This class is recommended for sophomores because it's supposedly a weeder class for Global Studies, but I didn't find it that challenging and definitely think freshmen should take it to see if Global Studies is a good fit for them. We explored topics like big and little G globalization, neoliberalism, etc. We had two exams, but they were both online and open note with a 48 hour period to complete, so there was a lot of flexibility when it came to that.

We had two assignments, a Structured Film Analysis which gave us the option to watch one of three films and relate it to class concepts by answering questions (not an essay). We had a Structured Article analysis which was honestly SUPER easy and that was essay-style. Discussion was fun, my TA was Steven Ammerman and he's THE BEST TA!! Super friendly and understanding and a very fair grader. We also had weekly discussion posts where we had to come up with a question about the readings.

Undoubtedly the best course I've taken in my junior year. Professor Potts is so so knowledgable and passionate. Her lectures were consistently insightful, engaging, and challenging. Really hit every aspect of border studies and how they shape our world- any question or thought you had about borders will be covered in this class. Always had vocab words and great structure which made it easy to follow along and know what material we would be tested on. Weekly quizzes were fair (online, multiple choice, pass/fail), as were the exams (in person, handwritten, no MCQ). There's a lot of content but if you're going to lecture and section you'll be fine. Every week I left lecture feeling like I'd learned something new or gained another perspective. As someone with a general interest in borders, this class provided a strong conceptual framework and historical context that helped me better understand both the functionality of borders and the critiques against them and encouraged me to think more critically about their role in the 21st century. Take this class!!!

Overall, this is an excellent class to take. My main complaint is that the grading scale for the papers was not great. A B paper had everything asked for in the rubric, while an A paper would have to go "above and beyond," this made getting an A on an essay assignment unnecessarily tricky. I feel like this class covers a lot of information that some people already know about, Colonialism and global interconnection, but it is still interesting. The tests in this class were straightforward since the professor provided a study guide, and the answers to the questions are off of the slides.

If you're a global studies major and you're taking the senior seminar take one with Professor Potts if possible. She really cares about her students, she made the class as easy as possible but didn't dumb down the material. She was pretty clear about things and approachable. For our class 10% of the grade was partcipation and the other 90% was weekly 1 page writing assignments on the readings which in my opinion is easier than a final paper and a group project like the other gs seminars had.

Professsor Potts is great. She is incredibly knowledgeable and thorough. She gave weekly reading responses (100-200 pages of reading a week) that needed to be 1-2 pages single spaced. She really read for quality. So these weekly responses took a very long time! As long as she saw you improve, she gave you a good overall grade at the end of the quarter. Learned a lot in this class and ended up with a good grade, but just be aware, the workload for this class is a lot!

This is definitely a great class to learn more about globalization. It teaches you to look at globalization critically. If you are thinking about minoring in global studies, this is a good class to start. Plus, it counts as a GE too. The workload is not too heavy. There are weekly readings, but the professor does a really good job summarizing those readings. Participation in discussions is required. Overall, I had a good experience taking this class with Professor Potts. I would recommend taking this class with her if you want to learn more about globalization in general.