Prof Mary is a really helpful instructor, she would always provide help when needed. However, her work is pretty heavy. Weekly, one reading response of 800-1000 words along with a handful of readings. Her topics were fairly political or societal. 2 essays were required along with a group presentation. Everything about the essay writing process was graded: outline, draft, and final draft. They helped me come up with great final essays but it was a lot of work. I took only 2 courses, and the workload during summer made my fall quarter (with 4 courses) feel like a breeze.
If you genuinely want to improve your writing, go for Professor Samuelson.

Professor Samuelson is by far the best professor I have ever had at UCLA. She is accessible, helpful, and most importantly personable. This was an 8AM and I woke up everyday excited to join her class. Never in my time as an undergrad have I had such a caring professor who was genuinely interested in getting to know her students. The class itself was super fun and taught me a lot. Very politics focused but duh the election was happening during our quarter. Take this class! You will not regret it. Workload was just right! Some group projects, some individual projects! Very very fun class!!!

I think Professor S is a wonderful human being who really is empathic to her students and was curious about each and every one of us. She even cried on the last day of class. The course is very manageable/easy and while I am certainly grateful for that, I wish there was something more to it. The class is discussion-based which is really nice, but it just felt like a time to espouse lived experiences and to all agree with self-evident ideas like getting off the assembly line and growth mindset. "Roadmap" is really not that great of a book, and the other readings were repetitive and dull. I really lament that we didn't as a class ever interact critically with some of these texts or have discussions in which we talked to each other instead of at each other. The highlight of the class for me was reading Lawrence Lessig and the Remix Project, and I was pretty let-down that the E-Portfolio process didn't warrant more time in the class and that we created them using Wix.com... Yes, it's the best introduction web design with pre-made templates, but there are other more serious ways to build a personal website that aren't as expensive (if you upgrade) or as tacky as Wix.

Overall, the course is good. Professor S is very nice and helpful. Class discussions are engaging. Sometimes the homework can be interesting. I think the course is very useful for juniors or seniors cuz you are basically reflecting your roadmap and writing those application materials. However, heavy workload, more than a writing class. Anyway, Professor S gives fair grades, and it's easy to get an A, but you need to write A LOT!

Mandatory attendance since participation is graded, which is a bit extra since there is nothing to be learnt in this class. The professor was nice but graded too harshly for a pointless class like this. Assignments were very time-consuming. Felt like I wasted many hours of my life.

I highly recommend this class to anyone interested in learning about digital media and applying it professionally. I'm an English major and tend to be more introverted, but this class really brought out my creative side, teaching me how to create blogs, websites and stay connected with the news while listening to the assigned Daily podcasts. The class would consist of lectures over the readings (in-person), 2 group presentations (zoom), and one assigned reading-day leader who would discuss the chapter we read the night before (in-person). Class discussions of cancel culture, student activism, and opinions on controversial podcast episodes were very engaging. This class was my favorite of all my courses, and although it contained the most work with the project-based assignments and two-page responses, all the topics were relevant and fascinating to learn more in-depth about. Honestly, the projects felt more like fun than homework. She grades very fairly, and her feedback is always lovely and thorough. Professor S. just wants everyone to participate and express their interpretations of the topics creatively. Bottom line: THIS CLASS IS AMAZING!!! If you want a break from reading and writing essays or a chance to discover something new and helpful, take this course.

i really like this professor, I think this is a great teacher to take your writing requirement with. shes super nice and easy to talk too

Professor S. is a fantastic professor and human being. She takes the time to read all of your work (trust me, you'll be writing a lot in this class) and is engaging to be with in class. She assigns a lot of work, like a LOT, but most of it was fun to do. Also, there is no need to do the readings other than the one you've been assigned to present on.

Professor Samuelson was a great professor and truly cared about the improvement of students writing. I was nervous at first to take the course because at first, I did not feel confident in my writing. As I end the course, I feel more confident in my writing and I have learned many helpful writing tips. The course was challenging, but I feel that I improved so much as a writer. Professor Samuelson mentioned in the beginning of the course, that if we put in the work and time on our essays we would do great in the class and I agree. I was once a person who said "This is my first draft and final draft," but now I go through the process of writing a bad first draft and revising it. I enjoyed the assigned readings because they were relevant to today's world and I was actually interested and engaged when reading them. The reading responses, I felt were tedious, but they were very helpful when it came to starting my rough drafts. Professor Samuelson always encouraged students to attend office hours, and I did, which I felt was very helpful. I highly recommend Professor Samuelson because she was encouraging and helped me to become more confident in college writing. I now implement the writing skills I learned in the class to other classes where I need to write.