This class was overall a really good intro to GE here at UCLA and I would def recommend to other incoming freshmen. There is only 2 papers and a quiz every unit. I would say that the quizzes were very stupid because it was basically quoting his lectures. He said this was to counteract Chat GBT, but a lot of the students did not like this (including me) as it felt like it wasn't really testing your knowledge on the material. Overall, the professor was really nice and approachable. One thing I didn't like was that his office hours were all held on Zoom which was hella awkard. But he was cool. I feel I didn't learn anything though, but I got through it. You will know the names of random Japanese periods which is nice. I was watching the Studio Ghibli movie and it referenced an era and I was like omg! i know that! but yeah that's about it.

This is one of the most interesting and easiest GEs that I've taken at ucla. Professor Duthie is incredibly knowledgeable and understanding about student stress, especially during online learning. There were no exams, just weekly writing assignments (500-700 words). The TAs help you with what to include in the weekly assignments, and you have a chance to rewrite all of them for a better grade.

I took this class during remote learning so the structure could be different from the class in real time. All I have to say is please take this GE!! It's literally amazing. Professor Duthie is a great lecturer with good humor and clear presentation structure. He expanded the content on the textbook and I've learned so much about Japan and its history in this class. The assignments are fairly graded, and you will get a good score as long as you write them carefully and integrate the class materials. Huge shoutout to my TA Kristin for teaching us how to write effective responses!!

Professor Duthie is a great lecturer. He goes through a lot of material while being interesting, in-depth, and paced very well.

However, this quarter he used quizzes as a large portion of the grade (60%), while discussion participation (10%), a presentation (10%), and 2 essays (1 essay based on presentation, total 20%) comprised the rest of the grade.

These quizzes were initially very difficult (as evident with low averages even with 3 attempts and being allowed to use any resource at your disposal such as notes, lectures, textbook, etc.) but were given curves and later on were made much easier. As a result, I believe that the next classes should have much more reasonable quizzes and an overall much more enjoyable time. The other portions of the grade will be given as long as you make the effort to do them.

In regard to the content, it is very interesting and well-paced, and the textbook is completely not necessary to proceed with the course. Overall, a great GE and a great professor.

Professor Duthie is an excellent professor. His lectures are quite interesting and engaging. The structure of the class is very simple: 10 weekly papers/essays, 500-700 words. Moreover, Professor Duthie gives you the opportunity to resubmit all of the assignments, which helps you to do well in the class. Attending the discussion is not mandatory, but I would really encourage everyone to go, since the TA's discuss how to approach the essay prompt. Overall, a really fun class and would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to satisfy the GE requirement or is interested in learning about Japanese history and its civilization.

As an incoming freshman to UCLA, I can say that this class with Professor Duthie was both interesting and a very good introductory to GE's. He is compassionate and displays clear care for his students mental wellbeing and academic success. If you take this course, I highly recommend TA Julia Clark as she was extremely helpful in writing the papers and overall very kind!

This class was a really nice GE to take during COVID since there were no tests just an assignment once a week. I pretty much waited until after the discussion to write the paper since my TA went through the prompt and what we should write about. I would say the class took me around 2 hours a week (minus the lectures) so I would def recommend if you are looking for an easy class. The content itself was also pretty interesting and lectures were a little long but prof duthie made it go by pretty fast :)

I LOVE PROFESSOR DUTHIE!! he is the sweetest man ever and cares so much about his students like genuinely just want them to succeed. (he also has a cute english accent) this was the first time he did quizzes so it was constantly changing depending on student feedback. the first 3 quizzes were completely doable and the final one was super easy. (i think a lot of people complained to him about how hard the quizzes were). His office hours were on zoom so it was a tiny bit awkward but TA Min was SO NICE!! there was participation for the discussions but as long as you asked 1 question per module you're basically guaranteed full marks:) The paper was not graded harshly at all! I'm pretty sure no one got below a 90%. i learnt a lot from this class too and it was super fun to take! Prof. Duthie does go a little fast and it is a little content heavy but everything was just so enjoyable! He also records all his lectures. The final and midterms were just the papers. (1000 words)
Grade distribution break down:
2 papers - 20%
participation - 10%
small presentation - 10%
4 quizzes - 60% (15% each)
If you have the opportunity to take this class PLEASE DO! (and take it with TA Min:)

WARNING: he changed the structure of his class for our semester because he wanted to try something different. We had quizzes every 2 weeks, and 2 essays (one for the final and one for the midterm). No tests. He mentioned in class how he might change it back to his old structure because it was too much stress and time for him to do all the quizzes.

- Quizzes were relatively hard at first, but then it was really easy once you got used to it
1. You get three attempts
2. Answers are in paragraph forms
3. Tests more on how you can take a test rather then the content
4. Multiple choice answers are insanely specific
5. All the answers seem right but one is more like his lecture

- All the answers to his quizzes are straight from his lecture (so you just have to pay attention to that)
- He opened quizzes up for another attempt/would do the quiz with you so you could succeed in the class
- Essays were graded easy

Love professor duthie. Content was lengthy, but relatively interesting. He wanted all his students to succeed, so he purposely will go out of his way to help you with the quizzes and try to help you get an A in his class. Def recommend.

the textbook is not needed, don't buy it. the slides are not posted but lectures are all recorded, and if you scrub through them at 2x speed, you should be able to get through all of them pretty efficiently. you do need to either attend the lectures or watch them later though because the tests will be based on them. previous quarters had weekly write-ups, but we didn't because of the potential of students using chatgpt. instead, they were replaced by mcq quizzes--10 questions and 15 points each, with half of the questions being worth 2 pts. the tests are difficult but you get 3 tries (questions change, but there's a finite bank) and there's only 4 of them. the essays are easy. there's two, and i spent like an hour each on them and got an A on both. TA Alex is great, if you get him, your discussions will be fun and engaging. participation matters in that you need to attend discussion sections and give 1 presentation but that's fine. actually the presentation is the most boring part of the discussion, but that's all dependent on your classmates and how good/bad they are at presenting. overall, i loved this class. it was the light of my life during an otherwise boring quarter. 10/10 would take again, wish i legitimately could because i miss it. the material is super interesting too, if you like history.