Muraho! Hello! Bonjour! Hujambo! My name is Tameshia and I'm an International Relations/African & African American Studies major, minoring in Latin American Studies/Spanish.This spring, January-May, I'm studying abroad in Kigali, Rwanda.
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The academic portion of my program is quite different from what I am accustomed to at the YOU of A.
The academic portion of my program is quite different from what I am accustomed to at the YOU of A.
classrooms and campus
It’s a two-story home that’s been converted into a make-shift campus. It consists of 2 bathrooms, 3 offices, 1 small ‘classroom’, 1 large ‘classroom’, an outdoor classroom/covered parking area, library/study room, and the most magnificent front and back yards (banana and papaya trees)!
The classroom area, my program generally uses, consists of a small flipchart, 6-8 white plastic patio chairs, a portable projector, white walls, African inspired ikat curtains, and one medium-sized desk.
lecturers/professors
I’m not really sure where to begin to here. Let’s just say our lecturers have ranged from very engaging to absolutely ridiculously awful with most of them being in the latter than the former. Most of our lecturers are not professors but are experts in their fields. We’ve also had lecturers who never showed up or arrived hours late.
I guess the lecturers are only given a copy of our syllabus for each course and then asked to present a topic that pertains to that field of study. Therefore, most of the lectures have been very introductory, repetitive, not engaging, and definitely not thought-provoking which has been very disappointing for me. Lectures last way longer than usual (1 hour and 30 mins to 3 hours) Also, many of our lecturers read directly from their PowerPoint or never fully answer the questions we raise. I often find myself designing random things in Photoshop or daydreaming about frolicking in the amazing backyard or being anywhere else but class.
structure of my program
what’s structure? For me, this has been the most frustrating part of my program as I am mostly a fan of structure when it comes to school. I like getting my syllabus and being able to plan accordingly for the semester. I think it took about three weeks to a month for us to receive a syllabus. Then, after we received it, almost nothing went as planned. I am almost never able to make plans for after class because I have no clue what time class will finish each day. It’s basically a 9-5 (or later) job. So I have learned to be extremely flexible but I can’t say I have mastered this completely.
Also, I think a lot of the structure doesn’t exist because this is the first semester my program has been in existence.
assignments and grading
For our Kinyarwanda class, each night we were assigned homework. Our homework included creating dialogues, learning and practicing new words with our homestay families, visiting the market to learn the name of different food or writing paragraphs. All of my other classes typically assign weekly synthesis papers, academic excursion essays, and comprehensive course essays. No long-term assignments or busy work. I appreciate that.
The grading system is also very different from U of A. Some of our course advisors employ the European grading system which is quite different from the US. Making at least 70% is a good grade and making an A- is exceptional.
However, what is dramatically different and refreshing is that there’s a lot of experiential or hands-on learning. This gave my classmates and me the opportunity to go on LOTS of academic excursions (where we visit places and organizations that pertain to the courses we are taking). I can honestly say most of the things I have learned since being here have not occurred in the classroom.
But after all, I signed up for an experiential learning program and not an academic program, so I guess that means mission accomplished.
