Alexis Gray
School: | Mt. San Jacinto College |
Department: | Anthropology |
Location: | San Jacinto, CA |
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
Helpfulness | |
Clarity | |
Easiness |
School: | Mt. San Jacinto College |
Department: | Anthropology |
Location: | San Jacinto, CA |
Helpfulness | |
Clarity | |
Easiness |
Mailing Address:
Uloop Inc.
306 S. Washington Ave
Suite 400
Royal Oak, MI 48067
Telephone Support:
312.854.7605
Email Support:
greg@uloop.com
Cons: Everything else
Don't take this teacher. She makes her online tests so hard. She has online lectures, don't watch those. She is only trying to waste your time and listen to herself talk. You have to read the book chapters cause that is where she derives her tests . She literally will nit pick the most tedious detail from the book and throw it on the test. Even when emailing her, she is cold. She doesn't care about her students. You would think a teacher wants you to help her students, but she will simply reply "check the syllabus". If I could go back, I would have never taken her. This was supposed to be a 102 class, but I guess it has to be difficult. Even when she grades your papers and you check your comments she has to be a smart a$$. She gives no explanations for her grading and when you do question her, she acts like you are bothering her. I have never in my three years of going to Cal Poly Pomona had such a trashy teacher. I maintain a 3.6 GPA and this lady honestly does not need to work at Cal Poly. #sorrynotsorry
P.S.
If you do decide taking the class, just be prepared for putting in more effort than what its worth.
Pretty Easy Homework
Exams MC and/ or TF
Curve
Cons: Exams are Specific
Term paper
(Book) READ EVERYTHING
So I'm going to give you the whole down low on this ANT 102 online course. First thing, before anything, send an email out to the entire online class and make some connections. I didn't figure this out till the last weeks. Work with these people to do well.
Next, lets start with homework. Its relatively easy, for the homework that is due online. She'll ask you to read two sections of a small book, and answer the questions at the end. Takes about 45 mins if your quick, usually two hours if your me. The homework is due once a week, on Saturday, at 6pm. Sometimes you have to watch a movie and then write an essay around it.
Next, the term paper. Please start on this early. You have to write an ethnography on a minority culture (very small population world wide), must have a peer reviewed journal as a source, one to three topics about the culture (religious practices, burial ceremonies, marriage ceremonies, how woman are treated in the society, the economy, etc.), must be between 5-7 pages. Also mix in key terms or else you'll lose a lot o credit, she grades it pretty tough, so go to her office hours to ask her to grade your paper ahead of time and make comments.
Finally, the last two things, reading the book and exams. Don't F around with not reading that book. Read, write notes, etc. You will have to read two chapters a week and it will take you a couple hours, if you read everything thoroughly. And I realize I am saying know the book, but Gray expects you to MEMORIZE it... even if she won't say it herself. Key thing to read and take notes on are the originals stories, anthropologies applied, and Anthropologists of note. These are tested heavily on, in the exams. Speaking of which, the midterm is 50 questions, and the final is 100 questions. You and your friends should study and work together for the exams. (I did not have the foresight to think of that, two minds are better than one). Also, one more thing, you'll be asked to watch lecture videos, cultural videos, and read power points... do not waste your time!!! They will not be on the exam, and it is time better spent reading you book. Unless, you notice a change in the weekly homework's, where it is testing you on those things, please don't bother. I hate to see you get a lower score because you studied irrelevant material. Final will ask very specific questions about parts of the book. Also the first exam is 1hr and 10 mins, Final is 2hrs and 10 mins.
I will tell you that all hope is not lost if you are doing poorly. She curves the grade to the person with the highest amount of points. For ex: the class is out of 520 points and she will curve it down to person with the most point which is 480, thus that person gets 480/480. In our class it was a bit more drastic of a curve, almost a 80 points. So please "take my word for it" as the person with the highest grade in the class.
Grade received: 100% (A+)
Not much HW
Cons: This professor is very vague and super condescending.
Cons: Can be moody when she has not had adequate levels of caffeine and/or nicotine.
This was probably my favorite class I have taken at Cal Poly thus far. It is not an easy class and you are required to memorize the skeletal system (which is easy. Just learn it instead of memorizing it. Theres a phone app for it for Glob sakes) but come on kids, this is a 400 level class. Who told you it would be easy??? because THEY were an idiot.
People who found this class difficult were expecting an anthropology class that you can sleep through (Cultural, physical, linguistic, etc) but don't expect to get away with that in 491, this class reminds you that ANTHROPOLOGY IS AN APPLIED SCIENCE. I'm pretty sure most of the students who did not do well were anthro majors who are unaccustomed to scientific theory in PRACTICE. You have to use reason in identifying remains, and scientific precision instead of making up some results about anthro studies. I am a chemistry major, and I found this class EASY and extraordinarily interesting.
Dr. Gray is an actual Forensic Anthropologist, and explains not only the methods but the actuality of what her job is like. As a working, full-time student, I find it refreshing to find a teacher who actually practices what she is teaching. Like finding science teachers who actually do research on the subjects they teach. Be polite and occasionally humerus, don't be late, and NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER drop a bone during class. Don't disrespect (I.E. play with, mock, or make fun of) any human remains.
Cons: kinda rude. just try to get on her good side and youre golden.
Cons: Never gets back to you when you email her. Her online lectures are so boring I could never sit through one.
She doesn't care about you. She never wants to answer questions and her test are really hard. Dont take her for online. I was hoping to make deans list this quarter with 3 As and a B but I have no idea what am going to get in her class. I will probably get a C.
Cons: A lot of reading, midterm and final are hard if you don't read
2 assignments, pretty easy, I honestly doubt she even looks at them because my first one didn't meet the page count and she still gave me full credit, I didn't really try for the second one and got full points again, the last assignment is much more work because you have to create a religion with what you've learned but I don't know how I did yet, the midterm was hard for me because I didn't read anything, all i did was listen to the lectures, the final is cummulative with 35 questions in 2 hrs but two of the questions are essays, she isn't that bad, she said we would have discussions every week but we only did intros and never had another one, then after the midterm she said to keep a look out because we would start having them but never did
Cons: Disorganized
Contradicts herself and the textbooks she assigns
Unfair grading
She is the worst teacher I have ever taken here at Cal Poly Pomona. I took ANT 360 with her during the late hours of the evening (6-950!!) Like the other reviews on this site, they are very accurate in what they say about her. She does forensic work for LA county and that is probably why she is how she is on campus. She is never clear in what she assigns and never explains what is expected of the assignments. She contradicts herself from what the textbooks say and exclaims that what the book says is actually wrong. I tried emailing her one time (probably the last time I tried giving a care about the class) and she didn't even respond back. She shows a lot of movies and most of the time, thats all that happens in class. Some people, I remember, would leave the class to go out to eat and you can go back in (with the movie still playing) and not get noticed that you left. Her final was take-home (but she gave us a choice to take it in class) and you have to make sure that when she asks for a short answer, it is a page long or I believe she doesn't even bother reading it. Consensus: She should give the class more attention or retire from teaching and stick to one job at a time. Don't take the class if you are easily unmotivated after seeing how a disorganized, unreliable professor performs. Grade Received: C+
}I took the online version. This is a great class to take with a friend or a group of friends. Go through and download the syllabus, all of the powerpoints, pdfs and lecture videos during the first week and just work through them at your own pace. Pay attention to the deadlines to submit assignments. You only need the book for the midterm and the powerpoint so buy it for Barnes and Noble or some other bookstore the week before and return it immediately afterward. Combine all of the powerpoints into one massive study guide.
}One Midterm (100pt essay), One Final (167pt 3 essays, m/c, true/false, fill in the blanks), One Final Project (100pt website on a new religion), 2 Assignments: 1. Observe a Ritual, 2. Divination Tool (25pts each)
}If I didn't panic after running out of time on the final, I would have gotten an A. Nonetheless, I'm still satisfied with my grade. Grade Received: B
}Sounds OK so far, right?
}After reading reviews for this professor, I decided to take it to spite everyone who complained that it was an unorganized online class. Big mistake. You will be left confunded and frustrated when she gives the most vague instructions in the world. Don't send her a message via BlackBoard. Due to a mistake on my part, one of my assignments did not submit, I didn't have a grade for a week or so. So, I messaged her via BlackBoard and got a message back a week later saying "i did not receive an assignment from you." I took a screenshot of my blackboard "digital dropbox," and tried sending it to her, but the issue did not get resolved until the 9th week! The funny thing is, I turned in that assignment 4 days early, but the hassle it caused was very stressful. If you think I'm exaggerating, then take the class as I did, but I guarantee that you will be let down.