IF YOU TAKE SOCIOLOGY 1, TAKE IT WITH PROFESSOR ANDERSON!!!!! SUCH a great class omg. Keep in mind that I took it asynchronously. It was still super engaging and interesting. I came in with no sociology class experience (but with knowledge and opinions on the social matters we discussed) and honestly, I thought that this class would just be "common sense" and I know that with other professors that's basically how it is. Nevertheless, Professor Anderson had a very interesting approach. She thought of Sociology as a way of seeing society and the examples that she gave were very helpful to make the concepts more digestible. Super light workload. TAKE IT!!!!!

First of all, Dr.Anderson's lectures were so easy to follow along. Since this class was set up to be asynchronous the lectures were recorded and discussion was not mandatory (which is nice). Anderson seemed incredibly concerned about students and reminded us to inform her of any mishaps or such that interfered with our work. That said, the workload for this class is not light for a GE. Usually a week consisted of maybe two lectures, chapter readings from the sociology book required, additional readings (some of which were like 20+ pages yikes), and towards the end of the class , some films. This material would then be used to form a discussion post due on Thursday and responses to peers due on Sunday. All of that said, the material was usually very interesting, but still a lot. HOWEVER, all of this eventually helps make the final 7-8 page paper pretty easy. Essentially, your discussion posts are preparing you for that paper. This is reinforced by the huge weight participation (the discussion posts) has on your grade.

Selling:
-This Book Is Not Required ($10)
-Course Reader ($30)
Email me for details! *************

Don't take this GE unless you plan on pulling all nighters. She was a good professor, she made me interested in the topic and she knew what she was talking about. Very monotone though and that bored me. She had funny moments though. The workload was SO BAD. I stayed up so late doing her readings for the pop quizes and still failed them. Its an easy class, just a LOT of work. I had a good TA and discussion so that made me want to learn more about sociology. But Prof. Anderson isnt very helpful. She gives take home essays vs in class finals so that is nice. Grading is based on 2 essays, participation, attendance, and pop quizes. The pop quizes can really screw your grade over so naturally you want to do good, but that means reading about 200 pages a night, and soon the material gets repetitive.

Selling:
This

Seems relatively easy to get an A if you do all the work really. But so far, it just feels like constant, painfully boring busywork. I'm a south campus major so writing two 600-700+ word discussion posts asking the most absolute niche prompts about sociological theories every week, while trying to juggle 3 other courses, makes me wanna pull my hair out. I've written less in my writing II class and some upper div humanities classes. I guess the problem is not the word count, it's just that the prof expects us to address too many prompts and include too many different points in each discussion post/essay. It also doesn’t help that my ta is pretty anal with grading. This class is the ultimate bane of my existence this summer, I give it a 1/10, there are other GE's you can take.

I wasn't a fan of Anderson's teaching style - she has a lot of "required" reading, which is essentially just assigned so she can give you a pop quiz on the smallest and most random details. Her lectures are also just a rehash of the reading. I'd say over 70% of what she says in the lectures can be found directly in the course readings. Of course, you still have to attend lecture or you might miss a pop quiz. Unfortunately, the pop quizzes are difficult, even if you do the reading. My quiz grades did not correlate with how thoroughly I read the material.
My best advice to you would be to participate in discussion/be nice to your TA, because they will be grading your essays (which are the most significant portion of your grade). Also, don't waste your money buying ALL of the course texts. I just borrowed the textbook (albeit, an older edition, but it was basically the same) from the library and read the library reserve copy of "This Book is Not Required".
That said, I'm selling the course reader (with notes in the margins) and "Brave New World". (Okay, "Brave New World" is not worth the buy, but please take it off my hands.) Contact me at **********. I'd be happy to tell you more about my experience in this class.

I enjoyed this class but would have enjoyed it a lot more if the workload was cut in half. Anderson is an amazing lecturer - she's very engaging and I really liked going to class. I was scared to take this class because of the bad reviews below but it honestly was a lot better than I thought it'd be. That said, this class really does require more work than other classes. There's a lot of readings to do and 5 essays which are basically due every other week. You have to do the readings because there are 5 pop quizzes - a lot of people I know failed them, but honestly they're manageable and if you do the readings and actually pay attention to them (don't skim) you'll be good. Reading definitely took a decent amount of time but it wasn't the worst thing ever because the material was usually interesting, albeit a little redundant at times. Essays were frequent but not hard, they had rubrics that told you exactly what to do, and it's not too difficult to get good grades on them. You have to go to discussion bc participation is part of your grade, which is fine bc the TA's were all pretty cool. I loved my TA Ashton, he always facilitated great conversations and was super helpful for the essays. Aside from the workload, I really enjoyed this class. If you put in the effort it's not impossible to get an A or even an A+ so don't let the other reviews scare you. You basically just have to go into class knowing it's not gonna be an "easy a" GE.

NOT AN EASY GE
-pop quizzes are based off readings, so you have to do them all to get those quiz points
-grade is very TA-dependent... (I had Diya Bose and she was tough)

Selling package of books:
-Course Reader
-This Book Is Not Required (thats the title...actually)
-Sociology: A Brief Edition
email me at: ************* if interested

AVOID THIS PROFESSOR AT ALL COSTS! The content of this class was interesting and easy to understand. The grading however, is a complete toss up. I felt extremely confident going into the midterm, just to receive a D. I was confused, and went to office hours to see my specific question by question results to see what went wrong. Turns out I only missed 1 multiple choice question, and my horrible grade was due to my written short answers. When I asked for elaboration on where I could improve and why I was grades so poorly, she compared my writing to a bad cake, said something about sprinkles, and read me an example essay she deemed good, but it was overall so unhelpful and frustrating. I also received a 50% on my extra credit essay (my only hope at an A after the midterm) and when I asked why I didn't receive full credit when I answered the prompt she stated it was because she felt there were more central themes I could've chosen than the ones I did. The prompt was just to discuss issues of sociological relevance from a listed film, which I did. It felt her grading was completely random and that she doesn't want her students to do well. I feel bad writing this review, as I'm sure she is a nice person otherwise, but I don't want other students to fall victim to this "easy GE" like I did. The good reviews of her are from so long ago, please don't be fooled like I was.

Dr. Anderon's class is very manageable overall. Please keep in mind that it is asynchronous, so you have to be on top of your work. Each week, you have a pre-recorded lecture video, several readings to read and review, a discussion section to attend, and a discussion post you have to complete. The readings can get to be very lengthy and repetitive, but a lot of the MCQ directly pull random lines from the readings so it's important to make sure you know the information. The discussion posts aren't nearly as bad as they seem; they may be a bit long but there's only about five to six short paragraphs, half of which are usually just asking you to share your own experiences or paraphrase definitions from the course materials. You also have to respond to two other posts, which only takes a few minutes. Dr. Anderson publishes practice quizzes each week that use the same MCQ question bank as the Midterm and Final so take advantage of them!! Discussion section is also very laidback. Just participate once in a while - most is just asking about your personal experience, your take on the readings, or a regurgitation of that week's lecture. Overall, if you're good at managing your own schedule, I would definitely recommend this course!! To be fair, your grade also depends on your TA as they grade pretty much everything (so participate in discussion and go to office hours!!). Mine was Dominique and she was very nice/an easy grader. The professor is super helpful and flexible if you have conflicts, and the overall expectations of the course are very clear. I found the actual material in the course to be super interesting and the professor was really good at asking thought-provoking questions even through the screen. Good luck!!

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!!! Dr. Anderson is the worst teacher I've ever had in my life, and she hid the grades because of too many complaints. She won't let anyone question her grading but never gives rubrics for clarity on how she scores. It's completely unfair and is more about citing correctly than even understanding sociology. The extra credit dropped my grade 7% and the TA was more mad that I questioned it than if I had just took it silently. On top of the professor, my TA was mean, rude, and always had an attitude. If you ever even THINK about taking this class with this professor, run. It's not worth it find another professor. She genuinely is the professor from hell.