First Semester Completed at NUST

I have completed my first semester here at NUST as I submitted my provisional marks (they use the term "marks" instead of grades) on Thursday. Note that the marks were referenced as "provisional". This is because the marks have to go through a rather involved process of review and oversight before being approved as final. First, the instructor calculates the provisional marks for the course much in the same manner as in the States except the marks are reported as overall percentages instead of as letter grades. These marks are entered into the online student information system (this itself was a more involved 5-step process than the straightforward 1-step process I am use to at UNC-Charlotte). That is what I finished on Thursday.

Instructors are required to keep graded copies of all student work assessed during the semester (i.e. assignments, quizzes, exams, etc.). None of the work is returned to the students although students can come by your office to review their work. At the end of the semester, all this student work is compiled, put in big envelopes, and sent to external evaluators. The evaluators can then make changes and/or corrections to the marks based on the result of their review. The revised marks are then sent back to the instructor for review (I assume the instructor can object to any changes). The department head and the college dean then have to approve all the marks before they can be posted as "final" and released to the students. My stack of submitted student work was probably 15-inches high. There is no way that I would ever want to be one of the external evaluators as I can't imagine how tedious it must be to review the volume of such work. I guess they adopted the procedure as a quality assurance mechanism to ensure the rigor of courses and to avoid grade inflation or manipulation. Faculty in the States would vehemently revolt under the guise of academic freedom if an attempt was made to adopt a similar review system.

50% is considered the threshold for passing a course with 75% or greater being designated as "a mark with distinction". This holds for graduate courses as well. So, the performance standards are lower than the States. I had a graduate student thank me for giving him a 63% for the semester - in the States that would have been a failing grade and he would have been suspended from the graduate program. NUST also has a mandatory second chance exam policy where students that have a cumulative score of less than 50% on all their exams (the minimum exam score to pass a course) are allowed an opportunity to take an additional exam in an attempt to pass a course. One of my colleagues gave some of his students three extra exam attempts to pass the course. Me, I just made sure my students learned the material and I had no students qualify for the second chance. So, the university works really hard to give students the opportunity to pass their courses.

Many of the courses on campus are still taught in an all lecture format with only one final exam at the end of the term. No other assignments or assessments are conducted during the course. These final exams are administered in formal exam classrooms with lots of proctors (called invigilators) and security guards. The security guards check student backpacks for unauthorized cell phones, calculators, materials, etc. before students are allowed to enter the exam room. The security guards also keep all outside people away from the exam rooms and buildings. I had to walk a different route to my office as they wouldn't let me walk in front of the building. These exams went on for about a three week period.

Overall, my classes went pretty well for the semester. My undergraduate students came to class (normal attendance was 95% or higher), had good rote memorization and analytical skills, but struggled with critical thinking exercises. My graduate students generally had weaker analytical skills than my students in the States but probably had a greater societal and global awareness and empathy. From a pedagogical viewpoint, I am not fan of the short 2-week lecture block they use for graduate courses - but that type of block system may open the door for me to return to Namibia to teach in the future. Several students have asked whether or not I would be teaching their course next term. Many of the students indicated that they really liked the application based manner in which I taught my courses. So, I guess I have made a few fans and can call my first semester a success.