How I Found It

Wanting to avoid eye contact with the pair of strangers carrying a heavy machined part onto the escalator, I turned my attention to the elevator wall. The library elevator paneling seemed more interesting than confronting the awkwardness of glancing over at the duo struggling to get a grip on their steel. I scanned the flyer boards plasticked with acrylic. As it seems with all bulletin boards, my eyes glazed over the calls to join some competition with a metagame that probably involved using AI, attending some talk about words that I wouldn’t even begin to know how to understand, and to join new classes put on by various engineering departments.

Except for one. My eyes focused in on one key phrase - “GE-C”. As an avid general education requirement procrastinator that was soon to graduate, I was faced with the monotony of searching for course syllabi, Rate My Professors reviews, and Reddit posts to try and optimize for a “low grading nonsense, high learning upside” general education course. The poster advertised an engineering centered pedagogy on the topics of AI, deepfakes, and information - all things I had first-hand experience with coming from group chats that began to blow up with AI-generated memes. Taking a leap of faith, I decided to enroll in EIS 103 (Information Literacy: Navigating Digital Misinformation).

What This Class Is About

What a leap of faith it was - I consider to be one of the most valuable courses an undergraduate can take. My singing of praises isn’t hyperbole or hype - this class and their professors have been awarded for their efforts. You can read what my friend Arianne and I had to say here!

Of course, those who know me also know I’m a fanatic of the theoretical - things like the origins of information, information literacy pedagogy, and engineering ethics. From a more practical skills point of view, we created research posters, ran anti-misinformation campaigns, and edited Wikipedia articles. For example, as our final deliverable, my group and I worked to create two animated videos teaching high school students how to verify source credibility!

I see no more fitting end to my extoling of this class than to submit my own Rate My Professor style post.

EIS103 (With Helen Choi and Cari Kaurloto)

Quality: 5.0
Difficulty: 2.5
Amazing professors who really do care about the class and the topics. Clear grading criteria. Attending class is important. One of the best classes for underclassmen to take based purely on the research skills and tools you learn.
Would Take Again: Yes