I was probably one of the ONLY people to get an A in his class, and only because I got a 99 on the technical description. His test questions are confusing and often bias. I hate that we learn from papers that he writes and are tested on his opinions on the subject. They need to majorly revamp this class in order to make it worth students' time.

This is definitely the most useless class I've taken at UVA, and should not be required. I would honestly rather just take an ENWR to fulfill a writing requirement. The readings are helpful for the exams, but if you just do all of them a couple days before the exam you should be ok. For the technical description, just do EXACTLY what the TAs say to do and make sure to submit it as a PDF. Make sure you pick a good group in lab section as you will count on them for the PPA.
Overall, no matter how you work, you will probably get a B+ or maybe an A-. Please do not take this class if you don't have to.

I did about two readings all semester and slept through the lectures and pulled out an A in the class. The videos on collab are more useful that the lectures for the first half of the semester. The final was significantly more difficult that the midterm, so preparing more for that is a good idea. There are two written assignments, which are somewhat informative. Not too bad as long as you follow instructions precisely. They'll take off points just to take off points. They like to make the class harder than it actually is. Overall, boring and dumb class, but it's required!!!! So you can't get out of it!

This is by far the most pointless class that I have ever taken. Dr. Carlson is the most narcissistic person that I have ever met-- a significant number of readings are written by him and he even cites himself in the readings. The TAs worship Carlson and quote him in lab. The readings are often long and not very interesting, and the lectures are pretty much a summary of the lectures. However, do not let this fool you-- the readings are necessary because the midterm and final will have nitpicky questions from the readings. Attendance is mandatory, and you are not allowed to use technology during class because you "need to absorb on Dr. Carlson's word" (actual quote from a TA on the first day of class). However, if you do well on the technical description and Patent Application by making sure you religiously follow the rubric, do all of the readings before the tests and learn the PowerPoints you should come out with a B+/A-. Don't take this class if you are not required to, but if you are an engineer there is no way of getting out of this class so you will need to buckle down and tolerate the BS that is this class.

So this class is pretty terrible. But that being said, it's not a difficult class. The midterms aren't too hard if you review the powerpoints and videos beforehand. The technical description and patent application aren't hard either, just follow the rubric. The most annoying part for me was the idea notebook, but they care more about quantity not quality, so as long as you're consistent you'll get a good grade. The class is not a very big time commitment so as long as you put in effort, you can get an A.

This class is useless. But you have to take it, like many other useless classes, so prepare yourself. STS 1500 is what you get when diarrhea and piss amalgamate.

OK so everyone hates on this class, but I don't think its too horrible. To start with, Carlson has many opinions, and he does test on them, but I don't think there is anything wrong with that, because he is a leader in the STS field. Furthermore, the exams are difficult because they do ask trick questions, but if you put your time in, it isn't that bad. Everyone says Carlson is bad, and he is a pretty average lecturer, but you barely deal with him, the people you get to know are the TAs: Ben, Pete and the other dude (forgot his name, didn't have him). All the TA's are great, and they are really nice people. Although they can grade harshly on the papers you have (technical description and PPA), the assignments teach valuable skills. In fact, I applied for a provisional patent, and had it not been for this class, I would have no idea how. Also, I strongly encourage people to go to office hours. They are very lenient on what they give back. I went and reason through why I should get points back here or there, and I came out of the office with a letter grade higher on my exam and technical deception. Getting an A is difficult, as you probably saw by the graph, but I managed to do it, and I really did nothing extraordinary. Just keep up with your work, and as a pro tip, do not leave the idea notebook to the last minute (if you do, try to take inspiration from things around you, and add something to them!).

As all the other reviews have said, Carlson is narcissistic and this class pretty much revolves around his own opinions/interpretations on historical events and inventions. He will have quotes of himself on his own lecture slides, and you will be tested on his opinions as well.

Albeit a bad lecturer (he's boring as hell), Carlson presents some interesting arguments that are at the very least worth considering. The class definitely has good intentions and can be kind of valuable - it teaches engineers how technologies impact societies, and this contextualization of engineering is supposed to give you a broader outlook. The major assignments - idea notebook, PPA and technical description - are useless but shouldn't be too time-consuming depending on your group members and your grader. I would HIGHLY recommend keeping up with the idea notebook (1 journal entry every day for the semester); coming up with a 100 bullshit ideas during the last week of the semester is an absolute nightmare, trust me, I've been there and so has most of the E-school. Even though they specifically tell you the tests aren't designed to trick you, the midterm and final are pretty much all trick questions. Despite that, they still aren't bad if you thoroughly study the notes and videos a few days beforehand.

Honestly, it's just something all first-year engineers have to go through - so try to keep an open mind as you approach the class. Don't buy in to everything Carlson says, but since there's really no way to get out of taking the class, you might as well try to get the most out of it. It's also MUCH less stressful than the other first-year E-school subjects like Chem and Calc, so I wouldn't really complain about it. As long as you keep up with the work, it shouldn't be difficult to get a B or B+, and if you put in some extra effort, an A- is definitely achievable.

What a terrible course. It's just one of the classes you have to take as an engineer, and unfortunately there's only one professor to take it with. Lectures are boring; labs have nothing to do with lectures. Two midterms, one technical description, one groupwork patent, and an idea notebook is all the class is, but the grading is poor and seems subjective to what the professor thinks. Overall a bad class, but do the assignments and you can come out with an A-.

By far the stupidest class I've ever taken. The fact that this class is required for engineers makes me want to transfer to Tech. Carlson is so full of himself. The class isn't designed to teach you about universal material like math, history, or sciences..... this class literally teaches you Carlson's own opinions. The structure of the class is extremely stupid and the grading is horribly unfair. It's nearly impossible to get a good grade, but at the same time, it's difficult to fail as well. (that's why the avg. gpa is skewed) I have not learned anything in this class. Most of it is common sense in addition to Carlson's stupid opinions. Nobody has time for all the readings and work he assigns. Some of the assignments like the Idea Notebook and PPA sound good, but end up being horrible. Idea Notebooks are meant to be kept for IDEAS, but Carlson forces you to write an 'idea' or two EVERYDAY. That defeats the purpose of an idea notebook because you're forcing yourself to spit out stupid thoughts. The Patent Application sounds cool and useful, but they literally teach you nothing. You have to figure everything out by yourself. I don't need to pay $30,000 a year for this.... I can fucking figure out how to write a patent application myself.
Overall, completely useless class. Avoid at all costs. If you're an engineer and you're required to take this class, my advice is that you treat this class as a joke and focus on your other classes like Chem, Physics, or CS. As I said, it's difficult to do poorly in this class.... so you can easily sit around and get a B or B+. The amount of work to get an A- is unreal. Getting an A is impossible. Less than 1% of the class finishes with an A. Engineers love to calculate. Calculate the most efficient way to use your time. You'll find that in order to maximize your overall GPA, you should focus on classes like Chem, Physics, or CS so you can see results in your grade and knowledge.

Studying for this class makes you dumber.