Michael E Shin
Department of Geography
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3.6
Overall Rating
Based on 36 Users
Easiness 2.6 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.4 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 2.1 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.0 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

There are no relevant tags for this professor yet.

GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
31.6%
26.3%
21.1%
15.8%
10.5%
5.3%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

79.5%
66.2%
53.0%
39.7%
26.5%
13.2%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

48.7%
40.6%
32.5%
24.4%
16.2%
8.1%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

55.1%
46.0%
36.8%
27.6%
18.4%
9.2%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

73.1%
60.9%
48.7%
36.5%
24.4%
12.2%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

51.6%
43.0%
34.4%
25.8%
17.2%
8.6%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

41.1%
34.2%
27.4%
20.5%
13.7%
6.8%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

40.0%
33.3%
26.7%
20.0%
13.3%
6.7%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

23.3%
19.4%
15.5%
11.7%
7.8%
3.9%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

25.0%
20.8%
16.7%
12.5%
8.3%
4.2%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

21.7%
18.1%
14.5%
10.8%
7.2%
3.6%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

28.9%
24.1%
19.2%
14.4%
9.6%
4.8%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

31.8%
26.5%
21.2%
15.9%
10.6%
5.3%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

22.0%
18.4%
14.7%
11.0%
7.3%
3.7%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

33.7%
28.1%
22.5%
16.8%
11.2%
5.6%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

34.4%
28.6%
22.9%
17.2%
11.5%
5.7%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

35.7%
29.8%
23.8%
17.9%
11.9%
6.0%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

25.6%
21.3%
17.1%
12.8%
8.5%
4.3%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

39.2%
32.7%
26.1%
19.6%
13.1%
6.5%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

27.3%
22.7%
18.2%
13.6%
9.1%
4.5%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

45.4%
37.8%
30.2%
22.7%
15.1%
7.6%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

33.3%
27.8%
22.2%
16.7%
11.1%
5.6%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
Clear marks

Sorry, no enrollment data is available.

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Reviews (27)

2 of 3
2 of 3
Add your review...
Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: N/A
March 8, 2017

Do NOT take this class unless you ABSOLUTELY have to. If you do, try to get Scott as a TA he's awesome and will make everything ok.

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Quarter: Fall 2016
Grade: A-
Feb. 15, 2017

The class is online except for section, but section is really just meant to answer questions about the weekly project. Most of the grade was based on weekly maps we had to make. Not too hard but did require some time to get them right. Ended up with an A- because I got bad grades on assignments at the beginning before I knew what the professor was looking for. Not the easiest GE but I enjoyed learning how to use the computer program we worked with.

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2016
Grade: A
June 17, 2016

As has been said of this class many times over, there's a really heavy workload with this class. If you do take it, treat it seriously and not like your average GE. I did learn some decently engaging and useful skills through this class, so it's really not as bad as some reviewers may have had in the past. I think Shin changed up the class structure recently, since the midterm is a fill-in-the-blank quiz rather than the insane map project students had before. Given how the average for our midterm was around a ~80 percent, the overall class seemed to adjust fairly well. Since it's an online class, your classmates can range from other UC campuses to even grad students (iirc).
In terms of doing well in this class, try to do well on the weekly assignments. They're worth 30 % of your grade. The midterm and final are worth 15 %, respectively, so you can screw up a little for that. I had Nerve for my TA. He was friendly, but pretty unhelpful for pretty much anything. For help with the weekly assignments, definitely use the Piazza forum. It is a lot more responsive than a previous review made it out to be. I think the best TA to get would probably be Clark Taylor, given his activity on the forums and the fact that he's gonna be teaching this class in the near-future. Shin will tell you to buy his 2nd ed. textbook, and while it is moderately priced, it isn't too necessary to pass the weekly quizzes. If a bit encouraging, I got a C on the midterm (below the avg), but did well on the weekly assignments to get an A in the class. The final actually isn't too bad, since it's basically like the weekly assignments but with different options to choose based on your strengths. Discussion attendance wasn't made mandatory for my class, and I didn't really go to Shin's OH, so I can't really vouch for how helpful he was.

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Quarter: Spring 2016
Grade: P
June 5, 2016

Professor Shin is extremely unhelpful as he does not help his students at all. Moreover, the TA's are even more unhelpful in the assignments. The workload does not make sense as it is too heavy. I put in a lot of hours per week for this class but the TA does not give the scores you deserve. The instructors give brief instructions on the assignments and expect you to know what to do. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS AS A GE. It will only pull your GPA down unless you take it as a pass or no pass. However, you still have to put in a huge amount of effort to pass. Again, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS.

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Quarter: Summer 2015
Grade: A
Feb. 3, 2016

I'll start with a warning: this class is a lot of work and is not a good idea to take as a GE. If you end up not liking the subject, it will be tedious and the assignments will make you want to pull your hair out. If you do decide to take this course, I'd recommend taking it as a 4th class and by the end of week 4 decide whether or not you want to drop it. The online format of this class definitely takes some getting used to. At first I really hated it. It forces a constant and pretty heavy workload. Eventually it grew on me and I have since taken 2 more GIS classes with the same format, and with each class I like the format more and more. This class is A LOT of work. It isn't overly difficult, so if you put in the time you should be able to do pretty well, but it can't be a class that you slack in because not putting in full effort for even a week can set you back pretty far. I felt that the assignments were very rewarding, because at the end of each week you have something very tangible to show for your work. Overall, I would not recommend this class to someone who didn't have any interest in the material ahead of time, but anyone who has seriously looked into GIS should definitely try it.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 30, 2015

Not going to lie, this class was a pain. The workload was huge and I can't even count how much time I spent troubleshooting the program since the lecture videos were vague. But the part that angers me the most, is that despite the inherent difficulty of learning an entirely new program, the TAs only give you full credit for going "above and beyond" on the projects. That's absolutely ridiculous for an introductory class. Not to mention that "above and beyond" is not even defined! They want you to add extra elements to your maps but if they don't like what you did, you're docked points! Alright rant over. Every week there is one assignment, one forum post, and one quiz due. The bulk of your grade comes from the assignments and your final assignment.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Nov. 13, 2015

This class makes me want to kill myself. The workload is ridiculous (a forum post, hours of trying to accomplish the weekly assignment, and a ridiculous weekly quiz). The videos provided do not give specifics on what elements should be able to give you an A on the assignments; how are the students supposed to know what the assignment is supposed to look like if the teacher does not provide any concrete way of achieving good grades? I feel like the TAs dock off points because they are on a power trip. I got points off for trying to go above and beyond by designing a map with gradient elements; the TA told me to keep it simple while the syllabus encourages the students to go beyond the assignment. This class has taught me to hate everything about GIS with it's terrible online-only format. The TA office hours are before the actual discussion; how am I supposed to seek help if your section has not even happened? And the online piazza forum is USELESS. The TAs do not even help answer questions all that often so we wait endlessly for students to come to the rescue--most of which do not give a crap about the website enough to answer. Honestly, DO NOT TAKE THIS WASTE OF A CLASS.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Oct. 24, 2015

Prof. Shin does not mind wasting his students' time on very very PETTY assignments and administrative bullshit. I love GIS, learning about maps, and doing the lab assignment. However, Prof. Shin's construction of this online course makes it such a hand-holding learning process that most of the time just wastes my time.

Firstly, the webcasts are unnecessarily time-consuming -- with lots of long meaningless introduction something like "okay from last webcast we have all agreed that the earth is very big" and "At a renowned institute like UCLA, there's probably a lot of research going on. So, today let's discuss what is research." Please, did we not know these before? Do we really need to sit through 20 mins of things like this every week to gain the tiny bit of new knowledge?

Secondly, I get it that the quizzes are designed to not show the answer even after you submit it (or even after you can no longer attempt it) so that there's no online test bank of any sort. But this is not helping students learn the material, which I thought would be the ultimate goal of any course. This irritates me quite a lot since it again shows how Prof. Shin's priority of petty administrative stuff over true learning goals. It is sort of a personal preference but I strongly detest it. I did not come to UCLA just for the degree or some score. It is the knowledge and skill that I want to take away... anyways.

I have taken classes that are more time-consuming like the PIC and CS classes. However I felt like all my time was used towards meaningful things that are to the point, unlike for Prof. Shin's online GIS class, I'd say 70 % could have well be saved to learn the same material if the class structure were designed differently. I strongly recommend that at least the university provide two versions of the online GEO 7 or have an in-class class taught by a different professor while keeping the online one. I think we should at least be given a chance to choose between teaching styles as is in the case of most other classes!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
July 14, 2015

just lots of troubleshooting. if you have lots of time to spend on a class, take geog7. Just troubleshooting the program all day, everyday

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 27, 2014

DO NOT take this course if you want to find an easy GE. Professor Shin is cute and highly concerned. His instructions are rather clear and specific, but this course really has a horrible workload and DOES NOT GIVE A+. I took 5 courses this quarter and spent OVER 80% of my time working on this course. Got A+ for other courses but an A for GEO7. Definitely take that in mind if you are thinking about choosing this course.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: N/A
March 8, 2017

Do NOT take this class unless you ABSOLUTELY have to. If you do, try to get Scott as a TA he's awesome and will make everything ok.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2016
Grade: A-
Feb. 15, 2017

The class is online except for section, but section is really just meant to answer questions about the weekly project. Most of the grade was based on weekly maps we had to make. Not too hard but did require some time to get them right. Ended up with an A- because I got bad grades on assignments at the beginning before I knew what the professor was looking for. Not the easiest GE but I enjoyed learning how to use the computer program we worked with.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2016
Grade: A
June 17, 2016

As has been said of this class many times over, there's a really heavy workload with this class. If you do take it, treat it seriously and not like your average GE. I did learn some decently engaging and useful skills through this class, so it's really not as bad as some reviewers may have had in the past. I think Shin changed up the class structure recently, since the midterm is a fill-in-the-blank quiz rather than the insane map project students had before. Given how the average for our midterm was around a ~80 percent, the overall class seemed to adjust fairly well. Since it's an online class, your classmates can range from other UC campuses to even grad students (iirc).
In terms of doing well in this class, try to do well on the weekly assignments. They're worth 30 % of your grade. The midterm and final are worth 15 %, respectively, so you can screw up a little for that. I had Nerve for my TA. He was friendly, but pretty unhelpful for pretty much anything. For help with the weekly assignments, definitely use the Piazza forum. It is a lot more responsive than a previous review made it out to be. I think the best TA to get would probably be Clark Taylor, given his activity on the forums and the fact that he's gonna be teaching this class in the near-future. Shin will tell you to buy his 2nd ed. textbook, and while it is moderately priced, it isn't too necessary to pass the weekly quizzes. If a bit encouraging, I got a C on the midterm (below the avg), but did well on the weekly assignments to get an A in the class. The final actually isn't too bad, since it's basically like the weekly assignments but with different options to choose based on your strengths. Discussion attendance wasn't made mandatory for my class, and I didn't really go to Shin's OH, so I can't really vouch for how helpful he was.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2016
Grade: P
June 5, 2016

Professor Shin is extremely unhelpful as he does not help his students at all. Moreover, the TA's are even more unhelpful in the assignments. The workload does not make sense as it is too heavy. I put in a lot of hours per week for this class but the TA does not give the scores you deserve. The instructors give brief instructions on the assignments and expect you to know what to do. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS AS A GE. It will only pull your GPA down unless you take it as a pass or no pass. However, you still have to put in a huge amount of effort to pass. Again, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Summer 2015
Grade: A
Feb. 3, 2016

I'll start with a warning: this class is a lot of work and is not a good idea to take as a GE. If you end up not liking the subject, it will be tedious and the assignments will make you want to pull your hair out. If you do decide to take this course, I'd recommend taking it as a 4th class and by the end of week 4 decide whether or not you want to drop it. The online format of this class definitely takes some getting used to. At first I really hated it. It forces a constant and pretty heavy workload. Eventually it grew on me and I have since taken 2 more GIS classes with the same format, and with each class I like the format more and more. This class is A LOT of work. It isn't overly difficult, so if you put in the time you should be able to do pretty well, but it can't be a class that you slack in because not putting in full effort for even a week can set you back pretty far. I felt that the assignments were very rewarding, because at the end of each week you have something very tangible to show for your work. Overall, I would not recommend this class to someone who didn't have any interest in the material ahead of time, but anyone who has seriously looked into GIS should definitely try it.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 30, 2015

Not going to lie, this class was a pain. The workload was huge and I can't even count how much time I spent troubleshooting the program since the lecture videos were vague. But the part that angers me the most, is that despite the inherent difficulty of learning an entirely new program, the TAs only give you full credit for going "above and beyond" on the projects. That's absolutely ridiculous for an introductory class. Not to mention that "above and beyond" is not even defined! They want you to add extra elements to your maps but if they don't like what you did, you're docked points! Alright rant over. Every week there is one assignment, one forum post, and one quiz due. The bulk of your grade comes from the assignments and your final assignment.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Nov. 13, 2015

This class makes me want to kill myself. The workload is ridiculous (a forum post, hours of trying to accomplish the weekly assignment, and a ridiculous weekly quiz). The videos provided do not give specifics on what elements should be able to give you an A on the assignments; how are the students supposed to know what the assignment is supposed to look like if the teacher does not provide any concrete way of achieving good grades? I feel like the TAs dock off points because they are on a power trip. I got points off for trying to go above and beyond by designing a map with gradient elements; the TA told me to keep it simple while the syllabus encourages the students to go beyond the assignment. This class has taught me to hate everything about GIS with it's terrible online-only format. The TA office hours are before the actual discussion; how am I supposed to seek help if your section has not even happened? And the online piazza forum is USELESS. The TAs do not even help answer questions all that often so we wait endlessly for students to come to the rescue--most of which do not give a crap about the website enough to answer. Honestly, DO NOT TAKE THIS WASTE OF A CLASS.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Oct. 24, 2015

Prof. Shin does not mind wasting his students' time on very very PETTY assignments and administrative bullshit. I love GIS, learning about maps, and doing the lab assignment. However, Prof. Shin's construction of this online course makes it such a hand-holding learning process that most of the time just wastes my time.

Firstly, the webcasts are unnecessarily time-consuming -- with lots of long meaningless introduction something like "okay from last webcast we have all agreed that the earth is very big" and "At a renowned institute like UCLA, there's probably a lot of research going on. So, today let's discuss what is research." Please, did we not know these before? Do we really need to sit through 20 mins of things like this every week to gain the tiny bit of new knowledge?

Secondly, I get it that the quizzes are designed to not show the answer even after you submit it (or even after you can no longer attempt it) so that there's no online test bank of any sort. But this is not helping students learn the material, which I thought would be the ultimate goal of any course. This irritates me quite a lot since it again shows how Prof. Shin's priority of petty administrative stuff over true learning goals. It is sort of a personal preference but I strongly detest it. I did not come to UCLA just for the degree or some score. It is the knowledge and skill that I want to take away... anyways.

I have taken classes that are more time-consuming like the PIC and CS classes. However I felt like all my time was used towards meaningful things that are to the point, unlike for Prof. Shin's online GIS class, I'd say 70 % could have well be saved to learn the same material if the class structure were designed differently. I strongly recommend that at least the university provide two versions of the online GEO 7 or have an in-class class taught by a different professor while keeping the online one. I think we should at least be given a chance to choose between teaching styles as is in the case of most other classes!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
July 14, 2015

just lots of troubleshooting. if you have lots of time to spend on a class, take geog7. Just troubleshooting the program all day, everyday

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 27, 2014

DO NOT take this course if you want to find an easy GE. Professor Shin is cute and highly concerned. His instructions are rather clear and specific, but this course really has a horrible workload and DOES NOT GIVE A+. I took 5 courses this quarter and spent OVER 80% of my time working on this course. Got A+ for other courses but an A for GEO7. Definitely take that in mind if you are thinking about choosing this course.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
2 of 3
3.6
Overall Rating
Based on 36 Users
Easiness 2.6 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.4 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 2.1 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.0 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

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