DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH IRIS GORDON! Her tests are extremely difficult, I studied for this class significantly more than other classes and still did horrible. Her assignments and summaries are also unfairly graded. Very little feedback on how to improve on them and most people will fail the summaries.

Avoid Iris Gordon at all costs

I wasn't the biggest fan of Dr. Gordon, the forum posts are marked very harshly and are out of 3 marks, and she will likely accuse at least 1/3 of the class of plagiarism. However the exams are pretty fair and the marking is quite generous, she will give part marks on multiple choice questions. Despite my gripes with the way Dr. Gordon structured the course, the material is really fascinating, and the forum posts do motivate you to read academic articles related to whatever drug you choose. I found that the best thing I got out of this course was that it motivated me to research these things on my own time, and learning about the current research being done on psychedelics was extremely interesting. Even though the textbook is a bit dry, I found it quite helpful for learning about the ph...read more

I barely passed this class by the skin of my teeth. I had heard all the negative reviews on Gibson, but had to take PSYC 231 for my degree. He COMPLETELY ruined social psychology for me. I was excited to take it because I had a bit of interest in social psych, but I vowed never to take another social psych class after having him. All of his tests are ridiculous and most of the class did not do well on them. He'll use obscure references from the textbook and expects you to know the names of the people who conducted the studies and the footnotes in order for you to do well on his test.

ANY OTHER PROF would be better

Honestly, this class would have been SO COOL and so much more enjoyable if Iris Gordon wasn't the instructor. Between her expectations for the forums, the almost impossible-to-pass tests, and her failed attempts at being the "cool young prof", this class was pain. If you even so much as use two of the same words in your forum from an article, she'll accuse you of complete plagiarism.

If there is another prof for this class now, take them instead. If there isn't avoid this class, it isn't worth it. You can take the same one at Camosun for much cheaper