Hi Diana, I really enjoyed this post! My favorite part of this course was hearing stories from the international students in our class. I’m fascinated by the differences in higher education around the world, and I think the more we share, the more we can work to change higher education for the better on a global scale. There’s so much to learn from everyone, whether it’s teaching mechanisms, study habits, or better ways to take notes! I also prefer to handwrite notes, but the common trend in my cohort is to use laptops and I’m trying to adapt. I also found it interesting that you say students in Colombia don’t have many assignments throughout the semester. I’ve heard this in conversations with other international students. You mentioned how it’s helpful to have the practice before exams, but I wonder if you’ve experienced (or spoken to anyone who has) that the assignments can be too much? I think there’s a fine line between having assignments as practice and having assignments as busy work/added stress. You gave me a lot to think about, thanks!

It takes a huge amount of effort to write a book. It also takes a huge amount of a student’s time to read all those words. Wouldn’t it be nicer if we students had the option to buy just the important parts? We should be able to buy the outline with vital info rather than having to plow through a sea of words! Publishers should give us the option to buy powerpoint slides versions of the text information.
Our time is so scarce!
… So much material!
The methods that we use to learn new information really need to be updated. Publishers should be designing systems to help us, their customers, learn material for classes rather than making another 1000 pages of words in another new edition of a textbook.