Spring 2027

History of Landscape Architecture

Critical and historical analysis of the design of outdoor space, focusing on the history of landscape architecture in the United States.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Anna Bierbrauer

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Samuel Dennis

The grade consisted of five tests and easy in-class components, with no outside-of-class work required. The reviewer predicted that memorizing slide content the day before tests would result in an easy A.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Trace the evolution of landscape architectural practice in the United States.

  • Link design vocabulary to specific designed landscapes.

  • Name landscape architects/designers associated with periods in landscape architectural history and give examples of their important designed landscapes.

  • Discuss the values and aspirations guiding landscape architectural design in the United States.

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
LANDARC 260

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027
Historical instructors & teaching patterns

SAMUEL DENNIS JR is recorded teaching in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018. 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 Only0 / 1700

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

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Samuel Dennis

A student described the course as interesting and not difficult, noting that the instructor demonstrated a strong passion for landscape architecture and a desire for students to succeed.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.60 GPA, 84.1% A/AB (n=132 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.69 GPA, 85.9% A/AB (n=142 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.65 GPA, 84.4% A/AB (n=141 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Samuel Dennis

The grade consisted of five tests and easy in-class components, with no outside-of-class work required. The reviewer predicted that memorizing slide content the day before tests would result in an easy A.

Past student reviews · Samuel Dennis

The reviewer found the lectures engaging and noted that the instructor's caring demeanor made the material approachable, allowing students to pass tests easily by attending class.

Topics

  • Evolution of landscape architectural practice in the United States.
  • Design vocabulary and specific designed landscapes.
  • Landscape architects, designers, and their important works across historical periods.
  • Values and aspirations guiding landscape architectural design.

Skills

  • Tracing the evolution of landscape architectural practice in the United States.
  • Linking design vocabulary to specific designed landscapes.
  • Discussing the values and aspirations guiding landscape architectural design in the United States.

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 · 0.09 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
LANDARC 260 · Spring 2027

History of Landscape Architecture

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": "1274:520:010840",
    "course_id": "LANDARC 260",
    "course_uid": "course_4d8a51349a7f51690fe79105",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "010840",
    "source_subject_id": "520",
    "title": "History of Landscape Architecture",
    "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": "17cb13a355d5b6520415825c80315243d15eb456c91432f67689b88bdd04a1f1",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}