Class record · ENGL · MCAS

ENGL 4538

Visual Culture in Black America: The Art and Politics of Seeing and Being Seen · 1 instructor on record · 2 sections

What the course score is made of

94BC evaluations2 records · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2023 – Spring 2024

—Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute

—RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

That is the class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it. Who taught it, and how each of them scored, is the board below — that is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between.

What the challenge rank is made of

39thMore challenging than 39% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

89BC — “Intellectually Challenging”2 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.

What the workload rank is made of

25thMore work than 25% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

40BC — “Workload”2 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.

This courses fulfills the Race, Blackness, and Language requirement for English majors.In this course, we will examine the significance of visual culture for Black America, thinking critically about the art and politics of seeing and being seen. Well keep in mind the following questions: what does it mean to see blackness? How do images function as tools of empowerment and disempowerment, or representation and misrepresentation? What role does visual media play in Black life and imagination? Photography will be central to the study of visibility, but well also consider what role other media play in the production of blackness as a visual phenomenon: literature, performance, and music videos. Authors and artists may include Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois, Josephine Baker, Gordon Parks, Spike Lee, Hype Williams, Melina Matsoukas, Claudia Rankine, and LaToya Ruby Frazier. Assignments will include weekly discussion posts on readings and images featured in the course, and one creative project that may take the form of a photo-essay, critical paper, or video related to Black visual culture.

The only instructor on record

2 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record

Instructor	Overall	Workload	Challenge
Jovonna JonesAssistant Professor, English and African & African Diaspora Studies · English Provisional	972 records	25th	39th

There is no ranking to read here: Jovonna Jones is the only instructor with evaluation records for ENGL 4538, so the number is a record, not a position. It rests on 2 records, which is thin — read it as provisional.

Also taught by Jovonna Jones

5 other classes

Class	Instructors	Course score
ENGL 1080Literature Core	90257 records	80
ENGL 2133Studies in Narrative	1634 records	87
AADS 6600Senior Seminar: Theorizing the Diaspora	46 records	94
AADS 6302Seminar: Black Feminist Literature, Art, and Performance, 1970s-1990s	11 record	100
ENGL 5035Seminar: PoV: Identity, Media, and Visual Narrative	11 record	86

Other ENGL classes

All of them

Class	Instructors	Course score
ENGL 1010First Year Writing Seminar	136442 records	80
ENGL 1080Literature Core	90257 records	80
ENGL 1079Literature Core for Multilingual Students	1340 records	89
ENGL 2221Introduction to Creative Writing	936 records	90
ENGL 2133Studies in Narrative	1634 records	87
ENGL 2131Studies in Poetry	1333 records	84

The line

All 13 items · means across 2 records

The Professor4 items

Clearly Explains MaterialThe instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.

9776th pctl

Available Outside of ClassThe instructor was available for help outside of class.

9457th pctl

Brings Out Your Best WorkThe instructor motivated me to do my best work.

9777th pctl

Sparked My InterestThe course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.

9878th pctl

The Course3 items

Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.

9254th pctl

Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.

9575th pctl

Useful Beyond the CourseWhat I learned is applicable beyond this course.

9886th pctl

Assignments & Feedback3 items

Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.

9260th pctl

Gives Feedback PromptlyI received feedback on my work in a timely manner.

8627th pctl

Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.

9573rd pctl

Workload, difficulty & attendanceNot ratings

WorkloadHow much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.

4025th pctl

Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.

8939th pctl

Attendance MattersAttending class was necessary to do well in this course.

8937th pctl

Bar length is the rank against every comparable record we hold, not the raw score: BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so a raw-scale bar would be nearly full on every row and would tell you nothing. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.

Game log

2 sections · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Jovonna Jones	Spring 2024	01	96	94	40
Jovonna Jones	Spring 2023	01	98	94	40

How to read this boardInstructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.