Dr. Vaughn literally taught me nothing. Her lectures were extremely disorganized and not engaging at all. She would just rant on and on about some random tangent every single lecture. She would always come to lecture with about 60 slides prepared and only get through 40 of them... Then, we had to watch EXTRA lecture videos on CCLE AFTER lecture so that she could finish her stupid powerpoint presentation. Every time it was Vaughn's turn to lecture, I just put in my airpods and pulled up YouTube.

I am going to try and go against popular opinion here on Professor Vaughn and focus on what she did well. While her lectures were often very hard to follow, she did prepare us well for what we be on the test. Going into the final, I was nervous for what she would ask, but she gave us plenty clues and made study slides for us which was a blessing. Her reading guides were difficult and her readings were long and often hard, but they made us better for it. Don’t let some of the reviews on here scare you away from taking this cluster. It is hard, but doable. Professor Vaughn was very helpful and approachable.

During this cluster I really liked the topics that Dr. Vaughn taught. However, I found her slides to be the most chaotic and her teaching style reminds me of a discussion that's one sided. It is difficult to differentiate what is her explaining her opinion or what is concrete material you need to know for the midterm/final so it's easy to just zone out as she rants.

So, class first:

This cluster is actually pretty fun, and if you're a life science major, then some of the topics you cover in your core LS classes pop up in this course, too. The workload SEEMS like a lot when you first look at the syllabus, but in reality we have only one final essay that we work on literally the entire quarter. The essay is just a longer version of the speech you have to give in your discussion groups, and then you just add a paragraph or two and turn it in for your final grade. Super easy! There's also a test for the final but it's open note. I didn't study, and instead compiled all the slides into a mega-file and used CTRL + F whenever I was confused, and I ended up getting an A on the final. Overall, I really recommend this course. Fun, easy, and actually interesting.

Now, the professor:

There's actually four professors for this course but I'm only leaving a review on this specific professor because she was the bane of my existence. She was literally in a different country the entire class and her lecture slides were the most chaotic, illegible dumpster fires of a slide. You had to be checked in and paying complete attention the entire lecture because half of the time she was talking about things that weren't even on the slide she was showing. She talks about her own projects and research a lot, which is cool, except we're not being tested on HER research, so why bring it up? I get trying to expand further on certain topics that we're learning that connect to her research, but I found it muddled my understanding rather than aided it. I really disliked going to her lectures because she never stayed on topic, always seemed to drift off on these tangents, and then, like I mentioned earlier, her slides were so messy that even if you did zone out, you couldn't refocus and figure out what was going on. Everyone I knew in that class struggled to pay attention to her lectures, and were very critical of her teaching style.

Also also, a lot of her lecture material is on the final. For some reason. It was like they knew we didn't pay attention in her classes. So, despite her being only one of four lecturers, her lecture material made up about 40-50% of the test and exam material.

I will say that she is very nice, if that matters.

P.S. If possible, get Chandler Beck for your TA. Super cool guy! Literally is super understanding and friendly.

I have to agree with some of the earlier reviews, Dr Vaughn is one of the most genuine and kind Professors I've encountered here in UCLA, but her slides are very dense, and they are written in narrative/case study form or in reflective questions instead of bullet point forms which makes them abit more harder to comprehend. Even if you do not feel like it, I cannot stress this enough, GO TO HER LECTURES. Take note of her learning objectives, and the important points she stresses in her lectures, and if you are still confused after go to her office hours (she is always open to answering extra questions/clarifications there). Her topics are ones I'm always most scared of when coming into the exams, but as long as you do ALL her readings, the movies/videos assigned, listen and pay attention to her lectures and study her slides you should be okay. She's a good professor and her topics are very fun to delve into, but it does require extra effort to digest so keep that in mind.

Professor Vaughn is the toughest out of the cluster professors. Her readings are long and her lectures slides don't actually have all the information needed, so it is very important to pay attention in class. I wouldn't let her deter you from taking this class as she only teaches about 25% of the class, so it is not like you are stuck with her for an entire quarter. She is all over the board in her lectures, but if you pay attention, her portions of the tests are not very difficult. The bottom line is if you're willing to put in the work and actually try, for this professor, then you should have no problem acing her portion of the tests.

First of all take this cluster!!! Super interesting, very manageable workload, much easier A than most of the clusters, and gets you a ton of GE credits
As far as Professor Vaughn: Super nice and knowledgable person, not the greatest teacher. Most of the reason I didn't like her lectures was because of the organization, not the content itself or her speaking. Her lectures jump around a ton from topic to topic which can make it hard to string together information into cohesive notes, and she always makes more slides than she can present so she ends up rushing at the end. Her slides are also the least helpful to look at to study because they include a ton of rhetorical/broad questions rather than actual information. I did think she presented a lot of interesting topics and her perspective was a valuable addition to the course, the information just could have been conveyed in a more clear way.
The class started providing audio recordings for lectures and they post the slides, so I just skipped Vaughn's lectures and listened to them on fast speed and followed along with the slides whenever was more convenient. Definitely recommend this

This cluster has three professors Michelle Rensel, Rachel Vaughn, and Aaron Panofsky. Vaughn's lectures are entirely too difficult to understand based on the structure of the slides and how little information she clearly states; most of her lectures are references to research and no clear bullet points. Rensel and Panofsky are easier to understand. There are about 6-8 readings a week and not short readings either, it's too time consuming for someone with more than one class. In the first quarter there's also something called the "GMO Game", and this is really why I don't recommend the class. This "game" is overly complicated and not explained thoroughly. You and members of your discussion have to plan out meeting days and a whole bunch of extra stuff. In my personal experience this class takes a toll on your mental a little bit especially as a freshman. If you don't need a cluster don't take one just to GE classes that can help satisfy major requirements, and if you do want to take a cluster READ THE SYLLABUS!

I usually went into Professor Vaughn's lectures excited to learn, and left more confused than before. Her lectures and slides are very loosely organized, and don't provide a lot of concrete information. Fortunately her portions of the exams were more straightforward. She tends to assign longer readings that are generally relevant to the class material, but do take some time to finish.

The class itself is a lot easier compared to the other clusters because we have less reading. Her lectures go all over the place and don't follow a set outline, so it's very hard to take notes. Vaugh's lecture slides are very disorganized and don't summarize the important information. She also isn't the most helpful because her slides often have important questions for us to consider. She often asks for volunteers to share their answers, but the lecture hall is big, so it's often hard to hear the answer and she doesn't tend to repeat them. She never really shares her own perspective or answers to the questions she poses. Despite that, I still really enjoyed this class since I took this cluster for the topic rather than for the extra GEs. Many people make the mistake of taking clusters just for the extra GEs but end up hating clusters. They're a lot of work, so only take it if you're genuinely interested in the topic or willing to put in the work for it.