Historical instructor

LYN VAN SWOL

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.28/5 from 68 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.

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

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

CA368 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Prof Van Swol is super knowledgeable in her field, and it's very apparent. The class itself was interesting because it's easy to recognize the content in everyday life. The textbook is nonnegotiable, and your exams will include material from it. Listen to it, and you'll be fine.
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CA368 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Exams are all multiple-choice, drawing from specific examples & theories (mostly from lecture). There are a few papers, but nothing is too hard if you pay attention and take good notes. Lectures are fairly interesting, but slides are somewhat disorganized. However, she is clearly knowledgable about the topic and uses fun examples, so overall good!
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CA368 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
She was one of my favorite professors at UW Madison! She's funny and makes very interesting lectures. I liked listening to her talk which actually made me pay attention. Exams were fair and you lowkey do not need to buy the textbook, just google the studies it mentions before the exam. CA 368 was really interesting- definitely reccomend!
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CA368 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Very knowledgable and passionate. She was funny and engaged with her students.
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CA368 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 2/5
Her lectures were structured terribly and often went on tangents, the class itself lacked a concrete structure and was very disorganized.
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CA368 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
I had her this past sem, she is very spacey and did not give us much information for papers, assignments, or quiz/tests. Half the lectures are online and one in-person lecture per week. she would often last minute cancel discussion sections, not send the link to online review, and overall was not on top of her teaching. this class was disorganized
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with LYN VAN SWOL

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

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Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

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Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2026COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Spring 2026COMARTS 699Directed Study
Spring 2026COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2025COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2025COMARTS 575Communication in Complex Organizations
Fall 2025COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2025COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2025COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Spring 2025COMARTS 699Directed Study
Spring 2025COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2024COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2024COMARTS 575Communication in Complex Organizations
Fall 2024COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2024COMARTS 760Advances in Communication Theories
Fall 2024COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2024EPD 704Organizational Communication and Problem Solving
Spring 2024COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Spring 2024COMARTS 699Directed Study
Spring 2024COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2023COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2023COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2023COMARTS 970Seminar in Communication Science
Fall 2023COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2023EPD 704Organizational Communication and Problem Solving
Spring 2023COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Spring 2023COMARTS 699Directed Study
Spring 2023COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2022COMARTS 272Introduction to Interpersonal Communication
Fall 2022COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2022COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2022COMARTS 760Advances in Communication Theories
Fall 2022COMARTS 799Independent Study
Fall 2022COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2022EPD 704Organizational Communication and Problem Solving
Spring 2022COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Spring 2022COMARTS 575Communication in Complex Organizations
Spring 2022COMARTS 699Directed Study
Spring 2022COMARTS 904Communication Science Colloquium
Spring 2022COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2021COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2021COMARTS 377Topics in Digital Studies (communication Science & Rhetoric)
Fall 2021COMARTS 575Communication in Complex Organizations
Fall 2021COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2021COMARTS 904Communication Science Colloquium
Fall 2021COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2021EPD 704Organizational Communication and Problem Solving
Fall 2020COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2020COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2020COMARTS 799Independent Study
Fall 2020COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2020EPD 704Organizational Communication and Problem Solving
Spring 2020COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Spring 2020COMARTS 699Directed Study
Spring 2020COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2019COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2019COMARTS 575Communication in Complex Organizations
Fall 2019COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2019COMARTS 799Independent Study
Fall 2019COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2019COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Spring 2019COMARTS 699Directed Study
Spring 2019COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2019EPD 704Organizational Communication and Problem Solving
Fall 2018COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2018COMARTS 575Communication in Complex Organizations
Fall 2018COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2018COMARTS 799Independent Study
Fall 2018COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2018COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Spring 2018COMARTS 575Communication in Complex Organizations
Spring 2018COMARTS 699Directed Study
Spring 2018COMARTS 904Communication Science Colloquium
Spring 2018COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2017COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2017COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2017COMARTS 760Advances in Communication Theories
Fall 2017COMARTS 904Communication Science Colloquium
Fall 2017COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2017COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Spring 2017COMARTS 699Directed Study
Spring 2017COMARTS 970Seminar in Communication Science
Spring 2017COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2017EPD 704Organizational Communication and Problem Solving
Fall 2016COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2016COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2016COMARTS 760Advances in Communication Theories
Fall 2016COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2016COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Spring 2016COMARTS 575Communication in Complex Organizations
Spring 2016COMARTS 699Directed Study
Spring 2016COMARTS 799Independent Study
Fall 2015COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Fall 2015COMARTS 699Directed Study
Fall 2015COMARTS 799Independent Study
Fall 2015COMARTS 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2015COMARTS 368Persuasion and Social Influence
Spring 2015COMARTS 575Communication in Complex Organizations
Spring 2015COMARTS 699Directed Study
Spring 2015COMARTS 904Communication Science Colloquium
Spring 2015COMARTS 990Research and Thesis

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance 
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