PLCP 3500

This class has far too many issues to recommend it. The lectures for this course were Professor Mershon reading her PowerPoints verbatim, which exclusively recapped the readings assigned the night before. She then assigned a research project with confusing guidelines that were changed more than once, and the TA who graded the vast majority of the work never once came to class or personally introduced herself - a very awkward grading dynamic that I have never seen before. When I received my final grade in sis (a few hours after the deadline) I emailed her asking why I had received a lower grade than I expected. She essentially dismissed me and provided me with the grades for 3/5 of the components on the syllabus. When I asked about the missing 30% (posts 15% and participation 15%) of my grade, she ignored the question completely and told me to have a good summer. I believe Professor Mershon means well, but this class is a mess.

DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS. It was honestly an absolute joke. Professor was very much "I'm the one with the degree and I'm your elder, so don't question me" (She asked us if wanted groups based on who we sat with vs groups she assigned, we voted, and she was like okay I'm not doing the majority because I know what's best). Semester-long research project that was a waste of time and graded harshly with too little time to complete the way she wanted it done. Had at TA who never showed up to class and barely responded to emails, yet graded all of our work. Class was genuinely boring, considering almost everyone in front of me was either playing games on their laptops or shopping for clothes.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. The professor may care about her students but it's impossible to follow her class. The lectures are next-level boring and the content isn't even interesting. It may be easy but I would save yourself and just take another PLCP elective. Trust me.

The class itself is interesting. That said, Mershon can be a bit disorganized at times, and that makes it occasionally difficult to follow what she's trying to do. She definitely cares, and can be enjoyable at times, but the lack of organization and clarity does pose a problem.

Very disorganized professor but she tries hard

Mershon is a lovely woman, a bit scatterbrained but you can tell she's trying so hard to be organized. Always makes a point to tell you that your comments in class are SO valuable, which is funny and maybe she could tone that down and spend more time on lecturing! But I found the material interesting, the readings very reasonable. Only part I don't like is the presentation in pairs at the end of the semester, and you are given the same grade as your partner so find someone early on that you can trust not to mooch off you!