), and a group commercial project (35%).

You have clicker questions at the beginning and middle of each class so you can't really afford to miss; you'll get 12% for just showing up for each clicker question and the extra 5% comes from how many you get right over the course of the quarter.

I feel like the workload for this class was a bit much. We had a heavy amount of reading each week, in addition to the large commercial project we had to complete. It's definitely more than I have for my other classes, and I think this could be remedied with just a couple fewer readings each week. That being said, I understand that some classes just require more work and that this is a practicuum class so I understand to some extent why the workload is as it is.
The exams are fair but only if you study a lot for them.

You have a commercial project in which you have to make two 30-second ads; one positive and one negative about political candidates. I have mixed feelings about this project. I feel like I learned a lot and generally think it's a good exercise, but I think my problem with it is that our grade largely depends on our creativity, or lack thereof. That being said, both the professor and TA (if Joe is still TAing, he is so great!! We all loved Joe) and were willing to give advice and feedback so I can't complain too much.

Also, the reason this class counts as a practicuum is because you are supposed to learn video editing skills; the professor incorporates this by making you watch an online video tutorial for iMovie (which you can also test out of by proving proficiency).

My last note about this class is that I wish it was a little less about news/journalism and a little more about communication between/among officeholders. This is what I expected going in and was a little disappointed. I know there is some overlap, in terms of how the press covers the government, but I think to call it political comm and then discuss mainly the news is a little misleading.

This was one of my very first upper div comm courses i took and i loved prof kernell. She is super relatable, down to earth and really passionate about her material as well as teaches it in a way we can all retain. Never thought about politics much before this class but it was very insightful and i was way more interested than i thought. Tests are based of lectures and readings so i would make bullet notes of key points for each reading bc they were a lot and then GO TO CLASS. Also, just because kernell is cool but it will help a lot. There is also a group project where you are assigned a real time two candidate and you have to make a pro campaign and an anti campaign. A bit more work than anticipated but still fine

Personally I loved this class because I found the subject matter to be fascinating, but it was a crazy amount of work. The nice thing is that it was only once a week on Mondays, but I think I spent every Sunday trying to finish the absurd amount of readings there were and preparing for the iClicker questions. I didn't mind the workload because the readings were interesting, but if you're not interested in campaigns and other forms of political comm it might be a lot. Overall, I found the class to be very inspiring and it made me want to pursue a career in political communication.

I took this class with Kernell after hearing all the bad reviews about the other professors who taught this class. Honestly, I don't think she was any better. If it weren't for the TAs, I would have definitely done much worse in this class. This professor only relies on her slides and in her office hours, she is SO condescending. I am already not great at stats, but the lack of communication between the professor and the TAs made this class near impossible and SO frustrating. There were so many ridiculous requirements in this class and it was such a headache. Even the TAs seemed visibly frustrated with the Professor's teaching style and her condescending nature. I am sure she means well, but this class was honestly so hard and I feel bad for anyone who has to take it.

I feel like some of these reviews are very harsh and not reflective of Kernell. I think this class was interesting and useful, and the projects were fun. When we had a group member drop out, she was very accommodating in trying to give us extra feedback on our project. That being said, the tests are graded incredibly harshly. You are expected to memorize verbatim lots of small details from readings and be able to cite them, and some questions are pulled out of very minute parts of the reading that were not mentioned in class. I would get an 100% on one question and a 20% on the next question because she was not flexible with partial credit.

However, Kernell is very accommodating if you put in the effort. After sitting in the front, actively participating, and going to extra events that she organized, I was very disappointed with my grade because it was on the cusp of two grades. Although she did not agree to round, she did agree to meet with me months later to discuss the grade and she even went back on a mark I was given about a paper that she authored. I think she really is a kind and good professor who just has a high bar for her students.,which should not take away from her ability as a teacher.

Saw my girlfriend take this class and it was disgusting how rude she was and unaccommodating. I imagine it would be hard to pinpoint who could be writing this terrible review because this is a common theme. Georgia went out of her way to make sure my girlfriend did not succeed and went about doing incredibly shady things like outright lying to organizations and twisting the truth to CAE and the heads of relevant departments and violating accommodation terms. Absolutely do not take If you have disabilities or need any form of accommodation. Shockingly unprofessional and vile to an unimaginable degree. I PERSONALLY have a problem with HER, in addition to the academics, as a human being. Lectures are dense and often times off-track. Being from Columbia does not entitle you to being a total douchebag.

As a political science major, I believe this class was more comprehensive of American government and media affects than any class offered by the political science department. Every lecture was super interesting, although it can be a lot of information to digest at once. There are quizzes due before each class on Bruin Learn, but they were only 3 questions based on the readings assigned for the upcoming lecture. I'd say they were pretty manageable to complete, and honestly helped me comprehend the readings more which really helps for exams! We had a midterm and a final that covered readings, lectures, guest speakers, and supplemental videos/movies. It takes a bit of time to study for the exams, but if you know the information you can finish them pretty quickly, considering they are mainly short answer questions (8-10) that range in length. Additionally, there was a group commercial project which was fun to complete, but just know that the grades for your commercials are split 50% student input/20% TA/30% Professor, so outcomes were interesting. Overall, this class is a decent amount of work but I feel like I am coming away with more knowledge for my major and possibly new career options that I didn't know I had before.

This class made my life quite complicated- the professor didn't necessarily help. Since it's a requirement for the communications major, I didn't really have a choice whether or not to take it. However, Professor Kernell was stressful and made learning in this class difficult because I had to teach myself everything and if I had a question, I had to resort to asking the TA.

Do not take her unless you have to. She was very rude and condescending the first week which made her unapproachable. I would dread coming to this class every time I had to. She took of points for pointless things that she could have explained better, with the in-person or online lecture. The quizzes were okay and not that bad but the assignments were often very long and absolute pain. I hated the exams, especially the second half. We used a textbook for the first half and then she gave us this new textbook PDF which made it harder to read. Don't waste your time reading it because you won't get tested on it. If you were like me and had no choice but to take in your last semester, good luck.