Elective Review

Pandoras Twist

Rather than people posting threads looking for easy electives, we could have a thread were people review any of the electives they have done so far. Just ideas on how its assessed, taught and if its any use. Especially because what easy for one person, won't be easy for someone else

Mine are:

1st Year (Semester One)

Module: Great Management Ideas Through Time

Assessment: All continuous assessment, presentations, report, journal.

Review: Good elective if you stay on top of the work. Theres a weekly journal which you can forget about very easily so its a bit of a disaster when you try to catch up. The material is easy enough to grasp. Its mostly about big management theorists. You read a journal they have written every week, and you have to come up with a question and an illustration for each reading. Then theres some in class discussion and she gives you background information. Its a very handy elective for Business Students anyway, as you can use the stuff you learn in other modules. I got an A in it anyway, so as I said, pretty handy if you just do a bit each week

1st Year (Semester Two)

Module: Homer and his world

Assessment: Final exam and an essay in week 10 or so I think

Review: I thought I would do this because I was good at classics in school. Very naive of me. It looked at the Odyssey and we read the book and the lecturers gave us more information and discussed themes. Then the other half of the course was based on the archaeology of the time, and burial customs and the likes. The lecturers wern't exactly enthralling, but the material wasn't particularly difficult either. That said, I'd already read the Oddyssey so that probably helped. Ended up with a B- or a B I think.



2nd Year (Semester One)

Module: Economics of Social Policy

Assessment: Essay in week 8 and MCQ at the end of the year

Review: Excellent elective. Really enjoyed it. It explains the economics behind stuff like the Health System and why the market fails, and what the state can do to stop it. He's an excellent lecturer. The essay was handy enough. I got an A in that, but the MCQ was a bit of a disaster. He gives a few sort of right answers, and in some cases you have to pick the most right one so I ended up with a C overall. Should have done better if I was concentrating more, but I had an evil exam next so I spent half the MCQ drawing out proofs on the back of my page.

2nd Year (Semester Two)

Module: Inequality in Irish Society

Assessment: All continuous assessment. 12% or so for attendance too which is great

Review: Another good elective. Theres a reading every week on different subjects like gender inequality, racism in ireland, the health system etc. Then theres a one hour lecture where you get more information on the subject and a one hour tutorial where you discuss the subject in groups. The assessments are handy, one of them is just on what you have learned
so far etc. Then theres a final essay on one of the subjects discussed. The lecturers and tutors are all bang on, and given that its an equality module they put a lot of effort into making sure the grading is fair, and that everyone is understanding what theyre saying. Came out with an A in that

ya-ba-da-ba-doo

Semester 1

Homeostasis and physiological communication (i think) VET10120

20% homework
20% mcq
60% exam

Absolutely hated this module. I don't do vetinery and thought I might be interested in it but WOW was i wrong! Pretty tough module especially which requires a good bit of study, which in my first semester of college wasn't on the cards! I went to nearly all the lectures but had no interest in it. 50% pass rate too which I didn't find out untill after the exam was finished! Wouldn't recommend it!


2nd semester

Biosystems engineering design project BSEN10050 (i think )

10% weekly journal
90% project + poster + write up
(NO EXAM WOOP!)

Can't speak highly enough about this module! It's good craic, you get to build something from scratch with your group. This year the project was a flood barrier. Your project gets tested and stuff like that. there's prizes given to the best projects.. only one hour a week. in that one hour you're not sitting in a lecture theatre, you're brainstorming, building, planning, etc. with your group. wish I could do it again next year!

littlefriend

I think this is a great idea for a thread.

Semester 1
Information Literacy - develop skills. IS10020

Assessment [iirc]
10% attendance
35% journal done over 5 weeks[due week 9 or 10]. The journal consists of completing weekly handouts and planning your final essay.
55% 2000 word essay

The lecturer, tutors etc couldn't be more helpful and there is really good use of blackboard. I found this easy but quite boring and thus did no work for it. With a bit of work and doing the weekly tasks when you are supposed to then B or higher would be very achievable. I did none of those things and wasted this.

Social Policy - theories and concepts SPOL10010

Assessment [iirc]
10% attendance
35% 1000 word essay [due around week 8]
55% exam. We were given a list of topics that would come up.

Really good elective, interesting and easy enough. The lecturer is really good and very nice. I think I came out with a B as my essay was late and RUBBISH - again totally my own fault! The only slight negative about this as an elective is that there are 2 lectures per week for it.

Semester 2

Psychology of Perception PSY10040

Assessment
35% in class MCQ on part 1 of course around week 8
55% MCQ exam mostly on part 2 of course

Great elective, interesting and fun. Only 3 tutorials in the term too. Excellent use of blackboard as support. Recommended.

Inequality in Irish Society EQUL10060

Assessment [approx %'s]
10% attendance
10% 500 word assessment on course [week 4?]
25% Detailed 1000 word essay outline [week 8ish]
55% Final 2000 word essay

Really good elective. Lecturers and tutors could not be more helpful. If you don't do well in this there is something wrong. Excellent use of blackboard and constant communication from lecturers etc by email.


To incoming 1st years - all of the electives I did last year were good choices [fluke]. I'd advise not to make the mistake I did and fall behind on work [easy to do in any subject] because they are not very difficult. You can swing in ok grade in the above with not a lot of work but that is kind of pointless. On balance, the amount of time you spend being irritated by the fact that you are behind on things is not worth it. Even schedule an hour per subject per week to keep up to date.

I was sick for a lot of last year and once I fell behind it was difficult to get back into studying. I feel like I wasted a chance to learn more in these areas. Also, in my core subject areas I am now going in to second year a bit behind as I don't have a great foundation to build upon from last year. That is worth remembering - its not just your grade at the end of this semester - you may need this stuff in the future. Fortunately, my first year results don't count towards my degree.