All of my classes meet for 3 hours a week. However, usually 2 of those are lecture which are often not mandatory (or compulsory in Aussie terms) and are available in another form such as recording or powerpoint. While most large lectures at GW are not mandatory, catching up with missed classes is often much harder than downloading a file from the internet. Lectures are similar in format to GW; a professor generally talks asking questions for participation and what not.
The third hour a week is a tutorial, or known at GW as a discussion. At GW, discussions are only for your large classes. At Sydney, every class is a large class with over 50 people. Tutorials are generally run by a post-graduate student and help to facilitate conversation and answer questions on the reading.
While this all sounds very similar, there are many differences. At Sydney, grades are based generally on a maximum of 3-4 assignments: tutorial participation, a short essay (generally no more than 1000 words), and a long essay and/or final exam. This means your grade is much more dependent on these assessments than the homeworks, short answer questions, or numerous tests you may have in a GW class.
Also, at GW professors are required to have office hours. While most at Sydney do have one or two hours a week, they generally want you to go through your tutor before going to them. They are not extremely willing to help with your questions or problems.
Grading is also different. Not only is it on a different scale: from high distinction to fail, but it is all bell curved. This means that the percentage of people with HD (High distinctions) should be the same in every class- 3%. Your work is compared to the rest of the class rather than being judged independent and on its own merit.
I am not sure which system is better, but they are different.
Please shoot me an email with any questions about either GW or University of Sydney. I would love to hear from you. My email again is kwollner@gwmail.gwu.edu.
Kim
No comments:
Post a Comment