This class has a heavier workload than other GEs I've taken at UCLA, but it teaches a pretty cool and useful skill. The workload is doable if you get started on the assignment early in the week, and the videos walk you through the assignment step by step. The grading scheme is 5% syllabus quiz, 10% weekly thematic forum, 15% weekly quizzes, 50% weekly assignments, and 20% final project. The syllabus quiz and thematic forum are very straightforward, and you should have no trouble getting 100% as long as you follow the instructions. You are allowed to retake the weekly quizzes every 90 minutes before they are due at the end of the week, but you do not get to see the questions you get wrong at the end of each attempt (just your score). The weekly assignments are what take up most of your time, and you can get a 90% on them as long as you follow the videos clearly and meet all the requirements. You have to go "above and beyond" in order to score higher than a 90%, which was a bit tedious, but I was able to get the extra points some weeks. The final project was optional in fall 2020, but it was released at the start of week 10 and due during finals week, and the minimum score for meeting all requirements was 80% and above 80% required above and beyond, so keep that in mind.

I would not recommend taking this class. I was only taking it to fulfill a GE and this was the most difficult class on my caseload and I was also taking two upper divs. Videos are posted with directions for weekly assignments but when I followed the video I never received full credit for my work. The work load is HEAVYYY so if you plan on taking the class start your work early. I was not very interested in this subject which may be why I regret taking this class.

This class during quarantine had minimal interaction between professor and students, all lectures were recorded and posted. These lectures were mainly reviewing concepts from the required textbook, and videos instructing students on how to navigate using the QGIS software. The class was set up as follows: weekly readings/videos on which we had a quiz (you can take as many times as you want but you have to wait a certain amount of time between attempts), we had a weekly forum where we read an article or watched a video and responded through a forum post, lastly we had a weekly QGIS mapping project. I thought the mapping projects were really fun, because we got to take and manipulate visually real data, and we were looking at the 2016 election statistics during the 2020 election so I could actually compare the 2 different results. QGIS is a bit hard to navigate, but I had no experience and was fine. Professor Burkhart gives very clear videos on how to use QGIS, and my TA Jason was very helpful in trouble shooting any software issue I ran up against.

Very interesting and worthwhile GE. The material was very clear and easy to learn. Assignments took a little bit of time, but were enjoyable. Would recommend.

This class was overall quite easy, and also taught me skills that I expect to be useful in my career. The one thing I really object to was the fact that weekly assignments had to exceed the requirements for a full score. I felt that the amount of time it would have taken to go above and beyond each week was not worth it, so I did not get an A. I suppose that is my fault, but I was somewhat annoyed that even when I was showing growth in learning the topic, points would be taken off for both making small formatting mistakes as well as not doing extra.

I thought this class was very interesting, knowing how to work with QGIS is a helpful skill and I would definitely recommend this class. The weekly assignments were manageable, if you need any help office hours with TAs and the professor are extremely helpful.

This class was entirely asynchronous when I took it. The lists of things you need to get done each week were very straightforward: lectures, weekly quizzes, and projects (with technical videos). The lectures were very clear and concise, like those in GEOG7 but added on some more concepts/ reviewed the old ideas from GEOG7. The weekly quizzes had multiple attempts, and they were open notes so that you could expect good grades from that portion. The projects were definitely the longest and most challenging part of the weekly assignment. Unlike GEOG7, especially in the second half of the class, you need to figure out how to do some stuff yourself. The technical screencasts would not walk you through all the processes. You will have a final project on any topic, very open-ended, but you are expected to use techniques you have learned from this class.

Overall, I think it is a very useful class for people interested in learning GIS. The course structure was the same as GEOG7, so it is not hard for you to get used to it. However, I think I would have a better experience in the class if there were assigned time sessions (but voluntarily participate) that you could drop in together with other people and ask the TA/ professor the questions. GroupMe is very helpful, so please make one so you can connect with other people in the class. I went to the office hours, but there was such a long wait. My TA was responsive to the email, which was excellent and helpful. The projects you complete every week are very cool, and you would be proud of them. I enjoyed the class and would recommend that anyone interested in GIS enroll in this!

This actually ended up being my favorite class this quarter (and maybe that I have taken here so far) even though I was very anxious about it and thought it would be my least favorite. Professor Burkhart's videos were very helpful and clear to those of us who had never touched or even heard of QGIS before. She made the learning process extremely smooth and easy, and I now enjoy playing around with the interface and exploring new things with it on my own, now that I have such a solid foundation. It was very nice to have an asynchronous class. I took 22 units this quarter, so it was very helpful to be able to watch the lectures and complete the assignments on my own time whenever I was able to. I really loved this class, and professor Burkhart, but what really matters is your TA. I never actually saw the professor, I only heard her on the videos. Isabel, my TA, was super sweet though. She was definitely more lenient on the first assignments and got more and more tough with grading as the class went on so be mindful of that. 100% recommend, even if you hate coding/computer science, so did I but the videos make everything really easy and it was actually really fun.

Overall I really enjoyed this class! As an env sci major it’s required and I was nervous to take it but it was actually really fun and I think I learned a lot. Everything is posted in easy video tutorials and it’s clear what is being asked of us each week. The TA’s mainly teach the course, I never heard from the professor besides the weekly videos and a weekly announcement. I loved my TA and she was really helpful, if you go to their office hours they can give you helpful pointers and review your assignments. I highly recommend this class !

Definitely take this if you're looking for a super easy GE with pretty minimal work. The grade is based on a syllabus quiz (5%), forum posts (15%), weekly quizzes (20%), and weekly assignments (60%). I found you don't need to watch the weekly lecture videos (because they have no bearing on the assignment or quiz) or do the textbook reading - you can just command+f the online textbook because the weekly reading quiz questions are copied verbatim from the book. The forum posts are only 150 words. The only thing that requires more time and effort are the weekly assignments, which require making a new map each week in QGIS. I actually found map-making pretty cool. Definitely recommend this GE.