ARTS1210: Concepts of Asia

- 20%: 2x response to readings
- 40%: essay
- 20% historical site exercise
- 20%: test

None

If I didn't do German, this would be the best course I have completed since commencing my studies at UNSW. It is really well structured, really interesting and you can tell that there has been so much care and consideration put into this course. As a first year and/or foundational course, Mina has structured it in a way that helps students build on their writing skills and it is essentially a course that encourages students on a path of academia. Louise is also a gem and is so incredibly helpful and I have nothing but praise for these two. The only reason I didn't give the extra 0.5 in the rating is because no course is perfect, and I'll provide some reasons as to why that's the case for Concepts.

For the lectures, the lecture recordings from last year were used. While this was disappointing because you do want new content, Mina is a really engaging lecturer so you can almost overlook this. As for the tutorials, I thought they were too short and students could definitely benefit if they were 1.5 hours, as an extra half an hour would provide so much more scope for discussion and really enrich critical thinking skills which are integral to the course.
The only complaint I have about this course is the assessments. There is one assessment every two weeks - so you'll have one in weeks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 - so it's somewhat stressful as you don't really have a lot of room to breathe given that most students are completing 2 other courses during the term. Other than that, I thought the assessments were great and build on academic skills, particularly writing and really set you up for research if that's something you would like to do after studying. Other than that, I highly recommend this course if you have an interest in Asia or history in general as it's taught really well and while the assessment schedule is a little packed, the content makes up for it.

3 - 2 hour lecture, 1 hour tutorial

2/5

Yes, and we were told that lecture recordings are always provided for live lectures too.

Lecturer - Mina Roces, Tutor - Louise Edwards

Everything you need is on Moodle.

4.5/5

N/A

2020, T2