AMES-180FS

HEROES AND VILLAINS

Not in Fall 2026
AMES · Taught by Havlioglu, Didem · Last offered Fall 2024
Term

Overview

Feedback is mixed. The clearest upside is that discussion is a clear strength. The ratings are softer than the more upbeat comments might suggest. Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent. The sample is still thin, so treat this as directional rather than definitive.

DepartmentAMES
Terms offeredFall
Typical enrollment17–17
Semesters of data1
2.6
Hrs / week
8
Responses
17
Enrollment
47%
Response Rate

Evaluation Scores

Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
3.3
12345
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
3.8
12345
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
3.5
12345
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
2.0
12345

Feedback Analysis

Feedback Analysislow
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 26 comments across 1 sections

Feedback is mixed. The clearest upside is that discussion is a clear strength. The ratings are softer than the more upbeat comments might suggest. Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent. The sample is still thin, so treat this as directional rather than definitive.

Student Reports
How hard is the A?
A is doable but not automatic
The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.
Homework Load
Moderate homework load
Homework load looks moderate. The recurring signal is steady weekly work, but not a course that turns every assignment into a grind.
Lecture Load
Lighter lecture burden
Student comments describe this as more discussion-, seminar-, or workshop-driven than lecture-dependent. The lecture burden itself does not sound like the main source of friction.
Strengths
Discussion is a clear strength; students repeatedly describe the class conversation as engaging and useful.
Students repeatedly say the course teaches something concrete, whether that is content mastery, research skill, or a strong foundation.
Tradeoffs
The numeric ratings are soft even if the comments do not converge on one dominant complaint.
Best fit for
Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent.
Watch out for
Most of the signal comes from a limited sample, so be careful about over-generalizing.
A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.

Student Responses

The capacity to compress the essence of our reactions to works of literature in to a short summary. The perspectives of a number of different authors (eg. El Saasawi) and generally a literature of the Middle East that I had never come across. Communication and presentation skills, from the presentation of one literary texts in term of ideas.
Fall 2024 · Havlioglu, Didem
Getting out of the Western way of thinking. Getting to know stories of people you wouldn't hear of in Western media.
Fall 2024 · Havlioglu, Didem
How to reead long texts and form a thesis
Fall 2024 · Havlioglu, Didem
I learned that the Middle east is a complicated region, there are many alternative ways of thinking about dissent (art, journalism etc), and how many issues in the ME are interconnected.
Fall 2024 · Havlioglu, Didem
engaging with perspectives I disagree with, articulating my position, reading critically
Fall 2024 · Havlioglu, Didem

Rating History

Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
TermInstructorOverallDifficultyHrs/wkEnrolled
Fall 2024Havlioglu, Didem3.32.02.617

Instructor

Havlioglu, DidemAMES
Also teaches
TURKISH-101 ELEMENTARY TURKISH4.8TURKISH-102 ELEMENTARY TURKISH4.7TURKISH-204 INTERMEDIATE TURKISHTURKISH-305 TURKISH POPULAR CULTURE5.0