TWO words： worst ever！

Unfortunately, this class was not taught very well at all. It often seemed like Kernell had no idea what she was teaching, and the only things I learned were from the reading we read, she had nothing new to offer. You have to get to class on time every day because she starts class with a one question iclicker quiz that only lasts a few minutes. Her lectures are not engaging, there are way too many readings and the tests require memorizing the author's name rather than what they wrote about. I would not recommend this class.

This class was honestly falsely advertised. I felt the syllabus and what the professor said would be covered in the class didn't actually correlate with the lectures, and the content turned out to be extremely dry and boring. Additionally, the professor wasn't very clear in her communication (ironic that she's a comm professor) and I felt like I could have learned everything literally from just doing the readings. If there wasn't a clicker question at the beginning of each class there's no way I would have ever gone.

Selling course reader. Prices negotiable. **********

Really hard class, very unfair grader. Recommend against taking this with her. She's really strict too, not an engaging lecturer either

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.