Three Words: Problem-Based Learning. Never heard of it? Neither had I before coming to Maastricht. Maastricht University prides themselves on using this new technique that gets students more involved in the classroom and more engaged in the material. The way it works is that you have lectures that are optional, and tutorials that are mandatory. A tutorial is a small group of students of around 10-12 people from your lecture who meet to discuss the material on the readings assigned by the professor. Each week, the professor assigns a bunch of readings that must be done prior to your tutorial meeting. The tutorial group has a tutor who sits in on the meetings who helps facilitate the conversation, but does not teach the group. The tutor can be the professor, or they can be an undergraduate student as well. It is up to the students to teach one another the material, by going around and sharing what they have read, what they were confused on, and sharing their personal interpretations of the readings. Although the tutor can help guide the conversation slightly, they are not there to teach the class, and so they will not answer questions about the readings or tell you what to discuss. Rather, it is up to the students to decide what is important and what is not from the readings. There are also some classes that have some questions that the class can use to help guide the discussion. It is important to do the readings so that you can actively participate in class. I always make sure to take several notes on the reading so that I can contribute to the conversation. I also ask for clarification on the things I do not understand. There is a discussion leader assigned to each tutorial who's job is to ask the class questions and make sure that everyone is participating. Participation is a large portion of your grade, and so it is important that you speak up in class, even if its to ask for clarification.
Another thing that is unique here is that the classes do not have many assignments. For example, one of my classes has a final exam at the end of the period, but no other grades besides participation and attendance. This can be a bit nerve-racking because the exams are a bit ambiguous. I have my first final coming up in a few weeks and it is up to me to decide what is important to study and what isn't. You are not given a study guide or an outline on what to focus on. I personally do not like this, because I tend to overstudy as is. However, I need to embrace this change and use this experience to learn how to be more of an independent student. I use the lectures to try and narrow down what I think the professor thinks is important material.
Maastricht also breaks up its classes into two periods, rather than one semester. This means I am taking 2 classes from September 2nd- Oct 25th and then 2 different classes from Oct 28th- Dec 21st. This means a lot of material must be covered in a relatively short amount of time. I think there are both pros and cons to this. The pros are that if you do not like one of your classes, or you are struggling in a specific class, you do not have to stick with it for 4 months. It also makes the classes go by faster because you aren't meeting as often. The downside is, you are going to be given a lot of work. I wanted to create this blog post to inform anyone thinking about attending Maastricht University about what to expect when they come here. It is not meant to deter anyone from attending, but rather to give them a heads-up on how the learning style here is different from at home. I am a bit biased to the way classes are run at Susquehanna, however I am embracing this change of learning style and I am anxious to see how it makes me a better student!