Taught by: Dr Joel Chow
Content (Structure/Organization): 3
**Before I start off the mod review, let me preface that this review was written by an audit student. I did not do the assignments but I still attended all the lessons**
Finally after 6 semesters since he mentioned that he wanted to teach What is Love?, it is officially a module. Yes, he had been saying that he wanted to teach this module since ages ago but I guess after all the CHS and USP becoming NUSC things, this module is official.
This module is in its first iteration, so it would be safe to assume that the organisation of the module might be messy. It's still relatively ok, you get to learn how the way we view love is shaped by biological, social, environment forces etc. and how different humanities scholars viewed love. You also get to learn about AI chatbots in love, and watch Greta Gerwig's Little Women in class. Cool! But I felt that the content was still kinda lacking in something (which I do not have the vocabulary for it). Perhaps it's because the nature of love is difficult to teach. Or I had too high expectations since I really liked his Democracy and Inequality mod LOL. Particularly, for this semester, he was away for conference for the first two lessons so content did ""shrunk"" a bit. Hopefully when he teaches the mod in future semesters there will be more content and cogency.
Also, prof also provides Zoom online links to those who can't make it to the lesson (for whatever reason, like sickness), records them and uploads the recordings onto Canvas. Really nice of him, because most profs wouldn't record their sessions. I also think that he recorded so that he can review his own lessons, esp when this is the first iteration.
Accessibility and Assessment: 4
The readings were quite accessible,. Prof Joel is a philosopher by training; he does cover theories from sociology, philosophy, biology etc. and he makes those topics simple to understand for those without a background in these topics. Coming from a Life Sciences major, I actually didn't really like the way he explain the biological pathways of love (which involved all the dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and neurological pathways which he is most certainly not familiar with), but then again he still explains it correctly, just not the way I would explain in layman terms to other people. I do really want to laud prof for his attempt to explain the biological account of love, among other things.
Manageability of Workload: 3
**The rating for the workload of the course from an audit student pov assumes 1) my experience with Prof Joel's Democracy and Inequality mod, and 2) my experience taking 5 mods in a usual sem, as I was away for a graded internship this sem**
The workload as follows (as stated in his assessment guidelines):
1) Class Participation 10%
2) Forum Posts 5% (2 posts + 1 reply by week 13)
3) Mid-Term Assignment 25% (Due end of week 7), rewrite option available:
Choose to do either a) Evaluative Summary, b) Issues Analysis Report, c) Research Proposal
4) Group Project 20% (Presentations on weeks 11 & 12):
In groups of 3-5, situate your understanding of love within the Singapore context. Consult prof on the topic before doing the presentation.
5) Final Assignment 35% (Due 5th May 2024):
Choose to do either:
a) Final Essay (2.5k words),
b) Video Essay (no longer than 10 minutes with a 300-500 word writeup of the editing choices you made, explaining what you chose to retain and what you chose to leave out.),
c) Creative Writing and Analysis (poem, a short story of not more than 1,000 words, or a short film of max 5 minutes + analysis (1.5k words) of the poem, short story, or film.)
Prof Joel does the gives 2-day extensions (without question) if you need them. Honestly just by looking at the workload it seems less intense that his Democracy and Inequality module where we had to submit group assignments once every few weeks.
Ease/Difficulty of Attaining Grades:
As mentioned earlier, I audited the module so I cannot comment the overall grading for this module. But generally from my experience with Prof Joel in Democracy and Inequality module is that he is very liberal in handing out good grades in class. A- and above is very possible if you did well for most components. If you happen to get B+ and below...err maybe it's because of the midterm/grp proj/final project.
Learning Value/Recommendation: 4
Uhhh you won't come out of the module knowing the answer to "What is Love?", you might need to synthesise that answer by yourself. But at least this module provided me a better understanding of the forces around me shaping my view of love. It might had also unintentionally make me not want to pursue love for the sake of ensuring human survival or that "people are better in love than single" (amatonormativity, a term you will learn in class) but for other means oops. Ofc this is on me.
About the Instructor:
I might be biased cos I already took his Democracy and Inequality module, his USS2105 modulet (a mod of USP times), and his Brainfood+. But anyways Prof Joel is very knowledgeable, friendly, patient and understanding. He might look aloof but actually he can be very lame and funny (eg. him sending a Crash Landing on You heart sticker in the module group chat). If you do not understand the concepts, you can just Telegram him about it and he will explain them again in a longggggggg message. Or you see something on the internet about love and don't understand it, he can perhaps explain it to you. He uses his own real life examples of him and his relationship with his wife to explain certain concepts and make it more relatable. He's also nice enough to be your references for jobs (which he likes to say it at the end of the mod, really). Can tell that he really want to help students in any way possible.
Prof usually posts summaries of the lesson but this sem...perhaps it's the first iteration of the module or he's too busy but he forgot to post the summaries after a while LOLOLOL. Hopefully prof can get it ready for future sems and just ctrl c ctrl v his summaries.
Additional Comments/Word of Advice:
Tldr: Prof's good, module's ok and definitely will improve overtime. Importantly, don't expect prof to provide you the answer to "What is Love?", cos I also think that prof doesn't have a concrete answer to that either.