First week of intensive lectures

This article highlights my experience of the first week of intensive lectures. The week certainly lived up to expectation. We had lectures back-to-back for five days. In between lectures we had group discussions and class activities. At night, we had further group meetings to prepare for class presentations. It was a busy week indeed.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

For most people, the high point of the intensive week were lectures and group presentations. The best part for me, however was seeing my classmates all dressed up. My fellow course-mates were really prepared for the week.  The men in particular were dressed to impress. With designer shirts, tailored suits and fine shoes, they were ready for business. In comparison, I felt the women’s dressing was a bit more conservative. It was going to be a long week.

Team Bonding

The intensive week allowed students to bond closely with each other. It also enabled closer interactions between students and faculty members. Best of all, it enhanced class participation among the students. I would have loved to attend the intensive week programme in person. Sadly, it was not to be.

As it was in the beginning…

Considering how bad my internet service is, it is hard to imagine that I opted to attend the intensive week classes, virtually. For some reason, I thought internet connectivity would improve this week. To be fair, I had made several efforts to ensure seamless internet connectivity during this week. It was all to no avail as I was disapponted by my internet service and various devices.  

Unexpected difficulty

On the last day of the intensive week, my laptop battery ran down after hours of power outage. Surely, this was not happening. I rushed to the bookshop to buy a new power bank. My plan was to revive the laptop using the power bank. Surprisingly, I was informed that the power bank had to be charged for two hours before its first use. I felt disappointed on hearing this as there was no power supply at the time. About an hour later, I returned home. Thank God, power supply had been restored. Excitedly, I re-joined the class to continue lectures. The intensive week was pretty tough for me. I am glad it’s over.

Broken promises…

The adoption of hybrid classes enable students attend lectures virtually or physically. It also improves flexibility of the programme. It also promtes inclusion. However, like most things in our dear country, great ideas fail at the implementation stage.  Despite our best efforts, the available technology hardly supports online learning. We adapted the technology for virtual learning without creating an enabling environment for the technology to thrive.

The way forward

Good quality internet service is important for online learning. Following my experience this week, I have decided to attend lectures in-person. This will lead to better class participation. It would also enable me interact better with my classmates and lecturers. It is time to put myself together and try again. We will keep moving till we get to the promised land. #EMBA27.

Picture Credit : iStock by getty images