Fall 2026

The Information Society

Examines the social, legal, and historical contexts of information technologies and the moral questions surrounding them.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Jacob Thebault-Spieker3.6/5Diana DaiElizabeth Tibbs +1 more

Summary

1 / 7

The workload involves weekly reading and writing, including 3-4 one-page papers and two presentations. While some find the reading fascinating and papers easy, others suggest skimming is sufficient, and staying on top of readings is key to success.

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
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BC
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Satisfied Communications A

  • Satisfied Communications A
LIS 201

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • Satisfied Communications A

Professors

Fall 2026
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.48/5 from 31 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: 4.3/5 raw quality · 1.7/5 difficulty · 13 reviews

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

Jacob Thebault-Spieker is praised for passion and student care, accommodating circumstances and making material understandable. Reviews highlight fascinating lectures, especially for CS majors, though some view him as merely good rather than exceptional.

Reviews disagree on grading and lecture value. Some report lenient grading and unnecessary 8 a.m. lectures, while others cite a tough TA grader. Grading speed is also noted as a frustration.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.62 GPA, 86.5% A/AB (n=126 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.71 GPA, 87.9% A/AB (n=132 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.66 GPA, 86.0% A/AB (n=136 letter grades).

No course-specific feedback yet.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews of Greg Downey: Greg Downey is described as an entertaining and engaging professor who makes the material interesting and fair in grading. While some students found the workload tedious or the lectures self-indulgent, others praised his ability to revamp activities for student engagement and recommended the class highly.

ALAN RUBEL is recorded teaching in Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

GREG DOWNEY is recorded teaching in Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JACOB THEBAULT-SPIEKER is recorded teaching in Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KAJSA DALRYMPLE is recorded teaching in Fall 2024. 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

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction131 / 1501
DIS 301Classroom Instruction24 / 240
DIS 302Classroom Instruction21 / 240
DIS 303Classroom Instruction23 / 241
DIS 304Classroom Instruction19 / 240
DIS 305Classroom Instruction22 / 240
DIS 306Classroom Instruction22 / 240

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

Jacob Thebault-Spieker teaches LIS 201 with high passion and care, making lectures interesting and content fascinating for CS majors. Students generally find the course easy with straightforward assignments, though some note slow grading or tough TA feedback on papers.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.62 GPA, 86.5% A/AB (n=126 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.71 GPA, 87.9% A/AB (n=132 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.66 GPA, 86.0% A/AB (n=136 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

The workload involves weekly reading and writing, including 3-4 one-page papers and two presentations. While some find the reading fascinating and papers easy, others suggest skimming is sufficient, and staying on top of readings is key to success.

Students appreciate the professor's care and accommodations, but find 8 a.m. lectures annoying and unnecessary for attendance. Some report excellent TAs, while others note that grading can be slow or that TAs may be tough graders on papers.

Topics

  • Social, legal, and historical contexts of information technologies
  • Social, legal, and moral questions surrounding technology

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · 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 · 0.12 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 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

1283 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
LIS 201 · Fall 2026

The Information Society

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:544:023086",
    "course_id": "LIS 201",
    "course_uid": "course_0f3c5b46df0c6f3e2fd183c1",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "023086",
    "source_subject_id": "544",
    "title": "The Information Society",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

Download the original dataset
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "f9dce3642eeb8ff3e3a49eca5214fd41ac54bab5b6800105b2c1c57b1a76fc01",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}