University Update

I can hardly believe it, but the second semester is already over! My classes finished a week ago Thursday and now I’m writing my second semester term papers – three of them at 4,000 words each – just like last semester. Speaking of which, I finally got all my papers back from the first semester and I’m happy to report that I achieved all A’s! One was for my research methods course, and we were required to write about a group mini-research project that was conducted throughout the semester. The second was a comparative study between teaching styles in Armenia, and the third was about how international agencies and global education agendas are impacting the Armenian education system, particularly the manner of assessment.

This semester, I am writing, again, largely about Armenia’s education system and new policy changes: One paper about the new combined school-leaving and university entrance examination, and a second about the expansion of secondary school from 10 to 12 years. The third paper is on a completely different topic, for a course titled “race, ethnicity and education”. I plan to look at education of refugees, particularly the barriers to their success in school (like interrupted learning time, dislocation and adjustment to a new education system, and language barriers). There is a large Somali population here in Bristol, and I plan to take this group on as a small case study. The first two papers, I aim to complete before the baby’s arrival, while the last paper I will ask for an extension, hoping to submit it in May.

So, I’m trying to stay comfortable in front of the computer as I type these first two papers up before the baby arrives. Then, I’ll take a break for awhile and get back into the swing of things at the end of April. At that time, I will have to begin writing my dissertation proposal, along with writing my third term paper as well as a book review, which I’ve been invited to write for an international education journal. Lots to accomplish, but you know Jason and I – we like to keep busy!

Here’s a picture of me with some classmates at a small, end-of-term dinner we had last week. In front are Wing from Hong Kong and Gina from Korea, in the middle is Pi-Yin from Taiwan, and in the back with me is Shawanda from Jamaica.

First Semester Update

Terra encouraged me to give an update of my results from my first semester. Overall all, I did well but before I tell you how I did I should explain the grading system. Just to note, marks and points are used interchangeably. Here, they prefer the word mark over points or percentage.

For graduate degrees, there are four levels of marks: Distinction (A equivalent), Merit (B equivalent), Pass (C equivalent), Fail (F equivalent). These marks translate to a number range. To receive a mark of Pass, you must gain at least 50 marks. Merit begins at 65 marks and Distinction begins at 75 marks. The professors are quite serious when they say every five marks past 50 is exponentially harder to achieve as it takes that much more work. For example, if I wanted to gain a 60 for the class, I would work twice as hard than to gain a 50. So you can see by that system to gain Merit (the B equivalent) you would have to work that much more. Personally, I am not sure I buy that but I would say going from a 50 to a 75 is a lot more work to cover enough material and synthesize an argument to represent all that you have done for the class.

For Management in a Complex World, the paper that made Terra cry the first time she read it, gained me an 80. It was the highest mark in the class by 10 marks and gained me a mark of Distinction. My highest mark came from the Managing Customer Value class which gained me another Distinction with a mark of 82. It was the highest mark in the class by 7 marks. Managing Business Resources, which I found to be the hardest and also the most time constrained, netted me a 68 which is Merit. My one exam for the semester, Managing Decisions, the managerial accounting and statistics class, earned me a 62 which is a passing mark. Obviously, I was not happy with this but out of the 13 people that sat for the exam, 6 of them failed. Come to find out, my 62 was the second highest mark in the class after an accountant who earned a 68. While I did not get the 75 I was hoping for, I did OK in comparison to my classmates.

This degree truly gives back what you put into it. That is a stupid statement but it is very true. The more you learn, the more you know what you do not know and the more you can be focused in learning what you wish to know. After I came out of my undergrad learning, I thought I had a broad background to understand anything. What I have learned is that in reality, I know very little but I have the tools to figure out what I do not know. I reckon the rest of my life will be spent trying to find niche areas of knowledge that interest me and learning as much as I can about them. Any notitions I once had about possessing a large swath of knowledge was certainly trounced in my first semester of study.

So there you have it! I need two more classes to be at 75 marks (Distinction) or above and I need to achieve the same on my dissertation which will earn me a degree with high honours. Having a level of Distinction should parlay into a better earning potential when I enter the job market.

University Second Semester

As you can probably tell from our lack of recent posts, the work associated with second semester has really kicked in! On top of that, we’re constantly thinking about dissertation planning, the motions for which we must get rolling during this term in order to work effectively once the baby arrives.

I’m taking three classes again this semester: Education Quality in Low Income Countries, Education Policy in a Global Context, and Race, Ethnicity and Education. The third class is a block class, which will be taught in the span of four full-day sessions later this month. The other two are typical once-weekly classes, and both require group work and presentations on top of the final written assignments, which are the sole basis for my grades.

Still no word yet on my grades from first semester since the papers are still being checked and double-checked as per the university grading policy. I did get some good feedback, however, on one of my papers, and have high hopes of attaining at least two As and one B.

Jason received his grades last week, and I am very proud of him! I think he is happy with the results, and he’s excited that with continued effort he will be eligible to graduate with “distinction” – his programme marks on a scale of fail to distinction, while my programme goes by the traditional letter-grading scheme.

I have already submitted my dissertation topic to the university and will begin meeting with my dissertation supervisor in April. He is also my personal tutor, with whom I meet twice a semester, and also the head of the pathway I’m enrolled in, as well as being the head of two research centres here at the university. My chosen topic (although broad at this point and it will likely narrow considerably) is: Awareness and perceptions of Armenia’s current education reform and implications for successful implementation. I intend to look at Ministry of Education’s plans for reform and how it communicates those plans to education professionals and general public, and see if that matches up with what school directors, teachers and students really know. My suspicion is that the communication is quite weak and there is lack of general understanding of the education reforms, which may hinder successful implementation in the long run. Again, this will all narrow and likely shift to some degree once I begin thinking more concretely about my research plan in the upcoming weeks and months.

Other exciting news is that I have been invited to be a book reviewer for a prominent international education journal titled Comparative Education. My tutor recommended that I be given a chance to publish in this way and I was extended an offer this week to review my first book. If I do a good job, my book review will be published in the journal, which will begin getting my name out there in the field of publishing. I consider it quite an honor to be invited to write and hope I do a good job!

This term, I will also be part of an organizing committee for a one-day student workshop on dissertation planning between the Universities of Bristol and Birmingham. There shouldn’t be too much responsibility involved as it is a large committee, but it will be a good way to network and, again, get my name out there among the professional world.

So, there are a lot of exciting work and study-related opportunities on the horizon, and I’m glad to have a chance to network and begin making a good name for myself in the field. I’ll try to keep you updated by the website as things progress.

Some pictures…of my face!

I realized that there are plenty of pictures of my belly on this website, but none of my face! I added a photo album of some recent pics taken in class and at the end-of-term party. Just go to the very top of the page and find the tab marked photos.  Click to enter, then click on the album “Terra and her classmates” to see the rest of them.

Terra’s University Course

Thought I’d briefly share some information about why I’m here in Bristol and what I’m studying. I searched a long time all across Europe (on the internet, of course) for a perfect university programme that would suit my needs and interests. I was attracted to University of Bristol because of its high international profile, its research reputation in this field, and the course itself.

The programme is one year and I will graduate with a Masters in Education (MEd). The name of the programme is Educational Leadership, Policy, and Development. Within the programme, I am focusing more on the policy and development aspect, while others take courses designed to position them for education leadership jobs such as school headmaster or principal.

This term, I am taking three courses. They are: Introduction to Educational Inquiry, which covers how to conduct educational research; School Effectiveness and Improvement, which covers the concept of school effectiveness, how schools can make improvements and how those can be measured; and International Development, Comparative Research and Education, which broadly covers the agendas in the international education development field and how those agendas impact education systems across the globe.

My professors are very competent, well respected professionals who have done research across the world. My fellow students come from many different countries. I am only one of three US citizens in the entire MEd division, and the only one in my specific programme. We have many students from Africa, Asia (particularly China), parts of Europe and South America. Interestingly, opposed to Jason’s programme, we have very few students from India and the Middle East, whereas those countries are heavily represented in Jason’s MBA cohort.

My classes are only on Tuesday and Wednesday – between 1.5 to 2 hours per class. The UK system of higher education has very little contact time with professors, but is highly demanding of students to spend many out of class hours in studying, and reading what you want within the field. That has been a new journey for me, coming from a US system that provides you textbooks and tells you exactly what to read. Weekly, I have required reading for the classes, but am also expected to be reading within scholarly journals about my interests within the themes of the classes. This will prove useful when it’s time to write my end-of-term assignments.

I have no examinations, but am graded on my academic writings of one 1,000 word, one 3,000 word and two 4,000 word essays. Most are due after the completion of term in January. I must also give some group presentations, but they are not graded.

The study has been very enlightening, and I feel myself agreeing with the positions and research of my professors and classes, which tells me that I have made a good choice and that this programme is a good fit for me!