Took him for Engl 22 (102% grade) and engl 23 (100%). Tests are curved a lot, and homework is very easy to do for both classes. Lectures can become repetitive. Very easy class.
His lectures for English 23 were not great. He just went through the class comments that we did for homework every week. You have to pay attention during the lectures, readings, and videos. He clearly knows his stuff about climate change, but his execution of the lectures wasn't great. It was a brand new class, so I'll give him a break for that.
Professor Ken is a super duper good teacher who makes his students enjoy taking his classes and staying at the lectures for the entire period of time. You should absolutely take his class and learn useful climate crisis solution from him. He should be honored as the best teacher in UCSB, honestly.
Amazing professor. I learned so much about the climate crisis in this class. Definitely the most life changing class I've taken at UCSB so far.
Ken is a great guy. He cares about his students and wants them to succeed and learn. He is knowledgeable on the material and highly values student input. Although the format is unconventional, this class teaches you a lot and is a completely manageable amount of work.
Because of the virus, he canceled the final exam and gave everyone full credit on final. The midterm also had curve.
He canceled the final exam and gave all the students full credit on the final.
A pretty easy class if you do all the work but it is time consuming. Have to read something, watch a film, and watch 3 video lectures every week and make 3 comments. In person lectures are him responding to student comments so they're pretty useless in terms of testing material but attendance is a big part of your grade so you have to go.
Ken's lectures and tests are irrelevant to learning, but the readings are very good. He spends lecture making us silently read Youtube comments that students made on his video, and his test is memorizing details that don't add to your knowledge of climate change. One question of his midterm was: "What painting was on top of Leo DiCaprio's crib"?
Ken is great but needs to work on structure. If he only focused on readings and films and made optional discussion forums on something like reddit, I think it would increase genuine engagement and help people focus on the actual material for exams, not just enough to have enough comments. Lectures should not be him reading comments. Come on, Ken :(
his structure of the course falls very flat to me. He makes everyone do comments but they have to be rather long. there's no section so he does this to add engagement but it makes it very forced and mind numbing. You end up getting behind so that you just have something to comment.
Don't get me wrong, I think that Eng23 is a really important class that teaches important concepts surrounding the climate crisis. That being said, dear god, never did I expect to have to mandatorily sit through about 2 dozen lectures JUST looking at Youtube comments on HIS videos. Clearly likes to hear himself speak, maybe bit too much.
Content is interesting, but doesn't actually lecture in class. He posts his lectures on YouTube; you watch 3 lecture videos (1 is accompanied by an article, 1 is accompanied by a documentary), and leave 3 comments a week. The actual lecture block is spent reading YT comments, and no attendance credit if you leave early. Feels like a waste of time
Ken's a good guy who rly cares about the environment but WOW eng 22 is boring. Lectures are both mandatory and truly mind numbing. Tests contain questions such as "What is the best description for the color of Plato's left sock?" Movies will preach eating manure veggies and owning 1000 acres of land instead of feasible solutions.
If u study 5h for your midterm, you are 100% fine
One of the best professors I've had here at UCSB. He is well-organized and knows his lectures off the top of his head-not constantly looking up what he is going to say. I appreciate the fact that he does not make us pay for online access to his lectures and videos!! The readings are relevant and very well taught.
Professor Hiltner was one of the more interesting professors I have had at UCSB. He clearly cares about the climate crisis and has made me care about it too. I would definitely recommend taking his class!
Tests easy, kind of trivia-like. Lectures useless; majority of people just go for iClicker. If you just watch the films, skim the course readings, use Quizlet, & go through the Prezi well, you'll get an A/A-. Learned a lot through the Prezi and films; I have a new perspective on many things now. Ken is knowledgeable & wants to make a difference!
English 22 was a very easy and decently interesting class. There was a fair amount of reading homework, but I hardly did any of it and I still ended with 98% in the class. You have to show up to the lectures and pay attention to do well if you dont do the reading though. Overall Ken is a g and a super smart and thorough professor.
The lecture is a little boring but it helps. He gives many extra credits so you can easily get an A if you study. Very excellent professor in his own field.
Some of the readings can be lengthy, however he breaks down the book's ideas and gist of what you need to know for the exams during lecture. 30% of your grade is just showing up to class. The exams are pretty easy if you just do the readings and watch the films, almost a guaranteed A/A-. He also gave the class extra credit on BOTH exams.
His lectures were hard to listen to because the classes are so large and he speaks monotone. No one pays attention and you can understand more from reading the prezis yourself as oppose to listening to him read them off exactly in lecture. Attendance is mandatory (the only reason why people go). Grades are attendance, film responses, and exams.
Attendance for lectures is mandatory, taken via iclicker. Lectures are hard to follow/ pay attention to due the number of students in the course, and there are no sections to reiterate or analyze what was taught in class. He posts his prezis though so you are able to go back or try to teach yourself.
Easily the WORST prof I've ever had. He's so boring and reads directly off the powerpoint which is ENTIRELY huge paragraphs. You gain absolutely nothing from attending lecture, but you have to because iClicker is worth 30% so every time you miss, it takes 1% off your grade. idk what class these other reviewers went to, but it sure wasn't mine.