Raymond Jonas - University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Professor: Raymond Jonas

Department: History

College: University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: HISTEU422
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Jonas is a gem to the history department. His lectures are very engaging and his enthusiasm makes class a treat to attend. Always willing to help brainstorm paper topics or to have a great conversation with in office hours. Would highly recommend to anyone.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU422
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This is the second class I've taken with Prof Jonas and it was a blast like the first one - his lectures are informative, entertaining, and best of all, straightforward, which can't be said for all history profs here. Going to all lectures will help you pass the exams easily, and you will want to go anyway since he makes the topic very appealing.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: HISTEU210
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Jonas is great, his lectures are like listening to a story. He does a great job about bringing different aspects of history from art, fashion, and architecture together with military history and politics into a single framework. He assigns quite a few readings but coming to lecture is the most important part of the class.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU210
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Prof Jonas is really passionate about French history and it shows. His lectures might be a little long but they are very compelling, and he presents it in a way so that it is very eas y to understand the nonlinearity of historical events/themes. Only some of the readings are essential to passing. Easy A if you love history or are good at writing.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Prof. Jonas definitely knows his stuff and is respected in the field. Being attentive in class will help you. Drawing connections and looking for patterns on your own will help you. He assigns a book to read every week or two, but at least a few people were able to get by without reading them. It will help to at least know what's in them, though.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU422
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

French Revolution and Napoleon. Really helpful. It's in your best interest to show up to class, that's for sure. As long as you study your ass off for the exams, you should be totally fine. Professor is subjectively handsome enough. Be sure to ask specific questions about assignments, or else you might be shooting in the dark. Plenty reading to do.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: HISTEU422
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Raymond Jonas creates a fantastic atmosphere of learning. He incorporates a lot of very helpful visual aids into his great lectures. He has a vast knowledge about his subject, is very helpful and has straightforward expectations. Must go to class. One of the best at UW.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU210
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Jonas is fantastic! He did a really great job incorporating technology (maps, art, etc) into his lectures. It was seamless. You absolutely have to go to most lectures to pass, because the outlines aren't specific enough to study off of by themselves. Lots of reading assigned, but you don't really need to do all of it to pass.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU422
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

I've taken 2 of his classes (422 and 303) and he's amazing. Great lecturer, super nice, grades reasonably erring on the side of generous. His exams are legitimately fun, which I can't say about many professors. He has like this entourage of old people (access students?) who love him so much they take every class he offers. 1010.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: HISTEU303
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

I was absolutely in love with his lectures! It's a relaxed & positive environment. He makes them fun & interesting with lots of visual aids. He is very friendly & will answer questions throughout lecture. He knows his stuff. No "textbook," only primary sources. 2 tests, 2 papers. Tests are a blast, you get to show off what you know in a few IDs.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU422
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Incredible teacher - made me love the subject. Got help from the TA on paper and that really helped my grade

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU422
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Jonas made me fall in love with the French Revolution. He is very passionate about his subject and goes in depth about everything. Tests were a blast, got to show your knowledge of the material by writing everything you know about it. Long, but interesting (if you pick the right topic) research paper as well.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: HISTEU422
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Spectacular! Lectures are engaging and packed with interesting information. Friendly, helpful and typically answers e-mails within 24 hours. On the other hand his TA takes forever and a day to grade things yet refuses to grant extensions; said she would post a sample paper and never did that either, is unfriendly. Verdict: GREAT prof, bad TA.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

GO TO LECTURE! He covers A LOT of material, so you really have to write fast. Main required book is just if you want extra info/missed something. Helps with writing papers though. Other books are unnecessary (just look up summaries). Fairly easy class as long as you go to lecture & listen. How well you do depends on how harsh on grading your TA is.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof. Jonas is an excellent lecturer and uses technology (Google Earth especially) to "immerse" the class in Parisian culture. It can be difficult to follow along because he talks and doesn't give many notes, so learn to write/type fast! There is a lot of reading assigned for the weekly section, but I got by fine without reading most of the books.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lots of reading of primary sources, be prepared to send time on this class. Two papers, a midterm and final all fairly easy. My TA didn't speak the best English (sections could have been better). I like to listen to his voice, goes over tons of material. Knows his stuff about PARIS!!

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: HIST303
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Really cool guy

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU422
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Organized, helpful, knowledgeable. Lectures were very engaging. Prof used a wide variety of visual aids that made it easier for me to focus without my attention wandering. Readings were extensive but relevant, exams reasonable, grading reasonable. Jonas is very helpful and passionate about his subject (French revolution). Highly recommended.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: HSTEU422
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

While his lecture is fairly interesting and his knowledge indisputable, Jonas's testing and grading techniques are absolutely horrible. There is no such thing as a grading rubric in his classroom, and test prep? Forget about it. Hope you can memorize the entire course content and strike the whimsical grading points he has in mind.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: HIST113
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lectures were quite interesting, though long (110 mins). The tests are pretty straightforward: you choose 6-7 terms/pictures/quotes from a bank of ~14 and identify them. My TA seemed to be a pretty stingy grader, so I didn't get as high of a grade as I would have liked. That being said, the material wasn't difficult to comprehend.