Spring 2027

Communication and Human Behavior

Communication and Human Behavior covers communication inquiry, face-to-face interaction dynamics, and the pragmatic and artistic functions of public communication.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Lillie Williamson3.8/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Lillie Williamson

The workload included four major writing assignments, biweekly module quizzes, and weekly lecture-based case studies, with most components completed online.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain an array of communication theories and research methodologies that are applicable to our lives and the world

  • Analyze real life communication concerns, questions, and problems using insights from scholarly communication research

  • Apply lessons from the course to better understand how communication shapes our lives and the world

  • Practice forms of writing and communicating that are common in our relationships, workplaces, and communities

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
COMARTS 260 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.14/5 from 7 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.0/5 raw quality · 1.6/5 difficulty · 5 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Lillie Williamson

Dr. Lillie Williamson held one weekly lecture and discussion, with mostly online modules and quizzes. Four writing assignments were graded by a TA; reviewers noted the grade relied heavily on that TA. Reviewers called the course easy, though some found the guidelines confusing.

One student disagreed, calling Dr. Williamson unclear. This reviewer said the directions were nonsensical and described the work as pointless.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.62 GPA, 86.3% A/AB (n=233 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.66 GPA, 82.5% A/AB (n=166 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.76 GPA, 89.7% A/AB (n=234 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Christine Garlough, Karma Chavez

Christine Garlough taught with interesting lectures and organized notes, though students found papers difficult and discussions boring. Karma Chavez’s course was heavy on reading, with lectures that added humor; exams covered lecture material, and students wrote a couple of big papers while discussions sometimes felt unhelpful.

CHRISTINE GARLOUGH is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KARMA CHAVEZ is recorded teaching in Fall 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LILLIE WILLIAMSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SARA MCKINNON is recorded teaching in Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2025. 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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Online (some classroom)0 / 1600
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 200

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

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Lillie Williamson

Students described Dr. Williamson as personable and kind, teaching a course that felt easy and straightforward when students stayed on top of the asynchronous work.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.66 GPA, 82.5% A/AB (n=166 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.75 GPA, 89.3% A/AB (n=242 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.70 GPA, 86.0% A/AB (n=157 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Lillie Williamson

The workload included four major writing assignments, biweekly module quizzes, and weekly lecture-based case studies, with most components completed online.

Past student reviews · Lillie Williamson

Some students found the assignment instructions unclear and frustrating, noting that grading relied heavily on TAs and guidelines could be confusing.

Topics

  • Approaches to communication inquiry.
  • Dynamics of face-to-face interaction.
  • Pragmatic and artistic functions of public communication.

Skills

  • Explain communication theories and research methodologies.
  • Analyze real-life communication concerns using scholarly research insights.
  • Practice writing and communication forms for relationships, workplaces, and communities.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · 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.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.19 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

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

1280 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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
COMARTS 260 · Spring 2027

Communication and Human Behavior

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:250:003785",
    "course_id": "COMARTS 260",
    "course_uid": "course_39e37c63d7e02503f2171e15",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003785",
    "source_subject_id": "250",
    "title": "Communication and Human Behavior",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "b387f2ef57091508699ef13fa38b7a28bb7dd8757d8dd764d3418a9fda59ca0d",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}