Take this class with Albert Kochapum! You will not regret it. I took this class on a whim knowing next to nothing about coding, and I ended up having a super fun summer session where I also learned a lot about web development and feel much more comfortable with HTML, CSS, and Javascript. The professor is super funny, engaging, gives great puns, and you can tell he really does care about his students. He is super approachable and offers a lot of offer hours, and the lab assignments have extensive instructions and one-on-one help if you need it. They were fun and didn't take too long to do, unless you wanted to go above and beyond (and it's really fun to play around with code in this class, the professor offers a lot of freedom with this!). We also had many guest lecturers come in on some weeks and talk about topics related to social justice and ethics alongside programming, and this was truly such a gem of a class that I was not expecting. I was so sad when this class came to an end, but I will forever recommend this class to anybody who asks me for recs!

Listen... Albert is amazing and you can honestly tell he cares about everyone. The lectures were engaging and filled with puns, the labs were really helpful in developing the final project(it is a group project), the in class discussions and thinking caps were great ways to get to know everybody and learn. Since summer session is only 6 weeks Albert focuses more on coding which can be scary but his approach to it and making himself available to help, made the process so much easier. This class is taught in a way where you use what you learn so everything is relevant. I don't have the best time management skills and I took this class along with another during the same summer session and it was doable! A majority of the assignments can be completed in class during lab.

Regardless of your major, I think everyone should take this class!! The skills you learn and develop, the bonds you build with your peers and Albert is all long-term; it creates a community. You're able to explore topics that matter to you while learning about ethics and technology which gives you a new perspective that you can take and apply in other fields.

This class is amazing and I could go on and on but seriously TAKE. THIS. CLASS. please!

This is the most rewarding, instructive, and enjoyable class I have taken. I wouldn't say it's the most technically challenging, but Albert is also really good at balancing technical and humanistic content in this class, not to mention his incredibly engaging lecturing skills. Albert has really inspired my desire to learn more about how to engage in activism and utilize my skills and privilege to empower / uplift causes I am passionate about. I think that's really the main thing you'll get from this class, along with some crucial technical skills in web development and mapping!

TAKE THIS CLASS! Prof. Kochaphum is such an engaging lecturer, is super knowledgable on HTML/CSS/Java/Github and knows how to effectively teach even to absolute beginners. You can tell that he is super passionate about ethics in GIS, he brings in tons of visiting voices that have experiences in design justice and data activism and actively encourages you to reach out to them for networking and opportunities! This is one of the most impactful classes I've taken at UCLA by far.