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| My last lecture at this university, number 26 of "Quantum Theory of Matter" |
I just walked out of hearing the last lecture I will ever have at this university. Over the course of four years, I attended 35 lecture courses which add up to 720 ± 10 hours of lecture time. That is pretty exactly 30 days or one month. On top of that there were countless hours of lab, projects, classworks and tutorials plus of course the endless hours I put in, in my own time. It feels like I have closed a chapter in my book even though I'm not actually done with my degree yet. I have to write my masters thesis as well as sit a last set of exams.
There were courses I really enjoyed, such as "General Relativity" and "Dynamical Systems and Chaos". Others, such as an appalling course on Electronics, I absolutely hated. There were times, mostly early on a Monday or late on a Friday when I really didn't feel like it (and sometimes I didn't go) but there were others when I was really looking forward to my lectures and enjoyed every single one of them. Even if lectures aren't the best way to learn for me (I prefer books), they provided a framework, some motivation to get out of bed and an opportunity to ask questions. Some people advocate having people learn entirely from books using a reading list and while this would be possible, I don't like the sound of it. In the best case, the lecturer takes a textbook and supplements it with his own explanations and newer developments, clearing up confusion in the process. Of course that doesn't always happen and with some lecturers I seriously wish they had just stuck to some standard text and read it out.
The good news is that now, nothing more is going to be added to my plate. For the next 2.5 months, I am just going to work off what is already on there (which is plenty, trust me) until there is nothing left. It will be a stressful time, fumigating in may/june and, from experience, I won't enjoy it but I know I can do it. After that, the great freedom waits, with all it's free time and uncertainty
There were courses I really enjoyed, such as "General Relativity" and "Dynamical Systems and Chaos". Others, such as an appalling course on Electronics, I absolutely hated. There were times, mostly early on a Monday or late on a Friday when I really didn't feel like it (and sometimes I didn't go) but there were others when I was really looking forward to my lectures and enjoyed every single one of them. Even if lectures aren't the best way to learn for me (I prefer books), they provided a framework, some motivation to get out of bed and an opportunity to ask questions. Some people advocate having people learn entirely from books using a reading list and while this would be possible, I don't like the sound of it. In the best case, the lecturer takes a textbook and supplements it with his own explanations and newer developments, clearing up confusion in the process. Of course that doesn't always happen and with some lecturers I seriously wish they had just stuck to some standard text and read it out.
The good news is that now, nothing more is going to be added to my plate. For the next 2.5 months, I am just going to work off what is already on there (which is plenty, trust me) until there is nothing left. It will be a stressful time, fumigating in may/june and, from experience, I won't enjoy it but I know I can do it. After that, the great freedom waits, with all it's free time and uncertainty
Congratulations on being nearly done with your studies! I personally can learn pretty good with lectures, if I am given books, I simply do not open them unless they're novels, plays, etc (I study English and history so I get quite a few of those).
ReplyDeleteI know people are different and that's one of the reason I'm all for keeping lectures. I think it also depends on the subject. I find more "wordy" subjects much easier to follow in lectures than more "mathsy" ones. On top of that, I love books in any shape, form or variety so maybe its no variety I prefer to read things on my own.
DeleteI also rarely attended lectures and was learning most from text books. I think a reading list plus a tutorial, where one can ask questions to the professor or tutors plus some exercises would make up a better university. It would save a lot of time for everybody.
ReplyDeleteDo you already know, what the subject of your master thesis will be?
DeleteOh, for me it definitely would be a better system and it would probably have saved me about 700 hours of my life too ;) But then, I have a lot of self-discipline and as I said, I learn well from books. Not everybody does so maybe for others this system works well. Admittedly I haven't found a physicist yet who would be willing to argue this though.
DeleteI'm working on Cosmology. Hm, I remember writing a draft about my project somewhere. I will try to find it and post it soon :)
So exciting! Best of luck to you! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
DeleteKudos for comming that far. You can really be proud of yourself. Best of luck with your exams!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I will need it.
DeleteYay! Congratulations! I am sure you still have a ton of work to do but isn't that one less burden such a breath of fresh air?...
ReplyDeleteIt really is. At least I can now schedule what to do when because I have a set amount of things to do and a set amount of time to do it in. Much better than trying to keep up with stuff.
DeleteYou must feel fantastic being done with lectures after 4 years. Way go!!
ReplyDeleteLoulou
I do but somehow I'm also a little sad. My degree and I had some hard times but overall, I loved it.
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