Her 'East Meets West' class with Ratner-Rosenhagen is really fun. Discussion-based class. Readings aren't too difficult but there's many. Make sure to do them or you'll not get much out of the class. Thal is quite caring, and her listening skills are awesome--I was impressed. No final/midterm/papers either. I strongly recommend.

Prof. Thal is clearly an expert in her field and cares a lot about sharing her expertise. Hist 170 was sometimes disorganized and unclear (but hopefully will be better in the future, since this was the first year of the class). The class was not terribly difficult but involved a lot of reading and active participation.

This is the worst class I've ever taken. Prof. Thal treats the class like a group of high schoolers. Her assignments have barely any instructions, and grading comes back with a 10%, 85%, or 100%. Nothing else. Extremely frustrating class, not even sure what I was supposed to be learning. The material is easy. Instructions are just unclear always.

Possibly one of the most unclear professors I have ever had. You're graded on three levels as opposed to a normal scale and told to resubmit until satisfactory. Didn't learn anything, because all you're given is busy work. The constant giving everyone a failing grade so they resubmit is a huge discouragement.

Must attend all lectures and discussions to receive a good grade, you are placed in a group the first day and sit by and work with the same group every lecture, guidelines are very unclear, must re-do assignments often and are required to meet outside of class many times. Not extremely hard but similar to a high school class, lots of time wasting

Prof. Thal was said to be the hardest grader in the whole department. But if u do ur work this could also be the most beneficial class ever. Her goal in teaching is crystal clear and office hours are extremely helpful. Although assignments could be hard to handle she gives u chance to resubmit almost everything. Keep up with her and u have ur A.

This is a new class, and Thal's still working out some the kinks. Understandably there were some bumps along the road. Overall though I loved the class and her. Because it's a 201, it was a lot of writing with not much reading. Really good class that teaches you how to write and think critically. And who doesn't love a class on conspiracy theories?

Professor Thal is the most UNCLEAR teacher I have ever dealt with. She does not spell out what you need to do for assignments and instead makes you resubmit assignment after assignment. She is the biggest paper and time waster EVER. I did not enjoy the class I had with her and found the way she teaches rather annoying.

An extremely easy and relative low number of required readings for an upper level History. She literally throws extra credit at you to the point where taking the final won't affect your grade!

I'm really not a fan of Japanese History but because Professor Thal is so excited about it she makes you excited about it. She does a good job of answering questions and is really helpful if you just bother to go to office hours. You have to go to lecture and have to study for tests. I got an A so it was ok. I recomend her honors section

I thought that her lectures were well planned and she dedicated 10 minutes in lectures for students to practice critical thinking exercises. She also helps the class before exams by giving everyone a list of essay choices. Overall, the class was very interesting.

To begin with, she has a huge list of books that cost $150, more than twice the amount of my other classes. The class is pretty difficult, since you have memorize so much, and it sucks hardly any of it are on the exams. I would recommend taking this if you love Japanese history. Even though the class was difficult, 50% of the class got an AB or >

I enjoyed the class a lot. I got an A in it but it wasn't easy. She puts a lot of emphasis on analyzing historical documents. Lectures are VERY important but she goes through pwr pts very quickly and they aren't available online. The hardest part was the papers which were graded pretty harshly. She does make herself available for help which I like.

This was probably the worst class and the worst professor I have had in 4 years. The lectures are disjointed and confusing and she is obsessed with "logic", even though she has no idea what logic actually is based on the fact that she will try to convince you that it is possible to "prove" a question correct or incorrect. STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS.