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.

Lectures neither super interesting nor super boring. Huge class full of sophomores and freshmen; cross your fingers you get a good TA.

I found this class extremely easy. Professor Potts is very clear in her lectures. You can get away with just solely watching the lecture rather than doing the readings since she goes over the most important ones. I'm not going to lie, some of the lectures were very boring while others were very interesting. The class grade itself consisted of weekly reading quizzes, a midterm (mix of MC questions and short answer, a paper, and a group podcast project. The podcast was a pain in the ass. I much would've preferred a final exam since Professor Potts doesn't ask questions about the little details, but rather the overarching themes. I would retake this class again. I had John as a TA and he was extremely helpful in clarifying any readings/concepts that were confusing!

I had Professor Potts and TA Andrew this past fall quarter (online). She is very clear, composed, and compassionate, as well as extremely knowledgeable in geography and global studies. I found her class very thought-provoking and interesting, and I would definitely recommend this class to determine if you want global studies as your major/minor or as a GE. Lectures frequently let out early, but were definitely long. I usually took 6 pages of notes in about an hour, although I knew people who didn't take notes at all and still did fine. Notes will only work in your favor on quizzes/essays/exams though, and my notes were really useful later on in the course, so I would personally recommend taking notes. There are weekly readings (~60 pages) that usually took me 3-4 hours to get through. I would recommend doing the readings before the week's lectures and discussions. Don't do them too far in advance, though, because depending on current events or class pace, some may be removed or altered. The weekly quizzes are easy, the midterm was straight off the study guide, and the group project final was definitely doable (while a bit tricky depending on your group, but that's expected lol). The class also includes two papers, one based on the international institute's lectures (this quarter they were on Black Lives Matter) and one based on a documentary/movie out of an assigned list of 3-4. I found the prompts very interesting, and doing well on these essays will be a huge leg up in the class and make you much more relaxed and confident (put some time in). The discussion is also graded on participation, but that's easy points. If you have an insightful and helpful TA like I did, it will be a breeze. Other points: go to discussion, go to office hours or stay after lecture if you have questions, pay attention to the author's perspective in assigned readings/podcasts, and be sure you clearly know the difference between similar concepts. Have fun, and good luck!

Writing this years later but I remember really enjoying this class and that it genuinely changed my thinking. Would recommend!

Aside from the weekly discussion post (that were graded on completion I believe), there was a film analysis paper, 2 exams and an article response paper. These assignments all weighed the same. Overall, not hard, just make sure you know ur material and pay attention to the key concepts.

Professor Potts is amazing! This is honestly a great introduction course to Global Studies and is the right amount of work for a lower-division course. I had Jessica Pena as my TA and both her and Prof. Potts made it such a great experience. The class consists of the following:

Weekly discussion posts (worth 20%)
Film analysis paper (worth 20%)
Exam 1 (worth 20%)
Article response paper (worth 20%)
Exam 2 (worth 20%)

Each of the assignments is evenly spaced out, so I didn't find myself struggling to keep up. Professor Potts' lectures were very captivating. She explained the concepts perfectly and it tied into her PowerPoints well. She doesn't have many words on her slides, but that's okay because you'll understand the vocabulary and concepts nonetheless. Readings were very short with some long ones, but it's definitely not a heavy workload. She was also very accommodating to assignments and lectures: Prof. Potts offered live zoom lectures and posted the recordings up after in case we missed it or wanted to refer back to them. She is also very responsive to her emails and is lenient with accommodations. I had to turn in my film analysis paper late because of external circumstances. She understood my problems and granted me the extra time. I'm really thankful for that.

I'll admit, the papers are somewhat harshly graded. So definitely check in with Prof. Potts and your TA about the context of your paper (or even an initial review of what you've written). Both Prof. Potts and her TAs offer office hours, which I recommend going to for any clarification or discussion on the class material. The subject is really easy to understand as long as you keep up with the assignments and material.

Discussions were in person this quarter, which I highly recommend you go to. Jessica (my TA) was super helpful and accommodating, and offered an alternative assignment if I missed a discussion section. You could either go to her office hours and discuss the readings or write a 500 word paper on the readings. I found both options pretty easy and fair. Jessica is also very sweet and wants the best for her students! I definitely recommend her!

The class overall is a great introduction to globalization. I took it in order to apply for a Global Studies minor, which I definitely am still going to do! Professor Potts and her TAs make it such a great class. They're all very nice and helpful.

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.

Still one of my favorite classes I have taken at UCLA, and it reinforced why I have chosen to be a GS major. Professor Potts is great, and this class gives such an interesting and great overview of globalization. Grade is based primarily on midterm and final which are fair and she provides a good study guide for them. I highly suggest taking this class with Professor Potts!