An English Education

Well first module came and went, I can't believe how fast time is flying here. The last four weeks I studied Introduction to Marketing with a great group of hard working students. There were 7 of us in the class so we all got to really know each other, and that in itself made the class a lot of fun. The instructor (I have talked about this in past posts but I will mention it again - bear with me ;) )  was really great because he is not an academic or a scholar he is simply a man that has put in a lot of work in the industry and has come back to the university to give back to the world. 

Every class we are taught new materials and at the end of the class we all present on what he taught last class. It goes like this everyday up until the final presentation. Every time we do the presentations we receive feedback from our peers and the next day we re-present what was talk to us last lecture as well as the incorporated criticisms from the previous session. These forces us all to apply what we learn directly after we have learned it, and by presenting this we receive feedback on if we have fully learned it correctly. It is not easy to slide by or even pretend to work for single a day, if you do that you would just look like a fool in front of everyone and clearly demonstrate that you do not in fact pay attention during the lecture.

It was one of my favorite classes and I will admit I am kind of sad to see it over and the class dispersed. But the second module has already begun and I have the same professor and two of the students from the previous session with me. It is the same exact structure as the previous class except that we do not create a marketing plan from scratch as we did with the first module, rather we remake a failing strategy plan for an already existing business. This should be interesting, and I am excited to see how the next four weeks go!

Also, on a note about the way things are graded here. During the final week I approached my professor and asked him how things were graded differently in comparison to the States. He compared it a lot to checks and balances.

In England when a final assignment is submitted the professor reviews it and it is sent to a second person at a different university to review as well. But this review is of the professor's grading to make sure it's fair with the students past work and marks. Then it's sent to another person then that makes sure that its grading is consistent with the schools standards. Basically everyone is kept in check. 

I realize that in the United States from my experience and from others I have spoken to, it is not always a question of whether or not the class is hard, but it whether or not the professor is. Students in the US pick classes based on who is teaching it, and I believe if we could incorporate the grading system from England into the United States then maybe it would be a lot fairer and students could be ensured that they are receiving the marks that they deserve.