INST104 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2025	I think that Santacruz is a very passionate, kind, and helpful person. It's clear is very passionate about INST104 and wants everyone to be as engaged as she is. I think the class itself is very kind and forgiving but people are right to say it is a lot busy work. There a lot of easy assignments in the course and I would say I had no stress about the class overall in that regard. Some cons were that you did have to attend every wednesday or have it excused because would always be a graded activity on that day but honestly it wasn't that bad. There were expected readings and reflections sometimes and they are kinda boring but I think its alright because a lot of the time we talked about the readings in class too so its alright if you didn't read them that week. I think that also the actual class can be quite mudane at times and I think thats my biggest complaint (but I think thats moreso just the material and less her?). Overall, I would take this class again, I would say i'm being a lil generous but I think its a relaxed class and its a nice general education fulfillment. If you keep up with assignments, you'll totally be fine. She's very nice and passionate if you get the chance to talk to her.
Francesca Polito INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/14/2025	TAKE INST104 with her!!!!! The easiest gen ed ever. One discussion post a week and two replies and flexible and accommodating if you are running late. Took the online version and was completely async. I could not recommend this class more. Basically the whole class will finish with an A+.
Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/13/2025	She's super kind and gives out lots of extra credit assignments, so you'll def be able to get at least an A. The work is really easy, but mostly busy work. The first day, she usually goes over lecture notes (which you can usually skip), and the second day is group or in-class work, so don't miss those.
Anat Szendro Sevilla INST104 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/12/2025	Adding on to the other reviews, the assignment expectations and grading criteria for this course were not clear, including the use of rubrics and examples. Many assignments felt like busywork with little educational value. The grading was overly harsh for a 100-level class, with inconsistent feedback and little explanation for low scores, leading to frustration and demotivation in many students. While the instructor was responsive over email, their disengaged demeanor during long Zoom sessions made it especially hard for students to stay engaged. The fully online format, combined with heavy workloads and uneven group participation, contributed to a stressful and discouraging experience overall. I unfortunately can not recommend this instructor for this course.
Anat Szendro Sevilla INST104 Anonymous 05/07/2025	The course is very disorganized and instructions are assignments are so unclear, which leaves students with no clear idea of how assignments are going to be graded. If given the choice for a different professor for this course, take them because she is not worth taking at all for the gen ed.
Anat Szendro Sevilla INST104 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/07/2025	Nice professor but don't take the online version of this class unless you wan't to be bored out your mind for 3 hours in a zoom call every week. The grading of the projects are horrible as well.
Anat Szendro Sevilla INST104 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/06/2025	I have taken chem labs, bio labs, calculus classes, and this may be the FIRST class that I will end up with a score lower than a B+. I honestly don’t know where to start. Note that I am not the type of student to ever slack off, I always come to class, I do the readings, I reach out for help- which amounts to nothing. I don’t put in the minimum work, I really do try. Rubrics are extremely vague and misleading, so my scores TANK whenever projects are graded. She poorly explains criteria and adds new criteria (that is very vague) right before projects are due, and great- I don’t have time to change it now. It doesn’t help that classes are extremely long and tedious, and she assigns busy work on top of projects. I have never had poorer project grades ever. I am genuinely so confused. I really hope my group’s final project pulls through with a good score. This class should’ve been my easiest class this semester considering how I am in 2 science labs and other classes, but it’s actually going to end up messing up my GPA. Also, it doesn’t help that they do not grade the extra credit assignments. I have done them all, and I have not received the points for them. Yeah this class is a mess.
Anat Szendro Sevilla INST104 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/29/2025	If you can DO NOT TAKE this class with her. Classes are very boring and 70% of the time you are doing nothing. You must be logged onto the zoom while you do the assignments. The class is dragged out longer than it has to be with too much time being given to do simple assignments. Instructions on assignments are unclear and her answers to questions on zoon do not help. Its easy to get a good grade but it is full of busy work.
Anat Szendro Sevilla INST104 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/16/2025	This class is very boring. Zoom lectures for 2 hours and 45 min where you must be logged on to do assignments. Most of the time we are doing nothing. The class is full of busy work and is very disorganized. Instructions are not clear on the assignments. Do not take this course with this professor. You will find it the most boring and busy work loaded genEd not worth your time. Questions asked about assignments over zoom are hardly ever given a helpful answer. If you want to get two gen ed requirements out of the way it is easy to get a good grade, but if you care about wasting your time and doing tedious work, DO NOT TAKE.
Anat Szendro Sevilla INST104 Anonymous 04/15/2025	I cannot STAND this class. Way too much work. We're expected to join the Zoom calls to do these dumb in-class activities but you'll be locked out of the call if you show up late to class. Recently she's forcing us to refer to EVERY SINGLE READING in our reflections (basically to punish people who don't read). What a waste of time, avoid this class at all costs.
Francesca Polito INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/02/2025	Extremely easy course and very kind professor! I don’t know what this guy below is talking about but he must have reviewed the wrong professor because this is not at all what my or any other person who gave a reviewed experienced. I can tell you that she is still doing one discussion post a week and is great overall to take!
Francesca Polito INST104 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/25/2025	This class was a big time sink. Just because the class is online doesn't mean the it wasn't time consuming. I am taking the class this semester and I guess a lot of people said the class was too easy and from what I have heard in accordance to the semester before, it went from one discussion post a week and this semester there were 3 a week and regular assignments on top of that. The content itself was not hard but if you want another easy class, just take ENES140 or ENES210, which took way less work.
Anat Szendro Sevilla INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 03/24/2025	HOLY BUSYWORK. This class isn't difficult, but man is it tedious. These sorting hat worksheets repeat the same five questions over and over and over again. Despite what you might have read about this course on Reddit, attendance for Anat's section is mandatory. Do NOT show up late to class or you will be punished by not being allowed onto the Zoom call. Doesn't sound so bad until you realize you have to be on the Zoom call to complete many assignments.
Anat Szendro Sevilla INST104 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/12/2025	Very disorganized and confusing professor. Her instructions never make sense and only confuses students more when they ask questions.
Elia Shahbazi INST104 Expecting a W Anonymous 01/07/2025	Mandatory attendance on a three-hour class that primarily consists of the professor's stream of consciousness, and you lose points for not having other people in your group show up. The content is moderately interesting, and it's obvious that he has a lot of very interesting ideas and stories to tell, but wow if the class is not a test in your own patience.
Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/17/2024	I loved taking 104 with her! Clearly cares about the subject she is teaching. Gives sooo many extra credit opportunities and many students including myself ended with grades >100. If the class is taught in person, you will have to actually go to class because of the in-class activities that count for participation (in my Monday-Wednesday class, they were almost always on Wednesday). She summarizes all of the readings on her slides so you don't have to actually do them for the activities. She also rarely ever kept us for more than 40 minutes (in our 1 hr 15 min lecture) which was nice.
Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz INST104 Anonymous 12/17/2024	Makes her class very easy and forgiving. Class has occasional in-class activities. Lectures are often pretty slow, and homework can be a bit tedious, but the class is very fair and manageable, and Marilyn is a good professor if available.
Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz INST104 Anonymous 12/13/2024	Professor Marilyn Iriate Santacruz is a really nice person; however, the course had a bit of busy work (about 2-3 assignments due every week). There were 3 projects throughout the course include a video about good design, poster, and group project video. I went to her office hours to get feedback about my poster project, and she was very helpful! I got a 100% on the poster project. Cons: -You need to attend class on Wednesdays because there are group and participation activities. -The lectures were boring and nobody really paid attention. -Some of the Professor's instructions were unclear and confusing.
Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/12/2024	Very nice professor. You can tell that she is enthusiastic about her work and teaching others. The coursework is pretty bland, but easy to complete quickly.
Francesca Polito INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/04/2024	Not much to say other than easy A and very kind professor. Took the zoom version of this class but it ended up being completely async. Course was interesting if you wanted to interact with the material, but you could get away without reading or watching a single thing. The work was easier than middle school content, no more than a simple discussion post a week. Probably the best gen ed class out there.
Francesca Polito INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/28/2024	Class is asynchronous after the first meeting. Super easy class. Some weeks, she is very understanding of our workloads and doesn't give us an assignment. I'd say this is easier than ENES140/210 if you take this with Francesca or Katie Shilton.
Francesca Polito INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/30/2024	Kind, very reasonable & lenient, so understanding. I’d highly recommend taking this course! The professor is incredibly helpful & doesn’t count attendance as a grade. Most grades come from discussion responses. I loved this course (for context, I took it online. Not sure what it’s like in person).
Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/23/2024	Though the course work is manageable, professor Marilyn Iriarte is probably my least favorite professor I have had at UMD so far. If you have the chance, take the online version of this class. I made the mistake of taking the in-person version of this class and have regretted it all semester.
Katie Shilton INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/02/2024	This class was entirely online and the zooms were optional. I didn't go to class once and it didn't matter at all. Everything is posted at the beginning of the year so you can go at your own pace basically. I would recommend taking this easy A. Only annoying thing is the final project is a group project with 4 people I have never met and never respond when I message them.
Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/06/2023	She is so nice and wants you to succeed
Katie Shilton INST104 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/04/2023	take this for gpa boost and credit !!!!online class 3 credit meet once a week(have recoding upload), but i have never went to zoom or watch the recordings, I got A+. workload is easy, she's so nice, no penalty on late work at all.
Katie Shilton INST104 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/30/2023	TAKE THIS CLASS!!!!! I took it online and probably spent about 10 minutes a week on it. Such an easy A and I'm so glad I took it. All of the assignments are easy, Professor Shilton is the nicest person in the world and the assignments were actually enjoyable and fun. There is a group project for the final but it's easy. You have to create a google slides presentation then record yourself reading the slide. It honestly took my group probably an hour total to do the entire thing. Best class in the world.
Katie Shilton INST104 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/13/2023	A great professor who cares more about passing on knowledge than assigning you a grade. You learn a lot more in classes like these.
Katie Shilton INST104 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/07/2023	PLEASE TAKE THIS COURSE! It might be daunting to see a three-hour class session window, but these class sessions are completely optional, and I didn't even need to attend one to get an A in this class. Professor Shilton is super helpful if you have any questions, and the assignments throughout the semester are just 2-3 small canvas assignments a week. In addition, there are three projects, all of which are super easy too. These assignments are almost always graded extremely fairly(usually full credit). Overall, I highly recommend this class to anyone needing these gen-ed credits or requiring a very easy A.

Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/17/2025

I think that Santacruz is a very passionate, kind, and helpful person. It's clear is very passionate about INST104 and wants everyone to be as engaged as she is. I think the class itself is very kind and forgiving but people are right to say it is a lot busy work. There a lot of easy assignments in the course and I would say I had no stress about the class overall in that regard. Some cons were that you did have to attend every wednesday or have it excused because would always be a graded activity on that day but honestly it wasn't that bad. There were expected readings and reflections sometimes and they are kinda boring but I think its alright because a lot of the time we talked about the readings in class too so its alright if you didn't read them that week. I think that also the actual class can be quite mudane at times and I think thats my biggest complaint (but I think thats moreso just the material and less her?). Overall, I would take this class again, I would say i'm being a lil generous but I think its a relaxed class and its a nice general education fulfillment. If you keep up with assignments, you'll totally be fine. She's very nice and passionate if you get the chance to talk to her.

Francesca Polito
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/14/2025

TAKE INST104 with her!!!!! The easiest gen ed ever. One discussion post a week and two replies and flexible and accommodating if you are running late. Took the online version and was completely async. I could not recommend this class more. Basically the whole class will finish with an A+.

Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/13/2025

She's super kind and gives out lots of extra credit assignments, so you'll def be able to get at least an A. The work is really easy, but mostly busy work. The first day, she usually goes over lecture notes (which you can usually skip), and the second day is group or in-class work, so don't miss those.

Anat Szendro Sevilla
INST104

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/12/2025

Adding on to the other reviews, the assignment expectations and grading criteria for this course were not clear, including the use of rubrics and examples. Many assignments felt like busywork with little educational value. The grading was overly harsh for a 100-level class, with inconsistent feedback and little explanation for low scores, leading to frustration and demotivation in many students. While the instructor was responsive over email, their disengaged demeanor during long Zoom sessions made it especially hard for students to stay engaged. The fully online format, combined with heavy workloads and uneven group participation, contributed to a stressful and discouraging experience overall. I unfortunately can not recommend this instructor for this course.

Anat Szendro Sevilla
INST104

Anonymous
05/07/2025

The course is very disorganized and instructions are assignments are so unclear, which leaves students with no clear idea of how assignments are going to be graded. If given the choice for a different professor for this course, take them because she is not worth taking at all for the gen ed.

Anat Szendro Sevilla
INST104

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/07/2025

Nice professor but don't take the online version of this class unless you wan't to be bored out your mind for 3 hours in a zoom call every week. The grading of the projects are horrible as well.

Anat Szendro Sevilla
INST104

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/06/2025

I have taken chem labs, bio labs, calculus classes, and this may be the FIRST class that I will end up with a score lower than a B+. I honestly don’t know where to start. Note that I am not the type of student to ever slack off, I always come to class, I do the readings, I reach out for help- which amounts to nothing. I don’t put in the minimum work, I really do try. Rubrics are extremely vague and misleading, so my scores TANK whenever projects are graded. She poorly explains criteria and adds new criteria (that is very vague) right before projects are due, and great- I don’t have time to change it now. It doesn’t help that classes are extremely long and tedious, and she assigns busy work on top of projects. I have never had poorer project grades ever. I am genuinely so confused. I really hope my group’s final project pulls through with a good score. This class should’ve been my easiest class this semester considering how I am in 2 science labs and other classes, but it’s actually going to end up messing up my GPA. Also, it doesn’t help that they do not grade the extra credit assignments. I have done them all, and I have not received the points for them. Yeah this class is a mess.

Anat Szendro Sevilla
INST104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/29/2025

If you can DO NOT TAKE this class with her. Classes are very boring and 70% of the time you are doing nothing. You must be logged onto the zoom while you do the assignments. The class is dragged out longer than it has to be with too much time being given to do simple assignments. Instructions on assignments are unclear and her answers to questions on zoon do not help. Its easy to get a good grade but it is full of busy work.

Anat Szendro Sevilla
INST104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/16/2025

This class is very boring. Zoom lectures for 2 hours and 45 min where you must be logged on to do assignments. Most of the time we are doing nothing. The class is full of busy work and is very disorganized. Instructions are not clear on the assignments. Do not take this course with this professor. You will find it the most boring and busy work loaded genEd not worth your time. Questions asked about assignments over zoom are hardly ever given a helpful answer. If you want to get two gen ed requirements out of the way it is easy to get a good grade, but if you care about wasting your time and doing tedious work, DO NOT TAKE.

Anat Szendro Sevilla
INST104

Anonymous
04/15/2025

I cannot STAND this class. Way too much work. We're expected to join the Zoom calls to do these dumb in-class activities but you'll be locked out of the call if you show up late to class. Recently she's forcing us to refer to EVERY SINGLE READING in our reflections (basically to punish people who don't read). What a waste of time, avoid this class at all costs.

Francesca Polito
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/02/2025

Extremely easy course and very kind professor! I don’t know what this guy below is talking about but he must have reviewed the wrong professor because this is not at all what my or any other person who gave a reviewed experienced. I can tell you that she is still doing one discussion post a week and is great overall to take!

Francesca Polito
INST104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
03/25/2025

This class was a big time sink. Just because the class is online doesn't mean the it wasn't time consuming. I am taking the class this semester and I guess a lot of people said the class was too easy and from what I have heard in accordance to the semester before, it went from one discussion post a week and this semester there were 3 a week and regular assignments on top of that. The content itself was not hard but if you want another easy class, just take ENES140 or ENES210, which took way less work.

Anat Szendro Sevilla
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
03/24/2025

HOLY BUSYWORK. This class isn't difficult, but man is it tedious. These sorting hat worksheets repeat the same five questions over and over and over again. Despite what you might have read about this course on Reddit, attendance for Anat's section is mandatory. Do NOT show up late to class or you will be punished by not being allowed onto the Zoom call. Doesn't sound so bad until you realize you have to be on the Zoom call to complete many assignments.

Anat Szendro Sevilla
INST104

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
03/12/2025

Very disorganized and confusing professor. Her instructions never make sense and only confuses students more when they ask questions.

Elia Shahbazi
INST104

Expecting a W
Anonymous
01/07/2025

Mandatory attendance on a three-hour class that primarily consists of the professor's stream of consciousness, and you lose points for not having other people in your group show up. The content is moderately interesting, and it's obvious that he has a lot of very interesting ideas and stories to tell, but wow if the class is not a test in your own patience.

Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/17/2024

I loved taking 104 with her! Clearly cares about the subject she is teaching. Gives sooo many extra credit opportunities and many students including myself ended with grades >100. If the class is taught in person, you will have to actually go to class because of the in-class activities that count for participation (in my Monday-Wednesday class, they were almost always on Wednesday). She summarizes all of the readings on her slides so you don't have to actually do them for the activities. She also rarely ever kept us for more than 40 minutes (in our 1 hr 15 min lecture) which was nice.

Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz
INST104

Anonymous
12/17/2024

Makes her class very easy and forgiving. Class has occasional in-class activities. Lectures are often pretty slow, and homework can be a bit tedious, but the class is very fair and manageable, and Marilyn is a good professor if available.

Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz
INST104

Anonymous
12/13/2024

Professor Marilyn Iriate Santacruz is a really nice person; however, the course had a bit of busy work (about 2-3 assignments due every week). There were 3 projects throughout the course include a video about good design, poster, and group project video. I went to her office hours to get feedback about my poster project, and she was very helpful! I got a 100% on the poster project. Cons: -You need to attend class on Wednesdays because there are group and participation activities. -The lectures were boring and nobody really paid attention. -Some of the Professor's instructions were unclear and confusing.

Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/12/2024

Very nice professor. You can tell that she is enthusiastic about her work and teaching others. The coursework is pretty bland, but easy to complete quickly.

Francesca Polito
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/04/2024

Not much to say other than easy A and very kind professor. Took the zoom version of this class but it ended up being completely async. Course was interesting if you wanted to interact with the material, but you could get away without reading or watching a single thing. The work was easier than middle school content, no more than a simple discussion post a week. Probably the best gen ed class out there.

Francesca Polito
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/28/2024

Class is asynchronous after the first meeting. Super easy class. Some weeks, she is very understanding of our workloads and doesn't give us an assignment. I'd say this is easier than ENES140/210 if you take this with Francesca or Katie Shilton.

Francesca Polito
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/30/2024

Kind, very reasonable & lenient, so understanding. I’d highly recommend taking this course! The professor is incredibly helpful & doesn’t count attendance as a grade. Most grades come from discussion responses. I loved this course (for context, I took it online. Not sure what it’s like in person).

Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/23/2024

Though the course work is manageable, professor Marilyn Iriarte is probably my least favorite professor I have had at UMD so far. If you have the chance, take the online version of this class. I made the mistake of taking the in-person version of this class and have regretted it all semester.

Katie Shilton
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/02/2024

This class was entirely online and the zooms were optional. I didn't go to class once and it didn't matter at all. Everything is posted at the beginning of the year so you can go at your own pace basically. I would recommend taking this easy A. Only annoying thing is the final project is a group project with 4 people I have never met and never respond when I message them.

Marilyn Iriarte Santacruz
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/06/2023

She is so nice and wants you to succeed

Katie Shilton
INST104

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/04/2023

take this for gpa boost and credit !!!!online class 3 credit meet once a week(have recoding upload), but i have never went to zoom or watch the recordings, I got A+. workload is easy, she's so nice, no penalty on late work at all.

Katie Shilton
INST104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/30/2023

TAKE THIS CLASS!!!!! I took it online and probably spent about 10 minutes a week on it. Such an easy A and I'm so glad I took it. All of the assignments are easy, Professor Shilton is the nicest person in the world and the assignments were actually enjoyable and fun. There is a group project for the final but it's easy. You have to create a google slides presentation then record yourself reading the slide. It honestly took my group probably an hour total to do the entire thing. Best class in the world.

Katie Shilton
INST104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/13/2023

A great professor who cares more about passing on knowledge than assigning you a grade. You learn a lot more in classes like these.

Katie Shilton
INST104

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/07/2023

PLEASE TAKE THIS COURSE! It might be daunting to see a three-hour class session window, but these class sessions are completely optional, and I didn't even need to attend one to get an A in this class. Professor Shilton is super helpful if you have any questions, and the assignments throughout the semester are just 2-3 small canvas assignments a week. In addition, there are three projects, all of which are super easy too. These assignments are almost always graded extremely fairly(usually full credit). Overall, I highly recommend this class to anyone needing these gen-ed credits or requiring a very easy A.

Reviews for INST104