Spring 2027

Contemporary Issues in Educational Psychology

Contemporary Issues in Educational Psychology examines the influence of educational psychology upon issues and innovations in education.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Haley Vlach4.1/5Edward Hubbard4.0/5Amy Bellmore3.9/5 +4 more

Summary

1 / 5

Past student reviews · Haley Vlach

Workload included one presentation, weekly readings, and a final paper, with mandatory attendance factored into the grade. One student noted it was easy to earn an A if all assignments were completed.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Junior standing

  • Junior standing
EDPSYCH 506

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • Junior standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Haley Vlach

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.71/5 from 14 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: 5.0/5 raw quality · 2.5/5 difficulty · 2 reviews

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

Past student reviews · Haley Vlach

Past students reported that Haley Vlach’s class involved one presentation, weekly readings, and a final paper, with attendance factoring into the grade. Reviewers described her as engaging and clear on expectations, noting the course prioritized stimulating conversation over heavy lectures, while one student found it easy to earn an A by completing all assignments.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2012: 3.80 GPA, 90.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Spring 2013: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.85 GPA, 92.3% A/AB (n=13 letter grades).

Edward Hubbard

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.40/5 from 20 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.

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

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=12 letter grades); Fall 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=13 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=14 letter grades).

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.31/5 from 16 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 · 1.0/5 difficulty · 2 reviews

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

Past student reviews · Amy Bellmore

Amy Bellmore taught this course as a discussion-based class rather than a lecture, grading primarily on weekly discussion board participation. Students read roughly three research papers per week, with one review describing the readings as interactive and another finding them boring. Assignments were described as interesting and easy, and Bellmore responded to emails quickly.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.94 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.97 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.94 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=26 letter grades).

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.33/5 from 3 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.

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

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2019: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=9 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.94 GPA, 93.8% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.89 GPA, 94.4% A/AB (n=18 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.91 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=28 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Christy Starr, Lindsay McCary

Christy Starr supported students with availability and encouragement, using stimulating readings and a thoughtfully structured final project. Lindsay McCary’s lectures were clear and included breaks, with clear grading and easy projects, though one student found the monotonous delivery boring despite manageable coursework.

AMY D BELLMORE is recorded teaching in Spring 2013, Fall 2015, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

CHRISTY STARR is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

EDWARD HUBBARD is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2022, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

HALEY SCHULTZ is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

HALEY VLACH is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2015, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LINDSAY MCCARY is recorded teaching in Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SARAH SHORT is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2023, Spring 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
SEM 001Classroom Instruction0 / 500
SEM 004Classroom Instruction0 / 150
SEM 011Classroom Instruction0 / 150
SEM 012Classroom Instruction0 / 150
SEM 013Classroom Instruction0 / 160
SEM 014Classroom Instruction0 / 150
SEM 015Classroom 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
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Amy Bellmore, Haley Vlach

Students described the class as engaging and discussion-based rather than lecture-heavy, with instructors who were available and responsive to student needs.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.92 GPA, 97.7% A/AB (n=129 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.93 GPA, 98.1% A/AB (n=52 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.90 GPA, 98.2% A/AB (n=109 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Haley Vlach

Workload included one presentation, weekly readings, and a final paper, with mandatory attendance factored into the grade. One student noted it was easy to earn an A if all assignments were completed.

Past student reviews · Haley Vlach, Amy Bellmore

Opinions varied on engagement; one student found the conversation-stimulating design and office hours helpful, while another found the lectures and readings boring despite enjoying the assignments.

Topics

  • Educational psychology issues
  • Innovations in education

Skills

  • Analyze the influence of educational psychology on educational issues and innovations.

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.

7 earlier forecasts · 0.05 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
EDPSYCH 506 · Spring 2027

Contemporary Issues in Educational Psychology

Recorded 2026-10-14
EDPSYCH 506 · Spring 2027

Memory & Memory Development

Recorded 2026-10-14
EDPSYCH 506 · Spring 2027

Intro to Autism Disorders

Recorded 2026-10-14
EDPSYCH 506 · Spring 2027

Social Media and Youth

Recorded 2026-10-14
EDPSYCH 506 · Spring 2027

Ed Neuroscience and Creativity

Recorded 2026-10-14
EDPSYCH 506 · Spring 2027

Prenatal to Pre-K

Recorded 2026-10-14
EDPSYCH 506 · Spring 2027

Teacher Learning in Context

Recorded 2026-10-14
EDPSYCH 506 · Spring 2027

Building Respons AI for Class

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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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 1
Model & dataset provenance 
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  "requirements_status": "valid",
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