BIOL 3090

I got an A+ with minimal effort. I am not a biology major and have limited biology experience, but this is an easy science course.

Course Structure:
Outside of class, you complete readings and submit assignments (reflection/discussions/prep for next class). In class, there was a weird course structure. We would either receive a lecture OR we would have a participation heavy class which relies on us to complete work outside class to be prepared. For example, we would all research our favorite protozoa and then she would ask us to share the information we learned for the class. There were also guest lectures from individuals doing relevant infectious disease work. We heard from a doctor conducting research, global health researcher, an engineer who works with vaccine design, an economist dealing with solutions to infectious diseases via waste removal, a researcher working on the microbiota, an immunologist, and a naturopathic doctor in training.

Grading:
Your grade consists of participation/assignments (40%), 5 Quizzes with 1 drop (20%), and the Semester Project (40%). I never got less than a 100% on participation/assignments because as long as you do what it asks you get full credit. For the quizzes, you really just need to use the in-class information. The lecture tells you what to expect on the quizzes if you write everything she says down. She will tell you that her course is different, but it is not. The quizzes are take home and timed 30 minute quizzes (10 content questions). The semester project asks you to create a virtual reality on a disease in a specific region around the world. You work with a team of students to design and create this exhibit throughout the semester. The VR portion can be incredibly frustrating because it is never taught to you directly. It is infuriating to have to deal with this.

Overall, I would still recommend this course for an easy A science course, but be warned it is frustrating at times.

Dr. Guler structures this class differently from others in the Biology department, in the fact that it is primarily discussion/activity-based as opposed to straight lecture/exams. You cover 5 units (Protozoa, Viruses, Bacteria, Pathogenesis, Control/Transmission) throughout the semester. She is an okay professor and really wants you to think like a scientist, learn about infectious disease from a variety of sources (lots of guest speakers) and discuss with others. The nature of this class makes it much less stressful than other BIOL classes, but I found lots of her policies/methods to be unnecessary. Attendance was pretty much mandatory and she was not accepting of late assignments. She used a lot of different platforms (Piazza, Collab, PollEv, Mural, Mozilla Spoke, Gradescope, etc.) and was not super organized or receptive to feedback. The quizzes were challenging due to select all that apply questions and other really specific information asked and she never actually released the correct answers. I also felt like the semester project focused more on virtual reality building (which not everyone got to do) than infectious disease.
In my opinion, the best thing about this class was the grading policy. 40% of the grade is participation, 40% is the semester project, and the remaining 20% is the quizzes. All assignments were pretty much based on completion, which made an A very achievable if you did everything exactly as she says to do. For this reason alone, I would recommend it to fill the area 2 elective requirement for the major.

To be frank, I would not take this class again. I ended with an A-, so I'm fine with my final grade, but she was one of the worst professors I've had here at UVa. She doesn't actually teach anything, but expects you to read her mind. I also found her to be really rude lmao. My favorite part of the class was definitely the guest lectures, which I actually really enjoyed. The quizzes are ridiculous, and I think her attendance policy is insane. Also, I don't think I actually learned anything at all during the class. The final project is so bizarre and you don't actually learn anything. In hindsight, I wish I would've taken literally anything else for my Area 2 biology major requirement. Hopefully when this class is larger the quizzes will be less difficult and the final project will not be some bizarre virtual reality museum. I took this class for an easy A and it was anything but easy.

I really liked how this course was an easy A, but I felt that we did not learn that much. We spent a lot of time working on our final project, which was creating a museum about a virus. The program (Mozilla Spoke) that we used to do this project had many technical problems and the professor was very unhelpful in helping us whenever we had problems. Whenever we went to her office hours to ask for project help or help on in-class material, the professor was very dismissive and told us to "figure it out" or "do what we think is best." During the semester, she was also extremely petty with grades and took off attendance points if we ever missed class (even if we had valid excuses). She also had a strict policy that prohibited students from turning in work late (even with extenuating circumstances). Attendance/Participation was 40% of your grade, which was all completion where all absences and late work resulted in a zero for that assignment. The final cumulative group project is also 40% of your grade. The project was to create a virtual reality museum on Mozilla Spoke, which was extremely annoying. We had to worry about a lot of technical problems and had to spend an exorbitant amount of time on the technical details and the architecture of the museum instead of on the researched content itself. The final project has components that are due throughout the semester. Make sure that you are very detailed with each component of the project. She is very petty and will take off points for minute details. Finally, there are 5 quizzes that comprise the remaining 20% of your grade. The quizzes were multiple-choice questions, select all that apply questions and 1-2 free-response questions. The quiz questions were unreasonably difficult, very ambiguous, and tested us on content that was not covered in the lecture. This semester (spring 2022), the class had 40 students, but next spring and going forward, the course will quadruple in size and have 150 students, meaning that all of the quiz questions will be multiple-choice. 93% was the cutoff for an A this semester, so you can average an 80% on the quizzes and secure an A, but keep in mind that the quizzes are very ambiguous and do not reflect what is taught in class. This class fulfills the Area 2 Requirement for biology majors, but if you are not good with computer technology and museum building, I would suggest taking another course to fulfill this requirement. Also, keep in mind that this project makes up nearly half of your grade. I am lucky that I was placed in a wonderful group. Tip: Do not request to be in a group with certain students because she will not do that. Regardless, it helps to know other students before you sign up for the course. Overall, the course is not terribly difficult but it is very frustrating. In conclusion, I would not take this course again even if you paid me.

#tCFspring2021. I absolutely loved this class and 100% recommend it to anyone interested, whether you are a biology major or not. Our class consisted of biology majors, engineering students, anthropology majors, and global public health majors to name a few. Just like the other reviewer mentioned, this class isn't a run of the mill, do 3/4 multiple choice exams and get your grade back type of biology class. Instead, this class is really detailed and well thought out class that has many components that allow an interested student to engage. Also, this class takes great efforts to talk about biology in the real world and how it's connected to other subjects, as demonstrated through the frequent (but very cool and interesting) guest talks we had throughout this semester. For grading, there are all short answer/no multiple choice 5 quizzes, with the lowest one being dropped that total 40% of your grade. For quizzes, she is very specific with what she is looking for, usually indicating whether to be broad or specific (pay attention to this so you don't lose points), as well as indicating format (like 2 sentences max, 4 words exact, etc.). There are also 40 participation/completion assignments, also worth 40% of your grade. None are dropped, so technically speaking, each are worth 1% (so don't flop on these). Lastly, there are 2 projects: a fact sheet project with a partner on a disease in a region + presentation, and either an expert interview or a group-project survey (ours were focused around COVID-19). I missed one completion assignment due to a family emergency, and I also didn't score a single 30/30 on a quiz either, but I ended up with an A+! Though not perfect scores, my exam scores were consistent 28's and 29's because I studied -- so don't feel like it's the end of the world if you lose points here or there in this class. My first piece of advice would be to finish the completion assignments with some effort and try to get the week's worth done in one sitting so you can ensure you're submitting everything on time. Sometimes these completion assignments are participating in class, a pre-class worksheet or post-class worksheet, submitting an article, or doing a discussion post (so they're not bad), but they can build up if you let them. My second piece of advice would be to not worry too much about the details about any of the readings or the textbook and instead make sure you KNOW what's being talked about in lecture because this is where all of the testable material comes from. If you don't know, then go ask! Dr. Guler is super kind, knowledgable, and reassuring and always welcomes questions and interest in the subject. Take advantage of office hours and Piazza - as these were two of the best resources for getting my desired grade this semester. Also, make sure you can answer every question on the question bank sheets she gives you, as most questions (but not all are pulled from there). I would say the style of quizzes stays pretty consistent, so figure out what/how you messed up on the first one and correct it for the second. This class was such a breath of fresh air, albeit a bit difficult at times, was still very fun, worthwhile, and meaningful!!

This was a FANTASTIC and applicable class. Guler is a great professor who truly cares about her students, and wants them to succeed. She gives you ample resources to learn from and the class structure is great. However, I'm going to be real with this grade distribution, I have no idea how such a large amount of people have gotten As and A+s in the past. For an A you need a 95, for an A+ you need a 100. What's great is that 40% of the class grade is participation, attendance, and 5 point assignments. These 5 point assignments can be pre class work, post class work, guest reflections, etc etc, but MAKE SURE YOU DO THEM because missing just a few can decrease your grade by 2-3% which makes it harder to get an A. They're really interesting though, and based on completion I believe.

You have 5 quizzes, one of them is dropped, and they're worth 10% each (so 40% total). I think its because the quizzes were online, so they were open note, but DANG were some of the questions tricky. That's why I'm shocked that so many people have gotten +As in the past, because its pretty difficult to get a 100 on every single quiz. I'm assuming once its in person again, she'll make them easier. For studying for the quizzes I really wouldnt focus on the textbook at all. I did that for the first quiz and got a B. Focus on everything she talks about in her lectures, that's whats going to get you an A. The discussion questions and clicker questions she asks in class are going to be the questions she most likely asks on the quiz. Also do the module practice questions she gives before each quiz, that's where she'll pull most of her questions from. This is not your average run of the mill biology class where you just memorize defintions and mechanisms from the textbook, its a lot of discussion based and application questions for these quizzes. Once you understand the format of her quizzes though and where to study your info from, you'll be set for an A. The other 20% is two projects worth 10% each. If you put effort into them, you'll do well. I ended up getting an A in the course after realizing what she was looking for in the class, but it was really really close (like 95.09 or something) so just be weary that every little point counts. Best of luck! #tCFspring2021

Incredible Professor, incredible class. Highly recommend.