This is by far the worst professor I had during covid learning. His lectures are boring and hard to stay focus on. He says UMMM.. UH A LOT and hearing that just makes you tired of the class. Hes behind on grading and uploading lectures which makes you cramp all of the weeks information into weekends. Dont recommend, pls save yourself the time.

Honestly, professor russell saved my butt. Towards the middle of the quarter I wasn't feeling very great about the class. But I started coming into office hours and really trying to bring my grade around. Professor Russell was a huge help in bringing my grade to a B!! Great guy, super nice unlike a lot of other professors I've had at UCSB.

Professor Russell is super great, you can tell from his reading prompts that he's really enthusiastic about the class. He's really nice when you go into office hours and really spends the time to help you out! Definitely would take his class again.

The grading criteria is clearly laid out on the syllabus and the grading on assignments is fair. Jamal is very helpful and nice during office hours and after for any clarification on the lectures, assignments, or reading stuff .