The quizzes are insanely specific and hard to score a 100 on. He completely changes a test days before it because of a cheating issue that he basically created. A lot of people are struggling. Makes learning about climate change stressful and uninteresting, because of the amount of time spent on memorizing useless details. Overall, not a fun time.
One of the best GE's I've taken! Ken is extremely passionate and cares so much. Lots of reading, but for a class that meets two times a week with no section the material isn't that bad, and is always interesting. Not sure why people don't expect reading in and english class. Quizzes are easy if you actually pay attention or use command F.
Took this class randomly as a senior to fill my schedule and it ended up being one of the most informative and important classes I've taken at UCSB. Ken is extremely passionate about the climate crisis and really motivates his students to reevaluate their actions. A lot of readings but the quizzes are extremely easy, and material is super engaging.
people got caught cheating and messed up the midterm for all of us, but the professor so nice and had to make a whole new test for all of us which must have been frustrating and he does not deserve all of the hate he is getting! He's such a genuine man that cares about the environment and you can tell he truly enjoys teaching.
I took his Eng 22 class and Im currently taking his Eng 23. Please ignore his bad reviews. A lot of these students are just salty because they got caught trying to cheat on the midterm by sharing answers. This class does take up some time to finish the work, but just like ANY other class. Loved his class, EASY A. Just do the work. Simple
Im really sad to see these unfair reviews of prof Hiltner. I took him for fall quarter 2020 online & it was so easy, if you do the bare minimum of watching lectures on 2x, youll get an A just like me. Theres no need to cheat, it was the easiest class Ive taken. He was so reasonable and accommodating, theres so many bad profs here & hes not 1.
Leaving a bad review not because Im one of those got caught cheating. Because his materials are excessive & boring. Quizzes are insanely specific, you have to know unnecessary details in order to succeed. Im sure Ken is a nice guy but he is way to pretentious, its painful to sit through his lectures. He should focus on topic that actually matter
I wanted to give Ken a chance, but he formats all his test the same, all having ridiculously specific questions. Ive literally cried/had panic attacks in his class every week... Does he not realize that people have probably been getting all the hard randomly generated questions each time? Definitely needs to change his question formatting period.
Super passionate professor you can tell he enjoys teaching a lot. Quizzes are unnecessarily difficult as it focuses more on memorizing irrelevant data rather than topics that are important.
Weekly you will spend 4 hours on videos and 6080 pages of readings to get a B or higher. There are two short essays every week too. This class requires too many works as just a GE class and also his ideas are too extreme for me. Unless you must take this class to graduate, I do not recommend you to take this class.
In Kens lectures you can tell how passionate he is about what he teaches and I love this about professors like him. The reading are manageable and so are the comments you have to make every week about the documentaries and readings. I didnt think the quizzes were hard, so as long as you do your work, you should get a high grade!
Content of class is interesting & Ken seems to be a nice guy. Material is way too long for a GE class. Quizzes are very specific, prompts you to focus on getting all the information down rather than learning. Command F will be your best friend during quizzes. Can do well if you try, but definitely do not take w/ hard classes like biology or chem.
Ken Hiltner is a very caring professor who is passionate about what he teaches. He puts in a lot of effort into his content and wants his students to succeed. Take his classes!!
On deep dives lectures he often rambles with the testable info scattered in between (hard to keep attention, especially online).Would have a more enjoyable experience learning the material if given in a more condensed format. Everything he writes/talks about is quite verbose, which is understandable since he's an English professor. Quizzes are fair
People say the videos are two long, but the time you spent is exactly what you get for a 2 lectures/week course. Plus it has no section. I find this course quite enjoyable to be honest, and Ken is a very kind and thoughtful professor. The amount of work he put in his website is EXCEPTIONAL. He also made sure no additional purchases is required.
Ken is a professor who truly cares. He is passionate about what he studies and tries hard to share that passion with his students. He sets up the course in the online format so it is really easy for students to succeed, just take notes on all the lectures and engage with the reading. Not that much work at all; I was able to get it all done in 2days
This class is a bit more heavy on reading than I'm used to (but makes sense - it's an English class and I'm not an English major), and there's two 2 hour lectures, 2 short lectures, and a documentary each week, but if you pace yourself it's not too bad at all. His lectures are very moving and the content is very impactful, honestly love this class
This class is not it. Boring and difficult. Do not recommend
Ken is one of the most captivating professors I've ever had. He is passionate about the course and through his teaching, I've felt more inspired to reevaluate my contribution to the climate crisis. Quizzes can be stressful with only 10 mins to answer 10 questions but the info learned in this course is far more valuable so don't be discouraged!
I am currently taking English 23 with professor Hiltner and he is one of the best /caring teachers I have ever taken a class from. There are "deep dive" lectures that take up two hours total but those are in replacement of in-person seminars so the time commitment really isn't a big deal. Take this class if you care about your future/planet.
Ken is a great professor, very well informed and passionate about the material. Frankly, his class has taught me more in 5 weeks than most classes have after 10 weeks. He is extremely responsive and accommodating. There has never been a time that he took more than 45 minutes to answer my emails. His class requires studying, but its manageable.
So passionate about what he teaches. Class is time consuming, not hard. Really cool guy!
Ignore the bad reviews. People are upset he changed the midterm because he caught a group of students cheating. The class is easy and long as you, this next part is crazy, DO THE WORK He doesnt hand you a grade but if you do your job it is ez. He is passionate and cares about the quality of his work. If you dont want to learn dont take the class
Ken is a great guy, plz excuse the negative comments and think about whether or not you care about the environment. He is lecture heavy just take good notes and put the videos on a high speed and youll do great. Have taken him twice and can really admire his POV of climate change and what is necessary for our generation for solving it.