I took this for a literary & cultural GE and it was def an easy class, just really boring. You can tell the professor really loves what she does, but if you aren't into art like me you will probably be fighting your sleep in this class. The grading is as follows: Participation - 18% 2 response papers - 12% 2 quizzes - 10% In-class midterm - 20% Exhibition review essay - 20% Take home final - 20%.

Participation: It was based on going to your discussions. I loved my TA (Mal Meisels). They were really helpful, nice, and understanding. They allowed us to be excused from discussion as long as you sent an email one hour before the discussion. They also allowed extensions being that they graded all our assignments as long as you let them know at least two days before the deadline. They had us each do a reading summary as part of our participation grade that everyone can look back on and use which was beneficial in the end since the readings were pretty important in the class. (They said it was their first time doing this so depending on your TA it might be different)

Response Papers: The first response paper we were tasked with visiting a museum and to analyze an object. It had to be 400-500 words. The second response paper we had to find a social activism online through a social media site that engages with a museum and you had to write a label for it which was my favorite being that it was only a couple sentences. I don't know if it's the same each year, but these assignments were not too bad.

Quizzes: We had two in class quizzes that had to do with readings or video she assigned the week prior. Both were easy.

In class midterm: Half was multiple choice the other was free response. It had to do with the readings (what author said this) and a little bit of what she talked about in lecture. If you barley did the readings or understand the concepts in class you won't do go. The TAs weren't grading the free responses too hard, but you did have to meet to main points and expand as much as possible.

Take home final: You were given the prompt Thursdays class and you had until Tuesday to turn it in. 700 words I believe about critiques in museums. I did it in one day and got a high B so you'll be fine.

Overall, pretty boring lectures, but liked the discussions. Readings were annoying, but doable and if you want a class to get a good grade in, I would take it.

Professor is really old fashioned - you will get kicked out if you use your phones during lecture. Midterm (in-person blue book) was all memorization. Either read everything each week or skim read and go to lectures. Lectures go over the important parts of reading that will be asked about on the test. The final (take-home) was two essays & both had relatively interesting prompts.

This class was an easy GE to take. I enjoyed the content as well and the essays for the class were easy and fun. They gave you a lot of leniency on what you could write about which I liked. Midterm was in person but not tough if you do the readings.

This class is amazing! I would recommend this class to anyone, regardless of major. The assignments are super manageable and you can pass by easily without doing the readings, or doing less than half.

There's a short essay (1-2 pages) due every week with readings. It's based on the lecture so make sure you attend and take notes

The midterm was three questions that needed 3 museum case studies as examples per question. It's a take-home test and I did it in a few hours. I only got 2 points off.

The final is not a research paper (thank god! a lot of art history final's are research papers). It was a 1500 word essay based on one question. You had to use 3 museum case studies. Very easy.

Overall, a very easy and chill class. The lecture is very clear and easy to understand. Professor Mathur is the best!

Grading Scale:
25% response papers (5 points each, 5 papers of 1-2 page length)
20% discussion attendance and participation
27% take home midterm (three 500-600 word questions)
28% take home final (1000 word essay, cumulative)

Everything is essentially graded by points instead of percentage, so papers are 5 each, midterm 27, final 28—every point off is a percentage off your grade.

Overall Review:
The class is very interesting, and you need no previous experience or interest in museums to enjoy the content. The content and information is diverse and fun to learn. However, I am a STEM major with little interest in humanities, and this course was more challenging for me than I thought it would be. The readings were very convoluted and hard to understand for me, as I struggle with comprehension and concentration when it comes to readings. However, I was able to make it out with an A despite this. Just a warning for those who are not built for humanities: this class should not be treated as an easy GE. There was also more writing than expected, due to the response papers, but again not too difficult. All assignments and tests are open notes (obviously), so that is what helped me a lot. Generally, I do not regret taking this class, and I recommend it to others, especially humanities people!

Lecture:
For my quarter, it was in person on tuesdays and asynchronous on thursday (even though it said synchronous on the class planner). Asynchronous lectures are pre recorded videos. The content was overall very interesting and Mathur is a great lecturer.

Discussion:
Usually consisted of a group project (15 minutes to compile an informal presentation with a group and then present) and a short discussion afterwards. Very easy to get participation credit—just show up and maybe say something for the presentation or for the discussion.

Response Papers:
The first one was more of a fun activity than a response paper, but the rest are answering questions in a short essay style. Definitely not difficult prompts, but depending on your TA it can be graded harshly on format and citation. For citation Mathur allows any form you are comfortable with! Even though APA is not typically used for humanities, it was allowed but make sure to ask first.

Midterm and Final:
Both the midterm and final are take home. For the midterm we were given roughly three days, and for the final we had five. Midterm was, in my opinion, harder than the final. It was basically three short essays (don’t just do a chunk of text for each), so three different questions to answer which can be tiring. However, even though it’s 1500-1800 words overall, there was a lot of content to write about so it was not too bad. Depending on your TA, it can be graded pretty harshly (again mostly citations, paragraph format, thesis, etc). The final seemed to be graded easier, likely because the format of the essay was clearer. However, the prompts for both can be a bit vague, but the professor and TAs offer office hours for clarification!

Textbook:
There is no textbook! Just readings assigned and provided weekly by Mathur. They can range from two small articles and a short video to 40 pages and a 30 minute video, so check the syllabus and stay on track. They should be read and watched before discussion sections, as the content discussed will usually be related. They are usually needed for response papers as well, and are very useful for exams. Lectures also discuss papers (sometimes thoroughly and sometimes in passing), so reading thoroughly is not too necessary—just get the general gist.

I really enjoyed this class as a GE! The topic was super interesting to me and Mathur is a really good lecturer. She had really short lectures per week (5 15-20 min so it was easy to keep up with. I got a B+ only because I was going through it first quarter TT but it is definitely not hard to get an A even if you don't like writing. The midterm, assignments, and final were basically all papers, but spaced out so it wasn't a lot at once. Also, I can't remember how much was the final like 1000 words? But the midterm was 500-600 words per question for 3 question. My TA Zichen was also really nice and understanding and went over concepts thoroughly during discussion.

I didn't see many Bruinwalk reviews of this class prior to enrolling, but I'm glad I took it anyway. I found the material to be engaging, and as someone who's never taken an art history class before, it was very approachable. I appreciated that we focused more on analyzing the role of museums in society than on memorizing dates or paintings. In my opinion, this class would qualify as an "easy GE".

Grading scheme:
20% Discussion Participation
20% Response Questions
10% Collection Reflections
24% Midterm
26% Final

The class is set up so that there are weekly 1-2 page papers due before discussion (the response questions and collection reflections), as well as 5-6 readings and asynchronous mini lecture videos (15-25 mins long each). The midterm consists of 3 short answer questions (500-600 words each) and the final is a 1000 word essay. The workload is very doable, and the TAs grade leniently. Overall, I would definitely recommend this class.

The professor teaches well and allows you to succeed in the class. The weekly readings can be difficult to complete due to length, complexity, and disinterest, but you can definitely scan them to get the main ideas and do fine. If you are able to read quickly, the workload is very light. On another note, the class is quite interesting and can be fun.

This class is a great GE to take, and I really learned a lot about museums and their effects on artwork and society. Your grade depends on your TA, and I was lucky enough to have a great TA. That being said, the weekly readings are reasonable and are actually useful towards the class. Professor Mathur's lectures (pre-recorded/asynchronous) were very concise and easy to understand, and I definitely recommend watching them as they aren't that long and help to clear up more complex topics from the readings. The weekly assignments consist of either a reading response (one page cap) or a collection reflection. The one-pagers were harder, because you had to be pretty concise. The collection reflections were super easy. Overall, the workload is light to medium. Both the midterm and final are papers. The midterm was straightforward, and the questions we were given to write about were easy to write about. The final on the other hand was more abstract and harder to write, but overall, this class was very enjoyable and interesting.

I absolutely LOVED this class. It was undoubtedly my favorite of this quarter. Professor Mathur taught concepts about museums I never would've considered in the past, and it really opened my eyes to a whole new field of study. The workload (as in written assignments) was generally light, although sometimes the readings were a little long. Professor Mathur is very knowledgable about this topic and is a great lecturer, whom I would highly recommend taking a class with at some point in your life. Also my TA, Alba, was lovely. I genuinely enjoyed attending her sections because I felt like we were having meaningful discussions, and she was also a fast grader which was an added bonus. Overall, I highly recommend this course!