So the things that I love:
Classes at the PH (abbreviated name for my uni in German, pronounced Pay-Ha)are most times no longer than 2 hours! And in fact an hour and a half because classes usually start 15 pas the hour and end 15 to the hour (to ensure learners get to class on time because in some cases another class may be a 12 min bike ride in town). I´ve been really appreciating this becasue the sessions are broken up into very manageable chunks- this I suppose favours meaningful learning instead of the having-to-cover-all-the-work-tendancy that my school tends to have.
In the german system, students attend classes to be able to cover modules. So over 4 years they are supposed to cover the eight modules. In each course, students have the option of receiving a testat, or schine. The testat is simply a certificate of attendance whereas to obtain the schine, one has to complete a presentation, or essay, or reflection or some type of evaluation. Some courses, like the ones I´m currently pursuing can be completed to obtain a Hauptseminar schine which essentially require an extensive 10-15 page research paper in order to be given the certificate. What´s interesting is that without having exams for courses, I feel that I can focus more on enjoying the cpontent and focus more on life long learning that regurgating facts in order to be awarded a grade. And so far, I´m loving it because I feel less anxious and focus more on what matters in a lecture-the work and not the exam.
The Classes at the PH are superbly engineered! Each class has HUGE windows that channel amaying natural light. Even the light panels have reflectors so that the light can be refracted to maximise light in the class. Therefore some class do not even need artificial lights. I love it!
Oh and the views are immaculate! Freibug is surrounded by the Schwarswald or Black Forest which is an immensely dense wooded mountain range that is almost omnipresent from any point within the town! Kinda reminds me of Trinidad where the mountains seemingly were guardians protecting me from the nefarious North Coast.
German students though sit generally two exams in all of their university life. After completing say Module 4, they sit a general exam where they are required to synthesize what they have been learning for the last 2 years! And at the end of their 4 or 5 years (or 8th and 10th semester) having consumed theory and learnt how to apply it, write a 10 page critical reflection of a very broad topic. It could be anything form promoting literacy amongst low achieving students to comparing two theories of intercultual communicative competences. This explained by my friend´s roomate over sushi, could be stressful because you are required to to be competent in identifying critical theories and know how to apply them to real world scenarios. I find this AMAZING because it has always been something that completely intrested me. I mean I´ve enjoyed rereading my research papers because they´ve been my little genius on paper but I mean being given the opportunity to bring together a little of everything that i´ve studied for the last 4 years into one single paper would be ASTOUNDING!!!
At the end of classes, students knock knucles on the tables to signal the end of a lecture session. INTEERESTING!!! LOL
Maybe not representative of all Germany but in most of my classes I find that I´m being exposed to hot off the press research! Like papers where you see (Schocker 2011) bhind it! In all of my career at York, I have never had this up to date research. Reasons being perhaps that there isn´t such an emphasis on research within undergraduate classes, some professors are office occupiers or I just don´t know what! In one class, I was astonished to see how well my German peers were able to spit out theories that they had previously learned. If i were to do that at York or even UWI I wonder how many stuednts would be even capable of doing such! Is our system not meeting this objective? What are we doing wrong? Is our system to exam oriented?
I love that I´m being exposed to very different theory like German ones! Too often, professors on my side of the world are only competent in the Queen´s language and the results are that it locks us out of the rest of the world.
AND the things that drive me nuts!
Lack of wireless coverage on the entire campus!
Profs here don´t distribute printed course outlines on the first day of class. At York, it´s mandatory! Each outline gives you an idea of what will be taught in each class, the assignments to complete, their weightings, expectations etc. Call me spoilt but hey it really does organize me as a learner.
Having lived on campus for the last 4 years at York,I know the extent at how long some restaurants open! At the Mensa (or cafetaria) it opens at 11 but closes at 3! And on that note, I CANNOT STAND STUDENT SERVICE HERE!!!!! Everything is opened for like 2 hours in a day! So if I had to get a document from a faculty secretary, she would only be availbale for 2 hours in the day!! GRRRRR!
All in all though the positives outweigh the bad ones so I´m happy! In a lot of ways I´m loving the fact that my education is not commercialised! That I´m not a client only there to fill spot! And though it´s ironic that my title echoes the McDonaldsization of the world, I´m still loving it!
And I´m hungry for more!
B
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