This class was a complete disaster from start to finish. The instructor only delivered lectures for the first two weeks and was virtually absent afterward, leaving us to fend for ourselves. Communication was abysmal, with both the instructor and TA taking days or weeks to respond to emails, often with unhelpful answers.

The assignment instructions were incredibly vague and riddled with grammatical errors, making them nearly impossible to understand. A significant portion of our grade (30%) depended on a group project for which we received no instructions and were expected to rate other groups based purely on 'vibes' since no rubric was provided. The average grade for the project was a B, but it was unclear how these grades were determined.

The grading system was also deeply flawed. All assignments were ranked against other classmates, meaning there was a limited number of A/A- grades available. This competitive grading system created unnecessary stress and did not accurately reflect individual effort or understanding of the material. This class was such a train wreck, and I really felt like I learned very little. I truly regret wasting money and time on such a worthless exercise.

I made a bruinwalk account just so that I could write this review.

I took this class to learn more about UX design, but I've come out of this course feeling more lost than ever. This is a class made for students who already have prior experience, interest, and/or knowledge about the field; the rest of us are left to fend for ourselves. For students like me, who have/had zero experience in the field, this class was awful. I was lost and confused the entire time and felt guilty for not being able to pull my weight in the group project. Trying my best wasn't good enough because I didn't even know what to strive for.

While I appreciate the fact that this class was very hands-on and mimicked the industry (i.e. using the stacked grading scheme, making us work on a group project etc.), saying that "vague instructions" are what managers will give you and that the real world doesn't have things like rubrics is not a good justification to apply this in an academic setting. This is a class. Classes are structured so that the things we learn from them lay the foundation for more advanced knowledge. For this foundation to be made, feedback is necessary. Having clear communication should have been the bare minimum, not something I'm currently begging for. Because the professor failed to show us good examples/the industry standard or at the very least, her expectations for us, I've come away from this experience realizing that if this is the kind of bad practice that is "standard" for the industry, then I'd rather not go into the industry at all.

Maybe my horrible experience is a result of condensing a whole semester's worth of knowledge into a summer class, but that still doesn't take away from the fact I'm ending this quarter feeling like I wasted my time, money, and energy. Forget redesigning a product; this course is what needs to be redesigned.