It's somewhat difficult (moderate-heavy workload). There is a heavy emphasis on class participation and students must be ready at any moment to answer questions. We used the textbook for our daily journals, where we had to write our connection to and analysis of each article's topic. The group project was the hardest part of this class because not everyone was active and there was an essay and presentation requirement. Ultimately, the course helps your oral and written communication skills pretty well.

Not entirely useful in terms of learning content, it's essentially a social justice class (hyper-focused on women's rights and poverty/violence in third-world countries). The main points of the course for writing (how to structure your essay and how to form an argument) are ones that I've heard repeated over and over in english in high school so the course wasn't that useful besides helping me brush up on my writing skill.

Professor definitely knows what she's teaching, the subject matter is just too boring to follow. She's strict on deadlines and very obviously biased (does not respond well to anyone playing devil's advocate). She also has a tendency to press into personal matters (asking a student why her sibling went to rehab and needed therapy) if she deems it important to the discussion. There are many cons and she's one of the harder professors for ENGL-1B because of the heavy coursework. Her feedback is very helpful, however.

Be prepared. Be active in your group project. I wish I took a different professor because I had to drop >$100 on the professor's own textbook (and for an online textbook filled with articles written by other people, it only lasts a semester).