Attendance is super important and participation/iClicker is a good part of your grade. I ended up getting a 95 on the final paper. I liked that when he noticed people weren't raising their hands to participate in class, he started bringing chocolate chip cookies to reward and encourage the students who did. He really seems to care about bioethics.

The class was easy but the in person lectures are boring and disorganized. Also, you need to watch 30-45min videos before each class. The TAs were useless. When it came to writing the final paper (worth 35% of our grade) we weren't given guidelines or helpful feedback. Attendance was required. If you miss more than 2 classes you get a C-

Really respect Tom for opening up about his personal life and relating it to his lectures. He clearly cares a lot about what he teaches and was very kind to students when they would speak in front of the class. Would definitly recommend this class and take another one by him again!

Very bad at answering emails, but when I asked him a question after class told me to email it to him (never got back as you might imagine). Answered questions in class when he could but generally left us all more confused. Stopped going to class after he ignored my emails about DSP accommodations to section because I wasn't benefitting from going.

Great professor, super laid back and tries to make class material relevant. His participation policy seems harsh at first, but it's super easy to make up absences and he's very lenient. I loved the material for this class, but there were a lot of small group discussions which could get awkward. Would definitely take a class with him again!

Super fun professor. He does lectures in fun YouTube videos before the class where it is all discussion and collaborative based. The best youtuber and good intros. All you do is weekly readings and pre-reflection on the next weeks topic and a final paper on whatever topic you choose. Very chill class but paper prep starts pretty late, don't stress.

Prof Costigan was really great. He is enthusiastic and clearly cares a lot about the topics discussed and the students learning them. His flipped lecture styles were great for facilitating deep, thoughtful class discussions. Grading is based entirely on weekly reflections (chill) and a final paper that you have the whole quarter to work on. 10/10.

Prof. Costigan made the class atmosphere incredibly relaxed for a philosophy class! All the topics in Biomedical Ethics (PHIL 7) were discussed in-depth with his flipped lectures, and then adding on with some discussion in lecture that proved to be fascinating with classmates chiming in. Attendance may be strict, but incredibly fair for engagement!

He used the "flipped" lecture style, meaning that you watch the recorded lectures and attend the class for group discussions. Personally, the discussions are not as inspirational as they suppose to be. Grading is based on weekly reflection and a final paper. The attendance policy is extremely extremely strict - he use icliker.

He was my TA for phil4, not the professor, but his grading was so harsh and arbitrary. He left one-sentence comments on my essays. Other classmates for the same class but with different TAs got As easily, even though they put in the same or less effort than I did.

I loved this class and how it was structured. Super simple, easy to follow, and Tom makes the podcast lectures relatively engaging. No midterm or final, just a weekly worksheet and I timed quiz

Really creative class setup during online classes by setting up a "podclass". This class was super straightforward and had a very low workload. The material is pretty interesting too.

An easy class and a really chill professor. The class material was only a few hours of work a week, and the weekly tests were pretty similar to the homework. No final either. Would def recommend to anyone looking to fill a GE while not putting too much time into a class. Interesting stuff too!

A real gem. Tom is very nice and I learned a lot. Really easy class but interesting subject material which was a great combination. Would highly recommend.

Take PHIL3! Costigan is super cool and has awesome podcasts that are actually interesting to listen to. There are practice problems (easy) due each week and a short quiz... that's it. Great GE and highly recommend taking his class.

I think his class is easy to get A if you pays some attention to it. It's a good class for GE.

having homework due on thanksgiving really isnt cool. I understand all of your homework has been due on thursdays this whole quarter, but really? Thanksgiving? Not fun. Its nice that he changed it so the quiz isnt due on midnight the day after Thanksgiving, but homework due on a holiday is bad vibes. Otherwise a good prof.

He is a pretty rational and cool professor. His PHIL 3 class is super chill. Weekly, I spend around 1.5 hours and at most 2 hours for his "podcasts" and notes, and around 15 minutes for quizzes on Fridays. Easy and interesting material in critical thinking and identifying argument forms. if you keep up with the material, it should be a breeze.