Avoid at all costs. Not only was the grading unfair (40% of grade is midterm and 50% is final exam), but the entire class got canceled and 40 students are under credit minimum 2 weeks into the quarter because she broke her ankle and is "unable" to teach the class via Zoom or asynchronously. She also SCREAMED at a student who refused to wear a mask.
Very boring lecturer. The readings are a lot more interesting than her tangents. Just do your readings and use them for midterm and final and you'll be good.
Content is genuinely interesting, but lectures can turn into tangents that leave you catching up on notes later on. Kaplan knows her stuff and has an incredible amount of knowledge, but its tough to get a direct and concise answer. She's not one for "dumbing down" a concept. CRAZY amount of reading, but the TA's are super helpful. Think b4 taking
Didnt think to check rate my professor first because I was really interested in the topic but her lectures are difficult to follow & when I have done the reading before class she rarely will go over them. During that lecture she will also add more. Loved the reading material but first professor at UCSB I cannot follow their thought process.
Kaplan is a great teacher, pay attention to her lecture slides because she draws a lot of the in class midterm questions from them. Throughout the quarter we had to read 5 + books and lots of online reading. Do not expect to skip lecture and pass, although her slides are posted online, she gives a lot of necessary information in class.
Kaplan is obviously brilliant and completely obsessed with Estonia, so if you're interested in Eastern Europe you will love her. However, I found her lectures to be a bit repetitive and the reading was intensive. Not the most engaging class, and many students never showed up (unless it was test day). Only take if you're really interested in topic.
You would think in a 3-hour lecture in a senior seminar titled "Central Asian Politics" that you would at least pick up a few tidbits of interesting information about Central Asia. False. Kaplan just likes to hear herself say big airy words and theoretical jargon that has little to no practical usage for a student trying to learn about the world.
Kaplan is insanely self-interested and really loves to hear herself talk. When reviewing the midterm, it was painful to watch her give the floor for our TA to speak and then interject endlessly with her own opinions and thoughts. The class is good and the content is interesting, but the professor's noxious personality is a little hard to bear.
Worst professor at UCSB by far. Anyone saying to take this course is crazy. As a non-req there are many other better courses to take instead. She assigns an insane amount of reading. I'm talking 8-10 books per week, every week. Plus a list of about 11 other books to read as well. Several midterms and final. She's also obsessed with Estonia.
Yes, the course is difficult and there is a LARGE amount of reading. But as I learned in other courses, you don't have to read every page in order to do well. Attending lectures is extremely helpful in regards to doing well, and know the theories well. The teacher is really kind and approachable, and smart as hell. Not an unmanageable class.
Kaplan is unorganized and her lectures are hard to follow. She frequently goes on useless tangents regarding her travels to eastern Europe. Although attendance is optional she began getting spiteful about low turnout toward the end of the quarter. The TA contributed no help at all and graded particularly hard.
Her lecturing is interesting and she seems to be a fair sort of professor. But, at least this term, she had a very-very picky TA who made the grading unnecessarily hard.
Kaplan certainly knows her stuff but she does assign an insane amount of reading and her lectures are hard to follow. Interesting class though, if you're interested in the subject matter you'll learn a lot but don't take her if you're taking more than a full-time course load.
This professor is all over the place. Extremely disorganized. Hard to follow and take notes. Reading is way too much. Simply put, it is impossible to keep up with it because she assigns 6 books and online articles. Good thing she had a good T.A. to grade the midterm and the paper. Stay away from her as you will walk out of her class with 0 knowledg
unless you want to devote 16 hours of your time just to do the readings, I would NOT take this class. Yes, she is well-versed and traveled but this doesn't help u get the grade u want..turned a very interesting subject into a burden.
did not learn anything useful. a lot of reading. boring lectures stopped going towards the end
lots of reading
Reading is beyond excessive and not very interesting. Her lectures are all over the place. It's hard to tell where her personal stories end and actual important information begins. Good news is she gives a take home final. Stay away from this one.
Well I survived the course and didnt do that bad, surprisingly cause I wasnt able to read everything so I think she grades the bluebooks rather fairly. She says she doesnt look at are names when she grades either. It interesting cause she turns a lot of people off/against her, but she is very knowledgeable and well traveled etc. She does have a very strange laugh and sense of humor. Lectures were considerably better organized than another characters in the department (read Freeman)
Readings are excessive. Much of class time is spent by telling us stories that are a) not interesting and b) not on the midterm. She speaks Tartar and Russian and makes sure we know it. She is a very nice woman though and wants to help us, but the class is almost unbearable.
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Awesome teacher, knows about anything you could think to ask her about. Tons of reading, but if you do it all you'll do well.
Knows her stuff, WAY TOO MUCH reading. Tests on ALL of it. Very intense, in depth handling of material. Interesting stuff. Not for the weak of heart. midterm 50% final 50%. She's the college prof. you feared as a senior in HS, but realized didn't exist when you got there.
excellent professor. knows the material and several weird languages. the course requires an enormous volume of reading but is interesting.