Exam review memories.
- Aoyumi Jung
- Mar 6, 2020
- 6 min read
10:20 pm. 06 of March 2020
With happiness and merits, I got over this week, I produce this blog.
Whenever the non-lyric music is on, this blank page appears, I can't be more awake to dive in my thoughts. I think it is chiller than drinking and feeling in movies because this is made by me, and this reflects my identity.
The first week of March ended without a farewell. Oh probably yes, it was our party last night at a pub near Bangkok University. My mind was empty looking at my friends and the people around me. I have been thinking much in other moments already. My brain needs time to chill. I hated using the word "chill" back then, honestly, but the pace of life in Thailand and my friends' attitudes have influenced me to familiarize myself with chill thinking and actions. To some extent, I am still a hard-working person. For further insights, I work hard and play hard. 😊
At the moment, I am sitting in a quiet zone of Thammasat's Puey Ungphakorn library surrounded by books and hard-working spirit. This area has been so occupied lately for the mid-term exam but the storm is over, left behind quietness and tranquility as its nature. I have parked at this library most often, I wanted a new type of atmosphere. I have wondered how come the outlook of this building is magnificently contrasting to the interior size and space. The overall shape of it is like a small temple that might disappoint many people at first glance. Yet, once you step through the sliding door, your mind will be blown away for its large spaciousness. There are 3 huge floors as if they are enlarged to 3 dimensions so that it could store thousands of books and human-centered facilities. I am super curious why the design could be this illusionary.
I am so grateful that there is a maze of educational activities to explore inside the campus like sports arena (badminton, football, climbing, squash, swimming, running, table tennis, basketball, skateboard, archery, shooting, etc), river activities like fish feeding, kayaking, etc. Anything can give learning values if we pay attention to it!
This blog reflects on my exam review experience. There are 3 courses to take tests, each of which is unique in its area of knowledge and learning style. In general, I love all of them and enjoyed the reviewing time. I slept well every night and went for a run to celebrate my exam completion. Haha
I am the architect of my life who simplifies its outlook but could create a complex inner "soul".
1. Social Inquiry and Assessment
The first course is "Social Inquiry and Assessment" by Ajarn Tao.
The course introduces students to the crafts of social inquiry as a scholarly pursuit of investigation and production of knowledge in the social sciences. The students learn how to explore research problems and frame a research question. Importantly, a survey of research methods in the social sciences, e.g.historical research, interview, focus group, ethnography, is introduced.- Course description
Ajarn Tao is a lecturer having American-base educational background (as a scholar all the time) thus his level of expertise is too good to be true. I love the clarity of language and teaching methods he delivers in every single class since the previous course "Social Life Skills". His reading materials are interesting and nicely worded too which must have been extracted from his learning journey.
In the review time, I read through some parts that I didn't do carefully before to make sure I understand them correctly. At the end of the day, quality is more important than quantity. As I finished my presentation competition last week, I missed one class of this course which I was deeply sorrowed so I made up for it as soon as I recharged my energy. It searched for books about Alcohol consumption to do some review. I read a chapter of the book called Stages and Pathways of Drug Involvement that I never thought I would do anything academic on it though I like drinking. It turned out the review then was asked in the exam, I felt I knew something about it! Long story short, I like how the exam is designed in a way that does not trigger students to learn by heart the intensive academic content but requires us to relate the knowledge to practice. The only thing to be sad was the time constraint that my final questions was not fully answered.
This weekend is awaiting preparation for the essential progress presentation of the major research paper on Alcohol consumption and Urban space. Breathlessly, another task is to do literature review on the same topic but under more stressful conditions. I will do my best!
2. Applied Critical Thinking
The second course is "Applied Critical Thinking" by Ajarn Girad. This is the most painful course that I have been through I used to get D on Logic course at Foreign Trade University. I could not understand the formula and how to put True or False for the statement. It was a nightmare studying to think logically as we have to follow the rules. I don't enjoy the learning moments in class as Ajarn's teaching style is so unique which is said to be like Steve Job. He is the strictest Ajarn at GSSE who hates students showing up late and using phones, which are seriously prohibited. His lectures last sharply 2 hours without any second wasted. He warned almost every peep arriving late, even for 1 minute. Interestingly, I realized his lecture is well-structured for learners to gasp it in hundred-slide powerpoints in the review time. Then I found some light out of the tunnel in the sea of "thinking about thinking", and felt appreciation for Ajarn. This is the only course that I don't speak up much as it is truly complicated for my processability.
When we are scared of something, many times, it is because we don't understand it or we don't spend time studying it. Yet once you seriously pay attention to it, you are confident at the thing, you no longer find it struggling to conquer it.
This is what I realize over the learning journey. I eventually understood what I have been forced to study and the essence of it. I list out some nightmare theories that might freak learners out without striving for learning namely Squares of Opposition, distribution rules, Vann Diagram, categorical syllogism, necessary and sufficient conditions, cognitive bias (availability heuristic, loss aversion, fundamental attribution error, false consensus effect, etc).
I did not review the cognitive bias in details so I tried to dig up my understanding of the terms to finish the test.
3. People, Groups and Networks
The last course is "People, Groups and Networks" by Ajarn Matthew O'Lemon. Ajarn has 17 years of living in Asia particularly in Cambodia, Vietnam, China and Thailand. His delivery approach is way different from the other two Ajarns. He allows active discussion and debates in class while Ajarn Tao gives chance to students to lead the discussion, and Ajarn Girad barely encourages us to argue against his points. He likes telling jokes to us by some funny comparisons like "something dark and cold has his heart". I like how he comes close to us to talk to different individuals or groups as if he is a peer with us. He never provides any standard answers to his open-ended questions. He always asks different perspectives of international students to bring everyone on board to share and listen to diversity.
The review for this course cost me the most as I had to re-read carefully all of his materials. His reading materials are not as explanatory as Ajarn's Tao's course so I could not digest much online. It is hard to take notes on the laptop because of the various formats. Again, before the review, it stroke me fear of emptiness as there are too many things to capture. After reading, it became easier to memorize the concepts like gene-culture co-evolution, collective cultural traits, cultural relativism & plasticity, narrative identity or the purpose of cooperation & leadership, etc. It was cool to piece everything together to understand how the course is organized to reach its objective. It is a multidisciplinary course covering anthropology, biology, psychology, economics and business that teaches students to understand human and group behaviors from an individual level to a complex group system. So far, most of the content has proximity to The Sapiens book so I am into the learning with peace, except for some discussions happening for too long that I lost focus.
One common thing among the 3 Ajarn is their high emphasis on readings before classes which I love the most. It can't be more effective to facilitate our learning process by thinking at home and reflecting in class.
P/s: Be the time I finished this blog, I got the shocking news that there has been a 17th affected case of nCovid in Vietnam. I sincerely could not continue producing more thoughts as my heart is for my home country. The entire country is on fire because of this event. I am really worried about my home country. I pray for you to be safe and healthy. Please keep yourself protected with peace and love. Please end, this storm.
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