Spring 2027

Introduction to Folklore

Introduction to Folklore surveys US and global traditions, examining how beliefs, songs, stories, sayings, dances, festivals, and artifacts address identity, authenticity, and authority.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Lowell Brower

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · B. Marcus Cederstrom

The workload included a few papers and a final project, which students found to be manageable.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain key concepts of folklore studies.

  • Recognize and describe key concepts important to the study of folklore as related to the cultures of people in the United States of America.

  • Recognize and describe a variety of vernacular expressions of the cultures of people in the United States of America.

  • Ethically apply folkloristic research methodologies used to document, describe, and discuss culture.

  • Present your understanding of folklore to a variety of audiences, including scholars and the general public, through folkloristic products in the form of essays, oral presentations, and digital products.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
FOLKLORE 100

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.81 GPA, 91.4% A/AB (n=162 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.71 GPA, 89.2% A/AB (n=186 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.87 GPA, 94.9% A/AB (n=175 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

LOWELL BROWER is recorded teaching in Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RUTH OLSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Spring 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2016. 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 001Classroom Instruction0 / 2400
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 309Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 310Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 311Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 312Classroom 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 · B. Marcus Cederstrom

Students found the lectures interesting and enjoyable, with one noting they helped relate folklore to daily life. The course was described as manageable and fun.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.71 GPA, 89.2% A/AB (n=186 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.60 GPA, 83.0% A/AB (n=218 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.87 GPA, 94.9% A/AB (n=175 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · B. Marcus Cederstrom

The workload included a few papers and a final project, which students found to be manageable.

Past student reviews · B. Marcus Cederstrom

A student appreciated that the professor allowed extensions for mental health reasons, noting this was a rare and supportive aspect of the class.

Topics

  • Beliefs, songs, stories, sayings, dances, festivals, and artifacts.
  • Identity, authenticity, and authority in complex societies.
  • Key concepts of folklore studies.

Skills

  • Apply folkloristic research methodologies to document, describe, and discuss culture.
  • Produce folkloristic products including essays, oral presentations, and digital products for diverse audiences.

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.

6 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.

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Selected offering source records
FOLKLORE 100 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Folklore

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": "1274:380:007471",
    "course_id": "FOLKLORE 100",
    "course_uid": "course_0aeb345f1851f603827b7a43",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "007471",
    "source_subject_id": "380",
    "title": "Introduction to Folklore",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]
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 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "8a5c17b0d5c3e95b9bde64d86545ce87047f44230afd30c4d2a2f6d199b5189e",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}