#9 Coordination between Classes

Being a college student means having to juggle many different responsibilities. Classes is one the many things we deal with alongside jobs, relationships, church activities/callings, family, etc. Sometimes, even classes within themselves can be difficult to manage, especially when topics and subjects within them differ greatly. 

Coordination between these classes seems to be something beyond the capacity of the huge, complex machinery that drives the curriculum of the different departments here. It can be frustrating when you find out on Monday that you have two tests this weekend from two separate professors. There can be periods of calm where your homework and study load is light one weekend, only to find out you have four papers due for four separate classes over the next couple of weeks. It gets pretty frustrating, but it seems that it would be too difficult with time limitations and the amount of material to cover for each course for each professor to coordinate when assignments/exams are due so that they prevent overlapping. Sometimes it ironically seems that the opposite happens, where all of one's classes make demands simultaneously and at the most inconvenient of times. 

I bring this up, not necessarily to complain, but to make mention of how much greater of a learning experience I have when classes do sync up and work in unison; not necessarily with the workload, but with the material being taught. Sometimes it can be difficult to switch gears and maintain five separate trains of thought, so when class lectures cover similar material from different perspectives, my ability to learn enhances. For example, I'm currently enrolled in Art History 202 and Intro to Music 101. In both classes, we're covering material from separate art forms, but in similar time periods. It seems very well synced up, as each class moves forward in time covering the same eras and places. It's nice to learn about different painters and sculptors in the Baroque era, then in 15 minutes, jump over to a different class to learn about Baroque era musicians from the same times and places. My understanding of the ideas and driving themes is more solidified when this phenomena occurs. It feels nice to know a bit of something about a person (i.e. Louis XIV) and answer a question about them because you just heard about it from class an hour before. 

 Picking up on this, rather than stuffing away everything I learned from the last hour of class and instead carrying it with me has helped a lot. I recommend trying it out with other subjects, because the more connections you make trying to learn something, the better you'll learn it.