Alexis Lothian

This professor has taught: CMSC115, HDCC106, HDCC208E, HDCC208J, HDCC208Q, HLTH672, HLTH710, HONR219A, LGBT200, LGBT285, SPHL602, SPHL603, WGSS115, WGSS319F, WGSS368, WGSS378, WGSS618, WMST368, WMST488X, WMST498P, WMST601, WMST602, WMST618, WMST619, WMST621, WMST628

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Alexis Lothian LGBT200 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/11/2024	If you're looking for a gen-ed...this is not the one to take. Take your cursor and drag it back to the gen-ed list on Testudo because you're bound to find something else that's better than this. The class started off alright albeit we were thrown into a whirlwind of confusion when we were told that we have to "contract" for our grades, which seemed fine at first but has made no sense even as we near the end of the semester. The amount of "effort" we put into the class means jack because at the end of the day the TAs are still grading what you do subjectively. On that note you kind of have to choose your TA wisely because ours was inconsistent and messed up our grades time and time again. The daily reflections were also kind of a waste especially since lots of them got misplaced and then it took forever for anything to actually get graded. I cannot emphasize how much this class also triggered heightened emotions surrounding political topics, like "safe space" my ass because this is the only class where I'd felt uncomfortable by things people were saying. Even if you don't believe in everything that's being said it's not a class where you can just say what you believe and not escape judgement from others. As I like to put it this was the most liberal class I'd ever taken in my life. There's an extraneous amount of effort that you have to put into the projects in order to JUST get a satisfactory grade and even then, there were a couple times where I had to REDO them because I didn't meet the "requirements." Now if you thought that this class wasn't already quirky enough, there's a thing called "above and beyond" where I can't even explain it because it's a subjective grade that you get based on what you've done on a project. I could go on and on about the grievances that this class gave me and the more I realize it most of the topics are imbedded and stuck in the past. Like I learned new things, but a majority of the content has to do with the past and not much about the progression of our present, or at least in the sense that topics you'd think you talk about aren't actually ever addressed. Oh, we've finally gotten to my favorite part in "offering insight" of this class. Let's talk about the "readings" aka the longest passages of a free, (most likely pirated) text that even makes me envious of the ways that these sources were put together. They're "required" to be able to participate in every class and honestly, they were because the daily reflections were based on the readings, but it is absolutely absurd to expect your students to read a 15+ page text and do that three times every other night. Like common now be for real. And when that was brought up as a suggestion to change, the professor just ignored it and said that it was still an essential part of the course to have these resources...Now you might be thinking, oh but you're getting an A, yeah damn right I am because I had to work my butt off in this class. I'm also a STEM major and thought that this class might be beneficial in being able to interact with others but honestly it kind of made me realize just how stupid people can be. And going back to the fact that I'm a STEM major, please someone tell me why this class made me cry more than classes like genetics or orgo...just saying. So, I hope that helps put things into perspective, good luck yall!
Alexis Lothian LGBT200 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/09/2024	DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!! unless..you want to literally beg on your knees for an A and still not get it even when you have done your work, and done it well. This professor is extremely hypocritical and lays out the class as an environment that is understanding, but when you raise any concerns she disregards it and stubbornly sticks to her ways. It is an “effort” based class, and “you decide your grade” but then you put in 110% effort back just to be told by your TA you are nowhere near on track for an A because you haven't been “above and beyond”. Additionally, the class will randomly discuss very sensitive topics with no warning, and if you express that you are upset or uncomfortable, the professor will again disregard and ignore you, despite being a “safe space” and “understanding”. If you want to bust your ass for what should be an easy gen ed, just to not get an A, good fucking luck! You will be miserable and probably hate yourself every-time you wake up knowing your day involves this class.
Alexis Lothian LGBT200 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/07/2024	Summary: take it if you need gen ed credits and are willing to put in the time. But, if you don't have a lot of time to spare, take another class for gen ed requirements. Detailed: The course's design is very flawed. First, students have to go "above and beyond" to get an A. So instead of doing a great job on an assignment, fulfilling all of its criteria and getting the A you deserve like you normally would, you would have to do EXTRA work to get an A. You really have to go the extra mile. On top of that, the amount of reading every week is insane. It's about 80+ pages every week but I'm sure not everyone does all of the readings anyway. The lectures are not educational at all. Yes, the professor provokes conversation in the lecture which is great because students get to learn different perspectives and meanings in the course. However, the professor has slides that just word dumps on the students. The slides are unclear, have no definitions, and no timeline, to explain the events that we are studying. The professor also just drones on during lectures which gets boring after a while and makes it hard to learn. For this course, you have to do 4 projects (some are pretty confusing to do), a concept presentation about 1 week's reading, and discussion boards weekly if there are no projects due. Overall, this course does a bit too much for a 200-level course that most people take only to fulfill General Education credits. Also, the grading is dependent on the TA. If your TA is chill, then doing the assignments isn't much of a pain. But I had a TA who took everything seriously so I had to go the extra mile for the assignments.
Alexis Lothian HDCC106 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/08/2024	Is a very demanding professor and requires a lot of high level academic readings that were very confusing and wordy. I understand we are honors, but she gave 50 page readings over than span of two days. Can be a harsh grader and picky at times, but you must participate in discussion to get a good grade.
Alexis Lothian HDCC208Q Expecting an A Anonymous 08/08/2024	Alexis is one of the best professors I've had. She is so insanely supportive and helpful. You can tell she is very dedicated to her work. Readings can be a lot but you don't have to fully read them.
Alexis Lothian CMSC115 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/05/2024	This class is a free A but she is a very aggravating professor. In my view, she comes off as being quite smug and condescending. Lots of snide complaints regarding how people weren't reading the snoozefest 50-page pdfs she assigned twice a week (what a surprise, it's not like this is a 1xx gened). She also randomly started accusing the class of using ChatGPT to write discussion post responses about halfway through the semester, and her solution was to make them even more tedious and uninteresting to do. It feels like she knows very little about programming, AI, etc. and probably shouldn't be teaching a course with the word "computing" in its title.
Alexis Lothian CMSC115 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2024	This class is CMSC/WGSS so the time was split between CS and WGSS. During Alexis’s lectures, the topics were very interesting but I feel like the lectures could have been more engaging, like letting students have an interactive experience or something. She is always happy to answer questions and is reliable for and helpful during office hour appointments.
Alexis Lothian HDCC208J Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/16/2020	Dr. Lothian's class is one of the few times at UMD where I really felt like I learned something. Thank you for an amazing semester!