Professor Blankholm was by far my favorite professor of Fall 2018. Even though the lecture slides are posted, they aren't much help if you don't attend the lecture. There isn't a book for his class, but there are printed readings (TIP: print 4 pages on one page to save paper!). Is extremely helpful outside of class.
Professor Blankholm is extremely passionate and knowledgable in his field of study and is definitely one of the most engaging professors I've ever had at UCSB. I absolutely LOVED this class and cannot recommend highly enough. Beneficial not only as a GE (worth 5 units) but also for a change in perception of your own life. TAKE THIS CLASS!!!
Blankholm is a great guy but if you are taking this class with zero interest in politics, do not take it. There are many amendments and court cases that you are going to need to memorize. His lectures are very skeletal and it's difficult to understand the point of his lecture if you're not interested. Otherwise, he's a funny and easy going prof.
You dont have to buy a textbook, but you need to print each weeks readings (you will waste a lot of ink/paper). There will be a quiz every Friday, but theyre not bad. Hes a great teacher and you can tell he loves what he does. He will definitely get on your case for being on your phone and you cant use your laptops in class either.
Lots of weekly online readings which is what the quizzes in section are based off of. One 7-page paper worth 30% of your grade that you have the whole quarter to write. Pretty chill class. Joe is so funny and a great professor. You'll enjoy it. Unclear study guides though for tests, so ATTEND LECTURE. His midterm and final are based on lectures.
Professor Blankholm is a great lecturer. His RGST 35 class is very interesting and doesn't require much time outside of class. Attendance is important if you want a good grade.
Blankholm was an amazing professor. His lectures were interesting and informative, and he was super nice and approachable in office hours. The reading quizzes were annoying but manageable, and the midterm was easy and straightforward as long as you went to class and did the readings. The one essay was pretty easy too. Would definitely recommend.
I loved Blankholm as a teacher, even though I wasn't completely happy with my grade at the end of the course. The most important thing to do is the readings because there are weekly quizzes in section to make sure you read, and even if you do well on the midterm and final, if you fail all the weekly quizzes, it'll bring your grade down a lot.
Professor Blankholm since day one tells you that if you miss lecture, you will not do well on the midterm & final. Why? Because although he posts the PowerPoints, most of what you learn is what he mentions in class. He clearly knows what he is talking about and remains unbiased for the most part, if you care about that. Definitely recommend.
Blankholm is an incredible professor, he clearly cares immensely about his work and his students. He's very easy to get in touch with and is willing to help you with anything. His grading is straight forward. In this class you get to go to a religious site of your choosing to do hands on research, highly recommend!
Fantastic professor with a lot if knowledge to share. Extremely smart guy that clearly knows his material and is passionate for it. Super interesting content, and engaging subject matter. Really cares about his students, and genuinely wants everyone to succeed. I'm a STEM major, but this was definitely one of my favorite courses at UCSB
Amazing lecturer, made it worth getting up for the 8AM. Amazing readings & you get to do research on a field site of your choosing leading up to a final paper of 8-10 pages. Midterm and final are the same format, but the final also has an essay, and are straightforward tests if you go to lecture (which is mandatory anyway). Super caring, love him!
i did terrible in this class but it was my own fault, as i put in very little effort and turned in our 1 paper a week late. blankholm is a GREAT professor and loves his subject. the reading doesn't really relate to class and we jump around from topic to topic but theres a lot of interesting stuff. attend class/take notes and youll do fine
Best professor I've ever had at UCSB! The course was interesting, and Blankholm is so passionate and engaging, made it easy to stay awake and focused. Readings and assignments are not too heavy and not difficult to complete, and the midterm and final are easily doable. Definitely recommend this class and professor to anybody!
Interesting class but I honestly think Blankholm was the reason I enjoyed it. The midterm and final should be fairly easy if you attend lecture and at least try to keep up with the online readings assigned each week. Attendance is not mandatory but Blankholm makes lectures pretty engaging and even funny at times. 10/10 would recommend.
Prof Blankholm is one of my favorite professors at UCSB. He is SO passionate about American religion and it shows in his lectures. They are riveting. There are about 30 pgs of reading per week, but no textbook, which is nice. One easy essay due at the end. Midterm(s) and final were totally fair. I can't wait to take one of his upper divs.
Great professor, you could tell he really cared about the topic and made it interesting. Reading is printed out every week only about 30-60 pages but make sure to read closely or you won't pass the section quizzes. One essay that required just a little research, pretty fair. Overall, if this topic seems interesting to you, you will love this class.
Amazing lecturer and very engaging. Readings aren't from a textbook, but are primary sources he has you print each week and there are quizzes at the beginning of section each week on the reading. Lecture slides are posted online, but to get the whole plethora of information, go to class, otherwise it's just skeletal and unhelpful. Loved this class!
He's an amazing professor. Knows his stuff and explains things well. Lecture is a must since he leaves stuff out of the slides he puts online. If you study and do your work you will be fine. Overall great professor and class
He's a really awesome dude. The class is very lecture heavy and even though he posts slides online he leaves a lot of key things out. The Ta's were both awesome. The majority of the class is midterm, final, and a research paper. Very interesting class.
Class revolves around lectures and readings (relevant articles found online). Grade is made up of mostly midterm, final, and one end of the quarter paper. Tests are very lecture heavy, but the lectures are interesting if you are into this kind of thing. Weekly reading quizzes and the reading can be kind of a lot some weeks. Overall, good class.