COMM296 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Shawn Parry-Giles COMM296 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/11/2026	SPG is a very nice professor, and she makes an effort to get to know her students. She clearly cares about her students and the workload isn't too bad because most work is done in groups. However, the course itself can be annoying. There is a decent amount of reading, and although it's only really mandatory for the first few weeks, it never seemed all that helpful or interesting. The most frustrating thing about the course is the grading. Because most of the work is group based, a lot of your grade is out of your hands. Also, SPG's grading can feel unclear or subjective. There are rubrics provided, but the standards that we are being held to often seem unclear.
Shawn Parry-Giles COMM296 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/04/2025	SPG is one of the sweetest professors ever & she really cares about her students. The first few weeks, the readings were a lot, but after that, the reading isn't bad - you only have to read to research for the deliberations you do. You have to write a paper after each deliberation, which is written as a group. This can be frustrating if someone else in your group doesn't do their work. Overall, we enjoyed the class and definitely recommend SPG as a professor.
Shawn Parry-Giles COMM296 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/08/2024	Dr. Parry-Giles is intelligent, compelling, and an admirable person. I gained a great amount of knowledge on the topic of deliberation, and newfound appreciation for democratic process. SPG deserves great praise, but the class itself was frustrating many times throughout the semester. For one, almost all of your grade past the first few weeks will be based on group-work, which is painful if you roll bad team members on any given week. Also, the grading seemed unnecessarily stringent, and expectations could be clearer. For example, we were always pressed to source from the in-class readings more often, but there were only a handful of readings to pick from. Overall, the class was interesting and also a lot of fun participating in and facilitating deliberations. I recommend it for any incoming carillon student.
Shawn Parry-Giles COMM296 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/04/2024	She is an amazing prof and is such an interesting lecturer who does a good job of interacting with her students. The TA is legit the best in the world and is such an amazing person who makes jokes and actually interacts with us. TATENDA IS THE BEST TA EVER
Shawn Parry-Giles COMM296 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/03/2024	There were weekly readings (sometimes pretty long and sometimes dull) and reading quizzes, but only for the first 6 weeks and the reading quizzes were easy: online, only 5 questions, you had two tries, and open note. This class was very discussion based but she never called anyone out, so it was mainly people who wanted to share speaking. There are group deliberations followed by reports on the deliberations, the topics of them were pretty interesting. Everyone in the group gets the same grade but if there are issues she is understanding and will handle the situation fairly. Overall not a hard class, no exams, graded fairly, and very understanding - I would recommend.
Shawn Parry-Giles COMM296 Expecting an A- Anonymous 11/20/2024	Good teacher, reasonable about helping us in deliberative democracy. Reading quizzes are easy but pointless. Started out by giving good grades but then it became dumb because she and her TA would just lower overall grades no matter the work; they give everyone in the group the same grade no matter the work they do. Nice and reasonable but needs to grade more objectively.

Shawn Parry-Giles
COMM296

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
01/11/2026

SPG is a very nice professor, and she makes an effort to get to know her students. She clearly cares about her students and the workload isn't too bad because most work is done in groups. However, the course itself can be annoying. There is a decent amount of reading, and although it's only really mandatory for the first few weeks, it never seemed all that helpful or interesting. The most frustrating thing about the course is the grading. Because most of the work is group based, a lot of your grade is out of your hands. Also, SPG's grading can feel unclear or subjective. There are rubrics provided, but the standards that we are being held to often seem unclear.

Shawn Parry-Giles
COMM296

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/04/2025

SPG is one of the sweetest professors ever & she really cares about her students. The first few weeks, the readings were a lot, but after that, the reading isn't bad - you only have to read to research for the deliberations you do. You have to write a paper after each deliberation, which is written as a group. This can be frustrating if someone else in your group doesn't do their work. Overall, we enjoyed the class and definitely recommend SPG as a professor.

Shawn Parry-Giles
COMM296

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/08/2024

Dr. Parry-Giles is intelligent, compelling, and an admirable person. I gained a great amount of knowledge on the topic of deliberation, and newfound appreciation for democratic process. SPG deserves great praise, but the class itself was frustrating many times throughout the semester. For one, almost all of your grade past the first few weeks will be based on group-work, which is painful if you roll bad team members on any given week. Also, the grading seemed unnecessarily stringent, and expectations could be clearer. For example, we were always pressed to source from the in-class readings more often, but there were only a handful of readings to pick from. Overall, the class was interesting and also a lot of fun participating in and facilitating deliberations. I recommend it for any incoming carillon student.

Shawn Parry-Giles
COMM296

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/04/2024

She is an amazing prof and is such an interesting lecturer who does a good job of interacting with her students. The TA is legit the best in the world and is such an amazing person who makes jokes and actually interacts with us. TATENDA IS THE BEST TA EVER

Shawn Parry-Giles
COMM296

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/03/2024

There were weekly readings (sometimes pretty long and sometimes dull) and reading quizzes, but only for the first 6 weeks and the reading quizzes were easy: online, only 5 questions, you had two tries, and open note. This class was very discussion based but she never called anyone out, so it was mainly people who wanted to share speaking. There are group deliberations followed by reports on the deliberations, the topics of them were pretty interesting. Everyone in the group gets the same grade but if there are issues she is understanding and will handle the situation fairly. Overall not a hard class, no exams, graded fairly, and very understanding - I would recommend.

Shawn Parry-Giles
COMM296

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
11/20/2024

Good teacher, reasonable about helping us in deliberative democracy. Reading quizzes are easy but pointless. Started out by giving good grades but then it became dumb because she and her TA would just lower overall grades no matter the work; they give everyone in the group the same grade no matter the work they do. Nice and reasonable but needs to grade more objectively.

Reviews for COMM296