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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Race and Cultural Diversity in American Life and History by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

4.6
stars
296 ratings

About the Course

Learners will deepen their understanding and appreciation of ways in which race, ethnicity and cultural diversity have shaped American institutions, ideology, law, and social relationships from the colonial era to the present. Race and ethnicity are ideological and cultural categories that include all groups and individuals. Hence, this course is designed in significant part to take a broad look at the ideology of race and cultural diversity in America’s past and present. The primary focus is on the historical and social relationships among European Americans, Native Americans, African Americans, Latino/as, and Asian/Pacific Americans. Issues of race and ethnicity are examined across different ethno-cultural traditions in order to interweave diverse experiences into a larger synthesis of the meaning of race and ethnicity in American life. In this course, we conceive of “race” and “diversity” as references to the entire American population, even as we recognize that different groups have unique historical experiences resulting in distinctive and even fundamental cultural differences. We treat race and ethnicity as dynamic, complex ideological and cultural processes that shape all social institutions, belief systems, inter-group relationships, and individual experiences....

Top reviews

EJ

Nov 18, 2020

I felt Dr Anderson did an excellent job and I enjoyed hearing from the other resources and speakers as well. I would be interested in other similar courses and also other classes from dr Anderson.

CL

Dec 1, 2020

This course was outstanding. The video presentaions, additonal readings, and peer reviews allowing insight into other students perspectives was a definite plus. Will recommend to other co-workers.

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101 - 125 of 136 Reviews for Race and Cultural Diversity in American Life and History

By Allison

Aug 21, 2022

Learned so much

By Lisa M

Apr 27, 2021

Great job!!

By Alice Z

Feb 3, 2019

excellant

By Sara F H

Aug 16, 2020

AMAZING!

By Mona A A

Jul 3, 2020

good

By Nadine N M

Jul 25, 2020

I think it is wonderful to have this kind of course work available for free, and I am grateful to the professor and University of Illinois for doing this work. Thank you for the education, opportunity to think through these things and be exposed to better race history information that should have been taught earlier in schools. There REALLY needs to be a way to report graders who are purposefully downgrading other students. Since these classes are opened up to a very large audience with no prerequisites, it invites some people who don't necessarily have the right discernment and/or grade harshly for political reasons. For example, I was graded a '0' for references and citations on my final paper when there were citations throughout the paper (more than the minimum requirement) and more than 10 references (also more than the minimum requirement. 3 people grade our papers so, since the other 2 are fair, we mostly end up passing. However, it really isn't okay that are grades are far lower than is really deserved because of people with some kind of vengeance on the topic.

By Jasmin M

Jul 22, 2020

I absolutely loved all the material given from the Professor. I learned so much and I learned a lot from my fellow peers. This class was eye opening and I highly recommend it! Learning about race and it’s effects on society, has given me a much better understanding of what others different than me have experienced. The only thing I’d change or wish could be better is more time for the final project to be completed. I am a stay at home mom and I had a hard time finding time to finish certain assignments. A few were easy to complete but for the Final project, I would have wished I had more time to produce a better project than the one I gave. Despite this, I earned a very good grade in the class.

By Sonya R

Jul 21, 2020

The Race and Cultural Diversity in American Life and History course was excellent! Although, I didn't expect to spend as much time as I did on the assignments, it was worth it. Through the lectures presented by Professor Anderson, supplemental reading and resources, and research done to complete the assignment, I have learned more about my cultural identity, become more aware of the ideology of race and how it has shaped the lives Americans from every ethnic background. The only suggestion I would like to make is that some of the transcribed lectures be proof read. There are many typos.

Sonya Rosario

By David E E

Jul 9, 2020

While it is true that some of the administration can be clunky, and the peer reviews, both given and received can be inconsistent, the course content was excellent. Truly covering both race and cultural diversity, including ethnicity and religion, the presentations and supporting readings were engaging and thought-provoking. Beginning the course, I was skeptical of getting lively interaction typical of a classroom setting, especially for such an emotional topic, but one upside of the peer reviews was the exposure to others' thought processes and growth over the duration of the course.

By Ms. W

Jul 17, 2020

I loved the content of the course. I found it opened up a number of avenues for continued exploration and learning. The first assignment was great! I loved the reflective nature of it and it helped me to start to explore my own culture and perspectives. I have two suggestions for the course in the future: (1) make the assignments more reflective rather than the research based format and (2) the duration listed for the individual reading was not accurate. One time it said it would take 10 minutes but one of the included videos was 17 minutes.

By Jake B

Aug 31, 2020

The course content was phenomenal. I learned quite a bit; several of my misconceptions were smashed to pieces. I highly recommend reading and watching the supplemental materials. The RACE documentary was particularly meaningful to me. A couple of the assignments were unclear as to the exact expectations. The instructions would list one thing, and the rubric would grade on something else, or grade on something unexpected. I think a bit more clarity on assignment expectations would benefit this course greatly. It's still 100% worth taking!

By Heidi B

Jul 20, 2021

This is the 1st course I have undertaken on this website, and I really enjoyed it. I have done online before during high school and this format is so much more impactful. In terms of content this course delivers quick and easy lecture videos with noteworthy speeches, the assignments were laid out well enough for me to understand what was being asked of me. I learnt of many important constitutional sentences and the deep seated racism in the American psyche. very fascinating course to sober up the mind to a sad reality facing our world.

By Jean C T

Jul 28, 2020

The course taught me a lot of new information that I found to be very valuable. I can surely share what I have learned here in future conversations. My only critique would be that the course is not interactive enough. It was only based on peer reviewed assignments and had no in-lecture polls, quizzes etc. Also, the backgrounds/visuals were not very pleasing to the eye. I understand this is a course on a serious topic but those details count as well.

By Helena C

Jan 9, 2019

An excellent informative and well-explanatory course that every person living (not only) in America should take! Addressing issues that have always and still continue being -even subliminally- in the limelight and supporting, explaining them with historical and scientific facts can open the eyes of our contemporary society and make us learn and appreciate the beauty of our cultural richness and diversity that shapes the modern American identity

By Jennifer D F

Aug 9, 2020

The lectures and related content were organized and well-presented. The assignments could have stated more clearly exactly what the expectations were, as there were aspects for peer grading that I did not realize were an expectation. I was able to see what would contribute to the grade by advancing to the peer review page, but that feels like a work-around.

By Maria P

Jun 22, 2020

I find the course to be informative, I am taking the course as part of my staying at home while on Covid 19. I am not taking it as a credit course but that I am interested in everything that I have read so far, I would like to read on, if possible. I've seen all the videos read the articles. I like to ask permission to go on.

Thank you, MariaP.

By Pablo B

Jul 12, 2020

The videos by Professor Anderson are very good. I would be great if the Professor or his team would be available for answering questions on the Forums, as well as students are indicated that the Forum is not to ask for their papers to be reviewed, but to exchange ideas and thoughts. The Faculty should have a more active role on the Forum.

By Gabriel P O

Jul 15, 2020

The course was good in regard to information and easy to digest. The at your own pace and supplemental readings were nice. Assignments were a little confusing in regard to description and expectations. It would be beneficial to see the rubrics along with the assignment guidelines.

By Elvina C

Jul 14, 2020

The content itself is interesting and well-presented

However, the issue arises with the given tasks. the mark scheme is only available once submitted yet is necessary to complete the task as it routinely differs in key ways from the task outline

By chelsea D

Jul 10, 2020

This was a great, and very educational course. My only constructive criticism is a lack of clarity for the assignments. Some of the instructions weren't quite detailed enough to understand the depth of what was being asked for.

By Lydia B

Jul 20, 2020

This was my first experience with a Coursera class and it left a very positive impression. I learned, I felt engaged with the curriculum and the assignments, and I had to invest time/energy into the work weekly.

By Mildred M

Jun 24, 2020

I want to unenroll the course. I am having a hard time because it's too taxing for me... I really like the course but I cannot cope up... Thank you

By Heather L

Jul 29, 2020

I found this course both educational & compelling. I learned a lot. It would be nice to have news clips or video examples embedded in the course,

By Lori D

Oct 9, 2020

Great class! I walked away with a wealth of knowledge about race and prejudice and the history of that particular topic. Great class!

By Ty K

Jul 10, 2020

Very interesting content. Final research papers were interesting. Caught someone plagiarizing and reported them.