Conducted 03/11/2015 12.30pm
in the Women’s Room at the Student Services
S1 is a student enrolled in Class1
| LE: | Okay:: () Thank you fo:r volunteering for an interview. E::hm, the first question would be – What connection do you have with Aboriginality? |
| S1: | E::hm my connection with Aboriginality isn’t really in Australia. It’s in America. I’m Native American, specifically Navajo. () |
| LE: | Ok. E::hm () () So:: how would you describe the way knowledge is conveyed in the lecture or in the tutorial? () |
| S1: | I feel like the lecture and the tutorial are very different. In the lecture knowledge is conveyed () obviously in lecture form with – like the teacher is just talking the entire time a:nd it’s very quick () and slide shows are used. Whereas in the tutorial our teacher speaks more personally. About her own life and experiences. And she doesn’t really talk at us. She:: holds conversations with us. () |
| LE: | How would you describe the way you learn? |
| S1: | I prefer the tutorial but that’s just how I learn best. I find that in the lectures I can’t keep up – like writing notes – I can’t keep up with the teacher and sometimes she reads from the slides and sometimes does () say things that aren’t on the slides and () I struggle. Whereas in the tutorial I:: sort of () () Since it’s more conversational () the conversations are more memorable. And I just strut down little notes. Just to trigger the memory. Instead of () writing notes because I’m not even comprehending what she’s saying. () |
| LE: | Ok so ehm do you notice any differences between our course or between the lecture or the tutorial or both and ehm other courses that you are taking? () |
| S1: | E::hm () I think I’ve just noticed that like in the tutorial () teachers don’t really recommend like outs- ehm outside like extending knowledge outside the classroom. They just tell you what you need to know to pass the test whereas the teacher L2 tells us ‘Oh this is where you should go to experience this Aboriginal festival’ or she told us about the:: footy match footy knockout match in Dubbo or she told us to go to like Mount X because that’s close by. She wants us to extent our knowledge of Aboriginal people and culture in nearby areas like in easily accessible ways. |
| […] | |
| LE: | Ok. E::hm a:nd you said it’s it’s more conversational in the tutorial. Is () is that more conversational than in your other classes? () Or |
| S1: | Yeah. I think our teacher just talks about herself personally whereas most teachers () don’t bring in like () () their personal lives {Click here for analysis}. I’ve noticed a lot of my teachers have () ehm brought in their personal lives bu:t I- Like my environmental science teacher does kind of break that rule. And then my theatre teacher did. My linguistics teacher doesn’t. She doesn’t talk about like herself and her experiences. () Yeah. I think it’s more helpful. |
| […] | |
| LE: | Ok. So does the overall learning experience feel any different? () Is it like a totally different experience or just easier or:: |
| S1: | It does feel like a totally different experience because () we teach each other in a way. E:hm with the tutorial how we do like the presentations and () like the teacher L2 would purposefully ask questions after each presentation. Just to get the presenter to () explain like elaborate more on like their personal connection with their presentation {Click here for analysis} and then () i::n making us teach one another instead of having like L2 do her own slide show and presentation to us each week like we do in the lecture, we teach each other and we have to do like outside research and that really helps () yeah. |
| […] | |
| LE: | A::nd e::hm is it also different from () from your classes at home? () |
| (S1: | Yes.) |
| LE: | in the United States. Yes. |
| S1: | Yes () it’s very different from the classes at home. E::hm well from some of my classes. I’m in the Honours department in the university. So my Honours classes are very like interdisciplinary and (products-based) in like small groups. So () and they believe like that’s the best way to learn. So those- but I only get one Honours course a semester. But I feel like here at the university every single one of my courses is like that. To an extent. Like the tutorial () is like that. Whereas the lecture is more like every single class I have back home. So at that university if you’re not in the Honours course every course is kind of like a lecture. You’re being talked at. A::nd your honours course is your special like interdisciplinary course. It’s more groups and more one-on-one with the teacher. And more specialised. Whereas I noticed here you get both. You get the lecture which I’m not – I kind of check out in. It’s really hard for me. But you get the tutorial. Like manda- Most of the time. Like mandatory pairing of the two. And the tutorial is where I find that I really connect with those teachers like I don’t really have any sort of personal connection or relationship with any of my lecturers but I feel comfortable going to my tutorial teachers and asking them to help me or asking them their own personal opinion or just like yeah. I feel more comfortable because I think that interaction is there. The conversational one. |
| LE: | Ok. Ehm () now the next thing is a is a statement from ehm a class I had last year. It says ‘many methods used in universities worldwide can be described as Western and provide little room for, for example storytelling or spirituality.’ Would you agree on that? |
| S1: | Yes. |
| (LE: | @Ok.@) |
| S1: | I think storytelling is probably like a better a word @for what I’ve been trying to say. L2 L2 tells stories.@ And spiritual- spiritualisation can be all kinds of different definitions. For example like my environmental science teacher I consider her to be a very spiritual person. Because her responsibility and her opinions and beliefs for environmental values and ethics () are very:: () her- they’re very like personal and ethics and relationship to the environment is personal. I can’t be- like you can’t satisfy everyone. And so she teaches us like () not – she doesn’t teach us like ‘oh this is what I believe and you must believe the same thing. She teaches us how to build our own beliefs. And she definitely asks questions that challenge our beliefs because that’s what you’re getting in the world. You get people who are like more into saving animals than saving the rainforest, you know. So I think having a teacher that purposefully asks questions to challenge you or tell stories about themselves and that allows you to challenge them – that’s a good method of teaching. |
| LE: | So e:hm () You’d say there actually is ehm room for that if it’s or like ehm at least in some classes? |
| S1: | Yes. I think every class should have that. I really want classes back home to do that. |
| LE: | Ok so they don’t? |
| S1: | Mhm (negative). () |
| LE: | Ok e:hm and do you think it’s problematic that they don’t do that? |
| S1: | Ye:s, it’s so problematic. I understand that like lecture is mandatory because the semester is so short. Not every class can be specialised. And you do have to sometimes – like for history you have to cover large spans of time. But here I like here at this university – lecture and tutorial – you get through whatever kind of learning you are you () get both. It’s kind of like a choice but () for me I would like to have the option of a tutorial or like – I like that here tutorials are like mandatory whereas like if you miss a lecture you just watch like the Echo [recording of lectures that is available online]. Whereas if you miss a tutorial it’s kind of a lot worse and a lot harder on your learning. () |
| LE: | Ok e:hm so::: you:: said you s- actually see aspects of storytelling and spirituality also in other tutorials and not just in our Aboriginal tutorial. So in your environmental science one? |
| S1: | Mhm (positive) |
| LE: | So is that something that could really be done in every class? () () |
| S1: | I don’t think so. I think of like linguistics like my Foundations of Language course. E:hm it would be really hard to integrate like spirituality because it’s so:: linguistics is so like hot and dry. ((laughs)) […] It depends on the course like yeah for grammar like learning grammar and phonetics () or just International Phonetic Alphabet there’s no way to integrate spirituality but like if when we get into things like learning English as a second language or like learning about like dialects everyone brings their own background ehm in those aspects like () for myself we got to talk about American dialects and how I’m from New Mexico so I have a particular dialect. Or like how in Australia each different Australian in the classroom comes from a different part of Australia and has a different dialect and so I think if you brought in the ehm scope to more like organic topics then you’re able to definitely bring in spirituality. And I think it’s something they should happen all the time. () |
| LE: | Okay::. () E:hm () is there anything else you would like to say? |
| […] | |
| S1: | @It’s like my favourite class ever.@ I think that I never really like valued being Native American until I moved to Australia. Because in the United States () in America it’s definitely like () discriminated against. The same way Aboriginal Australians are and so I never was like proud of it. And then I came here and people are like fascinated by it. And in their fascination, their questions forced me to find the answers ehm from my family, my mother or even like research it online. And it made like more appreciative and curious and I feel like in Australia and through like specifically this course ehm I have a greater like connection with my own culture. Even though we were learning about the Aboriginal people and Indigenous people of Australia. It’s very () () im- I don’t know. It was it was a great experience. ((laughs)) |
Back to the list of all interview excerpts