PSYC 2700

Take this class with the other professor. Professor Lillard uses specifications grading. This is something I normally enjoy, but the specifications in this class are tedious and punish students for things that have nothing to do with the material. You can fail an otherwise perfect essay (as described by the TA) for forgetting to write down the word count! On top of this the specifications, examples, and the TA contradicted each other making it difficult to make sure you are meeting the right requirements. It is not a difficult class, but it is difficult to do well if you have ADHD or are forgetful in anyway.

I understand that it can be annoying to answer repetitive emails but the amount of times she complained about email "abuse" communicated that she just does not like to do her job. She was generally condescending about class rules, using studies with small sample sizes or lack a control group to prove that her way is correct. If you do not fill out the course evaluation you are capped at a C in the course regardless of your performance throughout the semester.

She has a level of racial insensitivity that made some lectures uncomfortable. At one point she showed a white child surrounded by toys as an example of over-stimulation, and then a collage of babies of color to represent neglected children. I don't think this was purposeful on her part, but it did made me uncomfortable.

Overall, it is possible to do well in this class, but it is worth the wait for the other professor!

#tCFF23

This was one of my first psychology classes at UVA, but I thought it was a great class. Dr. Lillard uses specifications grading, so you must meet certain requirements for each grade bundle, A having the most requirements. Each week there were two assignments. The first one was to write an outline for the textbook readings, but it had very specific requirements to meet specifications. The second one was to write an essay about anything from the lectures or readings for that week that you enjoyed or would like to learn more about. If you did all the essays and outlines along with other assignments throughout the semester you were guaranteed to get an A. I enjoyed her lectures as well and she even brought babies in sometimes and did some of the experiments we would learn about with them. She is very strict about electronics, but other than that the class was great. #tCFS24

I was so excited to take this class, however, Professor Lillard proved my enthusiasm to be misguided. She belittles you for asking questions, makes quiz questions super hard, you have to write your notes by hand for the whole class time, and she doesn't provide the class slide shows because they have the "answers" to the quizzes on them. Basically, if you miss 1 minute work of lecture or 1 phrase that she said during lecture, then you will most likely get a quiz question wrong. You have to get 4/5 questions correct to pass a quiz, so this might put into perspective how much you have to keep up with her talking in lectures. Your hand will hurt so bad, and she might take your phone if she sees it out. 0/10 would recommend this class, especially if you like psychology because she will make you despise it.

I hate to be so negative but do not take this course. It was so upsetting because the content was exciting, but AL is a poor professor. She is not very kind and not understanding. The upside is the course has to be tested, but it comes at a cost. You have daily class quizzes which are very specific and detail-oriented. I am an A student in the class aside from these quizzes, which will cause me to be a C student. You have to write one 400-500 word essay per week and a one-page outline for the readings every week. The outlines are super manageable, but the essays are time-consuming. I would have rather had exams because at least I would know I had some control over my grade. I do not recommend it. Attendance is not taken, but if you miss a class, if will effect your grade. She is also mean.

AWESOME! I loved Professor Lillard so much because she is so kind and her passion for child psych clearly shows in her lectures. Some people hate her, but I don't know why. She is strict on her grading and hates phones in class, but as long as you stay on top of your work and pay attention (or at least look like it) the class is really fun. I learned so much and wish I could take it again

GRADING: She runs a specifications/category grading, essentially meaning every assignment is pass/fail and you need to pass a certain number of assignments in each category to earn an A vs. B vs. C vs. D vs. F....its really not that hard as long as you stay on top of it

I am going to be honest. Professor Lillard is not truly the person she pretends to be in front of lecture. I approached her with a problem I had been having concerning one of the main grades in the class and she completely shut me down and made me feel dumb for even approaching her. She humiliates her students in front of lecture if she asks them a question and they don't know the answer. She pretends to be a kind, motherly figure (probably because she is teaching about kids) but she isn't that person when you talk to her face to face (unless you're one of her favorites, and she makes it pretty clear who is). I know I am not the only person who felt this way, and a lot of people in the class had issues with the specifications grading she implemented. Basically, to get an A (or any other grade) in the class, you have to meet all the requirements (# of essays/outlines submitted on time, iClicker points, comments on peer essays, etc). If you have tech difficulties with iClicker, forget that the peer comments only count if the students are in your TA group, or anything else, you will get the grade that matches that one category you messed up in. You could have an A in all categories except one that you may have a B/C/D in, and you would get the B/C/D grade as your overall class grade. This grading system makes it easy for students who have a lot of time on their hands to keep track of things like this, but for others who have more limited time or are maybe not even aware of these small details, it is just unfair. In truth, I liked the content of the class, but Professor Lillard discouraged me from wanting to go to class or befriend her.

This class covers really interesting material, and I liked not having to worry about testing since the grades for this class are primarily essay based. Lillard though is kind of eccentric, and I wasn't a huge fan of the iClicker questions for each class because some of the ones for the reading were very specific.

I am a bit confused by all of the negative reviews of Professor Lillard on here. Overall, the specifications grading system is great because you literally know exactly what you have to do to get the grade you want. It definitely requires a bit more organization to make sure you have completed everything, but if you complete all of the assignments (which are pass/fail) then you can end with an A. While the lectures can feel a bit long at times, I found the material to be quite interesting. Most of the complaints are about the no technology policy, which is definitely annoying but overall not a big deal; she just doesn't want people on their phones during lecture. Another complaint was about her condescending tone? I never noticed one; she is definitely accomplished in her field and knows what she's talking about, so it could maybe be misconstrued. Overall, I thought it was awesome to have a professor that is so well known in the psychology research world, and would definitely take a class with her again.

Lillard is kind of crazy... witnessed her take phones out of 2 students hands on separate occasions and the "make an example out of them" by calling them out in front of around 250 students. She also is very strict on coming to class so you can't miss. My class did specification grading which was great because the amount of work you do=your grade. SO much reading though and yes you have to do it.

Really frustrated and disappointed with the way the grading was handled in this class. Professor Lillard decided to try "specifications based grading" for this class with her argument for it being that a test grade isn't representative of someone's knowledge because it can be influenced by many extraneous factors. Unfortunately, her new method of specifications based grading basically tested students on how well they were able to sift through thousands of essay comments on collab to keep track of how many they had done, as well as calculate their own iclicker score. It also meant that you could score perfectly in every category except one, and the one you messed up on became your grade for the entire course. The entire system was incredibly confusing and ambiguous, and then she complained about how many emails she received asking for clarification, or expressing confusion and discontent with their grade. A large number of students ended with grades they were very unsatisfied with and didn't feel like represented the effort they put into the class or the knowledge they had about child psych.

I never missed class, did the readings and took notes on them, submitted every essay, ended with a 100% on iclickers, and did the final project that was required to receive the "A package". I ended with a C+ because I miscounted how many students' essays I had commented on in collab.

Overall class was interesting but do not take it if she does this type of grading (and it is not a requirement for your major). It is not worth the stress and confusion.

While the material is interesting Professor Lillard has extremely mundane lectures that do not elaborate on required readings. There are 15 essays required(500 words) they are quite easy and graded as pass/fail. Professor Lillard does use a grading structure that is hard to understand so read carefully. Additionally Professor Lillard is quite cold and not understanding to many students and it is hard to create any connection with her. Overall the class is not awful but the Professor does make it more boring and difficult than necessary.

This course was okay. I am really interested in this subject, but if I had not been I don't think I would have liked the course at all. Prof Lillard is really smart. Research is definitely her thing though. She does a unique system of grading called "specifications" grading (another reviewer explained this well if you can find it). Sometimes this was nice, but a lot of times it was stressful, especially because she would make weird changes to the syllabus and it is nearly impossible to gauge what your grade will be. Imo I'd rather just have weekly quizzes or something instead of iclickers. Also, she's strict about her no tech policy, and actually snatched students' phones. I thought that was unprofessional. Other than the stress about specification grading and the phone snatching, I learned a lot in this course. We even zoomed mothers and babies sometimes which was cute.

I signed up for this course without looking at Prof. Lillard's reviews first, and immediately tried as hard as possible to replace this class with a different PSYC, but was unsuccessful. I came into the class ready to hate it, but I did not at all understand why the class and professor had so many complaints about the following topics:

Condescending tone:
[SHORTENED] No hint of a condescending tone. Very nice professor.
I did not catch a condescending tone whatsoever. If someone asked a question that Prof. had already answered, I could sense a bit of dismissal and rushing in her voice, but she seemed to be a very sweet lady who liked the participation and involvement overall. She is very soft-spoken and clearly cares a lot about the subject. She did not go too fast or slow during lectures, and explained everything in a way that was easy to understand.

Grading:
[SHORTENED] New specifications grading system. No final exam. Most of grade comes from weekly short essays.
They changed the grading system to specifications this year, so all you have to do to get an A- is write all 14 of the weekly essays (pass/fail; only 400+ words; due an hour before lecture on the last lecture of the week usually; I started most of mine at 9:15am and finished before the due date at 10am, and passed all of them; you're just writing about why a topic of your choice discussed in the chapter was interesting, if you agree/disagree with it, any connections you can make to your real life, etc. and have to bring in a peer-reviewed article for full credit), post 5 of your essays to the discussion board, make 15 comments on essays posted on the discussion board, read 95% of the textbook (self-reported at the end of the semester), attend 23 classes after the add/drop date (tracked with iClickers), and answer 85% of the iClicker questions correctly (as stated in the syllabus, but further discussion in class leads me to believe that they grade iClickers on participation rather than accuracy). The class is a super easy A. I took it as a first-semester freshman. You don't even need to do actual research or read the whole textbook to complete and pass the essays: I skimmed until I found something semi-interesting, wrote about why I found it interesting and if I could connect to some aspect of the topic, and quickly found a peer-reviewed article to mention in a few sentences. Everyone is given 4 "tokens" to use if you need an extension on an essay or missed a class and still want iClicker credit.

No-technology policy:
[SHORTENED] Allowed computers w/ accommodations. Allowed tablets/iPads. Will take your phone if she sees it during lecture.
Prof. Lillard does have a no-technology policy, but she relaxed it with my class and allowed us to use our iPads/tablets. If you want to use your laptop for note-taking, you need to have a record of your accommodations with the SDAC (Student Disability Access Center) and sit in the front row. I only ever saw her take 2 phones, but you have to write a 5+ page paper w/ "8 peer-reviewed academic studies of the effects of technology on student learning" (from the syllabus). She said it was 8 pages in the lecture, so she either misspoke or extended its length and didn't update the syllabus. If you don't write the essay and turn it in within 1 week of the incident, you will have to withdraw from the course. I brought an iPad, so I could still do whatever on it without being reprimanded for technology usage. The lecture wasn't so painfully boring where I felt like I needed my phone out.

Overall, the class was pretty enjoyable. We did zoom calls with babies and their mothers pretty often which was a fun way to waste time. Attendance is annoying because you're tracked with iClickers, and specs grading makes it so that you can fail the class just for missing too many lectures. Giving your iClicker to a classmate so you can receive credit is not allowed, but the only way to skip without messing up your grades in the end. Missing 4 of the essays will drop your grade to a D+ at the highest, so make sure to turn those in. I liked how we often had 5-minute breaks in the middle of the lecture to stretch, use our phones, leave, etc., and "mindful moments" for 2 minutes at the start of class to do guided deep breathing.

Professor Lillard is condescending to students and is not helpful in any issues you bring to her attention. She is very dismissive and not understanding. While certain topics in this class were highly interesting, I think you'd have a better experience with a different professor. You can tell that no one likes to sit through this class and that the readings become extremely taxing.

I liked this class. If you find children’s minds interesting, I would definitely recommend it. The workload was not bad, especially since Professor Lillard decided to use essay-based evaluations instead of tests. Basically, you just had to write a 500-word essay every week about one concept of your choosing from the previous week’s textbook reading or lecture. No tests. There were iClickers, though, and they were 30% of your grade, so you did have to attend. Then, after the class went online, we had 10-question multiple-choice quizzes on Collab every week in place of the clicker questions. Kept the essays. The difficulty level stayed about the same.

As for the instructor: Professor Lillard is a sweetie. She talks in falsetto, which is irritating, but you get used to it, and she clearly means well. My only real complaint about her is that she is very strict about her no-technology-during-lecture rule. She and her TAs would literally interrupt class to tell people to put away their phones, which seemed kind of counterproductive given that the main problem with phones is that they interrupt class. Also, while I am a big fan of Montessori education, sometimes I thought she kind of overdid it with the Montessori. And her frequent complaints about the noise generated by the construction projects outside were more distracting than the actual noises. BUT despite all that, she is a good person. I really liked that she would start class with a minute of “silence” (read: relaxation or, if you wanted, meditation) and that she gave us a five-minute break halfway through the lecture.

Bonus: The best part of the course was when she brought babies in to class!

I took this during COVID-19 and it really grew on me. Instead of exams we had to write 10/12 essays (12/14 before the virus) for 70% of the grade. The other 30% were originally iClickers, after the virus it was half clickers, half collab quizzes. I don't see how anyone could get less than a B in this class. The essays were due every week but they were under 500 words and they were just about engaging with the material, nothing to stress over. It was annoying that they took forever to grade essays but I liked this format better than taking exams.

Highly do NOT recommend taking this class with Professor Lillard if at all possible. When I took this in Fall 2018, the syllabus was set up to be: 50% final exam, 35% midterm, and 15% iClicker. Attendance at every class was necessary not only in order to get iClicker points, but also because there was a no technology rule and she did not post any of the lecture material online. Ended up with a surprisingly poor grade in this class despite taking notes in each class and studying for the exams. This class is definitely not worth the effort.

This course was very interesting to me. We got to learn about very cool topics and that alone was engaging to me. We also got to have babies come to our class, and were going to have a day where lots of babies came at once until we moved to remote learning. (which I was sad about). Overall, there are iclickers so you have to at least skim readings for the first few iclickers each week, and there are also some throughout the lectures. She is very understanding with them though and you get 2 points for just answering them and then an extra point for getting it right. There are not exams but there are these 500 word responses due each week. These responses are engaging and allow for you to put how you feel about the different topics covered in the previous week and you can question things or really just summarize what your learned and why that interested you. The only possible downfall is that you have to do at least 12/14 but only a random 3 or 4/12 will be graded (1 graded out of every 3 or 4 you turn in). That just means that all of them have to be done well and you won't get feedback on them all. She is pretty serous about no phones or technology in class, and you also can not sit in the back 3 rows in the huge lecture hall. Overall though I recommend this course.

Lillard has changed the class from how she used to teach it. This semester instead of exams, she had assigned 14 500 word essays (one each week) worth 70% of your grade and iClickers given in class worth 30%. Even though you write all of these essays (you have to turn in 12 of the 14), only 4 are actually graded and the TAs pick them at random so you have to make sure you write good essays each time. I think they were graded pretty fairly, if you engage with the material well they typically give you As. The iClickers she puts at the beginning of the lecture on the readings are kind of specific sometimes but she gives you 2 points for answering and 1 for getting the answer right (making each question worth 3 points). I was excited for this class and ended up being disappointed by how dry her lectures can be sometimes, but overall its not a hard class if you attend lectures and put some effort into the essays.

The material for this class is very interesting, so I would recommend taking this course if you're interested in learning about children. However, there are negative aspects of this class too. First, there is a no technology rule, which is totally okay and I agree with, but she is very adamant about making sure to catch people that are using technology. There was many times in class where she would call people out from the front of the class, which was more distracting than actually seeing someone use technology. Also, Professor Lilliard has worked in the field of Montessori Education and feels a need to convert the class to feeling the same way she does which gets annoying.

I highly suggest taking this class in the spring if you are interested. I found Lillard to be an extremely hypocritical professor. After telling us how she is strongly against lecture-learning and multiple choice examinations, she gives the class 2 exams that total to 85% of your grade. Your midterm is a 100 question multiple choice test and your final is a 200 question multiple choice test. I found this incredibly confusing after she lectured us for a week about the issues with conventional schooling and multiple choice examinations. To go even further, the exams do not question the general points of the class, but they zoom in on very very specific things (such as the exact age of a child when they begin to understand others desires). Lillard was a very condescending professor. I do not recommend this class if you are looking for an easy A.

Lillard may be a genius but her condescending nature makes this class unbearable. Her lectures loosely connect to the textbook and the exams are WAY specific referencing material we may have mentioned only once. If you have your phone out in class, your FINAL grade will be dropped by a whole letter grade with no mercy. She flies through the lecture slides and when approaching her about posting lecture slides online she proceeded to pull out multiple research studies saying that "giving students lecture slides decreases their learning." The iClicker score will definitely help your final grade but the tests are painful. Overall she knows what she is talking about, but can not express the information to the students clearly enough. Take this class in the fall - this class is not worth all the work for only a B+.

DO NOT TAKE IN THE FALL. Lillard is ridiculously smart (Stanford Phd) and really knows her stuff, but it is ridiculously difficult to get the grade you want (look at the comparison in GPA between the spring and fall instructors!). Tests are so specific and I couldn't even effectively read the book because I felt like every little detail I was reading could show up on the test so I would basically end up rewriting the entire textbook chapter for my notes. Avoid this class unless you're a psych major

Although I learned a lot in this course, unless you are passionate about child psych I could not recommend. The lectures do not line up with the readings and often contradict each other. Tests are unnecessarily difficult and overall the class was way to much work for 3 credits.

Lillard can be quite condescending, but she knows her stuff. I loved the material, but I tell everyone to take it in the spring. This class, I think, is too much work to justify. I got an A- in the class, and got straight Bs on the tests. Clickers help a lot and she also will give you some bonus.

How I studied:
-read everything
-memorized a bunch of random stuff at the end
-stressed a ton
-went to every lecture

Also, some tests will be book-heavy and some will be lecture heavy (and there's no way you will know). Seriously, don't take this with Lillard unless you want to surrender your time for a grade less than what you want.

Lillard is a pretty good professor. I really liked her lectures and though that they were very interesting. She also used iclickers to reinforce information that she just taught in class which really helps you retain info for the test. Also she has some really cute babies come to class to demonstrate different milestones of child development which are very cool and you need to memorize for the test. Downside to the class is the amount of readings. the class meets two times a week and for each class you have to have read a chapter and she checks to see if you read with i clickers (you get 2/3 points for just being there though). Also if you get a certain amount right she curves your iclicker score (20 % of your grade) to a 100! Each chapter is about 40 pages so about 80 pages to read per week. It is VERY important to remember details from the book like at what age does a child get this skill etc. One of three midterms is dropped and then there is a final. Although it is a lot of reading and memorization if you just stay on top of it you will get a good grade. I did not stay on top of readings like I should have all the time and still ended up with a B+ because I listened in class and took a discussion section which helped me. People complained to the TAs a lot about the exams because the tests were so specific and was not as focused on big ideas as it was on specific minute details so they tried to make it better for the final which was nice and they also said that for next time they would start doing practice exams! Overall I enjoyed the class itself it is just a lot of information. (PS DO NOT USE YOUR PHONE DURING CLASS YOU WILL LOSE A LETTER GRADE THIS HAPPENED TO SOMEONE IN MY CLASS!!!)

If you want to take child psych, please wait till the spring semester to do so. The professor in the spring is a million times better, and because of that, I think you will actually enjoy learning the material. You can tell that no one wants to take this class with Lillard just by looking at Lou's List. For a class that can have a max of 350 people, there were around 290 enrolled this semester. When I was searching for classes to take spring semester on Lou's List, I went to child psych to see what the enrollment was like, and all 350 spots were full with a waitlist of almost 100 people. Just goes to show that people have been looking at the comments here and seeing how much better the professor in the spring is compared to Lillard. Don't get me wrong, the material is interesting and having the babies come in was awesome, but the amount of reading for this class combined with difficult exams are horrible. Some of the exam questions will ask about a specific line from the textbook and when you have around 5 chapters of material on the exam, this can be very difficult. Do yourself a favor and wait till the spring.

I hated this class and this professor. The clicker questions are usually guessable and the lectures/materials are somewhat interesting, but the tests are unnecessarily challenging. Even as a psych major who had studied most of the topics in previous classes, I had to work my ass off for an A-. My main issue with the class though was her technology policy. If she catches you with your phone out your grade will drop a whole letter (B+ to C+) which I find to be ridiculous and patronizing. Take the class with the other professor, who is much better and much more interesting.

This was my first psych class at UVA. I had a really hard time with the exams, even after studying the material in depth for hours. The questions are not straight forward, and they are made to trip you up.. Best of luck pulling a B if you're lucky. Recommendation: take it in the Spring.

I really enjoyed this class even though it took a shitload of effort to do well! I am interested in Psychology and found the textbook interesting so I enjoyed heavily outlining and reading it. However, it takes soo long to finish a chapter and the course picks up to about 2 chapters (80 pages) of reading a week. Thoroughly outlining one chapter takes me at least 3 hours. If you have a light course load and are able to spend time on this course like I did you should pull a good grade. Textbook and lectures don't always line up but definitely go to class! If you don't miss a class the clicker questions will help you and if you don't they will hurt your grade! You don't always have to finish the readings before class to get the questions at the beginning of class (especially if you've taken intro psych before- you should be able to guess and get them right). Anyway study your lecture notes well, read the textbook and their summaries before the test, and make sure you know each chapter's vocab. Knowing ages is a bitch but it shouldn't hurt your test grade too much (just be aware of them as you study). Having children come in was fun and I also really liked the optional 1 credit discussion!

Overall, I spent a lot of time a week for this class, it paid off, and I like the course topic. Hope this was a little helpful!

Very interesting subject, Manageable workload, only homework is reading, punctuality is vital for iclickers, exams are difficult but not impossible

You definitely need to do the readings from the textbook carefully because they're on the test and Lillard does clicker questions at the beginning of every class from the readings. The textbook seems repetitive and is boring, but I really enjoyed the lectures. There are a lot of cute babies and interesting experiments. She also does easy clicker questions during lecture to boost your grade.

Psyc 2700 with Lillard was my worst class experience by far. She left for two entire weeks to go to Europe and returned only to give us our second exam, which everyone did terrible on. The professor who teaches this class in the spring is so much easier and I am dissilusioned by the fact that I got such a bad grade by doing more work than those who got A's in the spring class by doing less work. Lillard should be fired, she's a good researcher but an incompetent professor to say the least.

Don't take this class with Lillard, another professor would be better and easier. She asks obscure facts and statistics from the 5+ chapters covered each test and the lectures do not sync with the reading so there is a lot of material. The final is cumulative and also asks random statistics that are seemingly unimportant when reading 300+ pages. The 20% clicker grade is easy but make sure you don't forget your clicker. I ended with an A- but it was not worth the work and my friends took it this semester with another teacher and did better with less work.

Professor: Lillard was a great lecturer, and she was a great researcher. She was genuinely trying to make us learn. She is definitely very strict on her rules. Her syllabus points are no joke and she hates having technology in class. You'd think in a big lecture hall that she won't be able to spot your phone that you took out in class, but she will and she will take it. But I also appreciate the meditative moments that we have that starts the class.

She does push montessori education a lot. It's almost uncomfortable.

Fun factor: It was a very interesting course. This was my first psychology class, and I thought it was interesting. But, I hated outlining and reading the chapters, which dimmed down the fun factor a lot. Lillard lectures on top of the textbook, so she doesn't go over what's important in the textbook. Therefore, during tests, we have to know the material from her lectures and from the contents in the vast textbook. The textbook was dense but packed with information. She would write her questions based on sentences word for word from the textbook, but again, the textbook material was so dense.

Textbooks: Use the 3rd edition, old edition. Super useful and much cheaper. Same information. You'd just need to fidget with the assigned page numbers for reading.

Tests: I may have touched on this a little before, but the tests are really difficult. I got a B+ in the class but I've never gotten an A on her tests. Again, they cover the lecture material on top of the textbook material and they don't overlap much. Psych department policy to drop one test grade also applies.

IMO, really hard psych class. I'm not sure if that's because it was my first psych class which deemed the experience a little more unlikable or the professor who was really hard. But I won't be taking another psych class for a while after this one.

Professor Lillard is a dynamic professor, that's for sure. She keeps the class engaged by moving around, having questions asked, and changing her posiiton of speaking to the top of the lecture hall at times. She has IClickers, totaling 20% of your grade, to keep track of attendance. There are three midterms, the lowest of which is dropped, and a cumulative final. The tests are difficult, but if you thoroughly outline the textbook and attend every class, you'll manage a low A/high B. You can tell she's increasingly passionate about her field.

This class was a nightmare. Other reviews have already said it: bad teaching, too much reading, and just a generally frustrating class overall.

Professor utterly sucks. She searches for any sort of technology throughout the class, contradicts the textual material, has horrible powerpoints, is standoffish and frankly rude during office hours, and makes unnecessarily confusing exams. The emphasis is on reading, yet often the readings contradict the test materials. The material is interesting, but all together if you want to take this class, don't with Lillard.

I would recommend this class because its fun and interesting. It was definitely my favorite class subject this semester. However, do not come in thinking this will be an easy A. Each midterm consists of at least 200 pages of material and the professor asks extremely detailed questions that are often misleading and tricky. I studied extensively for each midterm and barely managed a B in the class. I went in knowing my material for exams but many ages contradicted each other when comparing lecture notes and what the textbook said and many questions had terrible wording and made you second guess your answers. Also, I found the professor not to be very approachable or helpful. You need to go to lecture and read the textbook (in depth) in order to do well. Unless you have photographic memory, good luck getting an A.

This class is really interesting and I learned a lot. Test can be a tad bit difficult. One can know the answer, but because of the wording, you will switch your answer. Attendance is somewhat mandatory, just because we have i-clickers every class (which are really beneficial to your grade). Also, she posts the slides online, but like most professors, she changes them after. So the online version is missing slides that were shown in class. There are 3 midterms, but you only have to take 2. If you take all 3, the lowest grade is dropped. It's a pretty solid class. If you go, passing is the least of your worries.

One of my top 3 least favorite classes I have taken at UVA. Professor comes off as a warm, sweet person but in my experience, is utterly condescending when you go to her with face-to-face questions. Lectures are dry and it is difficult to keep focus because she encourages people to ask questions at any point in the lecture. Exams are unnecessarily tricky, but she does drop the lowest of your 3 mid term grades. Interesting course material, but presented poorly and focuses on details rather than main ideas. Would not recommend this class.

I hated this class. Prof Lillard is kinda crazy and is a great researcher but terrible teacher. She laughs in students faces when they ask questions. Exams are hard an unreasonable in that she expects you to memorize tons of specific information. Would not recommend this class

Professor Lillard was a wonderful professor. Although strict on technology she truly is passionate about child psychology/development. The first test was tricky because I didn't properly prepare for it,but if you study your notes from lecture well and read the chapters you will be in perfect shape. Honestly, a huge reason why I believe I was so successful in this class is because she did asked clicker questions throughout her entire lecture which kept me engaged. I also recommend attending the review sessions prior to each exam.

This was an awesome class. Professor Lillard is super excited about the subject and makes the lectures really interesting with her enthusiasm. The majority of the information from the tests comes from lectures so you've definitely got to go. Not to mention there are 4-5 iClicker questions every day that tallies up to be 25% of your final grade. Take good notes and do the readings before the exams and you should be fine. I learned more about childhood development than I ever thought I would. Highly recommend.

Lillard is a really passionate professor and interesting lecturer, which is good, because she basically requires you to be at her lectures through a huge iClicker grade. Don't defy her and use technology in her classroom - you will absolutely regret it no matter what. Overall, this is a very good class, one of the best in the PSYC department for sure, and very worthwhile if you're willing to pay attention.

BEST CLASS I HAVE TAKEN AT UVA! Professor Lillard is a great lecturer, although she is strict about using technology. Lectures are always interesting and if you take good notes and review them before the test you will be fine. About 25% of test questions come from the readings, so make sure you stay on top of the few readings you will have. Tests are non-cumulative and very similar to the I-clicker questions you will have during lecture (which is an easy 25% of your grade).

Lillard is passionate about the subject matter and teaching, but the exams were way more difficult than they needed to be. Felt like she wanted you to know every detail that's illustrated in the textbook, which isn't easy given that each chapter is 40-some pages long. Pretty interesting class overall, but the tests were annoying. Oh and she brings babies in sometime to interact with class, that was cool.

Pretty good class. The format changed because the class got a bit larger. It was three out of four tests (meaning optional final) and iClickers (25% of grade). She had trouble with the clicker system and allocating grades fairly. If she works that issues out, the class will be wonderful. I have not met many people as enthusiastic as her. She really loves teaching and helping out (fairly) her students.

This class has super interesting lectures and reading. Unfortunately, you do not need to do the reading so in the scheme of things, you won't be motivated to. Unless for whatever reason, you don't read for your other classes...but you go to UVa, so that's not a likely scenario. The papers you have to write for every section usually get graded pretty harshly.

Grades are all based on writing ability. All very arbitrary

This class was very enjoyable. The professor knew a great deal about the material and presented it in a way that was easy to understand. The best part is Child Fest when you get to see babies and their different stages of development

The class is not very difficult. There are four grades: iclicker points, a project, final paper and a discussion section. In lecture there are daily iclicker questions (1 point for submitting an answer and 2 more points for answering correctly) that refer to the textbook readings and lecture notes so class attendance is obligatory. There are seven 1-2 page reaction papers that you write for your discussion section, but they are not too hard and you peer review them in class one week and then they're due the next week. There is a project and final paper in lieu of a midterm and final exam. Professor Lillard is nice but is obsessed with the honor code and using technology in class-- only the first three rows can have computers and absolutely no internet is allowed. If you're interested in psychology and child development than I would definitely recommend taking this class, otherwise I would look for a different elective.

Very worthwhile class! Good for anyone who wants to learn a lot about how children develop and just more about children in general. Professor Lillard is a good lecturer, emphasizing a more discussion-like lecture than just reading off of a powerpoint like in many other classes. She welcomes questions from students and therefore often discusses interesting topics not necessarily in the book. However, she is very strict about paying attention in class; internet or cell phone usage result in being asked to drop the class, so if you are one of those people, stay away. Pretty easy (if you read the book) clicker questions during class, weekly discussions with 1 page papers due each week in response to articles and studies. Midterm project and end of term paper, no tests. Overall, one of my favorite classes I've taken at UVa. Also, Rachel is a great TA! Very friendly and knowledgeable, making the weekly discussion very enjoyable.

The class consists of mini one page weekly discussion papers (25%), clicker questions (25%), midterm project/essay (25%), and take home final exam essay (25%). The class is exceptionally easy; I received A+ on the all of the written components although I did 10 hours or so on each the midterm and the project. Overall, this class is rewarding intellectually (and GPA wise). Samantha Tornello is an amazing TA.

This class was very easy. Lillard does not believe in tests, so there is no midterm and no final. Instead there is a midterm project and a final paper which incoroporate everything you learn in the class. You really don't have to read the textbook to do well; just use it on your final paper. You do, however, have to attend lecture because there are clicker questions, but they are really easy. You also have to go to a discussion section and submit a one-page response to the articles you read each week. Overall definitely interesting and easy to get a good grade unless you completely slack off.

Whether or not you are a psychology major, this class will make you reconsider your views on child development. From physical development to controversial issues, you'll have a chance to develop your own perspective and discuss your opinion during sections. Be warned about the midsemester project, as it is strictly graded. As for Prof. Lillard, she is a great lecturer; although her over-enthusiasm didn't really help students understand complicated experiments presented in lecture. Lillard is a full supporter of Montessori education, and you'll get know more about her perspective towards the last two weeks of the semester. Overall, this is a great class that requires a lot of detail-oriented work and lots of dedication!

Good class - really interesting material but Lillard is CRAZY. Take it with another professor and I'm sure it would be a lot more fun. Samantha Tornello as a TA is the shit. try and get her

Professor Lillard's lectures were straight out of the book, so the only reason for coming to class was to answer the iclicker questions, most of which were common sense. She isn't a great lecturer, but she gets the information across. I'm sure this class could've been much more enjoyable with a better professor, but it was interesting, at times, and didn't require too much work.

I am a psych minor and I have to tell you...stay far, far away. Lillard is a horrible teacher, and the class is way too early. She even assigns her own book that is solely talked about in discussion. Honestly, no one cares. The class is way too early to go to and answer i clicker questions, and the midterm and final essays are graded pretty difficult. There are plenty other GOOD psych classes out there, so stay away from this one.

This class was really horrible. I thought Child Psychology would be interesting and easy, but the class was boring. The material was really dry and I found myself learning a bunch of things that would not serve me any purpose ever.

Prof Lillard was unenjoyable. She had what I perceived as an arrogant air about her (Montessori explanation didn't need to last the span of a week) and was completely unapproachable. While I didn't put much/any effort into the midterm paper and got the grade I deserved, I worked extremely hard on the final and got the SAME grade that I received on the midterm. Got a B- on iClickers and never read the textbook...skipped a few classes too. Overall I would NOT advise others to take this class...just not worth it. Prof. Lillard also loves to kick people out for "breaking the honor code."

This class was a lot of work, but it's definitely worth the effort.

The stuff Prof. teaches is pretty interesting. HOWEVER, those little iclicker problems that we have every classes are quite confusing, and it's 25% of the grade. In order to do well in the iclickers, you have to read chapter thoroughly and understand it! My TA, Ms.Tornello (I might have spelled wrong) was great. One more thing, one project and final essay is quiet tough, those TAs who read the paper are hard graders!

The good: it's reasonably interesting material.

The bad: Lillard makes in-class iClicker quizzes 25% of the grade, so you have to go to every class.

The more bad: the mid-term and final papers are kind of confusing, and can be hard to write.

Harder than expected. If you take this class DON'T GET MATTHEW LERNER AS A T.A. he is the hardest grader of them all and he chooses favorites. class attendance if pretty much mandatory... i clicker questions in every lecture and they're 25% of your grade.

lots more work than you'd expect

She's not all that great or all that bad. I learned a lot in the class, but found that she lectured about some topics ad naus. You have to come to class with your little clicker thing because she has like at least 3 questions at the beginning of every class. The papers are not graded harshly and are not hard to write. However, I would suggest something that doesn't involve "field work," simply because the paper is only like 4-5 pages and it's just too much to incorporate. Just don't take the class if you aren't interested and you should be fine.

the lectures were boring, but she's easy on the papers. 1 project, 1 take home essay for final, and discussion grade

I thought Professor Lillard was phenomenal. I must admit, I slept through her lectures, but that was mostly because I never committed to going to bed early enough for her 9:30am class. Many people thought the essays were graded harshly, but so long as you choose a topic that others are not as likely to choose, then there will be less comparison of your essay to others. I thought she was a great teacher and I would recommend her class to anyone..... especially anyone interested in children and teaching.

Prof. Lillard is an atrocious teacher. She loves to lecture about stuff she finds really important, like her children and the Montesorri school. Seriously, no one cares about your children. Essays are graded rather arbitrarily. Take this with Bonvillian instead.