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What are 'seminar' courses like?

 
Old 12-20-2010 at 05:38 PM   #1
sinthusized
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What are 'seminar' courses like?
I was wondering if anyone hear can describe what seminar courses are like and how they are different from other kinds of courses. I am taking a class next term and the instructor told me it was gonna be a seminar and so I was curious. Thanks
Old 12-20-2010 at 05:52 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sinthusized View Post
I was wondering if anyone hear can describe what seminar courses are like and how they are different from other kinds of courses. I am taking a class next term and the instructor told me it was gonna be a seminar and so I was curious. Thanks
well my seminar class has like 10 ppl lol, and we pretty much just research topics and tell the class what we've found. it's pretty awesome, and imo you learn a lot more..but it depends on the class i guess

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Old 12-20-2010 at 05:53 PM   #3
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what class?

12hchhchchahrr
Old 12-20-2010 at 06:27 PM   #4
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I think it depends on your faculty. In Pol Sci, the seminars were about 15 people and a prof. It wasn't like a lecture. We all would talk as a group about the readings, relate them to things happening today, give our opinions and ideas, etc. It's kind of like any Humanities or Soc Sci tutorial from first/second year, but much MUCH better.
I was very nervous to take seminars in my fourth year, but they ended up being my favourite classes! You really get into what you're learning and you become interested, even if it's something you never thought you'd be interested in. I learned more in those seminars than I have in years of courses combined.

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Old 12-20-2010 at 06:56 PM   #5
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Depending on what you're taking, usually there are presentations and lots of talking. Big marks for participation
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Old 12-20-2010 at 07:42 PM   #6
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I have to take my first seminar course during the summer. Seven hour class every Monday where we talk about our events/issues in our practicum and relevant issues related to social work practice. From what I've heard the seminar courses become this small family, every one really supports each other through the semester. I was also told by some upper year students to be prepared to participate the prof may just ask you for your opinion on what the class is talking about, even if you haven't put your hand up, I'm not sure if other seminars are like that, but I'm definitely going to mine over prepared.
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Old 12-20-2010 at 07:49 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jamescw1234 View Post
I have to take my first seminar course during the summer. Seven hour class every Monday where we talk about our events/issues in our practicum and relevant issues related to social work practice. From what I've heard the seminar courses become this small family, every one really supports each other through the semester. I was also told by some upper year students to be prepared to participate the prof may just ask you for your opinion on what the class is talking about, even if you haven't put your hand up, I'm not sure if other seminars are like that, but I'm definitely going to mine over prepared.
seven?!... as in this kind: "7" ?... whoa
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Old 12-20-2010 at 07:50 PM   #8
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seven?!... as in this kind: "7" ?... whoa
No, seven as in 2.
Old 12-20-2010 at 07:51 PM   #9
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Quote:
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seven?!... as in this kind: "7" ?... whoa
Yup, I'm doing my social work placement in the summer as a block placement. Seminar is 9-4 on Monday (I'm assuming there's going to be a lunch break in between), then placement is Tuesday-Friday from 8-5, unpaid. Then in the fall/winter next year I'm doing a concurrent placement, two days a week in the field and a 3 hour seminar once a week. Block placements cram 6 months of placement into 3 months.
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Old 12-20-2010 at 07:59 PM   #10
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Quote:
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No, seven as in 2.
thanks for clearing that up



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Old 12-20-2010 at 08:15 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jamescw1234 View Post
I have to take my first seminar course during the summer. Seven hour class every Monday where we talk about our events/issues in our practicum and relevant issues related to social work practice. From what I've heard the seminar courses become this small family, every one really supports each other through the semester. I was also told by some upper year students to be prepared to participate the prof may just ask you for your opinion on what the class is talking about, even if you haven't put your hand up, I'm not sure if other seminars are like that, but I'm definitely going to mine over prepared.
That sounds reassuring. Though I tend to be quiet, I took a class with the seminar instructor this past term and a lot of my classmates from that class also enrolled in next term's seminar - and we did feel like a family lol.

thanks for the replies
Old 12-21-2010 at 08:45 AM   #12
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I love seminar classes, and would definitely take more if I was allowed to! They're really good for meeting new people in your program, I learned a lot more about the topics covered than I would've in a lecture, and it's a great way to get to know professors better (and they're more likely to remember you).

They can differ in structure, though, and I think a lot of that depends on the size of your program. For example, both of my sociology seminar classes had over 20 students (I'm fairly certain that the one had 36, and I think the other had closer to 30 students), where as my religious studies seminar class had about 15 students.

One of my sociology tutorials, we were separated into smaller discussion groups. Every week someone in that group was responsible for leading their group in discussion (which didn't require much more work than doing the readings and coming up with a couple starter questions. The discussion was really informal, and often went off-topic, which was fine by the professor), and then the following week that person had to hand in a paper about the readings and how they apply to different sociological theories. The professor would go around to each group while this was happening and join in on the conversation. When there was about 40 minutes left of class, the leaders would all share one thing that the group discussed with everyone, and we'd have a larger group discussion. It was a lot of fun, really informal, and we all became really close with our smaller group members. Aside from the papers (you had to do two), we had an exam.

In my other sociology class, we were broken into groups, and each week one group would have to do a presentation on that week's topic and readings for approximately an hour to an hour and a half. This was a more elaborate presentation, with power point, videos, etc. After the group's presentation, the professor would do a mini lecture. This seemed more like a normal lecture, and not like a seminar at all. Wasn't really all that fun, and there was no "family-like" feeling afterward. Aside from the presentation, we were marked for participation, an essay, midterm, and exam.

My favourite seminar was for religious studies. Every week we had to do a five page paper on the readings, and then we'd all get together and sit around this giant table and talk about what we read. It was really informal, and a lot of fun. We were marked for the papers (70% of our mark), and participation (30%). Participation for this class was based on a scale of five. If you said five things, you got 100% for that night's class. And the professor was really lenient about what counted for participation.
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Old 12-21-2010 at 12:53 PM   #13
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Bio 4X03 was just Dr. O'Donnell lecturing about topcis that were interesting (not textbook), um reading scientific journals, doing write-ups/presentations. For the topics in physiology seminar we had guest lecturers come in to talk about their work.
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