Hei everybody!
Like many of you I had my first day of class yesterday, January 15th. However unlike many of you, I only had a single class which started at 4:15 in the afternoon, about 30 minutes after sunset, and ended a little after 6. The class is titled Intro to Norwegian Life and Society and this first class session was a quick crash-course through the first 11814 years of Norwegian history! 😅
But aside from the actual information that was presented during that class, I learned a lot about how the structure of higher education is different than in the United States. First off, as previously stated, I only had one class yesterday; and that class only meets once per week. This is the same pattern found with my other classes. I have no classes today (Tuesday, January 16th) and I have one class tomorrow at 8:15 in the morning (well before the sun rises). Next week I begin my third and final class which meets twice per week for an hour on both Tuesdays and Thursdays.
This may seem strange to a person accustomed to the US style of three to four classes per day for the entire week. However the way that classes are assigned credits is much different than in the US. At Marietta College, a 3 credit class means that that class meets for 3 hours per week. Here, all three of my classes are 10 credits, but I am not going to class 30 hours a week. Instead the credit value is assigned based on the expectation that that is the number of work hours per week required to be successful in that class. For example, because my Intro to Norwegian Life and Society class is 10 credits, it is expected that I do an average of 10 hours of work for that class each week. This includes class time, homework, readings, and other assignments.
In other news, I saw the first snowplow since I've been in Norway only yesterday. They do not worry very much about clearing roads and walkways of snow and ice here. They also do not put salt down on slippery surfaces, as it's bad for the environment. Instead they spread a thin layer of rocks (everyone here calls it sand but I promise its not) over the walkways. This provides just enough traction so you won't fall if you're paying attention. But if you try to text and walk or take a corner a little too fast you're likely to take a seated position very quickly and rather unexpectedly. Good thing there's a nice universal healthcare system!
Until next time,
--Tom Farish
PS: Please send ideas/recipes for cheap and easy meals for 1; I'm running out of ideas!
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Hei everybody! Like many of you I had my first day of class yesterday, January 15th. However unlike many of you, I only had a single class ...
Hey Tom!
ReplyDeleteI hope you are having a great time in Norway! Recently in class we looked at the Lewis LMR model which is a model that categorizes countries into certain types of cultures such as linear active, multi-active, and reactive. I saw that you talked about how you are required to do 10 hours of work for one class a week and how the way that the Norwegians structure classes is very different from the U.S. On the LMR model Norway and the United States are very close together. This means that both are results-oriented and separate their personal and professional lives. Can you touch on other areas where you have noticed a difference in either the culture or academic area from the United States that would refute what the LMR model categorizes these countries as?
Thanks,
Ashley Olszewski
Sure!
ReplyDeleteWell for one, Norwegians, as well as people from other Scandinavian countries, are generally very hard to become friends with. This is partly due to a culture which values personal space higher than many other cultures; this culture makes it difficult or even taboo to actually begin a conversation with somebody. This can best be seen on the metro system outside of rush-hour, where a row of seats is considered 'taken' if even a single person is seated there, and if two people are sitting near (but never next to) each other, eye contact is usually avoided and words are hardly ever spoken.
I would argue that a Norwegian's personal and professional lives are more closely connected than the typical American's. Because of how expensive the country is to live in, many Norwegians begin to work after school as early as they can. Between school, work, and homework/studying (which Norwegians are very diligent about), if you do not interact with them during any of these times it is likely that you will not interact with them at all.
Hope this answers your question!
--Tom
Hey Tom,
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you are gaining many new experiences with your time abroad! I know we have focused on many different approaches to leadership based on religion, region, and other demographics. I read that you are expected to put in much more work outside of the classroom with less instruction. Do you think this aspect of followers being more independent is a noticeable difference in other daily activities in Norway?
-Bryce
Hey Tom,
ReplyDeleteI was very interested in the way you described classes. Many teachers say you should spend as much hours per week working the work outside the classroom as you are in class. For example, if you are in class for 3 hours a week, you should spend at least 3 hours a week working on it outside of class. So for an average semester, you are expected to spend 15 hours working outside of the classroom since there are 15 credits. What is interesting is that this displays the American culture and work ethic as described by one of our new models, the Lewis Model. Do you feel that the formatting of classroom and focus on independent work is also telling of the culture? Please elaborate on similarities in the classroom that apply to Norwegian social culture and political structure.
Hello Mr. Farish,
ReplyDeleteIn class we have talked about how different cultures have different power distances between their leaders and followers. In the United States the gap is relatively small, whereas in countries such as China and Japan the gap is large, meaning that lower employees do not have much of a say in a business context, and lower ranking members of society have less of a voice than what us as Americans would be used to. In your experience specifically within the academic community of Norway, do you feel like there is a large power distance between the students and professors or higher up faculty, or do they seem to be very approachable, perhaps even more so than at Marietta College. I do not have any prior knowledge about the power distance in Norway and I think it would be interesting to see if it was similar to that of the United States due to the fact that they are both on the linear active side of the LMR Model.
Thanks!