This class satisfied the practicum requirement for the Comm major, and I'd say it's a pretty good class to take if you need to do so. It fulfills the requirement by requiring you to work with a group to create two 30-second political ads. One negative one for a political candidate and one positive one for another candidate. You should make sure that you choose a good group because this part of the class is the most stressful. Make sure that someone in your group is familiar with video editing, and get all the help you can from the professor in evaluating your ads. He's willing to give feedback at every stage of the project, and my group didn't take advantage of this which would be my main regret.

There are three exams spread out throughout the quarter, but they are not cumulative which is really nice. The final is just treated as a normal exam like the first two. Each exam is based almost entirely on questions that are suggested by yourself and your classmates. Everyone is able to submit up to two suggested questions for each exam, and the professor then chooses questions from these suggested questions to put on the exams. Because of this, the best way to prepare for the exams is to MEMORIZE ALL OF THE SUGGESTED QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWERS! It's a lot of work, but if you do this you'll for sure do well on the exams. There are a decent amount of readings, and you should have a general understanding of each one in order to do well on the exams.

Groeling is a super engaging professor; the material was already fairly interesting to me, but his depth of knowledge on it made me even more invested! You will have to go to almost every lecture (iClicker quizzes and he covers a lot in each lecture), but if you miss you do have opportunities to make up the points lost. There is a fair amount of reading; some are more intriguing than others, but most of them are tested on exams. The main thing is to do the readings and get a GOOD group for the final project.

I am a Political Science major and I generally enjoyed this class. Groeling is a pretty engaging lecturer, although he does assign a fair bit of reading. Definitely still manageable, but given that there are 3 classes a week, you get through a lot of material. Most of the time, you do have to go to class in person and do the readings because there is an iClicker quiz in every lecture (although there are plenty of opportunities for makeups and you can prob get the questions right by guessing).

The thing that really sets this class apart is the commercial project. In a group of 3, you make a 30 sec positive and 30 sec negative campaign ad for 2 assigned congressmen (everyone has the same ones). This project is a lot of work and is intended to fulfill a Comm major requirement, so I would say if you're a Pol Sci major like me, you could probably find an easier upper div. That being said, I had a lot of fun with the project and it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the class. Other than that, the 3 exams were easy.

I took this class during the covid-19 pandemic. Prof Groeling was a really helpful professor, though. He has a lot of readings for his class, about 50-100 pages for each lecture, and he gives out a quiz on the readings during every lecture. The quizzes were really easy, though. You just have to skim through the readings and you'll get 100% each time. They also really help for the essays he assigns you. The group project wasn't hard either, just had to make 2 commercials for a political candidate that he assigned, and he was very very helpful. Make sure to visit his office hours to get feedback on how you're doing, and you'll be fine. I definitely recommend taking this class.

Please keep in mind that I took this course during the COVID-19 pandemic, and everything was online. Lectures were live, but recorded and posted onto CCLE and cameras were required to be on— which was actually kind of nice because it felt more like a normal classroom setting compared to just staring at black screens. Professor is pretty chill and made class time quite enjoyable and encouraged lots of conversation during it. There is a lot of reading that you are required to do, and there is a quiz question for each reading during class, so I highly recommend you do your reading the day before class because there is a lot. There are also 3 short, two paged double-spaced essays you have to do that are really simple. The bulk of your grade will come from the commercial project, which is creating two, 30 second video ads for two separate political candidates with a group. Choose your group wisely and prepare yourself if you are the editor, as you are going to be doing a lot of work (probably like 70% of the work). I personally thought the project was pretty fun. Professor is willing to help, and I highly recommend you go to his office hours to get help on the project earlier in the quarter because it gets really busy later in the quarter. I would recommend the course!

Do not underestimate the reading in this class! Class is out of 100 points and reading quizzes are 28 of those points. Expect anywhere from 50-100 pages per lecture. That being said, he is a funny professor, quick to reply to emails, and some of the reading quizzes are a bit easy. 36 of your points come from a group project so pick your team well, it can literally make or break your grade. Interesting class and topics covered are interesting.

Pretty easy to do well without going to lecture or doing the readings (~100 pages/lecture) but the lecture quiz questions can be answered with common sense and there are ample makeup opportunities. Class material is pretty interesting and the commercial projects are fun to do and watch. Make sure you get a good group for the project (and don't volunteer to be the one to edit it)

160 gave a huge insight into the world of media and politics. As someone who hated politics, Professor Groeling and his fun personality made it interesting.

I love Professor Groeling! He is super sweet and funny, and I really enjoyed his class. He always answered my questions and responded immediately to my emails. There is a lot of reading but it is totally doable. Would definitely recommend this class!

Groeling is a good guy who is willing to help a bunch on the video projects. The quizzes can be very annoying sometimes. The midterms and final make sure you get the whole class involved in creating a google doc w question and answer because he selects questions based off of questions you suggest on CCLE.