This semester I am auditing a Corporate Finance course at the Harvard School of Economics. It has been very interesting but it has been a while since I was a student.
I guess that you could say I'm a part of the 'Old School' group now since the last time I studied was in 2003 (gosh 10 years ago!) when I did my BSc. Honours in Mathematics at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in JHB. Prior to that for 3 years I did a BSc. with two majors - Computer Science and Mathematics. Prior to that I had done 1st year BCom - I had switched over from a BCom to a BSc. because even though I did well, I wanted to do something with computers (computers were the 'in' thing that time). Strangely, I ended up doing my honours in Mathematics.
Me and Maths
When I was in Matric, I said that I wouldn't do Maths again. I had attended a public school in Winchester Hills. In Matric, to our horror we discovered that our Maths teacher in Standard 8 and 9 had taught us standard grade Algebra and lower grade Geometry & Trigonometry! That's why we were all getting 90-100%! So in a panic, we were given extra Maths lessons in the afternoons. There were about 200 Matriculants and only 12 of us were doing higher grade Maths! So to add to the stressful Matric year (in addition to my drama, public speaking and netball commitments and duties as Headgirl), I now, along with the other 11 students, had to cram 3 years of higher grade Maths into one year. I landed up getting a C for Maths - 65% - I was just happy that I had passed so that I could go to university. So now you can understand why I said that I didn't want to do Maths again. So from a tough experience in Matric, I eventually even did my Honours in Mathematics and just missed an A with 73%. There is another long story behind this (as 2003 was an extremely difficult year for me as my mom got very ill and was in ICU for 19 days) but you get the sense of really how well I did against all odds :) I did better than most other people who had gone to fancy private schools. Looking back, I am proud of myself.
Students today
So after 10 years, it has been nice to be in a lecture room again with students - although all the students are so young! Fortunately, I don't think I stick out at all with my jeans and t-shirts :) Some female students even have more make-up than me! Today, students bring iPads and laptops to class - no more pen and paper :) They add notes on the lecturer's slides directly on their laptops. You often see a student take a photo of the slide with their iPad. I often watch students during lectures, some are checking emails or even on Facebook.
All lecture slides and readings are available on the class iSite. Notices, assigments and timetables are all on the iSite. For this course, notes are handed out, which is nice so that you can make notes on the physical slides.
There are 'Sections' which are optional. These are sessions where smaller groups of students can ask/discuss things. There are Teaching Fellows/Assistants (called 'TA's or TF's) who run these Sections.
For some courses, they even load up the lecture videos.
The lecturer uses Powerpoint presentations to present - no more writing on chalk boards although they are there in case a lecturer wants to use it.
Like in the old days, it is class etiquette to put your cellphone on silent. There is often a small punishment if your phone goes off - like buying cake for everyone.
I sometimes see students with a video recorder or use their cellphone to record the lecture.
Online learning is becoming more popular.
Old School
Back in the day, the lecturers wrote on the blackboard and we copied down notes during lectures. There were projectors with transparencies - remember those? Students brought notebooks and pens to take notes. We seemed to write a lot.
There were 'Tuts' which were short for tutorials. During Tuts we worked on homework assignments.
That time email had just come out so email wasn't popular.
There were physical notice boards - no class website. You had to always check the noticeboards for assignment/exam results, notices, etc.
Nothing was electronic so everything was printed and handed out.
Students today vs Old School
It is really awesome being a student today, technology has helped a lot! so there is more time to learn :)
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