One word: AWFUL. Seriously, stay away. Far far away.

I just want to clarify that pertaining to the review below- I do not know whether Nida grades according to how much he likes you, nor do I believe that he is unethical. I was being sarcastic. I also do not know for a fact that someone was not deducted points when other people were. I did not see the paper in question.

Run; do not walk, away from this class. Unless you are a masochist, then by all means, sign up! This class was a punishment. You are NOT guaranteed an A by doing all the work. You may be guaranteed an A if he likes you, which is, of course unethical. For example, most students got marked off for citation errors on their midterm paper, but certain people who made the same errors did not. He is not willing to give back a fraction of the amount of work and dedication that he expects you to put in. If you post your weekly responses a minute late, he will not accept them. Yet he posted the final study guide 2DAYS LATE. And the final had little to do with the study guide, and was framed in a very "gotcha" fashion. Even students previously enamored of this class were upset after the final(only 2 people got the high score of 33 out of 40 on the final). I read every page of every reading, posted my weekly questions on time, participated in class, studied for days for the final, and still got a B in this class. I am an A/A+ student, I have (HAD!) a 4.0 GPA, and I got the first B ever in this class. He is the worst professor and a discredit to UCLA.

Oh how I regret taking this class. The subject is interesting but the professor makes it totally uninteresting. He requires a ton of reading and weekly commentaries, but when it comes to class he goes off of tangents and never addresses the readings. Don't ask him anything because he will always tell you to look at the syllabus. If you are really interested in the material take this class but be prepared for lots of reading with no professor input and participate or your grade will suffer.