PUBPOL-224
RUSSIA IN THE WORLD
Not in Fall 2026
Term
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that teaching clarity stands out. Best for students who want a structured class rather than chaos. The sample is still thin, so treat this as directional rather than definitive.
DepartmentPPS
Terms offeredFall
Typical enrollment31–31
Semesters of data1
4.2
Hrs / week
26
Responses
31
Enrollment
84%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
4.6
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.5
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.9
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
3.3
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysislow
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 98 comments across 1 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that teaching clarity stands out. Best for students who want a structured class rather than chaos. 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
Homework load is mixed
Homework load looks uneven. Some students call it fair or manageable, while others say the weekly work sprawls more than expected.
Lecture Load
Regular lecture load
Lectures matter here, but the evidence points to a fairly standard lecture burden rather than a course dominated by long or exceptionally dense lectures.
Strengths
• Teaching clarity stands out; students repeatedly say the material is explained clearly and effectively.
• Readings, films, or outside materials come up repeatedly as a real strength rather than filler.
Tradeoffs
• There is no single dominant complaint theme, but the feedback is not uniformly glowing either.
Best fit for
Best for students who want a structured class rather than chaos.
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
I gained perspective on how Soviet history contributes to Russian policy and military modernization. The course provided perspective on how the Russians see world events as well.
Fall 2023 · Miles, Simon
How to think about policy from other countries perspectives, importance of history in current events, understanding context of Russia
Fall 2023 · Miles, Simon
I learned how to better absorb lectures, analyze small details within sources, and think critically about events that pertain to the current global landscape.
Fall 2023 · Miles, Simon
background context into modern Russian history, interesting to write the policy memoranda from the perspective of Russian government officials, perspectives helpful to evaluate current Russian actions
Fall 2023 · Miles, Simon
The type of writing required for this course was new for me, so learning how to write these types of memos was useful. My ability to analyze long historical documents also improved. Finally, researching the topics necessary when writing improved my ability to figure out which resources would actually be useful.
Fall 2023 · Miles, Simon
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2023 | Miles, Simon 4.0Rate My ProfessorsQuality4.0Difficulty3.6Would retake82%Based on 11 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.6 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 31 |
Instructor
Miles, SimonPOLISCI
Also teaches
POLSCI-562S AMERICAN GRAND STRATEGY4.6PUBPOL-320 STATECRAFT AND STRATEGY4.5