ENGL 23
HILTNER K C
Kenneth (Ken) Hiltner
3.8
296 reviews

297
3.8
ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

Attendance taken on iclicker app throughout class. Weekly write-ups of readings and documentaries, very easy. 1 midterm and 1 final both multiple choice. He did not lecture in this class, guest speakers only. Pay close attention and take notes because what speakers mention & important facts from readings and movies will be on tests.

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ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

I agree with others that having different guest lecturers every class got boring after awhile, but don't listen to those who said the class was difficult. I honestly barely paid attention and got an A-. The mandatory attendance is annoying and the material is okay, but this is a really good class to balance out some of your more difficult courses.

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ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

The concept of the class was very cool-- guest speakers, films, and readings. However you are expected to read 150 pages a week for a GE because "this is an english class" but then complete two bubble test exams for you grade. The questions were insanely specific and difficult. I did all the readings and barely passed the course.

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ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

The amount of work to put into this class just being a GE made me upset. He expected you to read BOOKS in one week, attend lectures as it was MANDATORY, and watch films every week. Midterm 1 was extremely difficult, but since the average was low, midterm 2 was easier. Lectures were guest speakers, kind of boring, concept was good.

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ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

This is the 2nd of Ken's English courses I've taken and I've really enjoyed both. He structured the class very creatively and tried to convey many different perspectives on the climate crisis. You can tell he genuinely just wants you to learn and he does a good job ensuring that especially considering the large class size (like 800 people)

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ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

Ken is a good professor, but the structure of the class was not great. Every lecture period he had a new speaker speak to the class, which would be very interesting except for the fact that they all did basically the same thing so there was a lot of repetition and it was hard to keep the speakers straight. There is also a lot of homework.

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ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

This was a guest-speaker based course, so we didn't hear too much from Ken, but when we did he was very sweet. There is a lot of reading, but not more than I would expect for a literature GE, between 50-150 pages per week plus a film. Class could get repetitive, and could sometimes be overwhelming with the amount to climate change information

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ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

Don't get me wrong, this class is A LOT of work but the Professor is one of the nicest Professors at UCSB. He has speakers at each lecture so it's not just him reading off of the same PowerPoint slides which gets monotonous in other classes. The grading for this class is fairly simple (2 exams, 20 YouTube comments & iClicker points)!

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ENGLISH24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

Ken is one of my favorites professors so far at UCSB. You can tell he genuinely cares about the topics he discuss in class and the speakers he brought it were inspirational. Its easy to get an A if you do the readings and films, 35 question multiple choice midterm and final. Overall amazing class and I plan on taking more of his classes.

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ENGL22 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

Class is decently interesting, but I didn't gain any new info because it was basic climate crisis. Weekly readings are kind of long but are relevant to the exams because he will ask about any random detail which is annoying. Documentaries are good and you don't need to write any papers.

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ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

I loveee Ken. He's so passionate about the environment and nature, and he just wants everyone to care as much as he does. The class itself has a weird structure. Every lecture we had a guest speaker and we just take notes. Kind of boring, but easy. There is a documentary and reading each week with a paragraph comment about it. Again, pretty easy.

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ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

Such an unorganized class. No actual framework, the professor just lets guests talk about whatever they want. Midterm asked ridiculously specific questions about a massive amount of reading and videos. As someone taking chem and stats- this is the class I dread going to most. Maybe a good class for ES majors, but a horrible horrible class for a GE.

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ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

This class had so much homework and it was impossible to keep up on the readings. Unless you want to read 20+ chapters a week don't take this class! Attendance is mandatory because of the iClicker points. The lectures are all interview based so it's impossible to gauge what's going to be on the tests. 0/10 would recommend this GE class.

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ENGL24 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

I can't even wait until the end of the quarter to express my utter disdain for English 24. Under no circumstances should you take this class unless it is required for your major. I'm a STEM major and professor Hiltner assigns more pointless weekly homework than my chem and math class combined. Also attendance is mandatory and none are dropped.

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ENG22 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

Ken's ENGL 22 course was great! I found the material very interesting. For the first half of the class I did the required reading and got an A on the midterm. For the second half I did not do the readings and still scored a B+ on the final (not cumulative). As long as you take good notes on the lectures, the reading isn't super necessary.

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ENG22 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

I’ve never written a ratemyprofessor review, but this teacher is the reason I’m here for the first time. His lectures are all pre recorded, and will bore you to death. Half of the readings are in old english, and tests are massively weighted with questions that are random and ridiculously specific. Not sure how I pulled off an A-. Do NOT take.

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ENG122 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

Seemed difficult during it, until I realized I finished with a 94 in the class. Graded off of comments (you should get 100%), midterm, final. Both exams online, but sequential navigation, 30 questions, 30 mins. Lots of lectures/reading, but I realized you don't have to give as much effort as seemingly expected. Worthwhile content, but depressing.

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ENGL22 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

Straightforward class: 1 weekly film & comment, 1 midterm (wks 1-5), final (wks 6-10). He posts lectures online (¬es), but attend class for iClicker. Stay on top of reading! Midterm/final were open book for us -asked questions about films, readings, & lectures. I liked the documentaries. Lectures are interesting and discuss relevant topics

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ENG22 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

I took ENG23 and loved it, ENG22 was not nearly as good, Ken was clearly more passionate about 23. 22 had a lot less reading and the lectures were recorded and projected which made it not as fun, the tests are specific so take notes on EVERYTHING he says. I would probably not take this course again, but I highly recommend ENG23.

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ENG22 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

Ken seems to be a nice guy, but this class was honestly just pretty boring. He projected a YouTube video that he pre-recorded for each lecture which made it hard to focus and want to attend class. Make sure you do the reading for the midterm and final exam. The weekly documentaries and comments were super interesting and my fav part of this class.

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ENG22 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

Hiltner was one of those teachers who changed my life because of the perspective he gave me. One of the best classes I have ever taken hands down. The tests were actually really hard but its open notes so just make sure to do all the readings and videos. I recommend him to anyone!

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ENGL22 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

This class wasn't online, but might as well have been. The lectures were just pre-recorded that he showed in the lecture and were also available to watch on zoom. Attendance was necessary for the grade. The worst part about this class was the was he talks. The mouth noises were awful and made it difficult for me to watch the lectures.

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ENG22 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

This class is mostly based on the weekly documentaries and readings. The midterm and final were both multiple choice but were based on your interpretation. Overall the course is super easy as long as you attend lecture. The lectures were in-person but prerecorded so you can't really ask questions directly.

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ENG22 . Hiltner K C 2 Years Ago

extremely dry lectures that were mandatory for majority of the quarter... interesting subject but the lecture style was not for me

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