STS 2050

I think most people who take this course expect it to be easy as most STS courses are considered to be easy. While I would consider the difficulty of the material as pretty easy, expect to do a good amount of work every week. You will have 12-20 weekly assigned materials like podcasts, articles, publications, videos, etc. The professor will then give out a 8 minute online quiz that tests your knowledge for these assigned materials. These quizzes will only have like 5 questions, but you will only know the answer for them if you have thoroughly gone through the assigned materials, which takes me roughly 8 hours. Fortunately, he provides a list of questions from each assigned material and picks 5 questions in there to be on the quizzes, so you know what to know for the quizzes. There are also weekly discussion boards, but these are pretty quick and easy. Occasionally, there are some writings or projects due, but they aren't too difficult and one of them I personally enjoyed. However, the ending of the class is very intensive. You will have a long paper to write and the final contains information about everything you've covered in the class. While a good portion of the material in the class is pretty cool, there is just a lot of information which can fry your brain a bit. I think he's a pretty good professor overall, though, and always extends help if needed. I also liked how he started memorizing all the names of the people in class who regularly spoke during discussions. Overall, if you're looking for an STS class, this is not a bad option, just be prepared to do at least 8 hours of work a week.

I feel like this class could be interesting, but the format of the course is terrible. If you need this course to fulfill your STS 2000 requirement, do not take it, because there are so many other courses that fulfill the requirement and are way more engaging.

The professor assigns reading homework assignments for every class period which come in the form of videos and hour and a half podcasts. It's mostly busywork, though, so as long as you dedicate a solid 1.5-2 hours per homework assignment, you can get it done. There are also weekly reading quizzes on the homework assignments from the previous week, so make sure you answer all of the questions. It looks like a lot, but I would type them up in a google doc to keep them organized, and did fine on the quizzes.

There are long-term assignments such as a Personal Energy Audit and a 2000-word final paper. I personally thought the Audit was interesting, but it was time-consuming. I divided it up and did portions of it each day, so it wasn't super stressful for me.

In all honesty, I stopped going to class in the first week and just did the homework assignments, blog posts, and his final study guide because most of the information presented in class was in the homework, and I ended up getting an A.

This course is doable, but you really have to put in a lot of work. After taking this class I would say my passion for sustainability decreased, unfortunately. I wouldn't recommend this class.

I don’t know where all the negative comments come from tbh. I took this course in Spring 2022 and it’s not half bad. If you’re intrigued by questions about how to improve our energy systems like electricity sector, transportation etc and how we should act during the course of transformation, this course gives a holistic review of how everything should look like and YES, it can be dry sometimes, but I don’t think this course deserves the critics it receives given all the necessary engineering details involved for us to understand the subject matter.

During this semester, Prof. Groves showed his commitment for making the local community more sustainable, including a case where Charlottesville city council failed to consider the implications of Climate Change involved in housing. He also talked about ways for us to transition to greener living styles and I learned a lot personally as to how to contribute to Sustainability business with the personal energy audit(10% grade).

One thing to improve is that there are weekly quizzes, and questions CAN be trivial! (20% grade). But if you do your readings, put efforts into your final project(25% grade), you can EASILY do well in this class and learn a ton!

Overall, I think the course is for people who care about Climate Change and sustainable energy designs that can make our communities better, and who are willing to put time into the materials he assigns, which can honestly be a lot. Prof. Groves is a nice guy and don’t hesitate to reach out to him.

This class is definitely not an easy A, but it was 100% the most interesting class I took this semester. Your grade consists of weekly reading quizzes (open note), participation (posting on discussion boards/speaking up in class), a mid-semester assignment, and a final and essay at the end of the semester. The reading for the class is extensive but not hard, probably takes about 2-4 hours per week to get through it all. Most of it is podcasts/articles that are actually almost always interesting enough to easily pay attention, and the quiz questions will come straight from guiding questions Prof Groves provides for each assigned material. The mid-semester assignment wasn't too bad, nor was posting on the discussion board every week because it's almost always just asking your opinion on something you talked about in class. The final essay also isn't that hard, especially since you get to pick your topic. The final exam is pretty brutal though. He does give a 20 page doc about everything you should know, but it really doesn't narrow it down much. Be prepared to memorize a TON of random facts and vocab words because he will ask you specifics. Overall was not easy but I learned a TON, so if you're interested in sustainable energy and willing to put in the effort to do the readings and understand the material I'd definitely recommend this class.

I am an idiot, 我是一个白痴, eu sou um idiota, je suis un idiot, sono un idiota, is leathcheann mé, я идиот, Ich bin ein Idiot,
ik ben een idioot, Soy una idiota, 私はばかです, 나는 멍청이다, jestem idiotą, sunt un idiot, Είμαι ένας ηλίθιος
I highly recommended this course if you like to be tortured or suffering.

Definitely the worst class I've ever taken here. The professor is extremely pretentious and loves talking about himself. He is also useless in office hours, lectures, and providing any meaningful feedback on assignments. Lecture mostly consists of him reading off his slides word for word in a monotonous, droning voice. At one point in the class attendance got so bad that he threatened to take points off for lack of attendance because 2/3rds of the class stopped showing up to his lecture and even that didn't make people come back. As far as grading and feedback goes, he doesn't provide a rubric and is very unclear on what he grades on. Most of his feedback to my assignments was just whataboutism. As for the homework, he puts very little effort into organizing his assignments and quizzes. While the material has the potential to be very interesting, the projects, readings, and lectures are some of the most boring I've ever had to sit through. The bulk of the course is reading quizzes, which are 5 questions pertaining to 10 or so readings that are all multiple pages long, or 20-30 minute long videos/podcasts every week. Finally, there are mandatory weekly discussion boards that aren't thought provoking at all, and a final that feels more like random trivia questions rather than testing our understanding of the material.

If you are considering taking this class. DONT!! Classes are boring and mostly reading off powerpoints. We have average 5 hours long of ariticles, videos or broadcasts. But the final exam is basicly straight off memorization of all the terms and concepts. Plus a 2000 words final paper.

Probably the worst class I've taken so far at UVA. He is the most annoying, pretentious, and picky professor I've ever had. In this class we had weekly readings that consisted of multiple hour long podcasts, videos, and many many many articles. He would give us assignments and take off points for things he didn't even ask for. We had a final paper and a final exam, and the material is just straight memorization of a bunch of useless information that is neither about sustainability nor energy systems. This class made me hate sustainability when I was previously excited to learn about it. He also often brags about his resume and drones on and on about how the city of charlottesville is not as good as him.

This was honestly one of the most boring classes I've taken. Groves is very monotone and besides the discussion at the end of the class does very little to engage you. The topic has so much depth and would be interesting to learn, but Groves makes the class almost unbearable to sit through. He gives off a bit of pretentious vibe with the amount he talks about his own sustainability. When my friends and I went to his office hours to get feedback on our essay topics, he said a lot of things but none were helpful. He also assigns about 7-10 reading, videos, and podcasts to watch every week. This wouldn't be so bad if the videos and podcasts weren't an hour-long each most of the time. They're used for the weekly homework quiz but aren't used for much else. Besides the homework quizzes, Groves doesn't assign that much stuff so time-wise the class is manageable. Groves is the type to take off a point or two here just so you don't get a 100, but if you put the work in an A- is pretty attainable. Still, I highly recommend not taking this class. #tCFfall2021