This class was overall a really good intro to GE here at UCLA and I would def recommend to other incoming freshmen. There is only 2 papers and a quiz every unit. I would say that the quizzes were very stupid because it was basically quoting his lectures. He said this was to counteract Chat GBT, but a lot of the students did not like this (including me) as it felt like it wasn't really testing your knowledge on the material. Overall, the professor was really nice and approachable. One thing I didn't like was that his office hours were all held on Zoom which was hella awkard. But he was cool. I feel I didn't learn anything though, but I got through it. You will know the names of random Japanese periods which is nice. I was watching the Studio Ghibli movie and it referenced an era and I was like omg! i know that! but yeah that's about it.

I took this class during remote learning so the structure could be different from the class in real time. All I have to say is please take this GE!! It's literally amazing. Professor Duthie is a great lecturer with good humor and clear presentation structure. He expanded the content on the textbook and I've learned so much about Japan and its history in this class. The assignments are fairly graded, and you will get a good score as long as you write them carefully and integrate the class materials. Huge shoutout to my TA Kristin for teaching us how to write effective responses!!

This is one of the most interesting and easiest GEs that I've taken at ucla. Professor Duthie is incredibly knowledgeable and understanding about student stress, especially during online learning. There were no exams, just weekly writing assignments (500-700 words). The TAs help you with what to include in the weekly assignments, and you have a chance to rewrite all of them for a better grade.

This class was a really nice GE to take during COVID since there were no tests just an assignment once a week. I pretty much waited until after the discussion to write the paper since my TA went through the prompt and what we should write about. I would say the class took me around 2 hours a week (minus the lectures) so I would def recommend if you are looking for an easy class. The content itself was also pretty interesting and lectures were a little long but prof duthie made it go by pretty fast :)

Professor Duthie is an excellent professor. His lectures are quite interesting and engaging. The structure of the class is very simple: 10 weekly papers/essays, 500-700 words. Moreover, Professor Duthie gives you the opportunity to resubmit all of the assignments, which helps you to do well in the class. Attending the discussion is not mandatory, but I would really encourage everyone to go, since the TA's discuss how to approach the essay prompt. Overall, a really fun class and would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to satisfy the GE requirement or is interested in learning about Japanese history and its civilization.

As an incoming freshman to UCLA, I can say that this class with Professor Duthie was both interesting and a very good introductory to GE's. He is compassionate and displays clear care for his students mental wellbeing and academic success. If you take this course, I highly recommend TA Julia Clark as she was extremely helpful in writing the papers and overall very kind!

Professor Duthie is a great lecturer. He goes through a lot of material while being interesting, in-depth, and paced very well.

However, this quarter he used quizzes as a large portion of the grade (60%), while discussion participation (10%), a presentation (10%), and 2 essays (1 essay based on presentation, total 20%) comprised the rest of the grade.

These quizzes were initially very difficult (as evident with low averages even with 3 attempts and being allowed to use any resource at your disposal such as notes, lectures, textbook, etc.) but were given curves and later on were made much easier. As a result, I believe that the next classes should have much more reasonable quizzes and an overall much more enjoyable time. The other portions of the grade will be given as long as you make the effort to do them.

In regard to the content, it is very interesting and well-paced, and the textbook is completely not necessary to proceed with the course. Overall, a great GE and a great professor.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS GE. It may not be the class with the least workload since you're expected to submit a response to a prompt about the week's lectures every week (10 assignments total). However, you can resubmit all of them for a better grade so it's not that stressful or intimidating once you get used to it. Professor Duthie is an incredibly amazing lecturer and well-versed in Japanese history. He was also really considerate of the circumstances and he and the TAs offered late submissions with no penalties as long as you let them know. Overall, it has been one of the most interesting history GEs I've taken. The only downside I could see from this is that going to lecture is necessary to get an A so you really do have to go (sections are optional though).

I also recommend taking the course with TA Suong, she grades within a day of the deadline with feedback and is super lenient. Her sections also basically tell you what to write about and her notes are really helpful and detailed.

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This class was an easy and interesting GE. The professor was definitely passionate about the topic and knew his stuff. I often had difficulty paying attention in class and retained information better when rewatching the recorded videos at 2x speed outside of class. Attendance is not required/necessary and there is definitely no need to get the textbook. Also, there is no class during midterms week which was nice. There were also no tests/projects/quizzes. The only grades in the class were the weekly assignments. The weekly assignments were pretty easy, usually asking a pretty broad question from the week's lectures. I'm pretty sure you had to write 500-700 words per assignment. They were not graded too harshly. Discussions were not mandatory but definitely were helpful as the TAs basically went over the entire prompt/what you should include.

I love Professor Duthie and his class, I would 100% take again. I found his lectures to be interesting, but I will admit that he does basically read what is on the slides most of the time. Overall I found the workload manageable, you have to do a 750 word essay every week by Sunday making sure to cover the topics he outlined in the assignment, but basically it’s a summary of the history covered that week. I think this class heavily relies on what TA you get, my TA was Rachele Mansi and she told us what she wanted us to include in our essays and did a recap of the lecture/reading for that week during discussion so I found it easy to write the essays. I liked the class and the topics covered, Professor Duthie makes the class engaging, and he does assign reading from the textbook each week but most of the time it’s not needed because he covers the topics in class. Easy enough GE.