PLAP 2270

When I took this class it was a 3000-level. The set up for this course is kind of strange. In discussion you have three mini-research projects so you never discuss the readings or lecture. It's almost like two separate classes. The projects are easy but time consuming (you have to transcribe an entire interview and focus group). The midterm and final are online and both curved. I never really got anything out of lectures so I stopped going and just skimmed the readings. Got a B.

Overall, I would say that this class was worthwhile. Winter is a very good lecturer and his class was never too boring to sit through, yet the class structure was a little odd. The projects were extremely tedious and discussion sections consisted only of talking about the projects which were never super helpful, when it would have been much more useful to talk about readings/lecture material.

This class had good content and Winter was a good lecturer but the structure of the class was definitely frustrating at times. Lecture material did not really match up with what was covered in section, and the projects were definitely pretty time consuming and difficult to do at some points. Also the online exams annoyed me.

This class was a LOT of work, and honestly I don't think it was worth it. I got an A in the class, but it took a LOT of work the 3 projects you had to do in section were incredibly time consuming, and didn't connect to lecture content in any way. Apparently they restructured the class after reviews from last year, and it didn't seem to work very well. Although the content can be interesting and Winter is a decent lecturer, I would not recommend this class

I don't believe he teaches this class anymore, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was because of student evaluations. Winter is actually a fantastic lecturer, but the grading and structure of the class was absolutely puzzling. It was the most disorganized class I've ever taken. Discussion sections accounted for an incredible portion of one's grade and were incredibly time consuming. Tests were horrible disasters. I would go see a guest lecture by Winter, but the set up of his class will never allow me to take one of his classes again.

Lectures were really interesting and I would take a class with Winters again, but the discussion sections were a series of projects which I learned almost nothing from, and yet, they were 39% of our grade. The tests were very specific and hard, but there was a generous curve and I think they would be okay if the readings were discussed in discussion sections.

So the content of the lectures was really interesting, and Winter is a witty guy with some great stuff to say. However, I found the tests to be way too specific, unnecessarily so. Additionally, the discussion section involved these "in-class" (they were homework) projects, and with those plus the readings I found the coursework to take up more time than is expected for a 3 credit course. I was not happy with the discussion sections, and until the structure of the discussions are changed, I would not recommend this class.

On that note though, I believe that they will be changing the structure of the discussions after this year, because I believe most of the class felt the same way as me. So you might have better luck.

This class will probably be better next time it is offered. Winter keeps changing the class every semester to make it what it really needs to be. It was not quite there for this semester. Winter is a really cool and funny guy who is passionate about this subject, but the tests were way too specific and unnecessarily tricky and parts of the workload were tedious and silly. However, in discussion sections, we did very cool hands on activities with public opinion that were really interesting. I did learn some things in this class, but I probably wouldn't take it again if I knew what I was getting myself into. However, it should be improving in the years to come.

Professor Winter is really approachable and a reasonably good lecturer. Almost all of the grade is a research project. Not a lot of work on a regular basis, but the research project takes a lot of time spread out. Boris was a great TA.

The material was kind of boring but I really liked conducting my own research project. No one attended lecture which I don't understand because the readings were pointless except to do response papers. But if you want a chill easy politics class, this is it. Nicole is also the best!