Professor Potts is great! She doesn't use that many words in her powerpoint but I think that helps her lectures be more engaging because it forces you to listen. Not everything she says is going to be on the tests but a lot of it is. She gives study guides which are just a list of key terms, but if you took good notes in lecture it's not that big of a deal to piece it together. The tests were all free-response. Your TA grades pretty much everything you turn in, so you better hope they like you. Overall, I think the class was great and very interesting and Potts is a great professor for it; I highly recommend taking her class!

Professor Potts is absolutely amazing and the most passionate professor I've had at UCLA. She confirmed my interest in adding Global Studies as my second major, and I have so much respect for her. The lectures are very organized and engaging, and you can really tell how intelligent and kind she is. I was blown away. The tests are fair because if you study, you can do well. Don't spend too much time on the short response questions because some people felt there wasn't enough time on the essay portion, but Potts compensated for that by adding extra points. The TAs care a lot and provide feedback on your papers, so the key to doing well is by running your ideas through them before writing the whole thing. Your writing should be comprehensive because this is a Global Studies class where most people are good at writing. This is a class where about half get an A/A-, but you can "easily" get an A IF you put in the work to study and write strong papers. Effort is the key, and it is more than fair considering how much Potts and the TAs care about your learning. I wished the slides had more in-depth information, but I think Potts structures it this way to encourage people to come to class and participate. Discussion is mandatory, but they were productive and allowed me to understand the material better. Potts balances empathy and logic very well; she wants to be fair but is also willing to accommodate you. Take this class with an amazing professor!

Best class at UCLA by far. Dr. Potts is engaging and lovely to work with. I learned so much from this class that stuck with me during my entire time at UCLA. You will not regret it! Be aware that her quizzes are kind of hard but the final was super easy and she lets you know what she will test on beforehand. If you are looking for a class that teaches you a lot and opens your third eye, definitely check this out.

Spotts is amazing! Her lectures are very clear. This is obviously a very general class that covers a lot of different concepts, but everything is super relevant and interesting. Tests are relatively easy and paper is also pretty simple. I would recommend recording lectures to go back and listen to everything she says because she does a really good job of summarizing the readings in lecture. Will totally take Spotts again if I have the chance! This women KNOWS.

Undoubtedly the best course I've taken in my junior year. Professor Potts is so so knowledgable and passionate. Her lectures were consistently insightful, engaging, and challenging. Really hit every aspect of border studies and how they shape our world- any question or thought you had about borders will be covered in this class. Always had vocab words and great structure which made it easy to follow along and know what material we would be tested on. Weekly quizzes were fair (online, multiple choice, pass/fail), as were the exams (in person, handwritten, no MCQ). There's a lot of content but if you're going to lecture and section you'll be fine. Every week I left lecture feeling like I'd learned something new or gained another perspective. As someone with a general interest in borders, this class provided a strong conceptual framework and historical context that helped me better understand both the functionality of borders and the critiques against them and encouraged me to think more critically about their role in the 21st century. Take this class!!!

If you're a global studies major and you're taking the senior seminar take one with Professor Potts if possible. She really cares about her students, she made the class as easy as possible but didn't dumb down the material. She was pretty clear about things and approachable. For our class 10% of the grade was partcipation and the other 90% was weekly 1 page writing assignments on the readings which in my opinion is easier than a final paper and a group project like the other gs seminars had.

Professsor Potts is great. She is incredibly knowledgeable and thorough. She gave weekly reading responses (100-200 pages of reading a week) that needed to be 1-2 pages single spaced. She really read for quality. So these weekly responses took a very long time! As long as she saw you improve, she gave you a good overall grade at the end of the quarter. Learned a lot in this class and ended up with a good grade, but just be aware, the workload for this class is a lot!

This is definitely a great class to learn more about globalization. It teaches you to look at globalization critically. If you are thinking about minoring in global studies, this is a good class to start. Plus, it counts as a GE too. The workload is not too heavy. There are weekly readings, but the professor does a really good job summarizing those readings. Participation in discussions is required. Overall, I had a good experience taking this class with Professor Potts. I would recommend taking this class with her if you want to learn more about globalization in general.

Lectures neither super interesting nor super boring. Huge class full of sophomores and freshmen; cross your fingers you get a good TA.

I found this class extremely easy. Professor Potts is very clear in her lectures. You can get away with just solely watching the lecture rather than doing the readings since she goes over the most important ones. I'm not going to lie, some of the lectures were very boring while others were very interesting. The class grade itself consisted of weekly reading quizzes, a midterm (mix of MC questions and short answer, a paper, and a group podcast project. The podcast was a pain in the ass. I much would've preferred a final exam since Professor Potts doesn't ask questions about the little details, but rather the overarching themes. I would retake this class again. I had John as a TA and he was extremely helpful in clarifying any readings/concepts that were confusing!