After studying three years in NUS and being fully enrolled into the Modular Credits system, I am increasingly having some reservations on how realistic this system is. In NUS, modular credits (MCs) are assigned to modules to indicate the work load of that module and also the expected numbers of hours to be spent on that particular module per week in a ratio of one MC to two and a half hours per week. Therefore, a module like Professional Communications (ES2007s) which is a four MCs module would requires us to spend an average of ten hours per week. To ensure that students are within a predefined "manageable" level and also for students to have a study and rest balance, the university discourages students from taking more than 25 MCs per semester. Any student who wishes to do more than 25 MCs would be evaluated on a case by case basis. However, in this system where we are further bounded by the Cumulative Point System (CAP), students tend to be grades orientated and as such, usually the number of study hours exceed the average recommended hours per week. This would increase the tendency of students having to spend all their time on studying and much less for rest or play. This could be detrimental to the overall well being of the student.
Some questions which I have included:
1) How many hours are student spending on studies per week?
2) Is this more than the number of Modular Credits that they have?
3) How much time do they spend sleeping each day?
4) How much time do they spend on playing each week?
In this survey report, my general research question would be "Is the modular credit system an understatement of the number of hours students spend studying each week?" and my hypothesis would be that NUS students spend more than the recommended time for the given amount of MCs and that the relation between the number of MCs and the number of hours spend studying is greater than the ratio 2: 5. The objective of this research study is to determine if the hypothesis is correct and my target reader would be the Dean's Office. The objective of the report would then be to increase the awareness of the Dean's office regarding this discrepancy in the amount of supposedly allocated time and the actual time spend and that this could be detrimental to the growth and well being of a student.
An attitudinal survey is essential in this report as students would be able to rate their response to the issue on a scale system thus enabling students to give a more detailed feedback. Furthermore, it would be more affective in nature and thus would be able to accommodate students’ perception regarding the issue. Since this issue is very much open to perception and also varying in everyone’s level of adaptability to work management, such a form of survey would help to give us more insight into the problems which this issue may pose and allow us to formulate constructive recommendations.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Your proposed research is a very interesting one. You believe that the students employ more than the recommanded hours per week into their study. So do I. However, I think the questions included in your survey need to be revised. For example, in question (1), how can you make accurate measure of the study hours per week? Will the answer be a self-reported one or will someone observe and take record on it? In addition, in question (4), what is your defination of "playing"? which kinds of activities are considered as "playing"? I think making this clear will make your research result more reliable.
I also think that all students in NUS do study more than the expected number of hours spent on each module. That makes us wonder, do NUS students have time for leisure and rest? Thus, I think that this research topic is very close to what we experience daily and it would be interesting to see the results of the survey. After the Dean's Office has been noted of this discrepancy, the school can probably come up with feasible ideas on how to solve this problem.
Your research topic is an interesting topic for all the students. We all NUS students are studying more than the expected numbers of hours for every module. Due to my experience, sometimes, I have to spend more than recommended hours due to my weakness on that particular subject or overloaded module. Another reason is that we are bounded by the Cumulative Point System (CAP to get a good grade).
Your survey should be conducted in order to raise the awareness within the students.
From the survey results, we can submit the data to the Dean’s Office to take necessary action and further implementation.
hi Joo Soon! wow that is a daring move too challenege the system in NUS that has been going on for decades! it will definitely be something careful, sensitive and bold. Do it if you are confident of making a strong impact on the Deans!
some points to ask yourself and your group when doing the research:
1. many people been through that, you are one of them now. They did not say anything about it. Does that make you a complaint student?
2. even if someone tried to bring this matter up, think of the possible reasons why the management does not want to change anything at all.
3. your type is research qn will need you to s a execute very good communication and writing skills. it is a make or break topic. are you able to risk this? or you are confident about it?
Do consider my points carefully. if you are ok with it, go for it. this is definitely a good topic to work on your proficiency in this module. any rash decisions before considering these points, i'd very much call it 'reckless'.
Good effort there! will really look forward in your coming topic from your group!
Post a Comment