Professor
Lauren Derby
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Most Helpful Review
Derby is passionate and well-intentioned, but overall a very poor professor. Unfortunately, Derby's love for Latin America and the Caribbean does not translate into anything comprehensible in lecture- her lectures are random and extremely unorganized, often with Powerpoints of only keyterms and a picture or two. Fortunately, TA's are understanding of Derby's terrible lecture skills and really help the students to understand the material, which spans many countries and several hundred years. An interest in Latin America before Hist. 8C helped me to get through the class, but others were not as fortunate. The class consists of three essays (two for the midterm), which are all doable, and one broad final on the hundreds of keyterms throughout the quarter. Not the worst class I've taken, but certainly not the best.
Derby is passionate and well-intentioned, but overall a very poor professor. Unfortunately, Derby's love for Latin America and the Caribbean does not translate into anything comprehensible in lecture- her lectures are random and extremely unorganized, often with Powerpoints of only keyterms and a picture or two. Fortunately, TA's are understanding of Derby's terrible lecture skills and really help the students to understand the material, which spans many countries and several hundred years. An interest in Latin America before Hist. 8C helped me to get through the class, but others were not as fortunate. The class consists of three essays (two for the midterm), which are all doable, and one broad final on the hundreds of keyterms throughout the quarter. Not the worst class I've taken, but certainly not the best.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - I thought the class was alright. Professor Derby's lectures were somewhat disorganized and occasionally hard to follow, but she and the TA Becca were helpful in clarifying when you ask questions. The class was mostly based on two papers and discussion posts in the Slack. The papers weren't graded too harshly and Becca was helpful if you wanted feedback on your work. The textbooks are necessary for the papers, but you don't need to read everything, just enough to include the material for the topic you're writing about. I definitely learned a lot of new and interesting information overall, despite the disorganization.
Winter 2021 - I thought the class was alright. Professor Derby's lectures were somewhat disorganized and occasionally hard to follow, but she and the TA Becca were helpful in clarifying when you ask questions. The class was mostly based on two papers and discussion posts in the Slack. The papers weren't graded too harshly and Becca was helpful if you wanted feedback on your work. The textbooks are necessary for the papers, but you don't need to read everything, just enough to include the material for the topic you're writing about. I definitely learned a lot of new and interesting information overall, despite the disorganization.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - Well a lot has changed from the past couple of reviews lol. I would recommend this class to anyone who loves reading and is good at analyzing. If you're not someone who is, don't take this. For me, it was the easiest GE I've taken because of that fact. I love analyzing work so I got by simple. Her lectures have DEFINITELY improved from what the past people have been saying. However, it still has the feeling that she's trying to cram every little information about everything in her lectures. Also, they're pretty long so I found myself skipping to the future slides and doing other class work before the required film starts (she plays them in lectures in the last 1 hour 30 mins or so). There's one 3-page midterm and one 6-8 page final. Discussion sections are mandatory, but other than that theres not else to be graded. If you're able to write well, you'll be in good hands. It's just that the TA's don't really check your work so you'll find yourself going to the UCLA writing center a lot. Nonetheless, regardless of how weird Spring 24 was, highly recommend this class if you like that kinda stuff.
Spring 2024 - Well a lot has changed from the past couple of reviews lol. I would recommend this class to anyone who loves reading and is good at analyzing. If you're not someone who is, don't take this. For me, it was the easiest GE I've taken because of that fact. I love analyzing work so I got by simple. Her lectures have DEFINITELY improved from what the past people have been saying. However, it still has the feeling that she's trying to cram every little information about everything in her lectures. Also, they're pretty long so I found myself skipping to the future slides and doing other class work before the required film starts (she plays them in lectures in the last 1 hour 30 mins or so). There's one 3-page midterm and one 6-8 page final. Discussion sections are mandatory, but other than that theres not else to be graded. If you're able to write well, you'll be in good hands. It's just that the TA's don't really check your work so you'll find yourself going to the UCLA writing center a lot. Nonetheless, regardless of how weird Spring 24 was, highly recommend this class if you like that kinda stuff.
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