With classes at Monash now in full swing, I’ve noticed some major differences between Monash and Northeastern. First, courses here are referred to as “units,” and a major typically means concentration. Like Northeastern, the typical course load at Monash is four units, however, students are permitted to take just three, and this is what I have chosen to do this semester to lighten my load.
In order to graduate on time, I am taking three chemical engineering units. All three units consist of 2 lecture periods and a tutorial per week. The lecture periods are either 1 or 2 hours in which the instructor presents a Powerpoint with material and worked examples. The slides are always available in advance on an interface similar to Blackboard called Moodle. The lectures are large in size, with approximately 150 students, and not interactive in nature. The tutorials are essentially time allocated for students to work on that week’s problem set with tutors and sometimes the instructors available for questions. Completing each week’s problem set is voluntary as they are not graded or collected but essential to understanding the material. Also unlike Northeastern, there are not lab classes. Two of my units have a one-time three-hour lab with a report. At Northeastern, lab classes meet for 3 hours every week.
Another major difference I’ve found between the courses at Northeastern and the units at Monash is the grading system. Throughout the course of the semester, there are a few assignments or projects, the lab reports where appropriate, and tests which all together account for no more than 40% of the final grade. In this way, the final exams are typically worth between 60-70% of our final grade. This is very different from my experience at Northeastern where the grading scheme is much more evenly distributed throughout the entire semester. In my experience, the final has never counted for more than 40% of the final grade.
Another big difference I’ve found is that students frequently do not miss class. Last fall at Northeastern, I missed, at most, one of each class all semester for any reason and it always caused me stress. Perhaps because so many students commute from outside of Clayton, all lectures are recorded and put online. Many students, therefore, do not attend lecture and do not think secondly of it. Students also frequently do not attend the tutorials as they prefer to complete the problem sets on their own time.
Fortunately for me, I have not had to spend any money on textbooks. Professors here are very cognizant of the exorbitant cost of textbooks. Amazon does not deliver here and the campus book store does not offer a textbook rental program like Northeastern which cuts the cost of textbooks significantly. As such, instructors list recommended textbooks that have helpful readings and further information but serve to complement the lecture material and are not essential. One of my classes relies on the textbook heavily for the problem sets.
Interestingly enough, the instructor for this class is a first-semester lecturer. The instructor quickly realized from student feedback that many students do not purchase the textbook and has made the problems available on Moodle so that students do not require the textbook. For students who wish to utilize the texts but do not want to pay the costs, most textbooks are available at the library for either a semester long rental, a three-week rental, or a quick browse within the library. Not having to purchase textbooks here has saved me hundreds of dollars which is better used traveling.
