MDST 2000

Professor Cavalcante is an engaging and interesting professor, he occasionally made lecture fun, but the class was more difficult than expected and grading was a bit harsh. My TA was incredible though! she was really nice and flexible with discussing the paper, really helpful in offering commentary and made the experience much less stressful, which I appreciate. The class is overall very interesting but not something you should take unless you're serious about media studies.

Professor Cavalcante is a really passionate and approachable teacher. He was always open to answering my questions after class and did so with much enthusiasm. The readings are not bad at all and you can often get by without doing them since the lectures covered the majority of information from the readings. The textbook was useless since all of the pertinent readings were uploaded on collab. My only grievance was that Cavalcante did allow his political leanings to show in his lectures. I love it when teachers are opinionated, but I believe that they should still focus on views that contradict their own.

Professor Cavalcante was super funny and tried to make his lecture engaging. He can be a bit strict about technology in lecture, but it's because he wants us to pay attention and write down what he's saying. He uploads powerpoints to Collab but he elaborates a lot and says more of the important information during lecture. Overall, the class was fun and very interesting compared to others at UVA, however, TAs can be hit or miss. I had a really strict one (shifa) who graded harshly and made the class more daunting than I thought it should have been. The midterm and final were very extensive and any topic is fair game. I wouldn't say this class is an easy A at all.

I really liked this class. I thought the readings were generally interesting and the assignments were engaging. When I took the course, it had a few online quizzes throughout the semester, two medium-sized papers, a midterm, and a final. The papers and exams are graded by your TA's who aren't very consistent in grade distribution. Caleb is a good TA. The lectures can sometimes get long and boring, but I think it's an overall interesting and worthwhile course. Professor Cavalcante is pretty liberal and that shines through in his lectures, which never bothered me, but it irritated some people. Overall it's pretty easy to do well in the course, and if you put in the effort you'll probably earn something in the A range.

This class covers the broad basics of media studies, and overall I found it to be pretty interesting. Professor Cavalcante's lectures were typically pretty interesting and engaging, but at times could be boring. He does have a strict no technology policy in his lectures, but this ended up helping me not get distracted during lectures. There is a decent amount of reading, but I recommend actually reading it because material from readings ends up being important in the class. The quizzes were a little difficult, but projects were not bad. I will say that the TAs in this class do not grade equally, so your overall grade may really depend on the TA that you get. Professor Cavalcante was extremely understanding when we switched online, and overall I would recommend this course.

This class is one of my favorites I have taken at UVA. The professor is very funny and entertaining and the content is super relevant to our lives. The first assignment required a no technology day which was very challenging but the second paper was more open-ended and I got to write about one of my favorite music videos. If you have a good TA this class is not difficult. Highly recommend.
#tCF2020

Don't add this class after the first week! I tried adding this course in the middle of the second week because I've heard good things about it, it's asynchronous, and I had to drop another class, but my experience could have been better. There's a very firm no late work policy, which doesn't account for students who enroll in the class after a deadline, and my TA never answered my email on whether or not upcoming due dates could be extended for me, a student who enrolled late. I ended up having to do two weeks worth of work for this four credit class in one day, and ultimately decided to drop it because there are other classes that are much more forgiving. If you enroll in a class during the add/drop period, you shouldn't be penalized for it like you are in this class (though other TAs might be more forgiving than mine). Cavalcante seems like a nice professor, but clearly he didn't plan on letting people join the class late. I'm planning on taking it in the fall, so hopefully my experience is better then. If you're trying to enroll in this class after the first week, I strongly suggest finding another class and enrolling in this one next semester if you're interested in it.

I really enjoyed this class, even though it was asynchronous. There are four quizzes, two papers, a midterm and a final. I felt all of these were fairly graded. It was hard to keep up with the lectures and readings before each discussion, but that was for me at least, due to the asynchronous format and my poor time management. Also, if Nouha is still a TA, I highly recommend discussions with her-she's really nice and genuinely seemed to have an interest in the content!
#tCFspring2021