Wednesday Jan 29, Erasmus University Rotterdam
I have officially completed my first week of classes!
What's this you say? It's only Wednesday? That is correct, oh uber-observant imaginary reader. And yes, I am done class for the week.
Whereas undergraduate Ivey students take five or more classes each term, Masters students at the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) take one or two classes over the span of a six week "Block".
My first course, "E-Marketing", occurs every Tuesday & Thursday, and my second course "Corporations & Justice", is on Wednesday mornings. However, class this Thursday has been cancelled, and so I'm currently enjoying afive day weekend. Yes, this is such a beautiful statement that it deserved to be italicized.
Although it's still much to early to compare my classes at RSM to those at Ivey, here are some preliminary observations:
1. I need to concentrate more in class in order to understand what my professors are saying. Though the profs speak perfect English, I am unused to their accent, and so extra concentration is necessary in order to fully process each class. I can only imagine how much more difficult this might be for someone for whom English is a second language, or if their home university isn't conducted in English.
2. Much like at Ivey, participation is encouraged. However, participation is not weighted nearly as heavily as at Ivey, and whereas at home classes would be more student-driven, here the professor does the majority of the talking. But, again, I've only experienced the first introductory class, so this could easily change.
3. No cases (so far!). However, some of my friends have been assigned cases in their classes. And not just any kind of case... Ivey cases!
4. Whereas at Ivey, almost every professor would not allow laptops to be used in class, no such ban was initiated in my classes this week. Interesting, less than half of students opted to take notes on their laptops, and those that did choose to do so didn't seem to abuse their access to the internet to the same extent that my classmates at home usually would. Like at home, the most prominent brand of computer was a MacBook.