Spring 2027

Critical Thinking and Expression

Critical Thinking and Expression explores verbal, visual, and numerical modes of argument, engaging students in critical analysis and practice of these structures.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Mac Carley

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · George Clark

The class was discussion-heavy, with assignments given every other week, requiring students to prepare for frequent writing and speaking tasks.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify and explain how people think critically and analytically across times, cultures, media, and disciplines.

  • Critically analyze diverse approaches to how people communicate in written and oral modes.

  • Apply critical and analytical thinking to written and oral modes of communication.

  • Recognize and evaluate diverse types of critical thought across many different modes of expression, including written, oral, artistic, and mass media.

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

Satisfied Communications A

  • Satisfied Communications A
ILS 200

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • Satisfied Communications A

Professors

Spring 2027
Historical instructors & teaching patterns

GEORGE CARLO CLARK is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

GRANT NELSESTUEN is recorded teaching in Fall 2022, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KIRSTIN ANDERSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2021, Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SHIFRA SHARLIN is recorded teaching in Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011. 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
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 200
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1200
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 200
DIS 306Classroom 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 · Grant Nelsestuen

Students described the course as manageable, noting that lectures were optional and grades depended more on discussion participation than lecture attendance.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.78 GPA, 94.7% A/AB (n=150 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.60 GPA, 84.9% A/AB (n=139 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.93 GPA, 97.2% A/AB (n=109 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · George Clark

The class was discussion-heavy, with assignments given every other week, requiring students to prepare for frequent writing and speaking tasks.

Past student reviews · Grant Nelsestuen

One student found the experience low-stress, stating they never felt overwhelmed by the workload despite mandatory discussion sections.

Topics

  • Verbal, visual, and numerical modes of argument
  • Critical thought in written, oral, artistic, and mass media

Skills

  • Critical and analytical thinking across various contexts
  • Analysis of written and oral communication modes
  • Evaluation of critical thought in diverse expression modes

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 · 0.10 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
ILS 200 · Spring 2027

Critical Thinking and Expression

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": "1274:500:010473",
    "course_id": "ILS 200",
    "course_uid": "course_d36506bb8ebe07b832e1c3a3",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "010473",
    "source_subject_id": "500",
    "title": "Critical Thinking and Expression",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "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 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "b3f2fd3b0e5711eeec13f5171ee4418b5e6fac0976475c1ae56d7bf94f07b2c6",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}