Gateway to Asia: Special Topics

ASIAN 100 provides a comparative and interdisciplinary introduction to multiple cultures of Asia.

offering recorded3–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Kyle DoughertyMiki ChaseNhu Truong

Summary

1 / 6

Historical reviews of Adam Kern, Charo D'Etcheverry: The workload is generally light, featuring online quizzes and group projects. However, one reviewer reports an absurd amount of required reading, up to 600 pages weekly, despite the class being considered easy overall.

Grade history

average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
ASIAN 100

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.48 GPA, 75.0% A/AB (n=80 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews for Adam Kern describe the class as extremely easy with heavy manga reading, though some find him an oddball or problematic regarding privilege and grading transparency. Others note his lectures are knowledgeable but limited. Historical reviews for Charo D'Etcheverry praise her as enthusiastic, accessible, and highly recommended, noting her engaging lectures and respectful handling of sensitive topics.

ADAM KERN is recorded teaching in Spring 2020, Spring 2025, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

CHARO D'ETCHEVERRY is recorded teaching in Fall 2021. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MIKI CHASE is recorded teaching in Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction59 / 600
LEC 002Classroom Instruction70 / 800

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

Student experience

the class

Reviewers describe the course as extremely easy with manageable workloads, though some note excessive reading volumes. Historical instructors like Charo D'Etcheverry receive high praise for engagement, while Adam Kern's teaching style elicits polarized reactions.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.34 GPA, 68.2% A/AB (n=85 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.55 GPA, 86.6% A/AB (n=119 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.46 GPA, 72.3% A/AB (n=83 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Adam Kern, Charo D'Etcheverry: The workload is generally light, featuring online quizzes and group projects. However, one reviewer reports an absurd amount of required reading, up to 600 pages weekly, despite the class being considered easy overall.

Historical reviews of Adam Kern, Charo D'Etcheverry: Students find the material interesting and lectures engaging under Charo D'Etcheverry, though her lectures can be abstract. Adam Kern's sessions are described as knowledgeable but okay, with one student noting a lack of in-person guest lecturers during his term.

Topics

  • Travelogues, languages of Asia, and food cultures of Asia

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

4 earlier forecasts · 0.30 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Selected offering source records
ASIAN 100 · Fall 2026

Gateway to Asia: Special Topics

Recorded 2026-09-07
ASIAN 100 · Fall 2026

Democracy and Tyranny in Asia

Recorded 2026-09-07
ASIAN 100 · Fall 2026

Asian Languages and Identities

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:185:024969",
    "course_id": "ASIAN 100",
    "course_uid": "course_e6a0424a53300e9def13c966",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "024969",
    "source_subject_id": "185",
    "title": "Gateway to Asia: Special Topics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:185:024969.13",
    "course_id": "ASIAN 100",
    "course_uid": "course_e6a0424a53300e9def13c966",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "024969.13",
    "source_subject_id": "185",
    "title": "Democracy and Tyranny in Asia",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:185:024969.7",
    "course_id": "ASIAN 100",
    "course_uid": "course_e6a0424a53300e9def13c966",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "024969.7",
    "source_subject_id": "185",
    "title": "Asian Languages and Identities",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "911330145ddea28b47fbc5e7bdbc0428792b5cb6132b17fae464529e3984d580",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}