This is an easy GE, but it is not a walk in the park. Nasiali goes pretty quick in lecture and if you zone out for 10 minutes you might miss 30 years of history. Lecture slides are not posted, and only the lecture audio is put online, no video. You have to take good notes to be prepared for the midterm and final. I went to every class and I think it would be hard to do well if you didn’t. Midterm and final are sit-down exams where you just write about some of the terms from the class, which isn’t bad as long as you have a kind TA grading. Overall good GE but it seems like she is trying to make it tougher.

class was easy, professor was not the best. She was a hard grader and not very clear when It came to assignments. if you put in the work you will do fine

A great GE, the lectures are to the point and move at a good pace. The professor makes an effort to be personable and available. The workload is extremely minimal, there are textbook readings and short sources each week (I found that you didn't ever have to read them to be successful as she covers in lecture what she wants you to get out of it). We had one midterm where you wrote on three key terms of your choice out of a larger bank of terms and this was the same format for the final. The final was not cumulative. I would recommend anyone take this for a GE, it was my class that required the least work and least amount of my attention and still got my highest grade of the quarter in it.

This class was such a chill GE. The professor was genuinely so nice and passionate. She doesn't post any lecture slides, which sucks, but she has audio recordings of all the lectures. Most of the time, your TA truly decides your grades based on participation and midterm and final grades. Midterm and final were super easy; I just had to memorize key terms and connect them in short answer responses. As long as you attend the discussion and glance at the primary sources for the week, you are honestly guaranteed participation points. Overall, I highly recommend it if you want an easy GE for a packed quarter with a super sweet professor who genuinely cares about your learning.

I found the course content interesting and engaging and it aligned with my interests in the global dynamics of history. However, Professor Nasiali's approach to teaching was rigid and inflexible, confining students to a set structure of lecture and leaving no room for self-exploration or self-led digression of the content. There was a noticeable lack of empathy towards students' learning needs and circumstances, with sloppy audio recordings of lectures and no way to revise previous content than to decipher her back-and-forth storytelling. Enticing to hear as a fireside story maybe, but greatly unhelpful in this context.

Additionally, the grading system in this course was highly subjective, with all major components including the midterm and final being in the form of an essay; however, the problem emerges as the evaluation of work appeared to be at the complete, subjective discretion of the TA rather than based on consistent rubrics or criteria. This made the assessment component imbalanced, and needless to say, it caused high degrees of uncertainty and difficulty over how work would be evaluated.

Factoring in the lack of empathy for students, it is safe to say that I will never be taking Professor Nasiali's classes again. Very disappointing, considering that the course content was very interesting and had the potential to be highly engaging.