Posted: 03/28/07

Bill in the land down under
Class struggle

Bill O'Connor | contributing columnist
woconnor@smcvt.edu

I tiptoed into lecture hall G24 2.01 with a thin layer of sweat forming on my forehead from my jog battling the oppressing 90+ degree heat. It was quarter-past noon and my alarm had not woken me for my 12 o’clock class.

As I entered the lecture hall I quickly surveyed the room to find the closest empty seat and promptly proceeded to slink over to it and sit down. It wasn’t until I was seated that I realized everyone around me was talking and no professor was standing at the front of the room.

My professor was late. Well, after 15 minutes at good old SMC that means no class. Everyone sat waiting though, and two minutes later Professor Lovell made her entrance without apology or explanation.

Here, this is a not-uncommon phenomenon. Professors begin classes late and end them early. Students appear 30 minutes into lectures regularly and think nothing of it. Attendance is seldom taken and many students prefer to read lecture notes posted online and bypass lectures completely.

In Australia, students are responsible for their own learning, and damn, it takes some getting used to.

Scott McGill, studying abroad from Arizona State University, has had some trouble adjusting to this new level of responsibility bestowed upon him.

“I’m three for seven this week,” he said last week. He was talking about attending classes. Sounds pretty bad, but it was actually an improvement for McGill who had gone a disappointing two for seven the week prior.

Classes in Oz are structured differently from classes in the States. Instead of having a class that meets either two or three times a week, in the same classroom, with the same professor and students, most classes here only meet once a week.

The lead professor will give one lecture per week in a large lecture hall and that lecture will be discussed in smaller tutorial groups that also meet once a week. I’m actually taking two classes that don’t even have tutorials, only the one lecture each week.

With classes meeting less often, there is no steady reminder of what is expected of students as far as keeping up with reading and preparing for assignments. Students are left on their own to figure out course requirements and learn much of the material covered.

Sean Feeney, also from Arizona State, and Brent Conrad of the University of Texas are also feeling the sting of adjusting to a new educational system.

“I feel like I haven’t done much of anything for school; I haven’t done readings, I’ve skipped classes, I kind of feel like classes here aren’t very intense,” Feeney says.

In fact, at least in my experience, the classes are quite intense, consisting of hefty amounts of reading that is meant to accompany and supplement the lectures. It seems that just because there is little homework and no other constant reminders of the work expected of students, many American students feel a little lost.

St. Michael’s College junior Gillian Goldman, studying abroad at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, is finding the Aussie system of assessment a little intimidating.

“It’s a little nerve-racking, because three out of my four classes are based primarily on a final exam that is worth 70 percent, and the other 30 percent comes from either a mid-term or a few quizzes,” she says.

She says that with so few actual grades going into the books, there is a lot of pressure placed upon students. One little slip could have a big impact on the final grade.

In addition to all the stresses of culture shock and any stereotypes or other challenges facing American students studying in foreign countries, the pressures of fitting into and understanding a new and different learning system can be overwhelming.

Even once a student finally understands the way his or her new university operates and the way its courses are structured, the challenge of actually understanding the lectures presents itself.

Professors here, like professors in the States, will sometimes try to relate material to some simpler form of common knowledge through metaphors. Sometimes, especially in politics classes, professors will assume a common knowledge of Australian history while lecturing.

This can leave study abroad students a bit confused about portions of lectures. The other day a lecturer in my Youth and Society class referred to Anna Woods when discussing some ideas about teens and alcohol or drug use. I had no idea what she was talking about.

Turns out that Anna Woods was a teenage girl who overdosed on ecstasy a few years ago and her story was highly publicized in the media and sparked all sorts of debates over teen drug abuse.

After researching and learning about her case, I understand the points in the lecture, but at the time I was lost.

Lost. I guess that’s a feeling someone living in a foreign country for the first time has to get used to, even in a setting as familiar as the classroom.