Professor
Michael Lens
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - TLDR: interesting with a lot of background on urban issues and history of cities. Not an easy A, but it is possible if you engage all quarter. I loved this course! I took it as a theory requirement for the Public Affairs Major. The assignment breakdown is as follows: 1. Weekly quizzes (10%) The weekly quizzes were due Monday at 10 am and graded for participation. They ask a few questions about course materal from that week and give students a chance to ask the professor questions about the week's material as well. There were one for each week roughly. 2. Two “Seeing the City” assignments (30%) - Due: October 29 and November 21 These assignments were graded on a "check plus, check, or no credit" basis. You basically had to apply class concepts from the week to a specific location of your choosing in a written response around 800~ words. These were graded by TAs, and late work was generally accepted with a deduction. 3. Midterm exam 25% 24-hour take-home) The midterm was divided into two sections, short essays and mutiple choice. There were 3 essay prompts and you have 24 hours to complete each response in 1-1.5 pages single spaced. The prompts require you to reference specific readings from class. The teaching staff was particular about answering all elements of the prompt, having traditional essay elements (intro, conclusion), providing counteragruments, so some students lost points from not having all elements. Overall, if you are familiar with the readings, you will probably do well. I did about 50% of each week's readings, which was about 80-100 pages a week in total, and did well. The mutiple choice is timed at 30 minutes for about 20 questions and can be taken anywhere in the 24 hour window. The questions are based similarly from the weekly quizzes, graphs/information on the slides, and reading main ideas. Review sessions were offered from teaching team. 4. Final exam 35% (24-hour take-home) Pretty much the same as the midterm. The mutiple choice was longer and we had more time to finish it, about 45 minutes and 30 questions, roughly. There were two essay questions instead of three, and they were weighted more each to account for the one less prompt. Took place during finals week and the teaching team offered several review sessions. CONS: - Readings: there were anywhere from 80-100 pages of reading each week. At times, the material was dense but it was generally easy to get through, just time consuming. I did about 50% of each week's readings and still understood the material. You do not have to do all the readings, but must be familiar with major concepts and author's names to suceed - Some students considered the teaching team to be nitpicky and unclear about midterm grading. - Professor Lens has a lot of information on slides that is on the midterm and final but often goes through them quickly. PROS: - Professor Lens is very funny and understanding! he makes the course material engaging and connects it to several locations that are relatable to students. - Class is Bruincast - The class and my section did not require attendence
Fall 2024 - TLDR: interesting with a lot of background on urban issues and history of cities. Not an easy A, but it is possible if you engage all quarter. I loved this course! I took it as a theory requirement for the Public Affairs Major. The assignment breakdown is as follows: 1. Weekly quizzes (10%) The weekly quizzes were due Monday at 10 am and graded for participation. They ask a few questions about course materal from that week and give students a chance to ask the professor questions about the week's material as well. There were one for each week roughly. 2. Two “Seeing the City” assignments (30%) - Due: October 29 and November 21 These assignments were graded on a "check plus, check, or no credit" basis. You basically had to apply class concepts from the week to a specific location of your choosing in a written response around 800~ words. These were graded by TAs, and late work was generally accepted with a deduction. 3. Midterm exam 25% 24-hour take-home) The midterm was divided into two sections, short essays and mutiple choice. There were 3 essay prompts and you have 24 hours to complete each response in 1-1.5 pages single spaced. The prompts require you to reference specific readings from class. The teaching staff was particular about answering all elements of the prompt, having traditional essay elements (intro, conclusion), providing counteragruments, so some students lost points from not having all elements. Overall, if you are familiar with the readings, you will probably do well. I did about 50% of each week's readings, which was about 80-100 pages a week in total, and did well. The mutiple choice is timed at 30 minutes for about 20 questions and can be taken anywhere in the 24 hour window. The questions are based similarly from the weekly quizzes, graphs/information on the slides, and reading main ideas. Review sessions were offered from teaching team. 4. Final exam 35% (24-hour take-home) Pretty much the same as the midterm. The mutiple choice was longer and we had more time to finish it, about 45 minutes and 30 questions, roughly. There were two essay questions instead of three, and they were weighted more each to account for the one less prompt. Took place during finals week and the teaching team offered several review sessions. CONS: - Readings: there were anywhere from 80-100 pages of reading each week. At times, the material was dense but it was generally easy to get through, just time consuming. I did about 50% of each week's readings and still understood the material. You do not have to do all the readings, but must be familiar with major concepts and author's names to suceed - Some students considered the teaching team to be nitpicky and unclear about midterm grading. - Professor Lens has a lot of information on slides that is on the midterm and final but often goes through them quickly. PROS: - Professor Lens is very funny and understanding! he makes the course material engaging and connects it to several locations that are relatable to students. - Class is Bruincast - The class and my section did not require attendence
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2024 - As an engineer taking this for a tech breadth, I thought it would be an easy A--but it wasn't the case. The course load is pretty light (2 essay assignments, midterm + final have both multiple essays and MCQ) but the grading was rather harsh, depending on the TA (they were often very picky on citing sources). I found the content to be somewhat boring as well. I was a bit annoyed when my TA modified instructions for an assignment via a canvas announcement and not the actual assignment description itself, thereby marking down my score despite me having followed the assignment instructions correctly. tldr: not the best experience, but it's an okay class I guess.
Fall 2024 - As an engineer taking this for a tech breadth, I thought it would be an easy A--but it wasn't the case. The course load is pretty light (2 essay assignments, midterm + final have both multiple essays and MCQ) but the grading was rather harsh, depending on the TA (they were often very picky on citing sources). I found the content to be somewhat boring as well. I was a bit annoyed when my TA modified instructions for an assignment via a canvas announcement and not the actual assignment description itself, thereby marking down my score despite me having followed the assignment instructions correctly. tldr: not the best experience, but it's an okay class I guess.
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