HGSE offers enriching and transformational courses. Even remotely, students are completely engaged in the virtual classroom. We asked several students to share their favorite class so far at HGSE. See their responses below!
Ebony Breaux
What has your favorite course been at HGSE? My favorite course was H205-College Student Development. We learned about different theories of College Student Development and thought through how to use these theories to create environments to support students on college campuses.
What is your favorite memory from the course? The whole thing! It’s so hard to pick one favorite memory. I enjoyed this class every single week, but my favorite part was “after school”. The zoom room stayed open for 30 minutes after class for anyone who wanted to stay and discuss anything that came up during class with the teaching team. I always stayed when I was available and it was so fun to chat about class, life, and college.
Why was this course valuable to you? As a psychology major as an undergraduate, this course was a way to bridge my love for behavioral psychology with my love for higher education. I was able to reflect on my own experience as a college student while also learning ways to understand and support students that I will work with in the future. Also, it was just so fun and Alexis Redding is a wonderful organizational genius!
What skills did you learn? I learned how to use theories to support my work, but also how to challenge and question theories. This course helped open my eyes to the many different college experiences that students have and the different points at which students can benefit from support. In a practical sense, I learned how to write an Op-Ed, and how to do a podcast, which I did for my final project.
Devon Caveney
What has your favorite course been at HGSE? The J-Term class I took was very special. The class was called Ethical Questions in Higher Education taught by Brian Rosenberg, the President in Residence at HGSE and the former President of Macalester College. We discussed tough decisions higher education institutions need to make, such as deciding which (if any) students to bring back to campus during the pandemic and when to draw the line on the guest speakers brought to college campuses. We had amazing guest speakers, like Larry Bacow (President of Harvard University) and Cappy Bond Hill (former President of Vassar College). It was truly a pleasure!
What is your favorite memory from the course? My favorite memory in the class was when Larry Bacow visited. He was very candid and gave us a glimpse of the complexity, excitement, and pressure that come from being the president of Harvard.
Why was this course valuable to you? This course was valuable because I gained a deeper understanding of how higher education leaders solve problems. It is very difficult to make everyone happy, so leaders need to make tough decisions. The most valuable lesson I learned was that leaders should always do what is right, which is often times the more challenging option.
What skills did you learn? I learned the important value of researching both sides of an argument to find the best solution. Gathering as much data and research as possible is critical to make informed decisions. I was also reminded of the importance empathy plays in being a transformational leader.
Shuangle Chen
What has your favorite course been at HGSE? Transforming Education through Emerging Technologies. This module focuses on how education can be transformed through emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, big data, virtual and mixed realities.
What is your favorite memory from the course? One day we had class in a virtual campus where everyone had a virtual avatar designed by ourselves. After class, we walked around the campus and chatted with classmates, just like in real life!
Why was this course valuable to you? It deepened my understanding on cutting edge education technologies and their impact on the education system. Meanwhile, we also thought critically about the downside of technology.
What skills did you learn? I learned how to make deep research on AI technology with the various modes of resources, including framework, examples and interviews and how to integrate this technology in personalized learning sector, which I was super interested in.
Maddie Brancel
What has your favorite course been at HGSE? I never thought I would say this, but my favorite class so far at HGSE has been Joe McIntyre’s S-040 – Introductory and Intermediate Statistics for Educational Research. I came into the class with elementary statistics experience and a long-held fear of math, and Joe and his teaching team immediately swept that away and put all students at ease. The level of support they provided was remarkable. The course was designed using practice-based learning, meaning we worked in groups to conduct analysis on real datasets. I am forever indebted to Joe and his teaching team!
What is your favorite memory from the course? Online learning has made it challenging to get to know my peers as well as I would have had we been learning together in person. S-040 changed that because I worked with peers on four group projects that required constant communication, zoom calls, and troubleshooting together. By the end of the semester, I felt that I really knew the members of my groups. Many of them were from programs outside of mine at HGSE, which made the experience even more valuable.
Why was this course valuable to you? I currently work in international development in education program design, management, and evaluation. One of the most important facets of my work is being able to understand the impact of our interventions so that we can adapt and improve our program design to better serve the communities we work in. I love being able to look at a dataset, come up with a series of questions, and realizing I possess the statistical tools and methods necessary to answer those questions. It has already helped me engage more critically with project data. I can’t wait to continue learning in S-052!
What skills did you learn? I learned everything from basics (i.e. different types of variables) to how to do interactions in multiple regression. I also learned a new programming language, Stata, which was different than my previous experience with SPSS. Finally, I have the course content available to me in R, should I ever choose to learn it!
More than anything, I felt I developed a foundational understanding of the uses and limitations of statistical analysis, and how to engage more critically with others’ research when I am reading it. I highly recommend this course to any IEP student interested in M&E or quantitative analysis in education research!
Maria Haqqani
What has your favorite course been at HGSE? The Writing Workshop with Nancy Sommers! We explored myriad techniques employed in writing creative non-fiction by closely reading stellar essays from the creative non-fiction genre and using the techniques in our own writing.
What is your favorite memory from the course? My favorite memories from this course are the classes with Nancy and the afterparties. Nancy’s soothing and lyrical voice undulating so eloquently created an aura of spirituality and comfort that was unparalleled. It is not surprising that so many students opted to hang around after class for the afterparty to engage in rich discussions. And many a time, the afterparties lasted more than an hour!
Why was this course valuable to you? The exposure to such wonderful writing and all the techniques Nancy and the Teaching Team explained so thoroughly have transformed the way I think, reflect, read, and write. Moreover, the writing community we developed during seminars is one I will cherish throughout my life.
What skills did you learn? Empathy, reflection, metacognition, and of course, close reading and writing! This is one course that I miss every day!
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