I had Professor Potts and TA Andrew this past fall quarter (online). She is very clear, composed, and compassionate, as well as extremely knowledgeable in geography and global studies. I found her class very thought-provoking and interesting, and I would definitely recommend this class to determine if you want global studies as your major/minor or as a GE. Lectures frequently let out early, but were definitely long. I usually took 6 pages of notes in about an hour, although I knew people who didn't take notes at all and still did fine. Notes will only work in your favor on quizzes/essays/exams though, and my notes were really useful later on in the course, so I would personally recommend taking notes. There are weekly readings (~60 pages) that usually took me 3-4 hours to get through. I would recommend doing the readings before the week's lectures and discussions. Don't do them too far in advance, though, because depending on current events or class pace, some may be removed or altered. The weekly quizzes are easy, the midterm was straight off the study guide, and the group project final was definitely doable (while a bit tricky depending on your group, but that's expected lol). The class also includes two papers, one based on the international institute's lectures (this quarter they were on Black Lives Matter) and one based on a documentary/movie out of an assigned list of 3-4. I found the prompts very interesting, and doing well on these essays will be a huge leg up in the class and make you much more relaxed and confident (put some time in). The discussion is also graded on participation, but that's easy points. If you have an insightful and helpful TA like I did, it will be a breeze. Other points: go to discussion, go to office hours or stay after lecture if you have questions, pay attention to the author's perspective in assigned readings/podcasts, and be sure you clearly know the difference between similar concepts. Have fun, and good luck!

Writing this years later but I remember really enjoying this class and that it genuinely changed my thinking. Would recommend!

Aside from the weekly discussion post (that were graded on completion I believe), there was a film analysis paper, 2 exams and an article response paper. These assignments all weighed the same. Overall, not hard, just make sure you know ur material and pay attention to the key concepts.

Professor Potts is amazing! This is honestly a great introduction course to Global Studies and is the right amount of work for a lower-division course. I had Jessica Pena as my TA and both her and Prof. Potts made it such a great experience. The class consists of the following:

Weekly discussion posts (worth 20%)
Film analysis paper (worth 20%)
Exam 1 (worth 20%)
Article response paper (worth 20%)
Exam 2 (worth 20%)

Each of the assignments is evenly spaced out, so I didn't find myself struggling to keep up. Professor Potts' lectures were very captivating. She explained the concepts perfectly and it tied into her PowerPoints well. She doesn't have many words on her slides, but that's okay because you'll understand the vocabulary and concepts nonetheless. Readings were very short with some long ones, but it's definitely not a heavy workload. She was also very accommodating to assignments and lectures: Prof. Potts offered live zoom lectures and posted the recordings up after in case we missed it or wanted to refer back to them. She is also very responsive to her emails and is lenient with accommodations. I had to turn in my film analysis paper late because of external circumstances. She understood my problems and granted me the extra time. I'm really thankful for that.

I'll admit, the papers are somewhat harshly graded. So definitely check in with Prof. Potts and your TA about the context of your paper (or even an initial review of what you've written). Both Prof. Potts and her TAs offer office hours, which I recommend going to for any clarification or discussion on the class material. The subject is really easy to understand as long as you keep up with the assignments and material.

Discussions were in person this quarter, which I highly recommend you go to. Jessica (my TA) was super helpful and accommodating, and offered an alternative assignment if I missed a discussion section. You could either go to her office hours and discuss the readings or write a 500 word paper on the readings. I found both options pretty easy and fair. Jessica is also very sweet and wants the best for her students! I definitely recommend her!

The class overall is a great introduction to globalization. I took it in order to apply for a Global Studies minor, which I definitely am still going to do! Professor Potts and her TAs make it such a great class. They're all very nice and helpful.

This class is recommended for sophomores because it's supposedly a weeder class for Global Studies, but I didn't find it that challenging and definitely think freshmen should take it to see if Global Studies is a good fit for them. We explored topics like big and little G globalization, neoliberalism, etc. We had two exams, but they were both online and open note with a 48 hour period to complete, so there was a lot of flexibility when it came to that.

We had two assignments, a Structured Film Analysis which gave us the option to watch one of three films and relate it to class concepts by answering questions (not an essay). We had a Structured Article analysis which was honestly SUPER easy and that was essay-style. Discussion was fun, my TA was Steven Ammerman and he's THE BEST TA!! Super friendly and understanding and a very fair grader. We also had weekly discussion posts where we had to come up with a question about the readings.

this professor talks WAYYY too fast and speaks in a way that is so indigestable

Overall, this is an excellent class to take. My main complaint is that the grading scale for the papers was not great. A B paper had everything asked for in the rubric, while an A paper would have to go "above and beyond," this made getting an A on an essay assignment unnecessarily tricky. I feel like this class covers a lot of information that some people already know about, Colonialism and global interconnection, but it is still interesting. The tests in this class were straightforward since the professor provided a study guide, and the answers to the questions are off of the slides.

I enjoyed this class and I think Professor Potts is a good professor. The class was a bit boring sometimes, in my opinion, because you only touch the surface of the many different topics covered in this course. The workload was manageable and not too difficult. The midterm and final were both all free response questions, but relatively easy, especially if you pay attention in class and study a little bit before the exam. The professor had very well organized notes and was an easy lecturer to listen to. I would recommend taking this class, especially for Global Studies majors.

Professor Potts is one of my favorite teachers at UCLA. She is so knowledgeable and passionate about the subject, and it shows in her lectures. She's helpful outside of class and wants her students to succeed. The class is pretty content-heavy, but if you go to lecture and section you'll learn so much and do fine. Her lectures and organized, insightful, and she's clear in her explanations. She's honestly inspired me to choose Global Studies as my minor. Don't skip on this prof, take this class!!!

Prof. Potts is a gem. I purposefully look out for her classes, I've taken multiple because she's truly passionate about her work and insanely knowledgeable. It shows in her lectures and teaching style. She is very clear and organized, although the material can be dense at some points. I leave each class feeling like I've learned a ton, and she is very helpful outside of class/in office hours if you need help. That being said, I wouldn't say this class is an easy A, but it is 100% manageable. No assignments other than a weekly quiz that's pass/fail. The grade is based on 2 exams, an 'article analysis', discussion attendance, and quizzes. Take this class, if you do the work you'll leave with an A and a bigger brain.