INTL DV 110
Economic Development and Culture Change
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisite: course 1. Broad introduction to theoretical traditions in development studies, with focus on dynamics of culture, power, markets, states and social movements, with selected case studies in developing nations and comparative case analysis across Global South and North. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2018 - For a core IDS class, I was heavily disappointed. Professor Apter covers key concepts necessary for development studies, such as dependency theory and modernization theory, however his delivery and lectures are in desperate need of clarity and structure. At the beginning of the course, he has powerpoint slides for each lecture, however, midway throughout the quarter he stops presenting from slides and provides no slides, notes, bullets, etc. These lectures were very confusing and essentially just consisted of tangents over tangents that left the class very confused as to what the objectives of the lecture were. There were many times where I had only a few sentences of notes because the majority of the lecture were filled with him rambling about who knows what. He is a nice person, however, as a professor he really needs some sort of structure to his class so students know what they are expected to learn. There was no study guide for the midterm or final so essentially you had to find anything that seemed important enough from the readings or lectures and regurgitate that. Midterm and final were of similar format, with you having to define a few terms out of a small word bank and then 1 essay for the midterm, 2 for the final. Discussions talked about the readings, some of which were important, others not so much. This was a theory-focused course and the readings were quite dense at times. I am highly disappointed with this course and it was my least favorite of the IDS core classes. I have had courses without slides before and they have been excellently structured so it is possible to teach a class this way, however, this was not it.
Winter 2018 - For a core IDS class, I was heavily disappointed. Professor Apter covers key concepts necessary for development studies, such as dependency theory and modernization theory, however his delivery and lectures are in desperate need of clarity and structure. At the beginning of the course, he has powerpoint slides for each lecture, however, midway throughout the quarter he stops presenting from slides and provides no slides, notes, bullets, etc. These lectures were very confusing and essentially just consisted of tangents over tangents that left the class very confused as to what the objectives of the lecture were. There were many times where I had only a few sentences of notes because the majority of the lecture were filled with him rambling about who knows what. He is a nice person, however, as a professor he really needs some sort of structure to his class so students know what they are expected to learn. There was no study guide for the midterm or final so essentially you had to find anything that seemed important enough from the readings or lectures and regurgitate that. Midterm and final were of similar format, with you having to define a few terms out of a small word bank and then 1 essay for the midterm, 2 for the final. Discussions talked about the readings, some of which were important, others not so much. This was a theory-focused course and the readings were quite dense at times. I am highly disappointed with this course and it was my least favorite of the IDS core classes. I have had courses without slides before and they have been excellently structured so it is possible to teach a class this way, however, this was not it.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - This was such a great class, and I love Professor Chun! Just a note-- when I took it the name was IDS 120: Culture, Power, and Development, not Economic Development and Culture Change. In this class we looked into forces of power and injustice in the world with case studies into different regions impacted by development policy! It was all really interesting, and both Professor Chun and my TA Abhilasha were so great and really chill graders! Both the midterm and the final were take-home essays and I didn't find them to be too difficult! We also had alternating quizzes and short essays every other week, and a good deal of reading, but it wasn't too bad! This is probably my favorite IDS class I've taken so far, definitely recommend!
Winter 2023 - This was such a great class, and I love Professor Chun! Just a note-- when I took it the name was IDS 120: Culture, Power, and Development, not Economic Development and Culture Change. In this class we looked into forces of power and injustice in the world with case studies into different regions impacted by development policy! It was all really interesting, and both Professor Chun and my TA Abhilasha were so great and really chill graders! Both the midterm and the final were take-home essays and I didn't find them to be too difficult! We also had alternating quizzes and short essays every other week, and a good deal of reading, but it wasn't too bad! This is probably my favorite IDS class I've taken so far, definitely recommend!
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