Jackson, Lorraine  

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The class wasn't too hard as long as you actually put work into your speeches and studied for the tests. She will know if you did your speech last minute. She isn't the most entertaining teacher and most of what she lectures comes straight from the book, but that makes it easy if you choose to never do the reading. As long as you take notes and don't procrastinate, you'll do fine.

I really liked her, the tests/quizzes she gave weren't that challenging if you did the reading which isn't that bad. Also I thought she graded fair on all the speeches we had to give.

Jackson is fine to take for public speaking. Sure, she's not as entertaining as some teachers, but shes not nearly as bad as the reviews make her sound. For the record, if the fucking idiot who posted below about who gets a PHD in speech was paying attention in class then youd know that speech is THE OLDEST type of study there is. Who studies speech is everyone from the time of the ancent greeks! I swear some of the stupid as fuck closeminded people at this school undermines the quality of cal polys reputation!

I had COMS 102 for my general ed, and it was a pretty straight forward class. Dr. Jackson is a pretty chill teacher and presents the material clearly. There were 3 graded speeches, one of which is a group speech, one midterm, and one final. If you do your work, show up on time, etc. then you'll do fine in this class. Some of the lectures tend to be a bit tedious but it's just stuff she's required to teach. All in all, not a bad class, fulfills GE, and interesting to hear everyone's speeches.

Dr. Jackson made the class interesting and informative. Truthfully, coms. 102 may not be the most exciting class, but it is fairly important to improve speaking skills. I heard horror stories about the other coms. professors making students do the lecture material for their speeches. Dr. Jackson was always extremely professional in presenting the material and the tests weren't too hard, very straight forward. She was also very nice and helpful when students had questions and was an appropriate grader. Overall the class was pretty easy and Dr. Jackson did a very good job helping me improve my speaking skills.

COMS-102 is a GE class, so let's face it, nobody wants to get graded extremely hard on something that's not even close to a major class. Luckily, Jackson recognized this as well. She is very understanding; she never graded hard for speeches and was always justified if she took points away. She is a professional speaker so she has a lot of experience and has a lot of good advice to give. She also doesn't kill you with tests by asking you obscure questions from the book and instead tests you on things you actually should know. At the end of the quarter, I had a very high B+ and I asked her if she could bump me up since I never missed a class, raised my hand often to answer questions, and improved my public speaking throughout the course of the class and I got an A-. -Fair grader -Easy tests (if you study) -Understanding

Dr. Jackson is a great professor who understands that most of us don't like public speaking. She doesn't have incredibly high expectations but still wants quality work. Mid-term is straight out of the textbook which is SUPER easy to read. Only 4 speeches and one is a group presentation. No reason to not get an A in this class.

Profesor Jackson was a terrific teacher, the course was taught well. Students know what is expected of them. The midterms are not difficult if you read the assigned chapters. I am not a terrific public speaker, but I feel that after taking this class my skills have most definitely improved. Professor Jackson is great, given the opportunity I would definitely take her again.

COMS 102 with Jackson was an easy class to say the least. As long as you read the short chapters and know the few terms you'll do fine on the tests. Showing up to class gets you points and her speech grading and feedback is very fair and constructive. There's only 4 speeches which are all between 2-6 minutes, and she's not too strict about timing.

Dr. Jackson is fantastic. She's a fair to easy grader, as long as you put in effort you're good. She's very accommodating to little hiccups and special needs students have in specific situations, very flexible. She does a great job making everyone feel successful and comfortable with their public speaking which is no small task. Definitely recommend her

Professor Jackson is an okay teacher for a subject like COMS. She's not as intense or mean as a lot of other COMS teachers can be. You have 4 speeches to give in her class, and they're all fairly easy to do. Plus, she's not a very harsh grader. She understands that some people have social anxiety and she recognizes that not everyone is a fantastic speaker. However, she does take attendance, and if you want to get a great grade, not just a good grade, you have to follow her rubric very closely. Her midterms are pretty tough compared to the speeches. You have to study pretty thoroughly for those, and you have to do all of the assigned reading from the book. She loves pulling out minor details and asking you about them. Just attend lecture, do the assigned reading, and follow the rubrics, and this class will be super easy for you.

Ms. Jackson is a great teacher and a reasonable grader. Just show up for class and make sure you practice your presentation thoroughly and you can get a decent grade.

Jackson is quite interesting. She does not get to know the students on a personal level at all. She always seems so calm and talks a lot. She is late to every class. Her course, however, is extremely easy, and believe me by experience, it is okay to miss classes. I missed the day of my big speech and she said I could present it on whatever day I want.

Oh my gosh, this woman does not shut up. I couldn't tell if she was a person who just liked to hear herself talk, or if she was just trying to fill out the two hours(it was a 5 week summer course). After about every other speech she would go on these 5-10 minute tangents that usually had very little or absolutely nothing to do with what the student talked about. Lecture itself is pretty useless she usually just recites what is in the textbook or on the slides on poly learn. Attendance and participation are part of the grade, but I don't think she is very consistent with grading that(I got a much higher grade for that part of the class than I deserved). With that said, Jackson is a very understanding and fair grader. For your speeches, she grades mostly on content which is nice for those of us who do not enjoy public speaking. Pick an interesting topic, not only is this part of your grade but it makes the class less painful for the rest of your classmates. Our final was super easy as long as you skimmed through the book before hand. Overall the class was the easiest class I have ever taken in terms of passing, but hardest class I have ever taken in terms of sitting through it.

Personally I was dreading coms. I wanted to put it off for as long as I could, when I heard decent things about professor Jackson I decided to take it and get it over with. She is exactly as average as she has been described. She's not awesome and she's not awful but their is much worse coms teachers out there from what I have heard. She wasn't intimidating but wasn't necessarily super helpful either. The course consists of 1 small speech and 3 big ones. The first one is a 2 minute speech on an personal object that is based on a completion grade that is incorporated into your overall participation grade which is 10% of your overall grade. After that their is a informative speech (25% of grade), a group speech (10% of your grade), and a persuasive speech (25% of your grade). The remanding 30% of your grade is determined by your final which is a 100 point multiple choice scantron test which is actually decently hard. The entire final is all on the book and you could not possibly do well on it by just showing up to class and listening to a couple brief lectures and students speeches. If you do bad on the final it will most likely knock your grade down a whole letter grade. So if you do well on the speeches don't make the mistake of thinking you can wing the final, because it will most likely not go well. Overall very average class lead by an average professor.

Dr. Jackson, in my opinion, is an excellent professor. I was hesitant to take this class because of some polyratings i read and the whole public speaking aspect of the class. However, to my surprise, i came to thoroughly enjoy the class. Dr. Jackson created a comfortable environment, which made the speeches a bit easier. She was also very willing to help and give students guidance and advice about the speeches. I found her to be very approachable and understanding. The class consists of 4 speeches; 1 object speech (credit/no credit), 1 informative speech, 1 group speech, and 1 persuasive speech. After every speech, she gives you her feedback along with fellow classmates' feedback in order to help you improve your speaking skills for the next speech. I found the feedback incredibly helpful. At the end of the quarter, there is a 100 question final based on the textbook. If you keep up with the reading throughout the quarter, or even skim through it while looking through the study guide she provides, it is fairly easy to do well on the final. With the advice and guidance that i got from Dr. Jackson, I believe that my public speaking skills improved immensely. I would definitely recommend taking a course with Dr. Jackson. Overall, this is a great course, taught by a great professor.

Okay so the work load is not much compared to some other professors. I was surprised how hard she graded us on our speeches considering that she wasn't a perfect speaker herself. I constantly got marked down for glancing at my notes (which we were allowed to have) and I asked my classmates if I really was reading off of my paper. My classmates told me that I did well and that I barely looked at my paper. Whenever Prof. Jackson is speaking she is either looking down at her paper, fiddling with something in her hand, or looking up at the ceiling. Not to mention the fact that this is a SPEAKING class and I did well on my speeches, I got a B on the written final which bumped my grade down. If it's a public speaking class, the WRITTEN final shouldn't be 30% of the grade. All of that aside, she was never at her office hours when I went so that was a minus. If you're looking for less work, take Lorraine, but know that you might not end up with the grade you think you deserved.

Relatively nice lady but an extremely boring class. Super easy class throughout the quarter but a stupid af final worth 30% of your grade which doesn't make sense as it is a public speaking class. Probably should have studied more for it but it shouldn't be worth more than any of the 3 speeches. Would recommend if you're okay with being bored out of your mind all quarter

Professor Jackson was an amazing teacher. She is willing to work with you if you are having difficulties with speaking. She is a very fair grader. Overall the class is comprised of 3 speeches, a group speech, and a final exam which is based on the book you read during the class. The final was harder than I thought it would be and I ended up with a 89.5. Professor Jackson was nice enough to bump me up to an A- being the nice and understanding professor she is.

Not sure why her reviews aren't higher. OK, so. At the beginning of the semester she will seem REALLY boring. But give her a chance. She is REALLY smart and pretty mellow to have in class, which I think is rare in a COMMS 102 teacher. A lot of them try to make the class way too emotional/personal/"fun" and it just ends up being a weird environment. She doesn't grade very hard and gives really good & supportive feedback to speeches. In general she'lll give something avg/-a bit above avg a B. Even though COMM 102 is the worst I would totally take her again. The best COMMS teacher IMO.

She wasn't there for the majority of the quarter since she was in the hospital :( but when she was there she seemed super relaxed and sweet. From the speech she graded it seemed like a fair grade, not too harsh but also gives good feedback. A lot of people were jealous of my class since all we ever had to do were speeches and not much actual hw, but if you aren't the best at speeches then you probably want a class that has more cushions to your speech grades. The final was worth a lot but was pretty easy and was a lot of common sense. If you go through the list of terms she gives you and find them in the book and memorize the important stuff about them like I did you'll do great on the final. And yes you have to know how many people are in a small group. Overall a pretty easy GE class and I recommend it

So she's a rambler! She's super knowledgeable and you can tell because she talks about a random topic she knows about for like 10 minutes after each speech. Her class and speeches were relatively easy. If you practice your speech a lot you'll probably get an 89 or 90 on it, because she doesn't give out very many high As. However, be warned that the final test is HARD. She makes it seem really easy and the study guides are easy but the whole class got a C on it because it was all trick questions. The tricky final dropped my grade to a B. So if you have her beware of that!

She is much better than some of the other professors I crashed. If you are a decent speaker already you will probably get an A in the class. I was terrible but showed improvement and definitely became more comfortable by the end of the quarter. Make sure to choose your speeches specifically based on the assignment and don't overthink topics that are too complicated. The class had like 3 individual speeches and 1 group speech. She is overall pretty chill and people definitely would skip class.

Professor Jackson is one of the best Coms teachers at this school, she isn't a super harsh grader which is extremely important for Coms. Attendance counts, when she remembers to take it. You give four speeches, an object speech which is more informal and is just pass/fail and then an informative speech, a group speech, and a persuasive speech. The final is written and is on the final day assigned by the school.

I actually liked Professor Jackson! She was very sweet and tried to be helpful however she could. However, almost every lecture you go to feels like a waste of time. There are some presentations on the book, but it is not at all more informative than reading the book itself. In addition, Jackson will find examples from her own life that frankly get very boring and hard to listen to after a few hours, and in addition she has a slightly annoying habit of comparing each and every students speech to an experience she once had, which effectively doubles every students' speaking time. My one recommendation for anyone going into this class is to skip as many lectures as you can and spend the time reading the book (which the final is completely based on) and practicing your speeches.

Overall this class wasn't that hard if you're okay with probably getting a B because that's what most of the class got. Going into the final only a few people had even an A-. Dr. Jackson was a pretty hard grader for someone who didn't really teach us anything. Basically you just had to be a good public speaker prior to the class and she gave you a little advice for every speech. The only reason I got an A in the class was because I read the entire book right before the final and it was like 30% of our grade or something like that. The final has annoyingly specific questions so you actually need to read the book and it doesn't make sense to have a multiple choice final for a public speaking class but it can help your grade a lot if you do well on it.

If you are looking to take any easy teacher for speech take Dr. Jackson. The reading is a joke, it's all basic information that anyone who has any common sense already knows. There is one midterm and a final. The midterm is worth much more than the final. There are three speeches, one of them is a group presentation. As long as you stay within the allotted time for your speech you can get an A. Try not to give any speeches on driving, as she will ramble on about one of her many car accidents, and waste time. There is one three page paper, as opposed to the normal ten page one that is required for SCOM 102.

DO NOT TAKE JACKSON! All she does is ramble about her personal life which none of us clearly care about. She even studders, ironic since she is a speech teacher. You grade is totally objective, and you give only 3 speeches during the entire semester. Even if you go to her asking her to justify why you got the grade you did she provides no support for her grading. The one paper we wrote was turned back about a month later. When test time rolls around, you will wonder what she can possibly test you on since you learn nothing. It's not even essential to buy the text book - save your money! Avoid this lady at all costs.

Three words: Fat, Canadian, Bitch. This woman has no idea how to teach a class. I was initially excited about taking a speech class for a GE, then I regretted my choice of teachers immensely. I wondered what university would hire a speech teacher that stutters. There are so many other good teachers, that wasting your time in this class makes it that much worse. Do you enjoy reading material that the teacher wrote herself? Do you enjoy being graded for visual contact when the teacher is not paying attention? Do you enjoy monotony? If you answer yes to all these questions, please take Dr. Lorraine Jackson..an official certified bitch and a terrible teacher for any class.

I took Jackson for SCOM 102, a class I was dreading because I hate public speaking. The class was easy, just two speeches and a group presentation, as well as a midterm and a final. She's an easy grader and her tests were straight out of the book. She even let us go back and correct our tests for extra credit. If you want an easy teacher for the lame speech GE take her, she's great!

Horrible teacher. I can't believe she or anyone can have a PhD in speech. On an A worthy speech of mine I got a B because she said the subject was too complicated. I talked to the students in the class after it and they all understood, she was just too stupid I guess. On tests she writes questions in such a way that a,b,c,d all have the same meaning but with different syllables (yup). If you can remember the exact word they use in the text book than you'll have no problem. DO NOT TAKE

probably the most annoying class to sit through....it's really not necessary to spend a 2 hour lecture telling us what an introduction is. she treats her students like 4th graders and would explain instructions for a test or group activity for like 20 minutes...we're not stupid and i know how to use a scantron. that being said...this class is VERY easy. just follow the speech guidelines from the book exactly and she gives you an a...(intro/preview, transition, body/s, transition, conclusion) her test is retarded you'd think itd be the easiest thing ever but she actually makes the questions kinda tricky (it's not THAT hard i got an a-) so just skim the book and go to class (attendance counts) and you can get an a its really easy just very frustrating to sit there and listen to her talk because she goes on foreverrr for no reason

I was indifferent about this class. I didn't mind the speaches, and the reading wasn't too bad. I only wish I knew the importance of knowing vocabulary definitions and concepts word for word for the mid-term. Her tests were very ambiguous, but besides that, I would say this was a very nice cource that satisfied my public speaking requirement.

Dr. Jackson's class was so boring. Her lectures are common sense when the problem really is how to effectively use those in your speeches. I fell asleep during the lectures because there was pretty much nothing new to learn. Basically, we sit back and hear everyone else speak. But she was an easy grader and she is willing to accommodate any needs the speakers have like having a small audience for the autistic and volunteering to go first or last. The exams just apply common sense. You only need to lightly skim through your textbook to do well. Use office hours; they will really help if the framework of your speech is established. Your grade is based on three speeches (informative, persuasive, and small group), an orator critique paper, a midterm, and a final that is worth less than the midterm. If you want to only pass this class, take her. Just make sure that your speeches fall within the allotted time limit because if you go a full minute over or under, you lose 5% of your speech grade and it can hurt. She is good in her willingness to help and easy grading, but classes are not worth attending for two hours unless you need to sign up for a speaking date or when the speeches are going on. As long as you put some effort in your speeches and carefully time them, you will pass and perhaps, even get an A. It is VERY IMPORTANT to stay within yout time limit!!!

The class copmrised of three speeches, two multiple choice test, a 3 page paper, and participation points. The midterm and the final are worth 25% of your grade and a) are awfully written and impossible to understand b) don't display anything about your public speaking abilities c) are worth way to much of the overall grade, etc. The three page paper was easy. And she graded fairly easily on the speeches, but follow previous people about time. It's 5% for every minute over and under. No ifs, ands, or buts. There isn't much time involved and overall it was a pretty easy class. You spend about two days preparing for each speech and the paper took me about two hours.

Good teacher... She presents the material clearly and is a pretty fair grader. Make sure to spend less time on the research aspect of your speeches and more time on the actual presentation of them..... Not an extremely hard class, but you learn a lot.... I'd take her again.

One word...awful. She is probably the worst teacher that I've ever had. Well maybe not the worst but close. For a teacher that has a PhD in Public Speaking she can't speak for shit. She stutters and tells the most boring stories that anyone has ever heard. Plus, to pile on this she is monotone!!! You might actually learn something in this class only because you are required to present speeches. That's the only thing...the lectures WILL NOT teach you anything.

Basically, she is alright. Her class is realitively easy, and is just one of those dreaded GEs you have to take. She requires 2 speeches and one group project per quarter, and has two simple exams during the quarter as well. She is one of the easier speech teachers, as she doesn't criticize your speeches until you get back your grade, and her tests consist of the key terms from the book and the few lecture notes she gives throughout the quarter. She is an easy B.

This class is really boring, but very easy to get at least a B in. There are two individual speeches and a group speech in this class that make up most of your grade. There are two exams which utilize basic common sense. She grades rather easily such that a decent effort where you actually keep track of how long you speak. If you want to just pass the class, take Dr. Jackson, but prepare to get bored.

The things other people have said about her are true. I believe deciding whether or not you want her boils down to what you want in a professor. An easy painless A/B, or to become a better public speeker. Jackson will provide you with easy class credit, but you will not learn anything. As FOX News likes to say, "We report and you decide". I can't believe I just said that.

well, what do i say, basically i looked like someone in high school that she hated. the reason why i say this is because her grading was so subjective. if she doesn't like you, no matter how well your speaches are, she will not give you better than a C. Also if i were to critique her class lectures, (that you can tell she trying to represent as a speech), there fucking horrible. She pauses constantly bye suckig on her teeth and its so anoying. (and her pits are always sweaty which is very distracting) NOT to mention that she does not explain the material well at all. thank you for reading she's horrible.

Professor Jackson is a very kind lady and a very laid back teacher. She treats this course very fairly in her criteria for the students. You will give three speeches, you will take one midterm, one final, and you will write a paper. Go to Proferssor Jackson's office hours occasionally to show her that you are working at her course. She likes it...trust me. Overall, the class is fair and if I ever get another chance to take one of her courses I definately will.

I guess she isnt a horrible teacher... pretty boring and all that. The thing that really bothered me is that she seems like a total feminist, and lets it get in the way of her teaching. When I gave a speech condemning Planned Parenthood, she got all riled up and embarrassed me in front of the class by asking me a bunch of questions that I didnt know the answers too. Then she said my information wasnt correct, despite my 15 sources. She made me look like a complete idiot in front of my peers. So if you get stuck with her, make sure you give a lot of uber-liberal speeches on why women are better than men, and why its good for us to have no education on abortion. She will REALLY LIKE you then, and you will probably get an A.

I think she presented the material well. She got me prepared for higher speech classes. I would take her again. Just share the book with a friend. Study the vocabulary, reading is a waste it's mainly common sense. Her tests are a piece of cake, but still study for them because the vocab you need to know

Has everyone forgotten to post that the woman is a stuttering speech teacher? Is there a massive fucking loophole in the screening process for SCOM teachers? She stutters! Speech teachers are not supposed to stutter! Not only that, but she's a terrible public speaker. I pity SCOM majors, because if this woman is one of the most important teachers, then you should think about transferring to a school that doesn't smell like cow shit sprinkled with atrocious speech teachers.

Professor Jackson is a teacher that presents the material in class like any teacher would be expected to do. The course is relatively easy, and she grades fairly. The class has little lecture and is mostly pushed for time so all speeches can be completed.

Professor Jackson runs a very understandable and easy class. I'm not much of a public speaker, but I definately came out of her class being more comfortable about talking to an audience. The exams are easy; they're pretty much vocabulary terms straight out of the book along with other easy to remember facts from lectures. I was dreading this class, but ended up enjoying it by the end.

This class had only 4 speeches and a paper and the midterm and final were pretty simple, but even that didn't make listening to Dr. Jackson ramble on for 2 hours a day. She was a horrible lecturer, ironic for a speech prof. I, personally, wouldn't take her again.

It was tough to get myself to go to this class twice a week for two hours. Prof. Jackson would just ramble on about her family and anything else no one else really cares about. Her lectures were very boring. Every person I talked to never got an A on any of their speeches. I always seemed to come up one or two points shy of an A. I highly suggest taking this class with another professor.

Dr. Jackson should not be teaching in college. She acts like we are all in grade school and doesn't really teach anything. I will come out of a 2 hour lecture and have no idea what we learned. In terms of preparing you for her midterm/final-she doesn't. Her tests are completely random and dumb. She doesn't teach you how to speak at all. Don't take her class, it was a terrible experience.

Jackson is an easy teacher to take for Comms. However she talks to you like you're ten and lectures are boring. The class consists of three speaches (persuasive, informative, and a group speech). One midterm and one final which are multiple choice and not too hard but you have to read the assigned chapters or it will be tough. I would recommend her for an easy Comms. teacher because from what i heard the other teachers are a lot harder.

This class was pretty easy, and you don't need to do THAT much work to obtain an easy B. Dr. Jackson is a very nice and understanding professor, yet lectures can be VERY boring. However, there are only 3 speeches, the 2 midterms are easy if you look over the main ideas of the readings, and you can only go to about 50% of the classes and still get a good grade. Overall I would recommend Dr. Jackson as a COMS professor over any of the other professors teaching the class.

She doesn't seem to get that common sense pretty much summarizes the whole class, and tries to refute all protests with some bizarre personal anecdote. Another teacher that you'll find yourself being smarter than.

This is an easy class where you can almost literally show up for class every day, give half-assed speeches, not study for the midterm/final, and walk away with an easy B, and almost an A. You can't study at all for the tests, the material is too broad and vague. You'll come out of there feeling like your back in kindergarden, but fortunately the work-load matches that!

For being a speech teacher she has a horrible way of lecturing. She says ummm a lot and takes like two second pauses in the middle of her sentences. She assigns book reading but then lectures word for word out of the book. you have to go because she counts attendance. The best you can get in the class is an A-. The speech writing is very reasonable and the work isn't hard..the only hard thing iss sitting through lecture

For a college professor Dr. Jackson really has a poor vocabulary; be prepared to be taught as if you were in middle school. The way she teaches is nothing short of boring, irelevant and worthless. The tests will appear easy enough until you get to the questions which are analytical and basically worthless citations that are of little to no importnace and never mentioned in lecture. As well her speach rubric and guidelines are perfect if you want to give a short speech that covers very little of anything. I found the time restaraints ridiculose since her grading was solely based on voice(tone, rhytym, etc..), timing,and following you outline word for word. I got a time penalty twice and lost 5% both times. Overall I found this class to be of little importance to gaining any speech skills and would definitly not reccomend Jackson as a teacher.

Just know that the best grade you can get in this class is an \"A-\". If you come to class, present 3 speeches with outlines reasonably well; you would think your on your way to an \"A-\". But be aware, the midterm and the final seem fine, but they are actually tricky and more than half the class averaged a \"C\" or worse. After the mid-term, the class got her to give extra credit to boost the tests grades slightly.

Dr. Jackson was definitely a great choice for COMS 102. Me having no specific training on speaking (only having the typical presentations in classes from elementary to high school), I was a little worried for this class. It honestly turned out to be quite alright. Dr. Jackson is pretty easy going, explains what she wants clearly, and grades fairly. If you do what she says to do, and you practice your speech (YES YOU HAVE TO WORK, IT'S COLLEGE FOR GOODNESS SAKES!!), you will be just fine. Dr. Jackson is a great professor. The midterm and final are multiple choice questions on reading in the textbook (quite simple). There is an informative speech, a group speech, and a persuasive speech. Honestly, take Dr. Jackson. As for learning how to be a better public speaker, she provides great information, but it is something you have to work at. I hate to be cliche, but "practice really does make perfect" (though no one can be "perfect," haha). Good luck and have fun!

Overall, I thought that Professor Jackson was fair and that the class was impossible not to pass. Professor Jackson gave 2 tests, each based on the reading which were difficult. However, if you did the reading you will do fine. There were 3 speeches and Professor Jackson was more than willing to help you with your speech and offer advice. As long as you do your speech with confidence, eye contact, and no uhms or likes, you WILL do well in this class. The only thing that was difficult was that none of the speeches were explained beforehand in class. You had to look at the rubric and make your speech off of it. This made it more difficult, but definitely not impossible.

Very easy class, but she didn\'t teach me anything. Everything you need to know for the exams (1 midterm, 1 final) is in the textbook so make sure you read. Nothing she lectures about in class is relevant to the exams. She does take attendance (probably cuz no one would show up except for speech days). There are only 3 speeches and one is a group speech. Take this class if you\'re looking for an easy A, but i\'m warning you, she\'s not a good teacher.

Where do I start with Jackson. She is very scattered. She seems to plan class while we are in class. She goes on tangents in the lecture to tell you barely relevant stories. And she does not lecture very much. Weeks into the class I felt like we hadn't done anything. She has two papers that she does not explain well (she tells you to operationally define things without ever teaching you want that means, and then tests you on it and refers to the paper assignment as where she taught it to you...). She also gives you a group project to present a chapter from the book, aka making the students do her job for two weeks. Her tests were difficult. Some random things she told us once in class that she did not say was important to remember and very specific things from the book and would think "She won't test us on this." I did well, but with no help from her. Her examples are confusing. She doesn't really teach. And to top it all off the textbook is boring. The chapters are short, thank god, but in a class where she has a real opportunity to introduce interesting theories, she simply teaches the most basic ones. Cognitive dissonance. Social judgement theory. All things you will learn in other COMS classes, basically. Take this class with Shea if possible.

Jackson is super nice and caring. I appreciate her respect for allowing the extension to deadlines and assignments because she realizes that you have more classes than her own. She started off the quarter grading easy and moved to slightly harder. I thought I was going to get a great grade in the class because she seems like she is lenient and such. Her tests are pretty wordy and tough. Her papers are pretty easy and you can work with 1-2 other classmates. Either you like her or you don't, depends what you prefer in a professor.

This was by far the most colossally disappointing course I have ever taken at Cal Poly. I'm still kicking myself for not dropping it and taking it with a decent professor. On the RARE occasion that she gave an actual lecture, it wouldn't be relevant to exams or projects, and she would far too often get sidetracked and talk about completely unrelated aspects of her youth (boyfriends, hobbies, etc.). Everyone I spoke to dreaded coming to this class. It was the longest 4 hours of my week, without a doubt. I learned next to nothing about the theories of a subject I love, and I know that many others likely will as well, because this professor somehow got tenure. All in all, this "professor's" course is an utter embarrassment to the otherwise fantastic COMS curriculum and faculty and I can only hope that this will be rectified ASAP.

I was excited to take this class but was unfortunately extremely disappointed with the way the information was presented. Dr. Jackson is very difficult to follow -- all of her lectures are disorganized and she goes on significant tangents about her family and daughter which make lectures very distracting. She actually teaches maybe 10% of what she expects you to know/tests on, and her study guides and tests are wordy, confusing, and disorganized. Also, she gives handouts. ALOT of handouts. I had easily 20 pages of paper by week three...half of which you will never look at after you leave the classroom that day. Its extremely frustrating and a massive waste of paper. If you're planning on taking Communication Theory and actually want to learn the material I would steer you away from taking it with Dr. Jackson.

she is the most boring teacher i have ever had at calpoly and she needs to evaluate how she teaches the material to her students. she grades partly on attendence, but you learn nothing by going to class, the midterm is all from the book. Do the reading and you are fine, but try not to fall asleep

Despite what everyone says about Jackson, she's actaully not that bad. She tells weird personal stories, true, she is amazingly boring and stutters, yes, but you will learn in the class, she is fair and above all, EASY! As much as people whine about her, her tests and papers offer abosulutely no suprises; when you turn in the test or paper you'll probally know exactly what grade you deserve/are going to get. Her study guides outline everything that's on the test, it's all from book and lecture, so if you do bad on the tests, it really is your fault. All in all, if you can stand a boring class, want to learn a little and want an easy grade, take her.

This was a painful class. She's not a bad lady, but she loves to ramble on about personal stories. She makes you do a lot of busy work (ie: Research Paper, Group Presentation, and Journal Article Analysis) and her tests are pretty hard considering they are all multiple choice and T/F. I felt I had to work overtime and the payoff wasn't that great.

This was one of the most interesting classes I've ever taken. The material could have been presented better at times (she tends to always go off on tangents), but it was all clear. I liked that she stated right off the bat what she expected of us. There was 1 midterm, the final, 1 individual presentation (that went with a paper), 1 group presentation, and a final paper. For the exams, she would give us study sheets with questions from each chapter which REALLY helped you to study if you didn't read the book too thoroughly (I got a B on the midterm even though I didn't read the book-- because i studied off of the studyguide). Overall, great class, pretty good professor, clear material.

Communication theory is not difficult to understand at all. I liked that Dr. Jackson would continually ask us to think about the theories' practical, everyday use. I don't believe her class was difficult by any means. However, be prepared to be disrespected. A previous comment on this site seemed accurate in its assessment of Dr. Jackson when it stated her tendency to treat you as a child. In conversations with other classmates this quarter it was evident that almost everyone was insulted that she would ask us to take time to prepare a presentation of a theory for the class and then proceed to lecture on the theory (sometimes saying the EXACT same information you just reported) for approximately 40 minutes (I timed) while you just stand at the front of the room. Dr. Jackson, if you want students to do better on the presentations, just increase the point value of the assignment or give us specific grading criteria to meet. Also, please do some research on adult learning theory (a.k.a. 'andragogy'.) It is difficult to respect someone who does not respect you, and when you treat us like children we feel disrespected. The first week and a half of class is a painfully boring review of statistics.

Jackson's class was very monotonous and dull. I feel like it could have been an interesting class, but instead she is clearly only concerned with talking about herself and how smart she is. Also, I got an 88 in the class which she rounded down to a B, based on her weird scaling after my 92% paper she lost then marked as an 86%. I did nto like her, and I wish the Communications department would do a better job with their teachers.

Dr. Jackson is straightforward about her material in class and definitely takes the necessary time to explain important concepts and main ideas. The layout for the class is also very straightforward and you know exactly when exams are and papers are due. Dr. Jackson is very understanding if you go into her office hours with a problem or concern. I took this class to get into Communications as my major and put in the right effort and came out with an A-. The theories in this class also are very relatable to real life situations and you'll benefit from getting a basic understanding of them in this class with Dr. Jackson!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Easy class but bring a pillow, you'll be nodding off throughout the quarter.

The class covered about a dozen theories. She lectures on the theories which is plenty, but the much of the midterm and final comes from the what the reading adds. I suggest to do the reading if you want to get an A in the class but you can probably skip the reading if you want a B or a C. This is most true for the last few theories because they are covered by group presentations. There are a two papers and the one group presentation. This class is boring. It's boring because 1) communication theories can be boring and 2) Dr. Jackson is monotone and speaks slowly. Also the class was in 2hr lectures. This class isn't unfair or work overloaded, it's just boring+1.

This is hands down, one of the most boring classes you will have to take at Poly. Not to say the material is boring, it is actually very interesting, but Jackson doesn't teach it well, if she teaches it at all. Do the readings, because that is the only place you will learn anything, you won't learn in in class. Jackson lets you have a note card on the tests, front side only. Fit as much as you can on it, because there is no way to know what she is going to put on the tests. Her study guides aren't much help either. Its unfortunate that Cal Poly can't hire a better teacher for such an important course. If you don't do well on the tests (which most don't) you will be able to make up for it in the papers and presentations so make sure you put time into those!

dr jackson is a communications professor but is so boring in her lectures it's hard to believe. the class is largely self taught because we just do presentations on the chapters/theories (she lectures on like 2). we got early every single class, which was cool but i felt like i learned nothing. the tests are also extremelyyy thorough and difficult. i scraped by with a B- from getting A's on the presentations and papers.

After assignments 1 and 2, I was happy to receive specific and personalized feedback on my purpose statement (and the other sections). I was very disappointed when my assignment 3 and 4 were given back with no comments or signs of his grading. Taking the average of my personal score and another student (who has no more experience than myself) as “the final grade” is not adequate for learning. Following assignment 4, assignments 6, and 7 were not graded in time to learn from or be fixed before assignment 8, the computer final, or the final exam. Also, no aid was given to prepare for the computer final, or adequate time to complete it. DON'T TAKE HIM IF POSSIBLE. OR EXPECT THE WORST TEACHER EXPERIENCE OF YOUR TIME AT CAL POLY.

Wow. Just, wow. If you thought that this would be a fun upper division elective, boy were you dead wrong. I know I was. This is the WORST professor I have ever had at Cal Poly and by far the most boring. Have you ever heard anyone narrate their entire life? Well, you will if you take her class. She seems to have a very boring life because all her life stories are the worst. She actually explicitly detailed her birth story of her kid and the entire class looked as if they were about to vomit with the mental images she gave everyone. I think she is better suited as a science major because communication is definitely not her strong point. I cannot wait to never see her again after this final.

A very fun and easy class. There is one midterm, a paper and presentation, a health campaign and presentation and a final. The lectures run the entire 2 hours. Bring coffee!

This teacher was great. I was worried at first when we had to do the health campaign presentation, but it was actually really fun and not too tough. She didn't give us too much time to do it though, which was a downer. Tests are straightforward and easy. If you answer the questions to the study guide, you are pretty much set. I didn't read too much and got an A.

DO NOT take Dr. Jackson. You can take the $500 or however much a 4 unit class costs at Cal Poly and flush it down the toilet, or sit through a quarter with Lorraine. All we did the entire quarter was sit through a random YouTube video, listen to Jackson read out of our Textbook (I actually thought I was in elementary school again), or listen to her talk about her personal anecdotes and journal entries. I have no idea how she is tenured, but believe you me she'll talk you up a storm with how she is the only full time professor in the COMS department. At least I thought I would get an A in the class (considering I received an A on the first two "quizzes"- actually 50 question length midterms). No, apparently I received a C- on the final, resulting in a B in the joke of a class. I know how hard coms classes are to get, but I would rather graduate a quarter behind than take another class with Jackson. Save your time and money, and never take a class offered by her.

After having her for COMS 311: Theories of Communication, I felt like I could handle another class with Professor Jackson. The problem I have with her lectures is that they are not super informative, rather boring, and she sometimes comes unprepared to class to the point where she is creating a powerpoint for that day's lesson. She did this in my COMS 311 class where she actually borrowed my textbook and spent the first hour of class forming a lesson. I applaud her for being a female, tenured professor, however, she is not the best tenured Communications professor I have had at Cal Poly. For this quarter, she introduced forum posts on PolyLearn, two exams, a group project, and a make-a-website project. I did not find any of the assignments to be super helpful or informative in regards to Gender Communications which is a bummer since I did have high expectations about the subject content. Hopefully the content and instructor of this course will be revamped in the future.

Well, Jackson was alright. I took the class as an elective, because I had to pick up another class. I can't say I didnt get anything out of it, but she had the talent of making what could be an interesting lecture, incredibly boring. She is however a very fair grader, and her tests are straight forward if you read the text. So, she isn't bad, but if you are taking an elective, I would shy away from this teacher.

Dr. Jackson advised me for my senior project and made the process simple and easy to manage. She told me exactly what I needed to get it done and even met with me outside of her office hours to help me complete the project. She worked really hard to do what she could to get me the best grade possible in a limited amount of time. I really appreciate all her help and will definetly come to her before other teachers to help me in the future.

Senior project with Dr. Jackson was the best decision I made. Unlike other professors that make you follow a schedule exactly how they write it up for you, Jackson allows a lot of freedom to get the work done on your own pace. As a senior it was nice to be free to complete the project my way and not have a teacher breathing down my neck. Near the end of the quarter, she reviewed the project extensively and helped make my project something I could be very proud of.

This is the first C I have recieved in my entire life. I hope that says something to all of you out there watching their GPA. Do not take him--this class was a nightmare!