interesting lectures, not too much homework

I took this class during Summer of 2021 during Covid so the class was asynchronous. This class has probably 20+ hours of lectures that you have to watch and understand to take the quizzes. The lectures had good content but had poor audio quality. There were 2 papers that need to be very well organized. The course was interesting but time consuming.

Professor Barbieri's lectures are pre-recorded and very long with poor audio quality. The Gauchospace page is very well-organized and accessible. The exploration assignments were also very interesting and interactive. Quizzes were based on lectures, but some questions were worded confusingly. Grading relied solely on the TA.

Great class, I'm surprised by the amount of bad reviews here. The material is super interesting and easily digestible. Section/lecture go over a huge majority of the readings so you only need to read like 20%, if that. His quizzes are easy given GauchoCast lectures are captioned�� Essay prompts are engaging and the essays are graded fairly.

The lectures were really thorough and extra material was actually helpful and not overkill in terms of reading etc. There were weekly quizzes that weren't very hard which gave a lot of opportunities to get points and help support your grade for the midterm/final. The lectures weren't too long, so it wasn't boring.

Not sure why this class is only worth 4 units, its a ton of work. Grade really depends on how you do on the essays. There are weekly lecture quizzes. Lectures were disappointing because they were classroom recordings from 2 years ago with audio that was all over the place. If youre not a history major probably not the best GE choice.

Took online. TA graded way too hard and nitpicked essays and assignments that had no clear grading rubric and took off points for things that were never talked about. Lectures are time-consuming and I spent entire weekends doing them + taking the quizzes. Gave a full week's worth of work over Thanksgiving during a pandemic. Not worth it for a GE

As his syllabus says, about 13 hours a week will be spent on this class. There were very long lectures to watch, many pdf readings, and an average of 4/5 quizzes a week. This class is not worth all of the effort for a GE. He focuses so much on China. His lectures are from 2017 and it seems like his TAs are the only ones doing any work to teach us.

Professor Barbieri used pre-recorded lectures, and he did a decent job explaining historical topics. The midterm and finals papers were pretty straightforward and easy to answer. There is a heavy weekly workload that he mentions at the beginning of the class so be prepared for that. I would only take this class if you really needed the credit.

The class is relatively straightforward. He lays out things you need to do very clearly. I had a really helpful and understanding TA, you get very little contact with the professor, he uses old prerecorded lectures. Only thing is that there is a lot of homework, even during term paper weeks and holiday breaks. Not awful but I would not recommend.

Took in Summer B 2020 so online and async. Most of the grade came from quizzes about each lecture and primary source reading so attending lecture and taking notes is important. Final was to choose 2/3 prompts for 4-5 pg paper. Loved my TA very helpful in understanding themes in Chinese History. Little contact with prof but good organization.

took this class online+async. barbieri's lectures are great and super interesting. the work load is kinda heavy, but if chinese civilization interests u it shouldn't be too bad. the best parts by far are the exploration+investigation activities that are pretty hands-on with online models; barbieri really knows how to make this class captivating

Professor himself was ok but I disliked the TA. Took for summer school. Two essays and a final. Boring class tbh, and I'm a history major. Supposed to be world history, but BL focused way too much on boring China. One online lecture on Rome/Greece, Persia, Egypt, etc that barely went over anything. Meanwhile China had several lectures. Not worth

I took this class as pass/no pass and didn't study for the final. That being said, I still passed. Midterm and final are extremely straight forward. Just do the study guide and memorize it and you should be fine. As for the essay questions, the main topics are relatively easy to guess and study. Easy pass/no pass. YOU DO NOT USE THE BOOK!

Clear on what will be one the midterm and final. Review sheets are posted to gaucho space. Final is not cumulative. 1800 word paper that really was a pain to write. Early class but he puts the lectures on gauchospace in case you miss one. Good GE if you are willing to put the work in. Don't get the textbook.

This class was a very easy GE. Professor Barbieri-Low is very clear on what he expects and his lectures are very well organized. The readings can be a bit confusing sometimes since they are usually translations and are very old but get help from your TA and it'll be no problem. Just pay attention in lecture and do the readings and you'll pass.

Relatively easy if you go to lecture (which aren't terribly boring). I don't do much of the reading but skimming will help retain information. Most of the information is covered in lecture but you can also choose to read and cram and not go to lecture. Overall easy A as long as you put in work to memorize straight facts.

Easy to pass.

Went to class for the first month or 2 & passed. The midterm requires multiple choice, ID terms, and short responses. A paper due that wasn't hard, basic grasp of the concept gave me a B. The final was ID terms, short response, and a short essay. Readings are assigned but if you skim over them and pay attention in lecture section u will do good.

The class isn't hard if you readgo to class. It's a ton of memorization and knowing his lectures. However, I didn't go to class for about 1.5 months (it was an 8am), and got an A in the class. I just had to cram for the final. Basically, you just need to memorize all the information at some point, in some way before the midtermfinal.

You have to go to lecture. His lecture is full of information so you should be constantly taking notes. If you don't have interest in old civilization stuff then you might not want to take this class. Reading isn't a lot, but the articles you have to read are really hard to understand. Tests are easier than expected with mostly ID's and easy essay.

I personally loved Prof. Barbieri-Low's class. The material was interesting, but you need to work for your grade because there's so much material covered. Grade is based on section, midtermfinal and a term paper. Just show up to class, read the bookPDFs and study, and you'll be fine. And if you need help, go to office hours because he's helpful!

As long as you work very hard and study his study guides very well and did all the readings you should ace the tests and start early on the paper. I got an A.

Perspective from a non-history major: Very knowledgeable about history. He didn't do much to make his lectures interesting; I sometimes fell asleep. Sometimes he talked too fast and I didn't get it down. Tests rely on lots of memorization, not easy. This class puts a lot of power in the hands of the TAs. LOTS of PDF reading, textbook not useful.