There are some teachers who simply lack motivation. They spend the minimum amount of time necessary to do their job never arriving early or staying late. They do not challenge their students, are often behind on grading, show videos often. There is no creativity in their teaching, and they typically make no effort. This was my experience.

Did not explain the course material well. Very inaccessible outside of class. Almost impossible to contact outside of class. His lectures were all about him and not about the course material. I was very disappointed. It has been the most disappointing class I've taken.

Worst class I took at BYU from the most pretentious person Ive ever met. The class primarily focused on his accomplishments instead of actual material. His portrayal of Islam and Mormonism was extremely apologetic instead of informative. Awful class, learned nothing.

I'm a business major and took this class to fulfill my Global and Cultural Awareness GE and I still believe it was my easiest option out of the choices BYU gives you. It's a pretty easy A but it's kinda boring. There is a TON of reading, but as long as you do it, the quiz questions are really straightforward, not obscure insignificant details.

Dr. Peterson has lots of fun, interesting stories to tell. He assigns a lot of reading, but the books are entertaining and the reading quizzes are straightforward so you don't have to read super carefully. You do have to pay attention during lecture if you want to do well on the tests. If you put the effort in, you will learn a lot and have fun.

I was very disappointed overall in this class. Accessibility outside of class was an issue. Classes tended to be very lecture heavy and would frequently deviate from the coursework and would drift to the professor's outside employment with the church.

I was very disappointed. Professor Peterson wasn't accessible outside of class. His lectures were all about his travels. This is not a class to take if you care about or want to learn about the subject.

Tons of reading - but most of the readings have study guides to fill out and as long as you actually follow the schedule and do the readings the quizzes are a breeze. The lectures are often dominated by his personal stories which are fascinating, but if you go to the TA review you'll do fine on the tests. The essays are intimidating but not too bad

Told us throughout the semester that there was nothing anyone could do to get him fired because of how long he worked at BYU. He didn't seem to care about his job at all and 90% of the class was consumed by personal stories about his accomplishments. If you mess up any particular area of the class (one paper/test/etc.) you'll drop a letter grade.

Dr. Peterson is awesome. It's definitely not an easy class if you are just taking it for an easy grade. There is a lot of reading and it is easy to fall behind, but if you are interested in middle eastern texts, the readings are fun! The class can be a little disorganized, which has been the biggest stress of the course, but he's so knowledgeable!

Doesn't really let the students ask questions. He just dominates the entire discussion. Sometimes it felt like it was s one way lecture.

Professor Peterson is INCREDIBLE. He knows so much about the Middle East. The tests aren't too difficult, though they often ask about things he only mentioned once in class. The hardest part about this class is the reading. Most of the time the reading is only 30ish pages but other times, he expects you to read an entire book in just 2 days.

I loved this class! Dr. Peterson's knowledge of the Middle East amazed me and I learned so much. His teaching style really worked for me. He's been all over the world and has such cool stories and insights, and he's also hilarious. I was seriously so excited to go to class every day. Dr. Peterson is the best!!

I felt like I learned more from my AP history class in high school. Skip this class and just read a basic book on the subject.

You read a ton over the course of the semester, but all the books are fairly easy to understand as long as you actually read them. Each day their is a quiz over the reading due, so attendance is essentially mandatory if you want to get a good grade. His lectures are eye opening and he is a world renowned expert on Islam, so you can learn a lot.

I was not impressed. Professor Peterson was cold, distant and condescending. Not a fun or enjoyable class.

I did not get a very detailed or even accurate understanding of Islam by taking his class. His version of Islam was watered down and inaccurate. There are much better classes taught by much better professors if you want to learn about Islam.

His attitude and teaching method left much to be desired. If you like to listen to your professor talk about all of the expensive trips around the world and all the important people he has met, then this class is just for you.

His class is pretty scattered as are his tests which are a sort of guess-what's-in-my-head game because he writes questions with a scope much wider than the accepted answers. Also, it's interesting how little he cares about your analysis and connection to the readings in the response papers he assigns, and instead chooses to nitpick your grammar.

The workload in this class is absolutely ridiculous. The content itself is fairly easy, but he requires you to read 7 books throughout the semester (one of them is ginormous). Hardly any content questions on tests, but whether or not you did all the reading is a huge portion of your grade. Requires hours of your time. Not worth it in the slightest.