2.9
Quality2.5
Difficulty36%
Would Retake85
Reviews36%
Would Retake
85
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
20
4
17
3
10
2
18
1
20
What Students Say
“This was probably one of the worst teachers I have ever had”
JOURN190 - 2.0 rating“Took me an average of an hour per 10-Q quiz”
JOURN190 - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
0%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.80 avg changeRatings by Course
JOURN340
5.0
(1)JOURN480
4.0
(2)JOUR190
3.0
(66)SENIORSEMINAR
3.0
(1)JOUR340
3.0
(3)Difficulty by Course
JOUR480
4.0
JOURN340
3.0
JOURN190
3.0
JOUR190
2.5
441166
2.0
Reviews (85)
Lectures from the book, but entertaining enough to make it fun in class. All quizzes/tests online, but Blackboard screwed us over this quarter and made things difficult. Funny guy, knows his stuff. Highly recommended!
Exceptionally smart and genuinely nice guy, but really has no idea how to run a class besides talking himself in circles about needlessly abstract ideas.
The few times I went I enjoyed his class very much. Its so easy to just do everything online and still get an A. Which is nice... but it does leave you feeling you paid a little too much for a class that might as well be online.
His tone of voice never fluctuates, so it's really hard to stay awake during his lectures. He's an easy grader and a pushover. He changes his mind a lot about homework assignments and tests -- we were supposed to have a midterm and a final, and ended up having neither. Is he lazy or just disorganized? I really didn't get much out of his classes.
For a professor to keep me coming every morning at 9am when i would usually still be in bed says a lot. Although Intro to Mass Media is a requirement for a lot of majors and students aren't generally there for the whole learning aspect of it, Brad has us all interested and convinced that what we are learning is of the greatest importance.
Personally, I really liked Brad. He was not monotone, and cracked jokes a lot (most of them only getting a chuckle from a few students though). He's a nice guy and has good stories. Although he goes on tangents sometimes (like the whole 50 minutes of class), there usually really interesting tangents. Easy GUR and fun!
This is a VERY political course, so just know that going in. We learned a lot about the big bad evil corporations, but it was really cool and interesting. Brad is full of great "party convo." Don't really need to read the book because everything's online so it's basically open book tests. Def. take this class!!
I initially took this class to expand the number of credits I was taking. It ended up being my favorite class that quarter. This guy knows what he is talking about, and makes it interesting and relatable. The book isn't entirely necessary. Attendance is tho bc of movies. All tests and quizzes [including midterm and final] are online which was nice
I really enjoyed this class. He was a great prof. and his passion for the topics were obvious. Having tests online was great and reading wasn't really necessary. He was pretty flexible with grades and seemed like one of those professors that would rather you learn and enjoy the class than worry about your grade. very politically oriented.
Gave a lot of "busy work." Did not hand back a single important assignment (profile, speech story, etc.) so that I had no idea where I stood in the class. Came away without learning much about newswriting. He talks a lot, which is fine for some people but bored me to tears most of the time.
It's been a while since I took the class, but I loved him. Made class enjoyable. Definitely one of my favorite professors I've had...and plan on taking him again this year.
Brad is so fun to have class with, his lectures are actually entertaining and sometimes he says some pretty humorous stuff. It was especially easy if you just showed up to class and the reading wasnt boring.
I highly recommend taking a class with Brad. He's extremely knowledgeable, has strong convictions about journalism (a good thing), and as a bonus - he's pretty darn funny! If you show up to class, do the readings (which are interesting and engaging), and *drumline* study for the tests, an A is easily obtainable. My favorite prof. at Western so far!
Great class. Mr. Howard has a strong grip on the problem of the media and a clear understanding on what good media should look like. If you want to be literate on the issues in the media that exist today, this is a great class. Online tests are easy, Brad's more interested that you understand the issues and care about them.
Howard is so passionate! You don't have to go to class he actually cancels it on Fridays, but the issues discussed are so interesting you feel bad for skipping. Tests are a breeze and all online. Everyone should take this class, it makes you want to do something in the world.
Brad is amazing. He cares about the future of journalism and teaches his students to do the same. For anyone who cares about investigative journalism and and muckraking, you will love senior seminar.
Brad Howard is a amazing teacher. In my four years at Western I found he is one of the few teachers I encountered that is actually passionate about his job. He makes the class as easy as possible with everything online/open book. I learned a great deal without feeling stressed out about the class. I would highly recommend Brad as a teacher!!!
Believes objectivity in journalism is obsolete, therefore, not really worth attempting. Believes journalism must be reinvented ? that it should promote what is best for society as a whole (which for him means extreme leftist ideology). I wish this class taught me something practical, but Howard is too keen on his pet issues to lecture beyond them.
Loved that he was very passionate about journalism. Easy A as long as you keep up with readings. Definitely recommend!
I am in my final quarter at Western, and I can say that he is the best teacher available. I've had dozens of professors, and he is more passionate than anyone else I've ever had. He knows alot, doesn't force attendance and grades easy. I learned alot because he makes it fun and interesting. Take him if possible!
Everything is online, including weekly quizzes, mid term and final. Very easy, there are 2 assignments that can be somewhat difficult though. He cancels all friday classes. Overall easy and interesting class.
I still don't get what this class was about.
Very good class, always interesting, quizzes are easy
I took his online course in the summer and it was pretty easy, but boring. The book is really important & interesting though. As long as you do the work, you'll get a great grade. He sometimes makes grading mistakes though, so check up on them.
Brad is a cool guy and really knows his stuff, but he doesn't clarify what exactly he wants from you, and then got mad at us for how we did on the midterm. Tell us what you want and we might do better. He also thinks he's always right which makes it hard to have an opinion that he disagrees with. He's super political too.
Quizzes based on ability to find specific sentences in long movies/readings, not comprehension of material. Took me an average of an hour per 10-Q quiz. Docu.s/sources are extremely dated; learned near-nothing from after the Bush era. Nothing from in-class factors into your grade. I went to class daily but didn't learn anything after the 1st week.
Howard is preachy & doesn't venture far from his pet topics. You could read every reading, watch all the movies, and go to every class & know as much as someone who did one of each. He's more interested in making himself look cool than in actually teaching anything. That said, pay attention to the answers to quiz q's & you'll get an A in the class.
Something to keep in mind: The stellar rating of Howard from 7/13/11 writes "alot" twice in their review. Howard is a journalism prof, so if they've had him a lot throughout their college career, they're likely a j-student. Would you really trust a j-student that writes "alot" as a senior? Especially on their opinion of what makes a good professor?
SUPER easy class, went for the first 2 weeks and havent been back! Two quizzes are due every monday, but you can just google all the questions and get the answers. Fun guy whom I share political beliefs in but there is no point to showing up to class!
Brad is a really cool guy. He loves talking, and honestly, it was really interesting to hear him talk/lecture every day. It is optional for you to go to his class, but I liked attending. There are quizzes due every Monday, but all the answers are basically laid right out in front of you. Also, he makes sure you pass the class.
As a freshman without interest in the subjects Brad discussed, this class was very difficult to follow along with and difficult to understand. Attendance isn't mandatory and his lectures confused me, so I stopped going and did the class online. The book has all answers to tests and some films are required.
The textbook and readings are fascinating. The professor is very political indeed (Uses religion in the U.S as an example of a way that women accept their own oppression as second class citizens within the church and says that whites cannot be racially oppressed). His assignment can be a bit unclear, just be liberal. Repeats concepts in videos.
This was probably one of the worst teachers I have ever had. He uses class time merely to press his own political agenda. When someone speaks up with other views he shuts them down. If you want a class based solely on the opinion of a supremely liberal teacher this is the class for you.
You don't really HAVE to go to class at all. His lectures are basically just his opinion (which are insanely liberal) and doesn't really have anything to do with the quizzes we take.
I didn't go to class at all and I'm expecting an A. Except your graded on attendance. So that's up to you.
Good professor with captivating lectures, and the tests are all online and really easy. Definitely worth taking this class, especially if you are cynical as hell.
Just two weeks into this class and I have NO CLUE what is going on. I have shown up every day and done all the readings. Way too difficult for a 100 level class. I don't know half the vocab he uses and he's very bad at explaining. We have two huge assignments coming up and neither one makes sense and he doesn't explain them.. Yay..
Attendance is completely mandatory. He even said you could not come to a single class and still ace the class. That being said, the only things he does in class is go on very liberal tangents that don't have anything to do with online quizzes. He's hard to get in touch with and doesn't explain projects clearly at all. Good guy, terrible class.
Took 190 as part of a FIG, showed up to the first class and discovered this non-online class was pretty much completely online. Easy, but underwhelming. As someone genuinely interested in Journalism, I felt cheated out of an actual learning experience. Also incredibly bias!
You have to read numerous documents for the quizzes, but they're easy & online. Beware of his biased grading when it comes to projects, though. I expressed that he wasn't very clear with instructions before he graded the first project and I got C's on every project. He made it clear with his passive aggressive emails to me that he didn't like me.
I am not a journalism student, and had a really hard time with the online platform and really understanding concepts, but Brad made himself SO available for help! He explains concepts and uses examples in a way that helped me really have a comprehensive understanding. THIS CLASS IS SO MUCH EASIER IF YOU JUST GO ASK FOR HELP!
This was basically an online class. I felt like the entire thing was a waste of my time. Brad is not helpful. I'm convinced he steals all of his opinions from our assigned readings. Terrible class. Do not choose him if you want to stay sane.
Spends the entire class preaching his own political beliefs. Frequently gets things just plain wrong because they support his liberal agenda. No reason to come to class, just watch the most biased news network you can find and.
I had fallen massively behind in my reading and bombed several online quizzes. Because I had built a communication with him from the start of the year and had been engaged in almost every class he let me retake several quizzes. He is also extremely inspiring in lecture and really cares about what he is teaching. Most engaging professor I've had yet
Howard has influenced me to look into more journalism courses. He's incredibly passionate, caring, helpful, and kind. He's also very liberal, so BE AWARE when taking his class, and if you can't listen to someone with opposing views, take a different teacher. You don't need to go to class; I go because I like listening to his lectures!
This is basically an online class since all the quizzes and tests are online and attendance isn't mandatory. He just preaches his own political beliefs during lectures to the extent that I wouldn't even consider it teaching. His projects are very unclear and is a tough grader, especially if you challenge his political beliefs. Don't take this class
Sadly this is not the class I hoped it was going to be. A lot of reading and discussion board which I don't mind; but sadly no in-class participation or group projects.
While he does care, his instructions are very vague and he is a very tough grader. If you talk to him he'll help, but the classes are completely optional and consist of him ranting about his liberal views. I'm really liberal too, but the class just isn't informative. I have learned very little so far.
Brad is a great man who really cares about this class but he isn't a great teacher. This class is basically all online through discussion board so you never have to go. The way he grades is hard, but if you add quotes from each of the reading you should be fine. Take this class if you want an easy GUR that you don't have to show up.
Brad is a good guy who means well, and is clearly passionate about what he teaches. My only drawback from the class was that he was highly opinionated, and didn't leave any room in his lectures or online discussion boards for opposing opinions, which forces you to only learn from one perspective which is a real downfall for me
Brad was an intense dude but he is certainly an inspiring man. He's easy to talk to but can easily get carried away into a lecture. Only reason I rated him kinda high on difficulty with this class was that the grading seemed a little arbitrary and he never comments on any of your work to let you know what you could do better.
Intelligent,passionate about teaching good journalism.
It was an okay class, I just felt that he used lecture time as a personal soapbox more than a tool to teach anything.
This class is terribly stressful if you have a full time load and work at least part time. I read every assigned item, even took notes on what I read, and still struggled immensely to get a passing grade. It isn't a very good way to grade an online course. If you can, take it on campus. Then if you have questions and struggle you will have help.
Dr. Howard was a good teacher and demands that in order for you to get a good grade that you follow his rubric.
Brad is super into what hes talking about and is passionate about his lectures. There is a lot of reading assignments but there is nothing done to go over them in class - they will be referenced in the 4 quizzes that you take, but I got along just fine without reading hardly anything. Brad is laid back and a fun professor, this class is amazing!
On the first day of class when Brad told us we didn't have to come to class if we didn't feel like it, I should've listened. He proved himself right by using each class as an opportunity to yell his opinions for 50 mins and teach nothing. It's shocking how little he cares about his work. Easy A but I've never respected a prof less.
Some of the readings were interesting, but he very rarely went over them in any way. Lectures quickly strayed from anything to do with journalism, and he usually ended up yelling about neo-liberalism. I actually agreed with most of his opinions, but that isn't what the class is for. Potentially interesting guy, bad professor.
It felt like the same lecture every day for the whole quarter. The papers we had to write had confusing prompts that asked many different questions, yet also required us to be very specific. We wrote about 5 of these essays, yet I don't think any were read in depth. The readings were dense and had little to do with the topics lectured on in class.
Lectures are where Howard grandstands his important political opinions. I wouldn't bother attending. His grading is inconsistent and unfair. I'm not one to complain about that sort of thing, but he's so vague in his expectations. The quarter was unorganized and there was a metric ton of work to do between lengthy readings and busy work assignments.
Same lecture everyday- "Media is terrible and you should feel bad". A TON of very confusing work to do on super lengthy readings where we're asked to do nothing but regurgitate quotes instead of doing any critical thinking on our own. No clear grading criteria. Suddenly uploaded 4 tests worth hundreds of points in the last few days of class.
It's been said on here before, but we get the same lecture every week. Don't bother going to class unless you have a question for him because it's IMPOSSIBLE to reach him outside of class. The reading was dense and off topic. We basically regurgitated quotes the entire quarter. Just do the reading and you'll be fine.
Brad's class is not organized at all. Do not even consider taking a class with him.
I have a feeling that Dr. Howard has responded to criticisms made against him in the past, possibly from this site. The essay assignments have been shortened and the grading criterion is much fairer. The lectures were fun, but you could just do the reading and the assignments and pass.
Went to class for about two weeks. Brad states you don't need to show up if you don't want and most the class won't. I felt he primarily used it as a soapbox. You're graded on 4 quizzes and 2 outlines. At first I thought this class was awful but for not going to the lectures and getting a good grade, it's not that bad.
Brad is very smart and down to earth, but not really a great lecturer. I attended maybe 20% of the lectures because they were kind of a downer. If you read all the material he assigns and watches all the videos he assigns, you'll be ok to not go to class and still do well on online quizzes and essays.
Honestly going to class isn't mandatory at all whatsoever. But if you do decide to go to class the only pro is that you can get quotes that will help with the two main outlines you have to do for the class. Quizzes are online and they all repeat questions from the previous quiz. The outlines might seem stressful but just don't wait last minute.
He is very clear about his grading criteria. I think he is a great teacher and I would take him again. You will be reading tons but it is all interesting. Be sure to follow the grading ruberic for the papers and keep up on the reading and you'll get an A. Just communicate with him he is more than willing to help.
Brad is pompous, vague and forgetful. He regularly forgot to upload key documents, like the rubric to our three biggest assignments, randomly announced Zoom meetings and made us pay for a discussion service so he wouldn't have to manually grade canvas discussions. I only took him b/c I had no other option if I wanted to graduate on time.
Don't feel I learned anything. His lectures had nothing to do with the readings. A few quizzes throughout the quarter which are very easy, but the final was an essay with 30 sources required. All the assignments felt like busy work. Maybe a good pick if you need an easy A, but if you're genuinely interested in journalism, you'll be disappointed
Took Journalism 190 last fall and I'm still haunted by the amount of time I wasted taking this class. I don't think I learned anything about mass media... besides that the professor seemingly hates it. Felt like I was being yelled at during lectures for not being depressed alongside him. Interesting dude, but not a very good prof.
I took Howard in the fall of 2020, and I hate that class so much. Howard only talks about extremely liberal agendas and as much of a strong liberal I am myself, his lectures get repetitive quick, and it's just him ingraining how corporations and society is bad etc. Graded off of 3 tests and it's such a useless class, don't waste your time.
Fall 2021- I stopped going to class after week 2 and didn't get much out of going. Still got an A in the class tho. I loved the topics and concepts covered, just not a fan of the professor. Tests were open notes/book and since I got the eTextbooks, I was able to look up most of the answers w/ the search bar. Easy class, just a little meh.
The professor knows what he's talking about, and while the content may seem liberal, the ideas following it are vital to understanding the reforms that need to be done to mass media. Every Lecture is concise, and has a point, he doesn't spitball. Labeling his educating as "liberal propaganda" is an oversimplification of his class content
Brad spent most of his lectures rambling about politics - nothing to do with journalism. Your grade is based on a few open-book quizzes and 1 essay. After a couple weeks I stopped attending lectures and still got an A. If you just want a GPA boost I suggest this class, but if you're actually interested in journalism like me, you'll be disappointed.
If you actually want to learn anything about Mass Media, please turn away from this professor. He has canvas grade 99% of any work you do for him- the one exception being an outline which requires 30 sources with absolutely no clear instruction. Brad is a professor who uses his class time to spout his beliefs without any direction. WASTE OF TIME.
Professor Howard is a very nice person, but unfortunately he is not the best professor. I feel like I am listening to the same lecture every day. He never prepares you for when you will have a quiz so the date creeps up on you if you are not constantly checking the syllabus. He is very hopeful and inspirational often times in his lectures.
I went to class once the entire quarter and ended with an A+. Keep track of the due dates from the syllabus and you'll be fine. You won't really learn anything from him, but the materials he provides are interesting reads. Don't expect him to respond to your canvas messages or emails. Pretty nice dude, super easy class, but you don't learn much.
Such an awesome dude! He was genuinely so interesting to listen to, and he knows what hes talking about. Class work took about an hour or two every week, and assignments and readings felt meaningful.
Howard was a fine professor. Because the class was async, it was difficult to know if he was good or not but overall the class was easy. Just be prepared to read a lot of articles and watch many ted talks. There are weekly assignments that aren't difficult if you do the readings and come up with a question and respond to 2 others. Overall not bad.
Best class I've ever taken. Lectures are super interesting and fun to go to. He cares more about actually teaching you how to be a successful citizen rather than fulfilling requirements for the school. Brad's a really cool guy and you should take his classes.
I attended almost every class because he was so fascinating to listen to. Brad is so passionate about his students becoming good people. I only talked to him face to face once but he was very friendly and talkative.
I took 190 as a part of a FIG cluster for freshman, but I was honestly he radicalized me a lot honestly, very passionate! His lectures didn't feel too long and the work is easy as long as you read the material & read again before a quiz with a pretty easy final as well! played papas freezeria in class often to help pay attention, he doesnt care ^^
Lectures can be somewhat rambly but are interesting and eye-opening to the shortcomings in modern journalism, and reference current issues. The final includes citing 30 sources, if you spread it out over a couple of days it's fine, but would not recommend waiting until the last minute. Very accommodating, just advocate for yourself.
Very manageable course, took with a FIG and it was a great way to start my 1st year.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
0%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.80 avg changeRatings by Course
JOURN340
5.0
(1)JOURN480
4.0
(2)JOUR190
3.0
(66)SENIORSEMINAR
3.0
(1)JOUR340
3.0
(3)Difficulty by Course
JOUR480
4.0
JOURN340
3.0
JOURN190
3.0
JOUR190
2.5
441166
2.0