What did I expect from the class INTL 399?
Well, I just came home, or back I guess, from a ten week stay in Uganda and spent a few days at my real home in Switzerland. I only had one more class to choose one day before registration started. I looked through many classes and came across INTL 399 Education and Development taught by Jessica Cavas. Huh, I thought that could be really interesting, especially after spending my summer in a school setting which opened many new questions to me, some of which I can’t find an answer until this day. Registering for the class was a good choice. I have to put forward that the material that we studied in class has been very helpful to sort out and understand some of the inquiries I had.
Learning in a different classroom setting has been inspiring and helpful to comprehend material, which I might have pondered about for myself, but could not pigeonhole into useful categories. For me, the class has taken me on a journey, on which I was able to combine aspects of education, learning, and development to form a better conception of how to look and feel about various issues.
First day in class, we had to say what education means to us, mmh interesting question. I said LIFE because for me life is a never ending learning process and I am very curious.
On the second day of class, I believe it was, we received the disposable cameras for the photovoice project, of which I have never heard before but like it a lot. How does education look like or what is the shape of education? These two questions I had in mind when my turn came. The pictures didn’t turn out all that great, but the task helped me to think about the lingering question of what education means to me. The images that I tried to capture with the first camera can be summed up in short as follows.
-
Education Is Understanding Nature
The young fern grows with the assistance of the sun and water.
- Education Is a Journey — of a Lifetime —- Walk the World, Meet, Exchange, Store, Reflect, Learn, and Share again
- Education Is Different All Around the World – accept different opinions, perspectives, outlooks, angles, standpoints, beliefs worldviews. Tolerance can be learned.
- Education Can Take You Anywhere – The Sky is the Limit, and nothing can stop you if you believe in yourself
- Education is not linear — Each of us hears, sees, smells, tastes and feels differently.
- Education is Unique —- Acknowledge differences as beautiful.
- Education broadens our horizon
- Education opens doors.
Our teacher, Jessica, has definitely been different from all teachers and professors I have had so far at the University. I appreciate the alternative style of teaching. At the beginning of class I was impressed about the thorough method she uses to address all topics and matters without leaving anything open. I changed my mind a bit after a while by understanding that there were things that weren’t a hundred percent clear, which she admitted herself too. However, I really like the comprehensive way of her writing and the options she offers to each student, although it can be confusing at times. The midterm exam is a good example of her alternative thoroughness because it shows that she gave us options in order to be comfortable with answering the questions as well as ask the questions to the point by clearly spelling out the multiple points that needed to be answered. Moreover, for me it has been encouraging to hearing her talk candidly about herself, her future plans and fears. I thought it is very human to talk about it and to be honest about it. Thanks for sharing this with us Jessica.
Throughout the term, I experienced a different classroom each Monday and Wednesday morning. I appreciate and like it. The seating was shifting in all directions, towards the blackboard, towards the whiteboard, down on the floor in the corner, moving to the floor in the middle. The assigned readings shifted as well, especially towards the end of the term. However, I liked them a lot and was every week curious to hear what other people thought about them. I thought the discussion basis was very open in this class. I believe it was nicely set up at the beginning of class when we talked about discourse and it seemed everyone felt quite comfortable with the setting of the somewhat different classroom.
The presentations from all the students were extremely interesting. It was nice to see the different approaches people took and the wide range of issues that were covered. Thanks!
Time is flying when you are having fun. Right?
One last thing I have to mention is the room temperature. Well on many occasions people like to point out to me when I am freezing that I am from Switzerland, so that I should be used to cold temperatures. This is a myth of course. However, every time at the beginning of class I thought it would not be as cold, but every time by the second half of the class, I have been really cold. At times I felt the only thing I can focus on is to stay warm. Well, I made it, thus it can’t have been that bad and after all the tendency of the room being too cold is probably still better than too warm and everyone falls asleep.