Students: U.S. Classrooms Different

“Students stuck to their opinions during classes even when their opinions were different from that of their professors. That was different from Korea.” said Kim Han-seong who took summer classes at the University of California, Berkeley.

“Professors replied to any questions during classes as long as they were relevant to his lecture.” said Lee Ju-lee, an exchange student at Wilson University.

How different would classroom scenes between universities in Korea and prestigious universities in other countries be?

A writing class of Seoul National University’s (SNU) Center for Teaching and Learning recently published a report titled “Foreign University Classes’ Case Study” based on the memoirs of 21 SNU students who experienced foreign universities’ classes. The report was designed to suggest how to study to students and teaching models to professors.

The students characterized foreign universities’ classes as free and informal class atmosphere, a lively discussion and close relations with professors.

Lee Ju-lee (26, master’s course in English literature), who took lectures at Wilson University as an exchange student in 2003, commented that relations with professors were much more natural and comfortable than in Korea, and Kim Han-seong (27, senior majoring in Korean literature) said that the students asserting their opinions squarely during classes would be hard to find in Korea.

The students who wrote a memoir agreed that free atmosphere in classes led to students’ active participation.

Park Hyun-young (24. master’s course in business administration), who took summer classes at Harvard University in 2001, said she was surprised to find that dozens of students competitively raised their hand to ask questions while a professor spoke only a couple of words and that he effectively delivered what he tried to say while answering a barrage of questions.

Kim Jong-hun (20, sophomore majoring in Economics), who studied at the University of Melbourne during spring term in 2006, said that he was impressed by a library with more discussion rooms than reading rooms and students who were having a heated debate.

The difference between them and Korean universities he mentioned was professors who approached students first and naturally associated with them.

Lee Byung-hun (23, senior majoring in business administration), who studied at ESC Rouen, a French top quality post-secondary education institution, said he envied students there because French professors had meals with them at a cafeteria and enjoyed a party with them after meals.

The class atmosphere was free, but many universities had rigorous standards for fair evaluation.

Economics classes at the University of Alberta in Canada have a grading standard that one’s process of proving a formula should not be the same as that of others. Economics classes at Hitosbashi University in Japan have a system to hand out “feedback” papers evaluating a lecture to students and hand them in to a professor.

Senior researcher Kim Jun-seong (38), who led this research, said, “Professors mainly finish their graduate course abroad, so they don’t have much experience in college education. I will distribute data to each institution within the office of academic affairs and the Center for Teaching and Learning and try to reflect them in lecture development from now on.”

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