KNES285 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Michael Friedman KNES285 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/17/2024	I thought Friedman was a very good lecturer but this class has way too much work. I thought this class would be fun but it has many writing assignments with TAs that don't seem to know how to grade.
Tori Justin KNES285 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/17/2024	I had Tori as a TA and she is a very harsh grader. She also told my class that she wasn't sure why women wanted rights. She has some very nonsensical views that should not be shared with the class.
Michael Friedman KNES285 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2024	I definitely, would recommend this class for filling a Gen ed requirement. As a non-KNES major, I took this class without taking a kinesiology class before and had no problems. The structure of the class was very manageable with two lectures a week and a discussion once a week. There were short, in-class lecture questions from time to time, but you could get away with not attending if you emailed the TA prior. Other than the open-note weekly quizzes based on lectures, the only other graded assignments were the "CHILS" which were mini-papers asking you to expand upon a certain detail of one of the topics discussed in class. There were four of these which basically acted as the backbone of your final paper meaning the final paper is hardly a taxing feat if you work diligently on the CHILS. The TAs do grade the CHILS semi-harshly, but if you follow the extensive feedback they give, it makes acing the final paper a breeze. Overall 10/10 class.
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/14/2024	Liiisssten. Love Dr. Jette, 5/5 professor!! Great style of teaching, always willing to help bc SHE CARES, gives GREAT FEEDBACK on papers & listens to student criticism- however, overall class experience is 3/5. While the content is interesting & lectures enjoyable... the workload is very time consuming so plan accordingly- stressed me out more than Biomechanics. The weekly quizzes are not hard. It's literally open note so pull up the lecture slides while taking the quiz- answers are in the slides. The only thing that won’t be is the 2 assigned articles you’re given but majority of the time she talks about em in class so if ya pay attention can make an educated guess. Got a 100% on almost all. As far as the CHIL’s they are graded harsh & ur grade depends on who you get as a TA. Won't say names but depending on ur TA all I can do is pray for you… go on bow ya head. Mine was mostly unhelpful, made me cry/feel stupid, and when asked why something was wrong usually gave an abstract answer that didn’t make sense. Spoken with multiple people who all (which is crazzzy) verbatim said “I feel like no matter what I do it won’t be good enough”- that's a problem. So GO TO DR. JETTE FOR THE CHILS. You have 4 CHILS & use them to build your final paper. Go over the content/main points you want to discuss & make sure you understand WHAT you should be talking about (a lot of people get points off bc they aren’t answering the prompts correctly). Go over that outline with Dr. Jette or your TA (if they’re good), draft your paper, send it to ur TA to receive feedback, edit the paper accordingly, then if you're a religious person… pray. If you're still unhappy with the grade dispute it & Dr. Jette will grade it herself. If all else fails ur given 2 extra credit opportunities, each for a chance to raise your grade by 1%. Best advice I got, goodluck!
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/23/2023	Dr. Jette is very accommodating and kind professor. Her lectures can be a little slow sometimes, but she does her best to keep them interesting. The quizzes are usually very easy as long as you at least skim over the assigned readings. The CHIL’s are very heavy on your grade and not every TA grades the same, as some are extremely harsh on grading, however if you bring this up to her she is more than willing to go over grading and fix it. Certain days there are also mandatory attendance, however the requirements to fulfill attendance are not bad at all.
Junbin Yang KNES285 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/12/2023	Big no. I had to fight this TA on every grade he gave me. I met with the professor constantly and she was able to correct my grade on a majority of my assignments. The professor and I had to work together to figure out what exactly he wanted from me, and he often refused the concepts she prompted me with. His feedback is unhelpful. Office hours are kinda useless. I went with an annotated document with specific questions about my analysis (he claimed it was never thorough enough) and he refused to read any portion of my paper, insisting I read it to him or come with "more specific questions". He emphasizes "quality over quantity" but he clearly doesn't understand what quality is. I understand that this is his first time being a TA for a lecture course (vs an activity course), but this TA does not know how to engage with students, communicate in coherent and full sentences in response to students questions without reading from a powerpoint slide, and is not easily approachable. He stated at the beginning of the year that he's "afraid of angry emails so please don't send them." I think he lacks confidence in his abilities, which I do sympathize with and recognize that he's putting himself out there, however he is detrimental to students performance and understanding of the course. I believe if i had a different TA I wouldn't have had to dedicate so much time to this course, and my grade would be higher.
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/06/2023	This class was manageable, but your grade ultimately depends on your TA because they are the ones grading all your written work. There were 4 CHIL assignments which were like essays, but they all helped outline your final paper which made it very simple at the end of the semester. However the CHILs were a big percentage of our grades and unless you write at the graduate level, it is very hard to receive an A on them. We also had weekly 8-point quizzes which were not hard but the questions were also not clear. Very hard to get 100% on them also. Dr.Jette herself was very understanding and communicative, but this class is more difficult than it should be. No final exam, so yay.
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/01/2023	Professor Jette is a very kind professor and tries to make the material engaging but the class is really boring. The lectures although only 50 minutes seem to drag on forever. Attendance is semi-mandatory as she uses point solutions but you drop your lowest two and she doesn't do it every class. Overall weekly most of the time the only assignment is a 25 minute, 8 question, open note quiz so the workload isn't too bad. However some assignments near the end of the semester are incredibly time consuming. There is no final exam but the final paper is worth 30% of your grade. The good thing is that you kind of build up to it over the semester through four different CHILs but the feedback that you get is practically non existent. The TA's grade very harshly and don't elaborate on why you got off points. Jette wasn't a terrible professor but I would recommend another class if you can help it. Another point to add is that she offered two extra credit opportunities, each allowing for the potential of a one percent grade increase. You are also graded on discussion section participation which also in my opinion was graded harshly.
Tori Justin KNES285 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/01/2023	Not a fun class. Harsh grader on papers.
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/28/2023	This class is pretty fair overall. The weekly quizzes are completely based on the lecture slides and assigned readings and are totally fair, anyone that says they're too hard doesn't pay attention in class because I've gotten 8/8 points on almost every single one and it is not that difficult considering you can use your notes during the quiz! There is one quiz each week and a bunch of papers. My TA graded the papers very harshly and was extremely unhelpful in our discussion section and left everyone confused. Dr. Jette herself is very helpful, passionate about the topic, and approachable, but the TA's are the one who grade the written assignments so most of the time I went to him, even though he is not very helpful. It is a bit annoying considering it is a core class and has a good amount of work, but it is manageable. I have been sitting between an A- and an A for a while because of the written assignments.
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 10/18/2023	weekly quiz were hard, the CHIL papers were graded very stricly for no reason. and the final paper is a guaranteed two letter grade drop
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting a B- Anonymous 10/18/2023	This class is a joke. It is only a level 200 class but feels like a graduate class. The quizzes are only doable if you read through every single document she posts and take detailed notes from lecture, if not you're guaranteed a 70% on every quiz. The TA's grade the CHILs like its a graduate paper. Getting an A is close to impossible. They take points off for just about no reason, and always has something to pick at. A minor citation error is not deep enough to lose a whole letter grade on. The final paper is also graded really harsh. I'm convinced they just rush through everyone's paper and assign grades based on how they feel. If there are better options for your gen ed, take those. stay away from this, unless you're a knes major then good luck
Michael Friedman KNES285 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/21/2023	I loved the structure of the class. We had weekly assigned quizzes or assignments (based on the week's lec), discussions, two midterm papers (~1,600 words), and a final paper (~2,000 words). Go to class and pay attention and you'll have a pretty strong foundation. He'll have "turning points" which are sort of, graded, low stake in-class quizzes (like clickers) to make sure people continue to attend lectures. The TAs are also super friendly and helpful at guiding you through the general structure of the class, and attendance is mandatory, though you get 1 freebie to use whenever, so you probably wouldn't want to skip discussion. Overall, I would say if you don't struggle with writing, are willing to attend at least 85% of lec and discussion, and want a thought-provoking class, this class is for you.
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/09/2023	Very enjoyable lectures. She posts weekly quizzes and they're relatively easy, mainly everything on the lecture slides and assigned readings that you can skim through. The CHILs were also very helpful towards the two summative evaluations throughout the semester. She incorporates Turning Point for attendance points and is a very sweet professor that is passionate about what she's teaching!
Michael Friedman KNES285 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/08/2023	This professor single-handedly made me want to switch my major. Very boring, reads off slides, and talks way to fast. Avoid taking him if possible.
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/07/2023	I enjoyed her lectures, very engaging and loved that she posted the slides beforehand. Can get a bit sidetracked but is very passionate about the topics of this course. The TA's were a bit strict but go to office hours and you will be fine. Overall, pretty easy class and the workload was very reasonable- weekly quiz (open-note with 25 minutes), CHILS almost every week (Took 15 minutes at the very most but usually took 5-10 minutes), two Summative Evaluations (at most 2000 words), and the final which you could incorporate one of the SE's. She also offered two extra credit opportunities which could raise you a total of 2% added to your overall grade.
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2022	She is an engaging lecturer. There are ~10 quizzes over the semester, 7 "CHILs" that are short writing assignments that help you write the 2 "SEs". These are the major graded assignments, between 1200-1800 words each about a historical topic of you choice from the modules. I found this course really interesting and most of the grading to be fair, although the TAs can be a bit harsh. Make sure you go to office hours for help writing your theses.
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2022	Dr. Jette is such a sweet professor. Sometimes lectures can be a lot as she tends to get side tracked on certain topics, but it’s all still very interesting. The online quizzes are so easy and directly from her lectures. The papers are kind of challenging (especially the final) but you can ask her tons of questions and she’ll help! Overall great professor and would recommend her!
Tori Justin KNES285 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/12/2022	She just stands there reading the lecture from her computer. She gives three big papers and grades them tough
Tori Justin KNES285 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/11/2022	You'd expect it to be a fun and easy A. It's not. Taught in ‘woke’ POV, sometimes ridiculous. Lectures are her reading a prewritten script. Goes so fast, won't be able to get it all down. Weekly online quizzes, drops worst grade. Few small assignments (called CHILS's), graded w/o feedback. Three big papers, graded harshly and minimal feedback. Do not recommend.
Shannon Jette KNES285 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/17/2022	Very interesting and helpful professor! She does a fantastic job outlining what is expected in the course and lectures are very intuitive. Weekly quizzes are easy and papers are super simple. Would love to take a course she teaches again!

Michael Friedman
KNES285

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/17/2024

I thought Friedman was a very good lecturer but this class has way too much work. I thought this class would be fun but it has many writing assignments with TAs that don't seem to know how to grade.

Tori Justin
KNES285

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/17/2024

I had Tori as a TA and she is a very harsh grader. She also told my class that she wasn't sure why women wanted rights. She has some very nonsensical views that should not be shared with the class.

Michael Friedman
KNES285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/17/2024

I definitely, would recommend this class for filling a Gen ed requirement. As a non-KNES major, I took this class without taking a kinesiology class before and had no problems. The structure of the class was very manageable with two lectures a week and a discussion once a week. There were short, in-class lecture questions from time to time, but you could get away with not attending if you emailed the TA prior. Other than the open-note weekly quizzes based on lectures, the only other graded assignments were the "CHILS" which were mini-papers asking you to expand upon a certain detail of one of the topics discussed in class. There were four of these which basically acted as the backbone of your final paper meaning the final paper is hardly a taxing feat if you work diligently on the CHILS. The TAs do grade the CHILS semi-harshly, but if you follow the extensive feedback they give, it makes acing the final paper a breeze. Overall 10/10 class.

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/14/2024

Liiisssten. Love Dr. Jette, 5/5 professor!! Great style of teaching, always willing to help bc SHE CARES, gives GREAT FEEDBACK on papers & listens to student criticism- however, overall class experience is 3/5. While the content is interesting & lectures enjoyable... the workload is very time consuming so plan accordingly- stressed me out more than Biomechanics. The weekly quizzes are not hard. It's literally open note so pull up the lecture slides while taking the quiz- answers are in the slides. The only thing that won’t be is the 2 assigned articles you’re given but majority of the time she talks about em in class so if ya pay attention can make an educated guess. Got a 100% on almost all. As far as the CHIL’s they are graded harsh & ur grade depends on who you get as a TA. Won't say names but depending on ur TA all I can do is pray for you… go on bow ya head. Mine was mostly unhelpful, made me cry/feel stupid, and when asked why something was wrong usually gave an abstract answer that didn’t make sense. Spoken with multiple people who all (which is crazzzy) verbatim said “I feel like no matter what I do it won’t be good enough”- that's a problem. So GO TO DR. JETTE FOR THE CHILS. You have 4 CHILS & use them to build your final paper. Go over the content/main points you want to discuss & make sure you understand WHAT you should be talking about (a lot of people get points off bc they aren’t answering the prompts correctly). Go over that outline with Dr. Jette or your TA (if they’re good), draft your paper, send it to ur TA to receive feedback, edit the paper accordingly, then if you're a religious person… pray. If you're still unhappy with the grade dispute it & Dr. Jette will grade it herself. If all else fails ur given 2 extra credit opportunities, each for a chance to raise your grade by 1%. Best advice I got, goodluck!

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/23/2023

Dr. Jette is very accommodating and kind professor. Her lectures can be a little slow sometimes, but she does her best to keep them interesting. The quizzes are usually very easy as long as you at least skim over the assigned readings. The CHIL’s are very heavy on your grade and not every TA grades the same, as some are extremely harsh on grading, however if you bring this up to her she is more than willing to go over grading and fix it. Certain days there are also mandatory attendance, however the requirements to fulfill attendance are not bad at all.

Junbin Yang
KNES285

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/12/2023

Big no. I had to fight this TA on every grade he gave me. I met with the professor constantly and she was able to correct my grade on a majority of my assignments. The professor and I had to work together to figure out what exactly he wanted from me, and he often refused the concepts she prompted me with. His feedback is unhelpful. Office hours are kinda useless. I went with an annotated document with specific questions about my analysis (he claimed it was never thorough enough) and he refused to read any portion of my paper, insisting I read it to him or come with "more specific questions". He emphasizes "quality over quantity" but he clearly doesn't understand what quality is. I understand that this is his first time being a TA for a lecture course (vs an activity course), but this TA does not know how to engage with students, communicate in coherent and full sentences in response to students questions without reading from a powerpoint slide, and is not easily approachable. He stated at the beginning of the year that he's "afraid of angry emails so please don't send them." I think he lacks confidence in his abilities, which I do sympathize with and recognize that he's putting himself out there, however he is detrimental to students performance and understanding of the course. I believe if i had a different TA I wouldn't have had to dedicate so much time to this course, and my grade would be higher.

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/06/2023

This class was manageable, but your grade ultimately depends on your TA because they are the ones grading all your written work. There were 4 CHIL assignments which were like essays, but they all helped outline your final paper which made it very simple at the end of the semester. However the CHILs were a big percentage of our grades and unless you write at the graduate level, it is very hard to receive an A on them. We also had weekly 8-point quizzes which were not hard but the questions were also not clear. Very hard to get 100% on them also. Dr.Jette herself was very understanding and communicative, but this class is more difficult than it should be. No final exam, so yay.

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/01/2023

Professor Jette is a very kind professor and tries to make the material engaging but the class is really boring. The lectures although only 50 minutes seem to drag on forever. Attendance is semi-mandatory as she uses point solutions but you drop your lowest two and she doesn't do it every class. Overall weekly most of the time the only assignment is a 25 minute, 8 question, open note quiz so the workload isn't too bad. However some assignments near the end of the semester are incredibly time consuming. There is no final exam but the final paper is worth 30% of your grade. The good thing is that you kind of build up to it over the semester through four different CHILs but the feedback that you get is practically non existent. The TA's grade very harshly and don't elaborate on why you got off points. Jette wasn't a terrible professor but I would recommend another class if you can help it. Another point to add is that she offered two extra credit opportunities, each allowing for the potential of a one percent grade increase. You are also graded on discussion section participation which also in my opinion was graded harshly.

Tori Justin
KNES285

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/01/2023

Not a fun class. Harsh grader on papers.

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/28/2023

This class is pretty fair overall. The weekly quizzes are completely based on the lecture slides and assigned readings and are totally fair, anyone that says they're too hard doesn't pay attention in class because I've gotten 8/8 points on almost every single one and it is not that difficult considering you can use your notes during the quiz! There is one quiz each week and a bunch of papers. My TA graded the papers very harshly and was extremely unhelpful in our discussion section and left everyone confused. Dr. Jette herself is very helpful, passionate about the topic, and approachable, but the TA's are the one who grade the written assignments so most of the time I went to him, even though he is not very helpful. It is a bit annoying considering it is a core class and has a good amount of work, but it is manageable. I have been sitting between an A- and an A for a while because of the written assignments.

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
10/18/2023

weekly quiz were hard, the CHIL papers were graded very stricly for no reason. and the final paper is a guaranteed two letter grade drop

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
10/18/2023

This class is a joke. It is only a level 200 class but feels like a graduate class. The quizzes are only doable if you read through every single document she posts and take detailed notes from lecture, if not you're guaranteed a 70% on every quiz. The TA's grade the CHILs like its a graduate paper. Getting an A is close to impossible. They take points off for just about no reason, and always has something to pick at. A minor citation error is not deep enough to lose a whole letter grade on. The final paper is also graded really harsh. I'm convinced they just rush through everyone's paper and assign grades based on how they feel. If there are better options for your gen ed, take those. stay away from this, unless you're a knes major then good luck

Michael Friedman
KNES285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/21/2023

I loved the structure of the class. We had weekly assigned quizzes or assignments (based on the week's lec), discussions, two midterm papers (~1,600 words), and a final paper (~2,000 words). Go to class and pay attention and you'll have a pretty strong foundation. He'll have "turning points" which are sort of, graded, low stake in-class quizzes (like clickers) to make sure people continue to attend lectures. The TAs are also super friendly and helpful at guiding you through the general structure of the class, and attendance is mandatory, though you get 1 freebie to use whenever, so you probably wouldn't want to skip discussion. Overall, I would say if you don't struggle with writing, are willing to attend at least 85% of lec and discussion, and want a thought-provoking class, this class is for you.

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/09/2023

Very enjoyable lectures. She posts weekly quizzes and they're relatively easy, mainly everything on the lecture slides and assigned readings that you can skim through. The CHILs were also very helpful towards the two summative evaluations throughout the semester. She incorporates Turning Point for attendance points and is a very sweet professor that is passionate about what she's teaching!

Michael Friedman
KNES285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/08/2023

This professor single-handedly made me want to switch my major. Very boring, reads off slides, and talks way to fast. Avoid taking him if possible.

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/07/2023

I enjoyed her lectures, very engaging and loved that she posted the slides beforehand. Can get a bit sidetracked but is very passionate about the topics of this course. The TA's were a bit strict but go to office hours and you will be fine. Overall, pretty easy class and the workload was very reasonable- weekly quiz (open-note with 25 minutes), CHILS almost every week (Took 15 minutes at the very most but usually took 5-10 minutes), two Summative Evaluations (at most 2000 words), and the final which you could incorporate one of the SE's. She also offered two extra credit opportunities which could raise you a total of 2% added to your overall grade.

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/24/2022

She is an engaging lecturer. There are ~10 quizzes over the semester, 7 "CHILs" that are short writing assignments that help you write the 2 "SEs". These are the major graded assignments, between 1200-1800 words each about a historical topic of you choice from the modules. I found this course really interesting and most of the grading to be fair, although the TAs can be a bit harsh. Make sure you go to office hours for help writing your theses.

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/14/2022

Dr. Jette is such a sweet professor. Sometimes lectures can be a lot as she tends to get side tracked on certain topics, but it’s all still very interesting. The online quizzes are so easy and directly from her lectures. The papers are kind of challenging (especially the final) but you can ask her tons of questions and she’ll help! Overall great professor and would recommend her!

Tori Justin
KNES285

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/12/2022

She just stands there reading the lecture from her computer. She gives three big papers and grades them tough

Tori Justin
KNES285

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/11/2022

You'd expect it to be a fun and easy A. It's not. Taught in ‘woke’ POV, sometimes ridiculous. Lectures are her reading a prewritten script. Goes so fast, won't be able to get it all down. Weekly online quizzes, drops worst grade. Few small assignments (called CHILS's), graded w/o feedback. Three big papers, graded harshly and minimal feedback. Do not recommend.

Shannon Jette
KNES285

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/17/2022

Very interesting and helpful professor! She does a fantastic job outlining what is expected in the course and lectures are very intuitive. Weekly quizzes are easy and papers are super simple. Would love to take a course she teaches again!

Reviews for KNES285