It was difficult to imagine myself being done with midterms but the time does go by – slowly but surely! Starting around the beginning of October, IEDPers have been completely consumed with assignments, exams and papers for good two to three weeks, depending on what kind of courses one is taking. I felt like it was such a big part of our IEDP first semester experience as everyone talks about it, posts about it and thinks about it but once it’s over, no one ever says anything about it. (Understandably so!) Before the memories of it all evaporate, I wanted to document my cohort mates’ experiences of first midterms at IEDP. Below photos are our cohort’s responses to the three questions about the midterm experiences.
Question 1: What was the most challenging assignment/paper/exam you had? What about it made it more challenging than others?
We have a decent variety represented here but the most frequently mentioned assignments seem to be group concept note and position paper.
Group concept note was an assignment for Proseminar, a required course for IEDP. In group of 5 or 6, students were required to write a 5-paged abbreviated version of technical proposal for an imaginary international educational development project. Concept note is a very particular type of writing that a lot of our cohort mates were not exposed to previously. And as always, working in a group means extra effort as you have to make sure everyone is on the same page!
Position paper was an assignment for Dr. GK’s section of Education 514 course, in which students were required to use two different theoretical frameworks to analyze a topic in international educational development. Theoretical frameworks are difficult to understand on their own but to utilize them to explain something else? For sure it is a challenge!
But the fact that all the IEDPers eventually made through these assignments mean that we all grew, learned new concepts and acquired a new skill sets. Kudos to us for our achievements!
Question 2: What helped you get through the midterms? (Don mind the squiggle in between “the” and “midterms”)
Sounds like a good combination of food, company, rest and work out! 🙂 I have to say, I loved some of the REALLY candid answers like, “Nothing” and “the fact I had to.” Just like anything else in life, midterms is something you will just need to make through with grit!
Question 3: Anything you learned or realized from your first midterms experiences at IEDP?
The recurring theme in these responses seem to be the importance of staying organized and planning ahead!
I know it felt like a lot for a lot of us, and it’s not necessarily a memory one would like to ruminate and dwell upon. But as a saying in Korea goes: after the bitterness, the sweetness follows. With precious takeaways from the midterms experiences, our cohort seems to be more ready than ever to tackle the finals and more after!
The International Educational Development Program 
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