I am going to keep it real with all of you, there is not one person who I know that took this class and loved it. For all of my LS majors, I am still deciding whether this class is worth the extra GE credits. For other humanities majors I advise against taking this class unless you're really into learning about Islam.

I believe this class has potential but right now it is a little bit of a boring, confusing mess. The faculty involved in Global Islam are all very understanding and are really good at getting back to you. However, I found a lot of their instruction as vague. You are required to do about 3 hours of reading a week which is not fun because they are long and dense, but you have to read them and pay attention in class because you never know what will be asked on the weekly quizzes. The topic is very broad and although the professors try to centralize on the 4 "big themes", a lot of the information is random and doesn't exactly follow a pattern. Although I do like the professors as people, they somehow make the topic extremely boring. The research and writing specialists are nice, but are also not very helpful with the assignments.

The grading structure is based on 6 things. Attendance 10%, Participation 10%, Weekly Quizzes 20%, Response Paper 25%, Final Paper 20%, CoCurricular Activity 5%. The lowest quiz grade is dropped. There are 4 prompts for the response papers, you only have to do 3 of them, 500-600 words each. Final paper, 5-6 pages max, is broken down into 5 sections including related questions, articles, thesis and outline, revised thesis and outline, and final draft. I had a really difficult time figuring out what the paper needed. The directions and rubric were unclear and vague. The cocurricular is just a 2-3 hr activity you do outside of class and you have to write a 2 page response on it. The key to doing well in this class is building a good relationship with you TA, doing all the assignments, and participating in discussion. Your TA is your grader for everything so questions or details on assignments should be reviewed by them.

It is not inherently a difficult class, it is just a lot of work and it is not very fun. I do appreciate that faculty and staff are all a really nice and passionate about what they do but the structure and clarity needs a lot of work. Just prepare your friends and roommates for complaining about how much you dislike the class. I hope this helps.

Professor Slyomovics is painstakingly boring and her portion of the lectures were tough to get through. The other lecturers, however, I quite enjoyed, especially Professor Yarbrough. The content is interesting but goes into great detail. There is a LOT of reading assigned every week and a weekly timed quiz in discussion. But, other than that, not too many actual assignments (3 short essays + the final). Not my favorite class by any means but definitely an eye-opener! The co-curricular is cool.

Interesting content, workload isn't terrible if you time manage well(4 five page essays and one oral presentation), ta is kinda a harsh grader but what really ruined it for me was the professor. one tip = DO NOT ask her for help on ANYTHING

Very interesting content, but the professor is what ruined it for me. Over five different students in the class that I've talked to have complained about the teacher being extremely rude to them. I had this same experience. Lesson is : don't bother asking her for help. It's unfortunate because she seems like the nicest lady but really doesn't seem to care about her students' success. In terms of workload, there are 4 five page essays due every other week and then one 10 minute oral presentation. Not terrible, but the essays are pretty hard and the TA grades harshly without much feedback. Overall, I don't recommend taking this course.

I absolutely loved the Global Islam Cluster and Professor Slyomovics! We learned about Islam from a wide variety of disciplines and perspectives, and it was incredibly eye-opening and fulfilling to finally take a class without a highly Eurocentric curriculum (a big change from typical high school classes).

I honestly looked forward to attending every lecture, even with the many pains and annoyances of Zoom University. Each lecture was so engaging and informational -- the professors in this cluster really pushed us to think critically and with an open mind. Professor Slyomovics is a super cool person and her research/life experiences are pretty insane (she did human rights work in Morocco during the truth commission).

The workload was a bit heavy at times with all the readings (though I found each reading to be extremely interesting), but the instructors were always super accommodating and listened to student feedback about lessening the workload/moving deadlines.

Though this class is centered around the theme of Global Islam, everything I've learned is applicable to so many other aspects of my life; I'm extremely grateful to have gotten the ability to take this course!

Professor Slyomovics is very approachable and a good lecturer. She does not use powerpoints, but she writes most of the important points on the board and puts boxes around most of the important key terms. (Emphasis on MOST. Not all.)

She does assign a LOT of reading, and combined with the assigned films it ended up being a lot of work... but the workload was nevertheless doable. The class consisted of a midterm, a paper, a final, and attendance. (The syllabus said participation, but you don't really need to participate. Just come to class every day on time and sign in. She does pass around a sign in sheet.) The paper was cake, I believe it was only 5 pages.

As far as the midterm and the final go, we were given absolutely no instruction. She does not believe in study guides, so mainly what you have to go off of are the things she wrote on the board. She will also use concepts from the reading and the films. The grader was very harsh, at least on the midterm. There are specific points that we were supposed to hit on the essays which was difficult because the essay questions were so vague. I don't know whether this was per Slyomovics' instructions, or whether the grader happened to be very harsh.

I ended up with an A-.

The class was fascinating. I learned quite a bit about the field of visual anthropology and the history of photography. Slyomovics gives you a lot of freedom to engage with the readings and coursework and express your ideas through all of her assignments. She allows creativity and doesn't force students into any real prescribed formats for her class. She is, however, a stickler for correct grammar, spelling, and citations. Plan ahead to attend her office hours, even if you are like me and had to skip part of another class to do so. It will save you time at the end of the quarter. We ended up waiting in an hour long line to get her to sign off on our project proposals (mandatory). BTW, get your proposal signed during office hours ahead of time to save yourself the headache.

Slyomovics arranges her class throughout the quarter by themes and this helps to see broader contexts. All of the readings and websites and suggested field trips are useful for the exams and papers. If you are a lazy ass, you will most likely still get an OK grade, but if you actually care about learning and put some effort into the class and the materials, you will gain a ton of valuable knowledge... Its one of those classes where its totally up to you.

First thing is first, this class should be an easy A for anyone. I pulled of a 98% on the midterm and studied for a few hours. Around 75% of people get an A in the class. That said you should not take this class. One literally learns nothing in that class. I’ve walked out of the class every day, wondering what I just learned. I was panic stricken for the midterm, because I felt I hadn’t learned anything. Well it wasn’t me, the concepts on the midterm where elementary and if you just could memorize some random photos anyone could pass the midterm, regardless of taking the class or not. The “project” is also a joke. Its five pages long, you take photos relate your project to some reading and that’s it. Then there is the “professor.” She loves to micromanage, instead of giving you a list of approved topics she has you come up with one, only to reject it or complain about your project for some minor little thing about it. She wants you to come to her office hours, to discuss the project in fact it’s required. However, when you do show up she makes sure you know you are wasting her time. Inside of her office and in the classroom she is rude, condescending, and loves to put students down. Like I said the class if an easy A, if your reading this you probably would get an A in the class, but if you don’t want to take a class that is a complete joke and waste of time, with a “professor” who is high on herself, you should avoid this class.

This is an evaluation for her M E STD 50 class. The class consists of one final paper, a midterm, and a final. You read four books over the term of the course, but you don't have to read them through and through to get a good grade, but some of the questions on the exams go into detail about the books. Her exams are a combination of lecture and the books. There are weekly assignments due to the TAs which are just a page analysis of the readings for that week.

Her lectures are very disorganized, she does a lot of random talking, and goes all over the place. She does not communicate very well to the students.

Overall, its not a bad GE if you do the readings (which were interesting imo, except for one book). But lecture will probably bore you.

I loved her! I got an A- take her you will learn to respect the Muslim culture. This class was split b/w History 108C/ Anthro.../ Arabic..., I am a history major, and as 6/12 Bruin said, yes alot of DOABLE reading. I loved the T.A. he was not harsh to me I got an A- on mid/ B+ paper 5pgs/ A on the final, I saw him after the class was over and he happen to have the grade book so he was able to give me my grades. Ziad is super cool. Not to mention the midterm/ final- yes no study guide was given, but if you watched the assigned movies, read 2 of the books- half way- then you you can totally create an argument.

The only pain for me was the movies are hard to get online and if you don't live on campus-like me, then you got to drive to the media lab to watch them. The midterm/ has a map 20 pts, know Maghrib area, capitals, mountains and berber speaking tribe. The essay part.if you watched the movies you can easily do the essays, and she gives you so many to choose from that your bound to know 3 of them, trust me, the only way you wouldnt is if you missed class, and you wont b/c attendance is taken and 10 percent of your grade.