Hello! Dearest Geographers, gather 'round the camp fire or climate change model and let me tell you the tale of how much I hate GEOS3103, semester 1, 2016.
1. I like surprises as much as the next person, but the inconsistency from week to week in this course was more than a surprise 21st at your mum's house. It's like that huge cramp your anus gets when you're on the toilet. But you accept it, and go with the flow.
You won't have the same lecturer every week, an advantage that has fallen short.
3. Now, week 4 really got my goat. Can I just say that the lecturer Jonathon Aitchison will not be on my list of people who I want to dine with when I'm in heaven or hell. He is condescending and unhelpful. His feedback on papers is opaque and rudiment. Unless I want to seem hypercritical, I better give an example. His critique for my week 4 paper had comments like 'NO!' and 'This makes little if any sense'. I acknowledge my writing is sometimes bewildering, but a marker's job is meant to unpack what the student has done i.e. their approach, and correcting that direction where need be. I also will add, without hesitation, and for the purpose of adding honesty to purify my agenda, that my effort for these weekly papers is terrible. But still, you're a marker, do your job.
Also Mr Aitchison gave a week's notice for a group assignment that was NOT stated in the ECP... I love nothing more than only a week to communicate with people who don't write back. (If I wanted to be ignored I'd text that guy who I am in love with but who does not reciprocate my feelings.) Our group was ridiculed in front of the whole class at the end of said group presentation. The sweet smell of humiliation. Did I mention that he gave us no foundation for that week...no weekly reading, no pre-posted lecture to grapple what his intentions were. It is a shame, because that week's topic about other planets and geomorphology was interesting.
4. So, 1000 word, weekly papers... I want to complain, but I am a third year, I should be doing the work. It's still intense though and does not cater to those who don't learn in this format.
5. The attempt to look at how, not what, geographers think fell short due to the chaotic nature of the course.
(Please omit any poorly executed grammar. I am rather angry about this course, also because of my unrequited love conundrum.)
