James Chamberlain

5-7 hours per week for B+, for an A probably 15-20 hours per week I'm guessing

I failed his course and that's the only course I ever failed. Not worth it to say anything else, take him if you want. There are other professors that are better in the sense that you won't hear anything polarizing about them, on an introductory art course. Go take him, I'll wait.

Colby is not a bad person, but he isn't actively nice. If you were to look for a word to describe him, it would just be "some man". He doesn't try to connect with you or really have any personality apart from an overt air of seriousness with which he takes the class and himself. This isn't a crazy class where everyone gets C's. But the fact of the matter is that even if you work pretty hard, you'll only end up with a B+, unless you're an Art History or whatever other majors we have at this school in this field. I have a 3.9+ GPA and only got a B+ in this class. Again, don't take this with Colby unless you're an art history major.

This class isn't that much work, especially if you already know a little about art history, but Colby makes it infinitely worse with his teaching style. Every class he just cold-calls people one by one to ask specific questions about elements of the painting or the readings, often trying in a rather condescending manner to lead them to his preferred answer (even when it's aspects of the work that might be open to different analyses or opinions). He's not interested in creating a discussion or anyone offering ideas or insights, you're just ticking a box to prove that you attended that day and did the reading (or are a good enough bullshitter to get away w/o having done it). The readings vary in quality, though if you try to do all of them thoroughly you'll be wasting a lot of time since he pretty much never calls on EVERYONE in the course of a single class. The nicest thing I can say is that at least his writing assignments and exams are fairly short and easy. You could learn the same amount as you will in this class by dicking around on Wikipedia for an afternoon.

Two 1000-1200 word papers, one midterm, one final paper.

Strongly disagree with the review from April 30th. I've gone through Lit Hum, CC, Music Hum, and now Art Hum with all sorts of professors, grad students, and lecturers, and I enjoyed Colby's class the most. Why? Because he's SUPER smart and knowledgeable, and unlike most discussion leaders has no qualms about lecturing. He sets aside quite a bit of time to give short lectures on the unit we're about to study or on a particular painting, and these are always very coherent and informative, and really tie the whole course together in a way none of my professors have managed before. He gives previews of the readings before he assigns them so you know what to look out for, and has clearly put a lot of thought into the exact readings he assigns. By the end of the class, you'll be able to talk about the scholarship of a bunch of art historians by name, which imo is a worthwhile takeaway. It's true that Colby doesn't care much for his students' opinions in class (though I can't really blame him, they're usually pretty boring/not well thought out), but if you go to office hours with specific, well-thought-out questions he's always happy to help and share some thoughts of his. Grading and feedback were fine, make sure you know what the essay prompts are asking you to do. Most of the assignments are heavily based on the readings, so make sure to keep up.

Not that bad, but if you want to get anything B+ or above, you have to work 8-10 hours per week

Super unhelpful feedback on essays, and very harsh grading. Generally a very unapproachable professor and expect yourself to feel killing yourself (note- mental health is a real problem and if anyone has any issues, Nightline is an available resource) every single class entirely due to Colby's self-centeredness, condescension, and lack of any sort of care for students.