Semesters are so Long!

Shouldn’t the semester be over by no?

I’m really missing the tri-mester system I had for the last four years. It took me awhile to get used to how fast the classes moved, but once I got used to it, I loved it! There was never a time to get bored with classes because they were only 2.5 months long. Plus when it came to Thanksgiving and Spring breaks, they were actually breaks because we finished finals. While it was stressful a lot of the times, I wouldn’t have traded it! Right now NCC students are preparing for finals and we still have a month left of classes. I know that will fly by, but it’s hard to see all those status of it almost being winter break from my friends that are still at NCC.

I’ve been struggling with getting the motivation to complete school work because I’m not used to the length of the semester. I keep feeling like we should be on break already. I’ve also had this feeling that classes have been dragging lately. I feel like I’m just going through the motions and not getting as much out of the readings as I once was. I keep telling myself that Thanksgiving break is coming, but then I remember that I’ll have homework to do over break, and it’s important that I take this “break” to do as much as I can because there won’t be much time to complete assignments when I get back.

The tri-mester to semester transition has been one of the hardest things in my transition to grad school. There are times I’m so glad we have semesters because I don’t think we’d be able to complete all that we have to do within the tri-mester, but I’ve never felt as much burn out with class work as I have right now. I know part of that is probably because I came right from undergrad to grad school with only a couple of months in between, but I hope I can find how to work through this feeling so I have quality assignments to turn in throughout the next year and half. I have high standards for my assignments and feel like what my work ethic right now isn’t supporting those standards. 

Learning Outcomes: Great Tools or Great Blinders

Recently, there has been much discussion about Learning Outcomes in class and UC staff meetings. We've spent much time talking about how we’re implementing these with our students and if they’re effective in helping our students develop. The concept of using Learning Outcomes to access how we’re helping students develop is new to me and I’m not sure I’m on board with using them just yet.

At North Central, I don’t believe Learning Outcomes were used. If they were, they weren't as much of a focus as they are here.  At the beginning of the year, I remember asking another cohort member what exactly Learning Outcomes were used for because I haven’t had any experience with them. They were floored by this question because they had attended this institution where they felt it was strange and uncommon if a professor didn’t start out their class by going over the Learning Outcomes for the course. Now, the professors had course objectives at North Central, but they didn’t take center stage in classes. There were many times that I had professors change a path of the course based on what was happening in the world. It was nice to know that my professors weren’t so glued to course objectives that they were willing to ignore what was happening outside of the campus.

 I have felt a little bit of this in my time here, especially in our UC staff meetings. It seems that directors and other staff are so focused on making sure we’re fulfilling the Learning Outcomes and Goals that were set for this year that they aren’t seeing what is really happening to our students. For example, a student of color who attended Soledad O’Brian this week asked a question about how to adjust to feeling alone in classes because he doesn’t have anyone else who looks like him to relate to. This is an issues that shouldn’t be taken lightly, but I feel it has been in many cases here.

Since Learning Outcomes are new to me, I’m still figuring out the best way to utilize them. I agree they are important in creating a goal or path of a position or class, but I also feel they can be blinders to bigger issues that should be addressed.