What a Class at Illinois Is Like

What a Class at Illinois Is Like Before I came to college, one of the things I wondered about the most was how my learning experience would change. I couldnt imagine moving from classes of 20-30 to 700, but the change was a lot more seamless than I thought. Another thing I didnt understand was the difference between all the sections. For each class, did I need a lecture and a discussion? And some other classes I needed a lab? Luckily, I figured out all that stuff so you dont have to! Here are all the types of classes Ive been to so far and what theyre like Lecture A lecture is what I imagined college class to be like from the beginning. A large group of students in one room taking notes and sometimes answering questions. You can have lectures of many different sizes from 10-20 to 700 in Foellinger Auditorium. I thought this would be a hard transition, but I find it really helpful to learn through a lecture. Although the teacher moves at their own pace, I like having the freedom to take notes however I want on that day. Its also nice to have a lot of people in a class. Every day Im able to sit by new people, ask questions about the material, and make new friends. Lecture halls can seem daunting at first, but its refreshing to learn in a new environment. Discussion If youve ever looked at our Course Explorer, youll notice a lot of classes have lecture and discussion sections. Most classes have both. A discussion section is where youll get to work on material in a smaller setting, more akin to a high school class. The groups will be a lot smaller, and it will take place in more of a classroom setting. This is also where youll take quizzes. I also like the discussion sections because the teaching assistants will help you work on everything. If there was a specific part of a lecture that you didnt understand, theyll explain it to you in more depth. Lecture and discussion is the perfect combo because lectures give you a lot of information and discussion helps you break it all down. Lab Lab isnt something Ive had a whole lot of experience with because Im a journalism major, but I do have one class with a lab this semester. These are also like discussions where youll get to apply what you learned in class. In chemistry or biology that might mean doing labs that were similar to what you did in high school. Some can be different than that however; for example, in my meteorology class, we just apply what we learned on worksheets in groups. Online Class Online class is a big departure from anything Ive done before. For the one online class Im in, everything is online. The textbook, quizzes, discussions, and tests are all over the internet. It has been weeks, and I still havent met my teacher, which is super different for me. However, I really enjoy it. Online classes give you the opportunity to work at your own pace, which helps with my chronic procrastination. Allowing me to work ahead when I have the opportunity helps me stay on top of my work while still getting a good grasp of all the material. I thought the transition from learning in high school to learning in college would be very difficult, but it ended up being easier for me than I could have imagined. All my professors and TAs at Illinois have done a great job getting me all the information I need and helping me grasp and understand it. Although there are many different ways to experience classes at Illinois, all of mine have been great! classes Noah Class of 2023 I’m studying Journalism in the College of Media. I’m from Park Ridge Illinois, about 30 minutes out of Chicago. My posts are to show my freshman experience and how I navigate my first year of college!