when different universities then have to recalculate your university’s grade point into their own which further fudges the grade. There are numerous other inequities to the system but I think the point has been made: Canada is on the metric system and all universities should use the full 100% scale because it is fairest to students.
Lectures
By definition a lecture is a formal discourse before an audience. Not all lectures acknowledge this definition. The lectures you see and hear will be as diverse as the people who deliver them. They will involve sights, sounds and sometimes touch and smell. They will be exciting and they will be boring. “So what’s new,” you might ask, “I’ve been through all of this at high school!”
Well, there are a lot of differences. First, in your beginning year you will be a member of a large community (first-year students are also called freshmen or, to be less sexist, frosh—freshpersons just hasn’t caught on!). Many of your classes will contain hundreds of other students in lecture halls as vast as the Carlsbad Caverns. (This may not be true of the smaller universities—at least in some disciplines—but it will probably be true in general since the majority of students go to large universities.) It is only in the later years, as the surviving student numbers dwindle, that you will be in lectures with a reasonable student population. The reduced class size will also influence lecture content. Upper-year courses will often be more interactive, with a greater focus on active learning strategies such as student seminars.
Lecture format will vary dramatically from course to course. Sometimes the lecturer will talk at you for the entire duration of the lecture and continue this for every lecture for the whole course. Sometimes the sessions will consist of watching pre-recorded lectures, especially in very large courses that have many different sections (the same lectures offered at different times). This saves the lecturer having to repeat the same lecture to several different classes. Recorded lectures may also be made available for viewing online. Sometimes the course will be team-taught—several lecturers will share the teaching of the course material with each talking on his or her area of expertise. The lecturer may be an extremely organized and well-prepared speaker or the lecturer may be disorganized and simply ramble on for the lecture period. You will be exposed to a wide range of knowledgeable people with varying abilities and methods to communicate that knowledge. Regardless, you will have a tapestry of experiences that will affect your life and your beliefs for as long as you are here to enjoy them.
Labs and Tutorials
Many courses will have laboratory and tutorial sessions in addition to lectures. In general, labs and tutorials will have many sections offered at different days and times and you will be given a choice of which to attend. The class size will also be smaller as a result.
Laboratory sections are offered in science courses and consist of demonstrations and hands-on exercises. You may be required to work individually, with a partner or in a group. A lab manual that outlines the experiments and step-by-step procedures will usually be provided. In some labs you will have ample time to finish your work, while in others every second will count. So make sure to read the lab manual and prepare well in advance.
The format of tutorials will vary depending on the course. In courses like physics and mathematics where extensive problem solving is required, tutorials may consist of question-and-answer sessions where you can get help with your homework. Quizzes may also be given during these sessions. At other times tutorials will be similar to lectures, with a professor or teaching assistant elaborating a certain topic; however, due to the smaller class size there will be a greater focus on class interaction and more opportunities to ask questions.
Online Courses
At this time, the use of online courses varies widely with the university. All universities use the web to communicate information. Some instructors present their material online but the extent varies quite dramatically from full web courses to notes to simply the course content and schedule. This approach is changing rapidly with the use of university web portals and technologies like Blackboard that make course content easy for professors to put online and for students to access. Most if not all aspects of the course can be presented online. Students can also access their marks and communicate with their teaching assistants and professors.
Did You Know?
With the proliferation of web-based courses, entire degrees can be obtained online. Of course, such an approach is not practical for all subjects; areas like the sciences include many courses that require hands-on laboratory or tutorial work. In addition, studies suggest that employers prefer degrees obtained the “traditional” way. One survey of hiring executives found that given the choice between a candidate with a traditional degree and a candidate with an online degree, 96% of employers would hire the applicant with a traditional degree.8 Some reasons given for this choice include the candidate’s lack of peer interaction and practical classroom experience, the employer’s perception that an online education is less demanding and the potential for academic dishonesty.
Some courses are entirely web-based, without the need to attend classes. Lectures, readings and all other course materials are made available on a dedicated portal. Other features these courses offer include discussion boards where you can interact with other students. Assignments and quizzes are submitted online. Note that some online courses may still require taking supervised exams at a campus location.
The Registrar’s Office
The registrar’s office is one of the most valuable resources for students that the university has to offer. When you first register you will find that you will be inundated with reams and reams of paper. Don’t throw this stuff away! Read it before you recycle it. Of particular interest to you will be information about academic counselling services. It would be very wise of you to talk over your program with a counsellor to make sure that it is in order. You would be amazed at the number of students who have to scramble around in their third or fourth year to get a complete, acceptable program for graduation.
At the registrar’s office you can also get detailed information about recent course changes, existing specialty programs and scholarships. The registrar’s office is also a centre for career counselling and job placement (or if not will tell you where the facilities exist).
The registrar’s office is important for other reasons. If you have specific problems with your courses, the registrar and other staff in this office can help you. Often it’s left up to you to make sure that you are enrolled in all the courses you think you are. The registrar’s office can tell you if you are. If things aren’t going well, the staff can also give you the lowdown on how many courses you can fail and still be admitted next year or what you have to avoid doing grade-wise to prevent being placed on probation, or worse, being given the boot.
The Library: Your Resource Centre
The library is the most valuable aid for your education. Nevertheless, most students drastically underuse it. Don’t be one of them. If you intend to succeed at university, it is imperative that you use the library to the fullest. But to use it to the fullest you must know what facilities are available and you must learn how to use the place to your advantage.
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