SOC 1010

Brian Foster is a kind and engaging professor. He truly cares about the wellbeing of his students and wants each of them to succeed. His lectures were intriguing, organized and well-paced. The reading is interesting and short. The assignments are easy. There are no tests. Very easy A, but I also felt like I learned a lot academically and spiritually.

TL;DR -- Class was very easy, do the readings but no big deal if you don't, Dr. Foster is a boring lecturer but amazing guy

This class was pretty easy and laidback, but definitely more on the boring side. Foster seems like a really cool guy, but the lectures are just regurgitations and reviews of the required readings for the class. As one of the previous reviewers said, he really just walks back up and down the lecture hall, reads off his slides (which are not posted but pretty self explanatory if you do the readings), and makes other people read the slides. The readings are interesting and diverse, and if you don't manage to read them, just show up to lecture to get a Sparknotes version. If you do get to reading, you might as well not go to class, since the daily check ins can be done from anywhere (so long as they're done within the first couple minutes of class) and you only need the readings to write the papers and do the weekly assignments. The papers are really the only big "assessments" -- Foster doesn't believe in exams, so the big things to pay attention to are the Discovery Assignments (papers that are only 1-2 pages) and Weekly Briefs (quizzes that show that you've done at least one of the readings for the week).

Even though I give Foster a lot of crap about being a boring lecturer for this class, I do want to note that he is one of the nicest, most understanding people ever. After everything that happened this semester, he lightened up the load for a class that already didn't have a very large load. He gave us resources that actually helped with our mental health and was one of the only professors who made a point to check in with their class almost every week.

#tCFfall22

Foster is a great professor teaching a class that usually isn't great. While intro to sociology isn't usually difficult, it is often not engaging enough. Foster *literally* walks up and down the stairs in Wilson the entire class: engaging the whole room in the discussions about the reading and their general thoughts on culture. This class starts off slow and ramps up in terms of reading, but it's never overwhelming. For every reading, you have a "weekly brief" that has 2-4 questions about the content and your thoughts/questions. The grade composition looks as follows:
- Discussion Section (contributing) makes up 15%
- Reading Check-Ins (PollEverywhere questions delivered in class) make up 15%
- Discovery Assignments (4 big assignments that involve 500-600 words each/writing about your childhood) make up 40%
- Weekly Briefs (reading quizzes) make up 30%
This class is an easy A with a great way to fill a requirement, plus a great professor. I HIGHLY recommend you take this course with Foster.

This was a large lecture but Professor Foster made it very easy to stay engaged with impressive presentations, encouraging students to share their own experiences or answers, and making us laugh. This intro class inspired me to look into a sociology double major. If the other professors in the department are anywhere as engaging, intellectual, and caring as Professor Foster, I will be lucky. His kindness during the incident that happened a few weeks ago meant so much to me, and I'm sure it did to a lot of others as well.

If you need to fill a requirement or just want a SUPER easy A, take this course!! Professor Foster is very understanding, easygoing, and does not assign that much work. You do have to attend lecture (checked through Poll Everywhere), but it is not a bad class to go to. My TA was Piper and I thought she was great too. After the tragic events this fall, Professor Foster has been nothing but helpful, understanding, and open for recommendations and anything anyone needs. Highly recommend this class!

One of the most empathetic professors that I've met. He understands (and explicitly states) that he cares more about us as people than as students. Not to mention, his lectures are always fun and interesting to listen to. His slides are visually appealing, and the way that he introduces his subjects is natural. Being able to actually become invested in his lectures and enjoy the material has allowed me to do much more learning than I would otherwise just stressing out about exams and writing down notes.

There are no exams. Instead, there are four short essays that you must write for the bulk of your grade. All you have to do is show up, participate, start early on the essays, ask questions about them in office hours, and you'll be set up for an exciting class! Even the essay prompts were engaging and fun. I feel that I got a great introduction to sociology and I appreciate the emphasis on analytical thinking rather than just regurgitating sociological terms. Now I feel disappointed that it's over, because I wish all my professors taught their classes like Professor Foster. Definitely take this class with him if you can, he is the best!

I'm going to start this review with a disclaimer that both Prof. Foster and Prof. Buckelew taught this course during the Spring '22 semester. Due to an injury during spring break, Prof. Foster had to go on leave for the remainder of the semester. Prof. Buckelew picked up with her design of the curriculum, but Prof. Foster's assignment & grading structures. My review is only going to cover the first half of the course that Prof. Foster taught.
I found Prof. Foster's lecture style very different than any other lecture I had experienced before. Instead of simply putting up bullet points on a slide or reading off of prepared notes, he had a unique style and rhythm to his lectures. I found myself doing less note-taking and more listening because of how he explained concepts, which I think is for the better. His lectures included music in the background, lots of videos and other content, and no super heavy reading. He also liked to walk up and down the stairs of the lecture hall during class and made a conceited effort to learn students' names, which didn't go unnoticed.
In terms of the style of the course, he designed it to focus on one "inquisitor" every day who influenced the field of sociology or its related topics. This made the reading super focused and less heavy than it could have been. Assignments consisted of weekly "discovery" assignments (really easy, just assessing understanding of concepts) and "reading check-ins" that basically functioned as attendance cards. The discussion section grade was solely based on a notecard you had to turn in each week, and my TA (Piper) was super flexible if you had to miss section. Prof. Foster canceled the first exam. The only downside to Prof. Foster's section is that he did not upload his slides, but there wasn't a whole lot to gain from them given his teaching style. #tCFspring2022