CCJS454 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Maria Velez CCJS454 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/15/2025	Class was cool, but she made it harder than necessary, and I wouldn't recommend her. I don't think I'd take another class with her again.
Maria Velez CCJS454 Anonymous 12/24/2024	The class was actually super interesting, IMO. The course name made me think it would be kind of boring, but it was one of my favorite classes this semester. The professor is super kind and cares about her students. If you're struggling, she has compassion. The course grades are four exams and a final paper. She introduces the final paper assignment at the beginning of the semester and will give additional notes throughout the semester as the lecture material pertains to it. She offered to look through rough drafts of this assignment a few weeks before the due date, and she helps you outline the project well before it's due. The exams were non-cumulative until the Final. They are all true/false with two short answer response questions. She goes over what the short answer response questions are in (at the latest) the class before the exam, and offers to read your answers and provide feedback before the exam. She basically does everything in her power to help you succeed, but since there are only five grades for the whole class you need to put in the work. Go to class! Take notes on the lectures, read the assigned readings, go to office hours, ask her questions, and keep up with the term paper. The biggest drawback in the class is there are A LOT of readings, so it can be easy to get overwhelmed and behind. The exams draw heavily from the readings though, so you can't really skip out on them. Definitely recommend :)
Maria Velez CCJS454 Anonymous 12/15/2024	Anyone who tells you to take Dr. Velez is either a teacher's pet or doesn't know their right from their left. Yes, she is a nice person, but I'm here to get an education not meet nice people. How anyone can make the time to read everything she assigns and stay on top of their other classes is beyond me. What really stinks is how useless her lectures are. All she does is read off a PowerPoint, which is posted online anyway. This class relies heavily on YOU doing the work, and her serving as a manager to go consult if you have any issues. What is the purpose of having an instructor who doesn't instruct? It is utterly disgusting that this education is costing money and yet a book (which costs money again) is teaching me these subjects. If you want to learn what's being taught in this class, just go buy the textbook and read it - nothing additional will be gained from instruction. Now the class structure. Jeez. 3 exams, 1 big boy writing assignment and that's it. The exams go into detail on the readings that only someone with a photographic memory could recall. They are hard and consist of true/false and short answer questions. Maybe the only good thing about the exams is you usually get a look ahead of what the short answer questions are so you can "prepare your answer." The writing assignment is fine, and honestly not horrible. What I can say for sure is DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Just don't. Her average gpa in this class is 2.61 for a reason. This course was awful, Dr. Velez was unfortunately a very poor professor, and my grade and future suffer because of that. Big no no.
Kathryn Kozey CCJS454 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/22/2023	Well structured class, exams are easy enough and a few essays throughout. Very manageable for a 400 level.
Wade Jacobsen CCJS454 Expecting an A- gmagori 05/15/2023	I took 454 in my junior year of my CCJS program. Simply put, this was one of the best classes I've ever taken. Dr. Jacobsen is pretty funny and a great lecturer. There is a fair amount of reading every week, with a short 1-2 question (usually multiple choice) online quiz on the readings due 10 minutes before every class. I thought that they would be overwhelming, but they've kept me accountable with reading and understanding the material. I appreciated that there was no boring textbook required; the selected readings were a mix of very interesting and current research in the field, as well as some dense original theory. As long as you do every reading, nothing on the exam should be surprising, and you are given helpful tips and a review session for the exams a couple days before. The best thing is the review guides, which are all published before the class begins! They are the best way to study for the exam, everything is on there. The lectures could be a little boring if we were going over stuff that old guys wrote back in the 1900s, but Dr. Jacobsen usually helped clarify abstract concepts with contemporary examples, and kept the class engaged by asking us questions and answering ours. One thing is that Dr. J doesn't use slides for the most part, and it can get tedious having to wait for him to write down the material on the board, but I grew to appreciate that because it kept the pace manageable. Though I do think he might benefit from writing down the info before class.

Maria Velez
CCJS454

Expecting a B
Anonymous
04/15/2025

Class was cool, but she made it harder than necessary, and I wouldn't recommend her. I don't think I'd take another class with her again.

Maria Velez
CCJS454

Anonymous
12/24/2024

The class was actually super interesting, IMO. The course name made me think it would be kind of boring, but it was one of my favorite classes this semester. The professor is super kind and cares about her students. If you're struggling, she has compassion. The course grades are four exams and a final paper. She introduces the final paper assignment at the beginning of the semester and will give additional notes throughout the semester as the lecture material pertains to it. She offered to look through rough drafts of this assignment a few weeks before the due date, and she helps you outline the project well before it's due. The exams were non-cumulative until the Final. They are all true/false with two short answer response questions. She goes over what the short answer response questions are in (at the latest) the class before the exam, and offers to read your answers and provide feedback before the exam. She basically does everything in her power to help you succeed, but since there are only five grades for the whole class you need to put in the work. Go to class! Take notes on the lectures, read the assigned readings, go to office hours, ask her questions, and keep up with the term paper. The biggest drawback in the class is there are A LOT of readings, so it can be easy to get overwhelmed and behind. The exams draw heavily from the readings though, so you can't really skip out on them. Definitely recommend :)

Maria Velez
CCJS454

Anonymous
12/15/2024

Anyone who tells you to take Dr. Velez is either a teacher's pet or doesn't know their right from their left. Yes, she is a nice person, but I'm here to get an education not meet nice people. How anyone can make the time to read everything she assigns and stay on top of their other classes is beyond me. What really stinks is how useless her lectures are. All she does is read off a PowerPoint, which is posted online anyway. This class relies heavily on YOU doing the work, and her serving as a manager to go consult if you have any issues. What is the purpose of having an instructor who doesn't instruct? It is utterly disgusting that this education is costing money and yet a book (which costs money again) is teaching me these subjects. If you want to learn what's being taught in this class, just go buy the textbook and read it - nothing additional will be gained from instruction. Now the class structure. Jeez. 3 exams, 1 big boy writing assignment and that's it. The exams go into detail on the readings that only someone with a photographic memory could recall. They are hard and consist of true/false and short answer questions. Maybe the only good thing about the exams is you usually get a look ahead of what the short answer questions are so you can "prepare your answer." The writing assignment is fine, and honestly not horrible. What I can say for sure is DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Just don't. Her average gpa in this class is 2.61 for a reason. This course was awful, Dr. Velez was unfortunately a very poor professor, and my grade and future suffer because of that. Big no no.

Kathryn Kozey
CCJS454

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/22/2023

Well structured class, exams are easy enough and a few essays throughout. Very manageable for a 400 level.

Wade Jacobsen
CCJS454

Expecting an A-
gmagori
05/15/2023

I took 454 in my junior year of my CCJS program. Simply put, this was one of the best classes I've ever taken. Dr. Jacobsen is pretty funny and a great lecturer. There is a fair amount of reading every week, with a short 1-2 question (usually multiple choice) online quiz on the readings due 10 minutes before every class. I thought that they would be overwhelming, but they've kept me accountable with reading and understanding the material. I appreciated that there was no boring textbook required; the selected readings were a mix of very interesting and current research in the field, as well as some dense original theory. As long as you do every reading, nothing on the exam should be surprising, and you are given helpful tips and a review session for the exams a couple days before. The best thing is the review guides, which are all published before the class begins! They are the best way to study for the exam, everything is on there. The lectures could be a little boring if we were going over stuff that old guys wrote back in the 1900s, but Dr. Jacobsen usually helped clarify abstract concepts with contemporary examples, and kept the class engaged by asking us questions and answering ours. One thing is that Dr. J doesn't use slides for the most part, and it can get tedious having to wait for him to write down the material on the board, but I grew to appreciate that because it kept the pace manageable. Though I do think he might benefit from writing down the info before class.

Reviews for CCJS454