Week 8 In comparison to the United States, the UK system is more independent study. While there are equal opportunities to engage with tutors (their version of professors), the lack of incentive in terms of impact on grade to attend all the lectures and seminars makes going to class a personal choice. For one of my courses, barely anyone would show up to the seminar sessions (maybe 4 of us max.).
For all three of my UK courses, the materials are building up each week to help us write our final summative assessment, a 2500 word report. My formative assessments were not graded but were tools to get feedback from our tutors on the first part or a section of the summative assessment. The weekly lectures and seminars go over materials that we can potentially use in our summatives. The grading system is also different in the UK. For that reason, there is a conversion chart that each home university needs to provide. UH Study Abroad Center has this in one of the packets. Because of the way the UK system grades, undergraduate level scores are much lower than US counter parts. It is basically impossible to get above a 90 because that means your work is academic journal level publishable. For the most part, a score of 70 or higher will get you an A at UH Manoa when grades transfer back. Terminology Tutor (equivalent to US professor or TA) Assessment brief (Document in beginning of the year that outlines formative and summative assessments) Formative assessment (like a mid-term but sometimes not graded) Summative assessment (final assignment, usually rest of grade not included in formative) Lectures (tutor lectures on week's material) Seminars (discussion time, class activities, actively engaging with other students)
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Week 3 This past week was the first week of classes, or as they say here, modules. To wrap up the week, our Social Programme took us on a walking tour of Central London yesterday (Saturday). I'll explain a bit about the school system here and then recap what I got to see in the city. MODULES Each module has three parts: (1) Lecture, (2) Seminar, and (3) Modules Clinic. The lecture is where the Module Convenor delivers the lecture of the week on whatever topic is scheduled to be covered. The seminar is where the Module Tutor (sometimes it will be your Convenor) will take the class through different exercises that apply the concepts learned in the lecture. It is important to attend seminars because the exercises build up to what is expected in the final assessment. For all three of my Roehampton courses, my final grade is dependent on one single assessment, the summative that is submitted online at the end of the semester. Module clinics are something new they added this semester. It is an hour of remote learning that is more for full time university students as they act like sessions with UH advisors. It is less about the actual materials for the module as the topics tutors are given are directly from the University. I will have more information on classes in a later post. WALKNG TOUR OF LONDON On Saturday, I went on a walking tour of London hosted by the Social Programme the university has for study abroad and international students. We got to see some of London's most well known monuments as well as some lesser known ones. Our tour started at Blackfriars station and ended at Borough Market. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the market all the stalls were closing. There were still a few places open so my friends and I were able to grab a bite for dinner before taking the bus back to campus. That particular day was a national rail strike, so the tube line we would normally take was not running all the way Putney. (Be aware of rail and tube strike days when here. The buses will be busy and generally take longer due to traffic and all the stops in between). Friends and Tower Bridge St. Paul's Catherdral
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Kaylee MikiI'm a college student from Hawai‘i studying abroad in London and looking forward to traveling around Europe and sharing my experiences. Archives
January 2023
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