Spring 2027

Vampires

Explores the development of the vampire legend in folklore, literature, cinema, television, and popular culture in relation to colonization, race, gender, sexuality, and class.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Benjamin Mier-Cruz3.7/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Benjamin Mier-Cruz

There was lots of material, though attendance was required for some graded assignments and extra credit options.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe the evolving characteristics of vampire traditions from early nineteenth-century European folklore through European and American literature, film, and other media.

  • Describe the interplay between folklore and authored cultural works over time, with examples drawn from the circulation of vampire concepts between informal and authored products.

  • Interpret representations of the vampire in relation to historical and cultural situations, with particular reference to colonization, race, gender, sexuality, and class.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
FOLKLORE/LITTRANS 327

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.00/5 from 4 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: 3.0/5 raw quality · 1.5/5 difficulty · 2 reviews

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

Past student reviews · Benjamin Mier-Cruz

Benjamin Mier-Cruz described the course as interactive and welcoming, noting that he knew students by name and offered extra credit opportunities. The reviewer highlighted substantial material but found attendance necessary for specific graded assignments.

Conversely, another student found the class extremely easy but criticized the professor as unfair and noted significant grading inconsistencies among TAs.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.70 GPA, 84.3% A/AB (n=185 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.41 GPA, 76.5% A/AB (n=187 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.70 GPA, 85.9% A/AB (n=156 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

BENJAMIN MIER-CRUZ is recorded teaching in Spring 2023, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. 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 / 2160
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 309Classroom Instruction0 / 220
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 2160
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 220
DIS 309Classroom Instruction0 / 220

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 · Benjamin Mier-Cruz

Students described the course as fun and welcoming, with interactive lectures where the professor knew attendees by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.71 GPA, 82.5% A/AB (n=126 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.41 GPA, 76.5% A/AB (n=187 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.70 GPA, 85.9% A/AB (n=156 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Benjamin Mier-Cruz

There was lots of material, though attendance was required for some graded assignments and extra credit options.

Past student reviews · Benjamin Mier-Cruz

One student found the professor unfair and noted that TAs graded assignments differently, with one being particularly strict.

Topics

  • Development of the vampire legend in folklore, rumor, literature, cinema, television, and popular culture.
  • Relationships between vampire narratives and colonization, race, gender, sexuality, and class.

Skills

  • Describing the evolution of vampire traditions across folklore, literature, film, and media.
  • Analyzing the interplay between folklore and authored cultural works.
  • Interpreting cultural representations through lenses of colonization, race, gender, sexuality, and class.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 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

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
FOLKLORE/LITTRANS 327 · Spring 2027

Vampires

Recorded 2026-10-14
FOLKLORE/LITTRANS 327 · Spring 2027

Vampires

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": "1274:380:022598",
    "course_id": "FOLKLORE/LITTRANS 327",
    "course_uid": "course_0f39f94f647563937df0e8a0",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "022598",
    "source_subject_id": "380",
    "title": "Vampires",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:551:022598",
    "course_id": "FOLKLORE/LITTRANS 327",
    "course_uid": "course_0f39f94f647563937df0e8a0",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "022598",
    "source_subject_id": "551",
    "title": "Vampires",
    "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": "8707356a641eee6400abaab53452e4d157ef6b16bf2bb090cc47752239bd18de",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}