INST1005: Key Debates in International Studies

Weekly tutorial presentations (25%), essay (25%), final exam (50%)

None, but if I'm not mistaken you have to be enrolled in B International Studies to take this course

This course was actually quite interesting. It's really hard to describe but it's mostly theories which are then applied to current world issues. I think the course tried to introduce a practical aspect to International Studies through the tute presentations which had a different topic each week relating to the lecture. However, one thing I didn't like about the tute presentations was the lack of feedback given, which was pretty much none. Marks really varied across different tutorials, and standards weren't consistent at all which was a pain. There weren't any comments with the marks either. This was the same with the essay, which we had hardly any guidance for. As for the final exam, there was always an air of mystery around it because we had no idea how it would be structured, yet it was weighted 50%. Despite this, a list of key terms from each week was provided for exam prep.
This course also had a lot of reading, but it wasn't really necessary because they were always summarised in the lectures. The lectures were very engaging and there was always a lot of room for discussion which was great. As for the tutorials, I didn't really like them because although we had the tute presentations, those took up a lot of the allocated hour, and an hour was definitely not enough to cover everything that could be discussed, especially with the readings - if there were questions, you couldn't have them answered in the tutorials.

3 - 2 hour lecture, 1 hour tutorial

3.5/5

Yes

Anne Bartlett, Tutor: James Dhizaala

Extra readings every week, sometimes extra video content, assessment guide

3/5

None

Semester 1, 2018