[NUS Module Review] GE2226: Southeast Asia
GE2226: Southeast Asia
(INTRODUCTION)
You must be wondering why on earth am I taking a Geography module out of literally hundreds of modules in NUS. Well, your guess is just as good as mine, because till this day, I have no idea why on earth am I taking a Geography module when I have close to 0 interest in this module.
Okay, okay the true reason is that, I failed to bid for Public Health modules and other Chem/Life Science modules that I really wanna take. It was like Round 3B of CORS and I had no other choice but to take whichever module was available to me. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this module was one of the modules that was available in CORS, and that's why I'm here writing this now. The only thing that made this module better was taking this module with one of my clique friends. :))
Okay, okay the true reason is that, I failed to bid for Public Health modules and other Chem/Life Science modules that I really wanna take. It was like Round 3B of CORS and I had no other choice but to take whichever module was available to me. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this module was one of the modules that was available in CORS, and that's why I'm here writing this now. The only thing that made this module better was taking this module with one of my clique friends. :))
(LECTURERS)
There are 2 lecturers for this module; Dr James Gillen and Dr Chin Ee Ong. I think they are considered to be one of the more friendly and understanding lecturers. Maybe because they are lecturers from the arts (humanities) side rather than lecturers from science.
Dr Gillen remembers students from his class really well. He could recognise almost anyone and when it comes to rapport with his students, he is up there among the best. Dr Chin, however, isn't like Dr Gillen, but he is still super friendly to his students. In terms of teaching method, Dr Gillen loves to use lots of pictures of his own travels to illustrate certain points, while Dr Chin loves to use videos. I'm not sure if it's just me, or what, but I find it so much harder to understand Dr Chin in lectures because he keeps giving weird examples, which made me go "huh" many times in his lectures. Hence, I prefer Dr Gillen in lectures. Dr Chin, however, is
When it comes to marking, Dr Chin is more strict than Dr Gillen. Essays marked by Dr Gillen usually get a higher grade than those marked by Dr Chin.
Dr Gillen remembers students from his class really well. He could recognise almost anyone and when it comes to rapport with his students, he is up there among the best. Dr Chin, however, isn't like Dr Gillen, but he is still super friendly to his students. In terms of teaching method, Dr Gillen loves to use lots of pictures of his own travels to illustrate certain points, while Dr Chin loves to use videos. I'm not sure if it's just me, or what, but I find it so much harder to understand Dr Chin in lectures because he keeps giving weird examples, which made me go "huh" many times in his lectures. Hence, I prefer Dr Gillen in lectures. Dr Chin, however, is
When it comes to marking, Dr Chin is more strict than Dr Gillen. Essays marked by Dr Gillen usually get a higher grade than those marked by Dr Chin.
(EXPANSION OF TOPICS COVERED)
To be honest, the topics that were taught are not that clear or distinct. Most of the topics are intertwined with each other that every lecture feels like it's almost the same. First of all, the main points covered and reused throughout the entire module are:
- Political
- Developmental
- Marketplace
- Cultural
The concepts for these 4 points are as deep and wide as anything else, and it can be applied to almost anything in the module that was covered. Of course, since these 4 points are pretty broad in nature, this module will also cover specific topics along the way. This includes:
- Fun in Singapore
- Western Impression in Arts
- Mahathir's Malaysia
- Indonesia Diaspora
Although most of the topics thought are very country specific, not to mention this module is about SEA, what you are required to know are also what's outside of SEA. For example, knowing what Fun in Singapore is about isn't enough. You would need to link em to other parts of the world like Malaysia, Indonesia or maybe even outside of SEA like China or USA.
(PASSING THE ASSESSMENT)
Part of why I took this module was because the grading system wasn't as bad as other Geog modules. For art modules, I love to have my grades spread out into different areas rather than cluster in a single area. For this module, we have:
- Class Participation - 10%
- Individual Report - 25%
- Group Report and Presentation - 25%
- Essay (Finals) - 40%
Class Participation is just simply turning up for tutorials. I don't think they actually keep track of who participated in the class, but as long as you turn up, you're good. But being in an arts module, most, if not all students in the class would end up participating. It's gonna be a lil weird if you don't say anything, but it's not wrong if you don't lol.
Individual reports are based on a movie you watched or some article you read. Based on these, you are required to write according to the 4 themes taught in this module; political, culture, developmental and marketplace. It has a 3000 word limit but hey, the word limit shouldn't be a huge problem because I ended up writing 5000 words and had to spend more time cutting down than writing more words.
Group report and presentation are a drag because firstly, you do not get to choose who you are working with, which makes it challenging and interesting, but a lot harder. Secondly, the deadlines are so close together and most group members do at the very last minute. Perhaps if you're an arts student, you would be okay with this, but for those not used to group projects, like me being a Science student with little group work, this is something that I needed to adapt to and adapt to quickly.
Lastly, the final essay comprises of 1 compulsory question and 4 choose 2 questions. Not easy, but it is anything goes. Readings and lots of general knowledge will help a lot here. Lecture notes will help little in this part.
Individual reports are based on a movie you watched or some article you read. Based on these, you are required to write according to the 4 themes taught in this module; political, culture, developmental and marketplace. It has a 3000 word limit but hey, the word limit shouldn't be a huge problem because I ended up writing 5000 words and had to spend more time cutting down than writing more words.
Group report and presentation are a drag because firstly, you do not get to choose who you are working with, which makes it challenging and interesting, but a lot harder. Secondly, the deadlines are so close together and most group members do at the very last minute. Perhaps if you're an arts student, you would be okay with this, but for those not used to group projects, like me being a Science student with little group work, this is something that I needed to adapt to and adapt to quickly.
Lastly, the final essay comprises of 1 compulsory question and 4 choose 2 questions. Not easy, but it is anything goes. Readings and lots of general knowledge will help a lot here. Lecture notes will help little in this part.
(EXPERIENCE AND FINAL GRADING)
I think that this module, as I have mentioned earlier, has really been unexpected and unintentional and to be honest, if it weren't for the module bidding screw up, I would've never, EVER taken this module. However, with that said, I can say that I did learn a couple of things here that I actually found interesting. Fun in Singapore gave me a broader perspective of what fun actually is and what fun is like outside of Singapore. I've also got to know about the Rohingya Muslim issue in Myanmar, as well as Indonesia's policy corruption.
Apart from all these cool general knowledge that I've attained from this module, I think that is pretty much about it. I was glad to have one of my good friends take this module with me, if not I would regret taking this module more so than CS1010S (just kidding, CS is so much worse than this).
This module highly favors those who are from Geography majors. The reason why I say this is because the lecturers tend to favor them over the non-Geog majors. And you can see this clearly, in the way they treat the Geog students compared to those who are not of Geog majors. In a way, that is kinda good because it takes the limelight and focus away from those of us non-majors who are occasionally clueless on the topic. However, it shows a certain degree of favoritism when it comes to group presentations, reports, peer-review etc. But then again, which lecturer don't show favoritism eh? Almost all lecturers do and I'm not surprised to be honest.
I personally think that the tutorials are really super effective because it encourages discussion and sharing of different opinions. To me, the tutorials will help you understand what is taught during the lectures by a 100 fold. The examples you get from there are mind boggling as they are things which you never thought existed. For the individual report, I did a Geographical review on the movie Ilo Ilo. The good thing is that Ilo Ilo is a Singapore movie, which makes it easier to write because it is easier to relate to. The bad thing is...the marker for my report is super strict. Yes... Dr Chin Ee Ong. Apparently, I've heard that reports marked by Dr James Gillen usually earned them an A or A-, while Dr Chin's reports usually get a B+ or B.
The group work has been just meh to be honest; just 3 people with close to 0 chemistry with each other having to be forced to do a presentation and report together. Thankfully, we banged out a good report and presentation that was ultimately done pretty much last minute because they were busy.
Nonetheless, I only started reading the readings proper two weeks before the final exams. To be honest, during the final exam, I felt that the more specific questions were easier to understand and answer than the general compulsory question. But anyhoo, I walked out of the exam hall much better than I did for the GES1028: Singapore Society paper. Dr Chin and Dr Gillen literally went down the exam hall asking each and every GE2226 student about how they found the paper as they were being collected, something you don't see often in NUS. Despite their strictness and weakness in certain areas, they are extremely nice lecturers and it was nice to be taught by them.
Not to worry, last I heard that Dr Gillen and Dr Chin will no longer be teaching this module. And since this is a relatively new module, it is hard to predict who will be next to teach this module or what's new in store for this module. But I think that if you're a Geog fan, this module should be a great module for you to take.
Apart from all these cool general knowledge that I've attained from this module, I think that is pretty much about it. I was glad to have one of my good friends take this module with me, if not I would regret taking this module more so than CS1010S (just kidding, CS is so much worse than this).
This module highly favors those who are from Geography majors. The reason why I say this is because the lecturers tend to favor them over the non-Geog majors. And you can see this clearly, in the way they treat the Geog students compared to those who are not of Geog majors. In a way, that is kinda good because it takes the limelight and focus away from those of us non-majors who are occasionally clueless on the topic. However, it shows a certain degree of favoritism when it comes to group presentations, reports, peer-review etc. But then again, which lecturer don't show favoritism eh? Almost all lecturers do and I'm not surprised to be honest.
I personally think that the tutorials are really super effective because it encourages discussion and sharing of different opinions. To me, the tutorials will help you understand what is taught during the lectures by a 100 fold. The examples you get from there are mind boggling as they are things which you never thought existed. For the individual report, I did a Geographical review on the movie Ilo Ilo. The good thing is that Ilo Ilo is a Singapore movie, which makes it easier to write because it is easier to relate to. The bad thing is...the marker for my report is super strict. Yes... Dr Chin Ee Ong. Apparently, I've heard that reports marked by Dr James Gillen usually earned them an A or A-, while Dr Chin's reports usually get a B+ or B.
The group work has been just meh to be honest; just 3 people with close to 0 chemistry with each other having to be forced to do a presentation and report together. Thankfully, we banged out a good report and presentation that was ultimately done pretty much last minute because they were busy.
Nonetheless, I only started reading the readings proper two weeks before the final exams. To be honest, during the final exam, I felt that the more specific questions were easier to understand and answer than the general compulsory question. But anyhoo, I walked out of the exam hall much better than I did for the GES1028: Singapore Society paper. Dr Chin and Dr Gillen literally went down the exam hall asking each and every GE2226 student about how they found the paper as they were being collected, something you don't see often in NUS. Despite their strictness and weakness in certain areas, they are extremely nice lecturers and it was nice to be taught by them.
Not to worry, last I heard that Dr Gillen and Dr Chin will no longer be teaching this module. And since this is a relatively new module, it is hard to predict who will be next to teach this module or what's new in store for this module. But I think that if you're a Geog fan, this module should be a great module for you to take.
(CONCLUSION AND TIPS)
So my initial thoughts of this module being boring and all turned out to be somewhat interesting and an eye-opener in the end. Love the lecturers a lot. Not the best UE module that's for sure, but a decent one to take. I would recommend those with strong general knowledge of SEA to take the module as it will help you greatly when writing essays. I realised that most people who took this module actually been to places in SEA before and are able to churn out life experiences in their essays or reports. That's possibly another hurdle you would need to consider before taking this module.
Ratings out of 5⭐:
- Rigor - ⭐
- Degree of doability - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Bell Curve (to favour you) - ⭐⭐⭐
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