[spring 2020 covid online quarter] To be a student to this professor, please be an understanding human. I found his interests really interesting, and I think he is a very thoughtful person with a very socially aware outlook on things. I believe English is not his first language? So he can be hard to understand sometimes but try to listening to what he is really saying instead of just hearing what you hear.

Teaching-wise, I was disappointed--his slides are pretty disorganized, and he also taught really slowly so I didn't feel like the class even covered that much material. However, he did express that he had a hard time adapting to teaching in the online format so idk if this class would have been different in person. Another reason he didn't teach very much was because the TA taught I think 6 or 7 classes on beginning Python coding? Which I agree with the prof is an important learning objective. But if you know any coding at all already, it's kinda useless to you (I didn't learn anything new from this portion of the class and was pretty bored, tuned out). If you don't know any coding yet, might be rough since learning coding for the first time is learning a new way of thinking. But as the prof says and I agree, it will become an indispensable job skill and if you're ready to challenge it you won't regret it. Kaushik was the TA and he was obv new to teaching but went slowly, always answered questions clearly and made sure everybody was following.

Grade was made up of two coding homework assignments and two exams, which asked simple coding questions and conceptual short answers from material.

It was a very enlightening class. I learned a lot about AI and its various applications in research, social media, etc. The professor was pretty good with explaining the material, but since the concepts are a bit more complex and interdisciplinary, it may take some time to fully grasp them. The python portion of the class was also very straightforward and helpful. As someone with coding experience, it was on the easy side and may seem a bit slow-paced. But it is definitely meant for beginners and the TA was very helpful in trying to get everyone on the same page. Very doable class and I had no issues with the online learning environment for this.