Professor
Jennifer Jung-kim
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - This introductory class certainly didn't feel introductory. The assignments were graded harsher than any other intro classes I've taken before, and the class instructions were very vague. As an intro class that people take to fill GE requirements I was really disappointed in the requirements and grading strictness the professor held us to. I've taken upper division political science and international studies classes with easier grading than this. As some people have mentioned before, the midterm, although not specified in the instructions, is graded on a tough curve. Meaning that you can only get a perfect score if your answers are the best in the class. The final and midterm are both graded in relation to other students, with questions meant to look easy but are deceptively difficult. Additionally, the instructions are incredibly vague on other things such as the number of sources you need to have in your answers, or how detailed your answers should be. When I emailed the professor about questions I had on the grading and content of our exams, I never received a response back. This happened three times over the quarter, she never answered a single email I sent her. Which is strange considering she leaves us her contact email in the syllabus. All the grading criteria, fuzzy instructions, coursework assignments, and participation requirements in this class were difficult to deal with. Some people really enjoyed the assignments and participating in section. I didn't. Your experience may vary depending on your preferences but I wouldn't recommend this class to anyone looking for GE classes. The difficulty of this class relative to other intro and GE classes is astounding, and I really can't say this class was a good choice to take.
Winter 2021 - This introductory class certainly didn't feel introductory. The assignments were graded harsher than any other intro classes I've taken before, and the class instructions were very vague. As an intro class that people take to fill GE requirements I was really disappointed in the requirements and grading strictness the professor held us to. I've taken upper division political science and international studies classes with easier grading than this. As some people have mentioned before, the midterm, although not specified in the instructions, is graded on a tough curve. Meaning that you can only get a perfect score if your answers are the best in the class. The final and midterm are both graded in relation to other students, with questions meant to look easy but are deceptively difficult. Additionally, the instructions are incredibly vague on other things such as the number of sources you need to have in your answers, or how detailed your answers should be. When I emailed the professor about questions I had on the grading and content of our exams, I never received a response back. This happened three times over the quarter, she never answered a single email I sent her. Which is strange considering she leaves us her contact email in the syllabus. All the grading criteria, fuzzy instructions, coursework assignments, and participation requirements in this class were difficult to deal with. Some people really enjoyed the assignments and participating in section. I didn't. Your experience may vary depending on your preferences but I wouldn't recommend this class to anyone looking for GE classes. The difficulty of this class relative to other intro and GE classes is astounding, and I really can't say this class was a good choice to take.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - I may be biased because I found the subject topic to be interesting even before I took this class, but this is probably my favorite class I've ever taken at UCLA. Winter 2021 was the first time this class was offered as a Writing II class, but it honestly didn't feel as intensive as I thought a writing II class would be. There were three 3-paged essays you had to write throughout the quarter, one on Korean pop music, one on television, and one on movies, and then the final was an essay that combined all of them to discuss the successful globalization of South Korean pop culture. There were no midterms, tests, or quizzes. There were a lot of readings every week, and we would discuss these readings in class, but I found them to be very interesting and read them with no problem (you could definitely get away with some smart skimming, though). I'm not quite sure how the professor graded participation, but when I took the class, participation was worth 10% of your grade - as long as you contributed once a week in lecture, I think you would be okay. The discussion sections weren't really discussions, but the TA would just teach us how to improve on our writing and go over some of the readings more in-depth. Later on in the course we would also have peer-review sessions during the discussion sections, where we'd look over each other's essays, but I don't think these were very helpful. The essay prompts were a little bit confusing, but I believe that was only because this class is still in its beginning stages. Sometimes the TA would grade harshly, but if you struggle with writing, don't be afraid to seek help from them because the papers are basically the only things that determine your grade, and they are very helpful and clear on what they want. I loved this class because I learned so much not only about South Korean popular culture, but also because the professor was a great lecturer. She kept class engaging by constantly asking thought-provoking questions and showing media we discussed/read about in class (like movie trailers or television show scenes). I loved participating, but don't feel pressured to, a lot of people just typed things in the chat, and it was okay. I think they're gonna be changing the structure of this course a lot in the future years, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone seeking to take an easy Writing II class.
Winter 2021 - I may be biased because I found the subject topic to be interesting even before I took this class, but this is probably my favorite class I've ever taken at UCLA. Winter 2021 was the first time this class was offered as a Writing II class, but it honestly didn't feel as intensive as I thought a writing II class would be. There were three 3-paged essays you had to write throughout the quarter, one on Korean pop music, one on television, and one on movies, and then the final was an essay that combined all of them to discuss the successful globalization of South Korean pop culture. There were no midterms, tests, or quizzes. There were a lot of readings every week, and we would discuss these readings in class, but I found them to be very interesting and read them with no problem (you could definitely get away with some smart skimming, though). I'm not quite sure how the professor graded participation, but when I took the class, participation was worth 10% of your grade - as long as you contributed once a week in lecture, I think you would be okay. The discussion sections weren't really discussions, but the TA would just teach us how to improve on our writing and go over some of the readings more in-depth. Later on in the course we would also have peer-review sessions during the discussion sections, where we'd look over each other's essays, but I don't think these were very helpful. The essay prompts were a little bit confusing, but I believe that was only because this class is still in its beginning stages. Sometimes the TA would grade harshly, but if you struggle with writing, don't be afraid to seek help from them because the papers are basically the only things that determine your grade, and they are very helpful and clear on what they want. I loved this class because I learned so much not only about South Korean popular culture, but also because the professor was a great lecturer. She kept class engaging by constantly asking thought-provoking questions and showing media we discussed/read about in class (like movie trailers or television show scenes). I loved participating, but don't feel pressured to, a lot of people just typed things in the chat, and it was okay. I think they're gonna be changing the structure of this course a lot in the future years, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone seeking to take an easy Writing II class.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - I don’t recommend this class. Grade consists of 3 essays, a rough draft, and a final. The rubrics were extremely unclear and grades were very strict. The rough draft was graded not for completion, but with the same rubric as the final. I worked extremely hard to improve each essay yet I got the same grades all quarter.
Winter 2022 - I don’t recommend this class. Grade consists of 3 essays, a rough draft, and a final. The rubrics were extremely unclear and grades were very strict. The rough draft was graded not for completion, but with the same rubric as the final. I worked extremely hard to improve each essay yet I got the same grades all quarter.
Most Helpful Review
I thought this class would be hard because of the all the readings, required partcipation in terms to contributing to the web site, taking roll, and talking in class, and because of the pop quizzes. But Jennifer tells us the important things, or the key terms to focus on, and drops so many hints about the pop quizzes such it's pretty easy to know when they are. She gave a take-home midterm which I thought wasn't too bad, and she seems to grade pretty leniently. She occasionally breaks the lecturing of the course by showing us pictures and videos. I haven't gone to any of her office hours, but she responds to email fairly quickly. Contributing in class isn't very hard to do, just asking for clarfication for things during class counts, I think, and you just rant about whatever on the dicussion board, Overall, a friendly professor who make its clear what we need to know, and a lenient grader. If you follow everything she tells to you to do, it shouldn't be hard to get an A in the class. She's also the only professor that I know who has asked the students to post their review of her on this website. I thought that was pretty cool, since most of other professors really don't care. Recommended this class if you have any interest at all about Korea.
I thought this class would be hard because of the all the readings, required partcipation in terms to contributing to the web site, taking roll, and talking in class, and because of the pop quizzes. But Jennifer tells us the important things, or the key terms to focus on, and drops so many hints about the pop quizzes such it's pretty easy to know when they are. She gave a take-home midterm which I thought wasn't too bad, and she seems to grade pretty leniently. She occasionally breaks the lecturing of the course by showing us pictures and videos. I haven't gone to any of her office hours, but she responds to email fairly quickly. Contributing in class isn't very hard to do, just asking for clarfication for things during class counts, I think, and you just rant about whatever on the dicussion board, Overall, a friendly professor who make its clear what we need to know, and a lenient grader. If you follow everything she tells to you to do, it shouldn't be hard to get an A in the class. She's also the only professor that I know who has asked the students to post their review of her on this website. I thought that was pretty cool, since most of other professors really don't care. Recommended this class if you have any interest at all about Korea.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - Contrary to some other reviews here this class was very engaging and not just a list and discussion of food we liked, Prof. Kim often facilitated class discussions about food preference in order to make us comfortable when discussing actual food ways. We learned alot about the importance of food in society, the ways food spreads worldwide, and the more social aspects food has. We were graded on 3 essays, a video project, and participation. Prof. Kim is very understanding and will work with you to help you improve upon your essays if you just go to office hours, you can also get more details from her about assignments there as well though she does put a detailed grading rubric on Canvas the week prior to the due date. She was very kind and I would recommend this class a fun elective for non-majors (as a Bio major).
Fall 2024 - Contrary to some other reviews here this class was very engaging and not just a list and discussion of food we liked, Prof. Kim often facilitated class discussions about food preference in order to make us comfortable when discussing actual food ways. We learned alot about the importance of food in society, the ways food spreads worldwide, and the more social aspects food has. We were graded on 3 essays, a video project, and participation. Prof. Kim is very understanding and will work with you to help you improve upon your essays if you just go to office hours, you can also get more details from her about assignments there as well though she does put a detailed grading rubric on Canvas the week prior to the due date. She was very kind and I would recommend this class a fun elective for non-majors (as a Bio major).
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