I took this Fall 2020 online. This course focused on political discourse and had writing assignments about the 2020 General Election. On Mondays, we were required to read Ezra Klein's "Why We're Polarized" and alternated weekly between completing questions about the reading in breakout rooms and a harkness discussion. Let me say - I hated the harkness discussions as someone who doesn't like to talk but it's not difficult to earn an A even if you don't participate. I talked max 4 times in the class and got a 2/3 on participation. The class is structured so that all the assignment points will add up to 100 so that you can calculate your grade with each assignment. Everyone was required to do a 'news of the week' presentation by the end of the semester with a partner which took VERY long to prepare for but was only graded out of 5 points. There's one writing assignment due weekly which ranges from being personal essays to actual research topics to just minor reflections.

The reading was actually interesting, but you don't really learn anything in terms of writing until like the last 2-3 weeks of class. There was more focus on just learning about polarization and the media's role in this election which was actually pretty interesting. Prof. Loeb is a very enthusiastic and energetic teach; she's very lenient as well. The class is really simple/easy, but I just wouldn't take it again because of the forced participation aspect. #tCF2020