JOUR282 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Wei-Ping Li JOUR282 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2025	This is the best general education course at UMD. Ok, this course is quite difficult to get into, for good reason. Fantastic reason, even. All of the class is online and asynchronous, and every week, there's a module to read and a quiz/discussion post. The quizzes are extremely easy to find answers to on the websites, and she even lets you know which source a question is based on. The discussion is around a question... and honestly? Some of the questions are fascinating. Dr. Li puts significant effort into this class as a whole, and it all shows in everything she does. Every topic covered in this class is fascinating. It is extremely easy to skip everything when you read a module, but I recommend you actually read the Sways, cause honestly, everything feels like stuff that most classes at UMD wouldn't teach. It's kind of similar to stuff I would personally look up on my own, just cause social media is such an interesting topic to look at. Nothing is boring, and it's all extremely relevant to the modern era. The two "midterms" are very interesting: one is a more traditional position paper about social media, while the second was a pretty interesting assignment about fact-checking pieces of misinformation. The fact-checking quiz is pretty unique and super open-ended, and actually gets us to use what we learned from the Sways in practice, which is something I usually can't say for most classes. She said it was a fun midterm at the start of the semester... and honestly, I kind of agree! The position paper and midterms were graded fairly leniently overall, and unlike some other classes, I felt like she really read and thought about what we wrote. The final is an open-ended podcast, website, or video on some topic of social media. Professor Li was extremely helpful in advising on our topic and genuinely considered the issues and ramifications of it all. She was also extremely helpful when emailing her for feedback on changes, and overall, she's very easy to get in touch with to ask anything about. I need to circle back on just the effort she puts into this class. She comments on the points we make in discussion, even when it's easy just to check people off for doing it. She takes feedback from us and writes long and detailed weekly announcements talking about the work due, the comments we talked about in discussions, and some questions we had ourselves. The modules are overall written well, and despite relying on external sources, they work well enough to make their presence feel justified and normal. Despite this class being limited in size to only 30-35 people, she uses that small size to give everyone genuine time and deeply considers her students. This class would normally have issues being online with the professor feeling like words on a screen, but she injects enough personality into her messages that it somehow mitigates some of this issue. If you can get into JOUR282 with Professor Li, please take it. It is honestly one of the best general education courses you can take. And if you do, put in some effort; this class is not very time-intensive, and I believe you will have fun if you do decide to put the time in.
Wei-Ping Li JOUR282 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/08/2025	This is the easiest class I have ever taken. I took the section that was fully online, which was so convenient. There were not many assignments just a discussion post and quiz each week. The quiz answers came straight from the notes. The midterm was an easy essay, and the final was making a podcast, website, or video. Dr. Li is a very easy grader and is very passionate about the topics we discuss during this class. The topics we covered were interesting, and you did not have to read much to complete the assignments and get a good grade. I would recommend this class to anyone who needs an easy gen ed!!
Wei-Ping Li JOUR282 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/10/2024	Great class that is easy but also interesting. Each week you have a quiz (open note - just find answers in the texts) and discussion prompt. Took probably an hour max per week. Two midterms, but again not very difficult and didn't take long. There was also a final, basically creating a presentation, which took a bit longer but was not bad at all. She also makes it due before reading day so you don't have to do work when you are studying for finals. Dr. Li is also the sweetest teacher and you can tell she really cares about your learning. This a great class to take to fill requirements because it is also actually interesting and doesn't just feel like a boring filler class about a topic you don't care about. Highly recommend (for any major) that you should 100% take this class for gen eds if you can.
Sarah Oates JOUR282 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/05/2024	The course was well-managed and straightforward. It was exactly what I needed out of an asynch gened class. She is extremely kind and communicative and always responsive and accommodating. Could not ask for better!
Sarah Oates JOUR282 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/31/2023	Really sweet Professor, everything is asynchronous and done on your own time. Super easy weekly quizzes and discussion posts. The only thing to worry about are the two exam essays and the research project, but they are not graded as harshly. I wanted to clarify some things occasionally, and she always responded as quickly as possible and even met with me a few times on Zoom. This is one of the few completely asynchronous classes you'll have the option to take in UMD, and it lifts such a big weight off of your shoulders not having to show up to a useless lecture! Strongly recommend this class, super interesting topic that is applicable to contemporary times as well.
Sarah Oates JOUR282 Anonymous 12/23/2023	I don't think her ratings should be as high as they are. The quizzes were frankly annoying to deal with and I noticed a good number of errors. The essays and the discussions had unnecessarily high word counts that had me thinking of how to fill in the word count requirements rather than concisely making my points. Grading seemed fairly inconsistent. There are so many readings, but you can control+F through them. Honestly, there's no way to truly read all of the stuff she requires because there's frankly just an insane amount. She's very annoying about turning in stuff late, even if you ask for an extension in advance and you have a valid reason. She keeps responding by talking about equity, but it's a 200 level gen ed class. It's really not that deep. Not the worst class to take, but I would look at secondary options if you can.
Sarah Oates JOUR282 Expecting a B+ sch1ar 12/14/2023	I don't have my final grade as my final paper hasn't been graded, but I enjoyed this class! It was completely online, and you don't have to join a zoom which was great since I could do it on my own time. A module consisted of a discussion & quiz each week which is manageable. I like the class, would definitely recommend to others!
Sarah Oates JOUR282 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/08/2023	If you are a freshman or a transfer student who can take this class, PLEASE do. I mean, where do I start? To put it plainly, SAO is the best professor I've had in a very long time. She empathizes with her students so well and ensures we can contact her with any need. The course material consists of weekly quizzes and discussion posts that are meant to be easy and require maybe 1-2 hours per week. Three papers to write throughout the semester, which don't take long either. Even though this class is async, I felt extremely connected with SAO, honestly more than my other professors. I cannot stress how amazing she is and how fun this class was. I am truly going to miss her :(
Dinfin Mulupi JOUR282 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/03/2023	great teacher! you will have to do quite a bit of writing in this class but the prof is super nice and helpful and will offer to read your midterm/paper/final essays and give you feedback before submitting. her class was genuinely interesting and i definitely recommend if you're looking for a random fun gen ed.
Sarah Oates JOUR282 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/20/2023	Class is relatively easy, just weekly discussion posts and quizzes (open-note). You also have one project/research paper and two written take-home tests. Easy to get an A in this course. Professor Oates is also very understanding and quick to respond to emails.
Sarah Oates JOUR282 Expecting an A Anonymous_Entity 04/06/2023	Not gonna lie, I was nervous about the coursework of this class considering that it is comprised of weekly quizzes, discussions, 2 midterms, and a research paper but it turned out to be manageable. She is very responsive to emails and is quick to fix minor grading errors such as when points should not been taken off. The class itself is completely asynchronous so you don't have to worry about scheduling which is a HUGE W. Overall, I highly recommend this class for gen ed as it is primarily about the effort without the time stress unlike many other courses.
Robin Sundaramoorthy JOUR282 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/26/2022	Prof Sundaramoorthy puts a lot of effort into the class and genuinely cares about her students. Pretty easy A as well.
Denitsa Yotova JOUR282 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/28/2022	This winter course was completely online and asynchronous. The daily readings were easy to read through quickly, and the quizzes were simple since they were open note. If you're motivated, you could finish an entire week's module in a day. My only issue was that a large part of our grade was a final 5 person group paper. If you have a good group you'll be fine. However, all of my group mates were terribly hard to get a hold of. I had to message them many times and waited days for responses. Professor Yotova was quick to reply to my emails but was no help in getting my group to respond, nor was I able to change groups. 2/5 of my group members were flying/traveling across the globe during the final couple days of the class (and thus did no work during that time), and the other 2/5 group members contributed very little. I ended up writing almost the entire paper, and everyone in my group received the same grade. I got an A+ in the class, but the last week of my winter break was completely ruined since I had to do the project by myself.
Sarah Oates JOUR282 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/21/2022	Extremely knowledgeable prof and extremely straightforward course. Three writing assignments, weekly discussion posts, weekly quizzes (easy control-f quizzes), and weekly readings. Took less than an hour a week except for the weeks of the papers. The papers were straightforward and graded fairly. Dr. Oates is one of the first profs where I feel like they really want me to succeed. An excellent course, very interesting too!
Sarah Oates JOUR282 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/16/2022	Although everything was asynchronous, there still was a good setting she placed when teaching this class. The class is not bad at all, and she (or the TAs) did not grade my papers strictly so that was a huge plus. Take if you can, it was interesting.
Sarah Oates JOUR282 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/31/2021	I loved this professor and she was really accommodating! The weekly assignments are not hard and the class was very interesting.
Denitsa Yotova JOUR282 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 08/27/2021	As with JOUR150, this summer class was completely online with no Zoom meetings. The quizzes were relatively easy as everything was open note, and the writing responses really made me think about what I've learned. The Sway presentations were well-put together and really helped me learn. I was also able to message the professor regarding some issues on a few occasions and she promptly relieved my concerns.
Sarah Oates JOUR282 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/11/2021	Great professor and very nice! Easy online class that was also very informative about current events worldwide through social media. There were a couple of readings and essays, but they weren't the worst. I highly recommend taking this class.

Wei-Ping Li
JOUR282

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/18/2025

This is the best general education course at UMD. Ok, this course is quite difficult to get into, for good reason. Fantastic reason, even. All of the class is online and asynchronous, and every week, there's a module to read and a quiz/discussion post. The quizzes are extremely easy to find answers to on the websites, and she even lets you know which source a question is based on. The discussion is around a question... and honestly? Some of the questions are fascinating. Dr. Li puts significant effort into this class as a whole, and it all shows in everything she does. Every topic covered in this class is fascinating. It is extremely easy to skip everything when you read a module, but I recommend you actually read the Sways, cause honestly, everything feels like stuff that most classes at UMD wouldn't teach. It's kind of similar to stuff I would personally look up on my own, just cause social media is such an interesting topic to look at. Nothing is boring, and it's all extremely relevant to the modern era. The two "midterms" are very interesting: one is a more traditional position paper about social media, while the second was a pretty interesting assignment about fact-checking pieces of misinformation. The fact-checking quiz is pretty unique and super open-ended, and actually gets us to use what we learned from the Sways in practice, which is something I usually can't say for most classes. She said it was a fun midterm at the start of the semester... and honestly, I kind of agree! The position paper and midterms were graded fairly leniently overall, and unlike some other classes, I felt like she really read and thought about what we wrote. The final is an open-ended podcast, website, or video on some topic of social media. Professor Li was extremely helpful in advising on our topic and genuinely considered the issues and ramifications of it all. She was also extremely helpful when emailing her for feedback on changes, and overall, she's very easy to get in touch with to ask anything about. I need to circle back on just the effort she puts into this class. She comments on the points we make in discussion, even when it's easy just to check people off for doing it. She takes feedback from us and writes long and detailed weekly announcements talking about the work due, the comments we talked about in discussions, and some questions we had ourselves. The modules are overall written well, and despite relying on external sources, they work well enough to make their presence feel justified and normal. Despite this class being limited in size to only 30-35 people, she uses that small size to give everyone genuine time and deeply considers her students. This class would normally have issues being online with the professor feeling like words on a screen, but she injects enough personality into her messages that it somehow mitigates some of this issue. If you can get into JOUR282 with Professor Li, please take it. It is honestly one of the best general education courses you can take. And if you do, put in some effort; this class is not very time-intensive, and I believe you will have fun if you do decide to put the time in.

Wei-Ping Li
JOUR282

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/08/2025

This is the easiest class I have ever taken. I took the section that was fully online, which was so convenient. There were not many assignments just a discussion post and quiz each week. The quiz answers came straight from the notes. The midterm was an easy essay, and the final was making a podcast, website, or video. Dr. Li is a very easy grader and is very passionate about the topics we discuss during this class. The topics we covered were interesting, and you did not have to read much to complete the assignments and get a good grade. I would recommend this class to anyone who needs an easy gen ed!!

Wei-Ping Li
JOUR282

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/10/2024

Great class that is easy but also interesting. Each week you have a quiz (open note - just find answers in the texts) and discussion prompt. Took probably an hour max per week. Two midterms, but again not very difficult and didn't take long. There was also a final, basically creating a presentation, which took a bit longer but was not bad at all. She also makes it due before reading day so you don't have to do work when you are studying for finals. Dr. Li is also the sweetest teacher and you can tell she really cares about your learning. This a great class to take to fill requirements because it is also actually interesting and doesn't just feel like a boring filler class about a topic you don't care about. Highly recommend (for any major) that you should 100% take this class for gen eds if you can.

Sarah Oates
JOUR282

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/05/2024

The course was well-managed and straightforward. It was exactly what I needed out of an asynch gened class. She is extremely kind and communicative and always responsive and accommodating. Could not ask for better!

Sarah Oates
JOUR282

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/31/2023

Really sweet Professor, everything is asynchronous and done on your own time. Super easy weekly quizzes and discussion posts. The only thing to worry about are the two exam essays and the research project, but they are not graded as harshly. I wanted to clarify some things occasionally, and she always responded as quickly as possible and even met with me a few times on Zoom. This is one of the few completely asynchronous classes you'll have the option to take in UMD, and it lifts such a big weight off of your shoulders not having to show up to a useless lecture! Strongly recommend this class, super interesting topic that is applicable to contemporary times as well.

Sarah Oates
JOUR282

Anonymous
12/23/2023

I don't think her ratings should be as high as they are. The quizzes were frankly annoying to deal with and I noticed a good number of errors. The essays and the discussions had unnecessarily high word counts that had me thinking of how to fill in the word count requirements rather than concisely making my points. Grading seemed fairly inconsistent. There are so many readings, but you can control+F through them. Honestly, there's no way to truly read all of the stuff she requires because there's frankly just an insane amount. She's very annoying about turning in stuff late, even if you ask for an extension in advance and you have a valid reason. She keeps responding by talking about equity, but it's a 200 level gen ed class. It's really not that deep. Not the worst class to take, but I would look at secondary options if you can.

Sarah Oates
JOUR282

Expecting a B+
sch1ar
12/14/2023

I don't have my final grade as my final paper hasn't been graded, but I enjoyed this class! It was completely online, and you don't have to join a zoom which was great since I could do it on my own time. A module consisted of a discussion & quiz each week which is manageable. I like the class, would definitely recommend to others!

Sarah Oates
JOUR282

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/08/2023

If you are a freshman or a transfer student who can take this class, PLEASE do. I mean, where do I start? To put it plainly, SAO is the best professor I've had in a very long time. She empathizes with her students so well and ensures we can contact her with any need. The course material consists of weekly quizzes and discussion posts that are meant to be easy and require maybe 1-2 hours per week. Three papers to write throughout the semester, which don't take long either. Even though this class is async, I felt extremely connected with SAO, honestly more than my other professors. I cannot stress how amazing she is and how fun this class was. I am truly going to miss her :(

Dinfin Mulupi
JOUR282

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/03/2023

great teacher! you will have to do quite a bit of writing in this class but the prof is super nice and helpful and will offer to read your midterm/paper/final essays and give you feedback before submitting. her class was genuinely interesting and i definitely recommend if you're looking for a random fun gen ed.

Sarah Oates
JOUR282

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/20/2023

Class is relatively easy, just weekly discussion posts and quizzes (open-note). You also have one project/research paper and two written take-home tests. Easy to get an A in this course. Professor Oates is also very understanding and quick to respond to emails.

Sarah Oates
JOUR282

Expecting an A
Anonymous_Entity
04/06/2023

Not gonna lie, I was nervous about the coursework of this class considering that it is comprised of weekly quizzes, discussions, 2 midterms, and a research paper but it turned out to be manageable. She is very responsive to emails and is quick to fix minor grading errors such as when points should not been taken off. The class itself is completely asynchronous so you don't have to worry about scheduling which is a HUGE W. Overall, I highly recommend this class for gen ed as it is primarily about the effort without the time stress unlike many other courses.

Robin Sundaramoorthy
JOUR282

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/26/2022

Prof Sundaramoorthy puts a lot of effort into the class and genuinely cares about her students. Pretty easy A as well.

Denitsa Yotova
JOUR282

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/28/2022

This winter course was completely online and asynchronous. The daily readings were easy to read through quickly, and the quizzes were simple since they were open note. If you're motivated, you could finish an entire week's module in a day. My only issue was that a large part of our grade was a final 5 person group paper. If you have a good group you'll be fine. However, all of my group mates were terribly hard to get a hold of. I had to message them many times and waited days for responses. Professor Yotova was quick to reply to my emails but was no help in getting my group to respond, nor was I able to change groups. 2/5 of my group members were flying/traveling across the globe during the final couple days of the class (and thus did no work during that time), and the other 2/5 group members contributed very little. I ended up writing almost the entire paper, and everyone in my group received the same grade. I got an A+ in the class, but the last week of my winter break was completely ruined since I had to do the project by myself.

Sarah Oates
JOUR282

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/21/2022

Extremely knowledgeable prof and extremely straightforward course. Three writing assignments, weekly discussion posts, weekly quizzes (easy control-f quizzes), and weekly readings. Took less than an hour a week except for the weeks of the papers. The papers were straightforward and graded fairly. Dr. Oates is one of the first profs where I feel like they really want me to succeed. An excellent course, very interesting too!

Sarah Oates
JOUR282

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/16/2022

Although everything was asynchronous, there still was a good setting she placed when teaching this class. The class is not bad at all, and she (or the TAs) did not grade my papers strictly so that was a huge plus. Take if you can, it was interesting.

Sarah Oates
JOUR282

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/31/2021

I loved this professor and she was really accommodating! The weekly assignments are not hard and the class was very interesting.

Denitsa Yotova
JOUR282

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
08/27/2021

As with JOUR150, this summer class was completely online with no Zoom meetings. The quizzes were relatively easy as everything was open note, and the writing responses really made me think about what I've learned. The Sway presentations were well-put together and really helped me learn. I was also able to message the professor regarding some issues on a few occasions and she promptly relieved my concerns.

Sarah Oates
JOUR282

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/11/2021

Great professor and very nice! Easy online class that was also very informative about current events worldwide through social media. There were a couple of readings and essays, but they weren't the worst. I highly recommend taking this class.

Reviews for JOUR282