Sukanya Ramanujan posted: " I'm a big fan of education and I truly believe in the value of lifelong learning. Not just learning for professional development but also learning for personal development and intellectual curiosity. Many people seem to think that the ultimate aim of any" Sukanya Ramanujan
I'm a big fan of education and I truly believe in the value of lifelong learning. Not just learning for professional development but also learning for personal development and intellectual curiosity. Many people seem to think that the ultimate aim of any learning has to be a higher salary. While monetary rewards are important for sustaining livelihoods, if you are privileged enough to already be in a comfortable position, then there is no harm in learning for the sake of learning.
A few years ago, before the pandemic struck, I was thrilled to attend a two week summer school at the University of Cambridge focused on the ancient world. I took courses on Ancient Rome and Mesopotamia and it was truly exhilarating to attend lectures all day and just soak in new information (yes, I know I'm a nerd). I wrote about the experience here.
Last year, I was looking to challenge myself a little further and decided to apply to do an Undergraduate Certificate Course in the Archaeology of the Ancient World, once again with Cambridge University. I had to send in an application and sit through a phone call to demonstrate my English capability (!) but the selection process was otherwise painless.
The course had one subject to be learnt each semester with one weekly live class and at least one weekly pre-recorded lecture. You were assessed on two 1,500-2000 word essays that needed to be turned in at the end of each term. The essays had to be based on classroom learning and extensive reading done outside of the lectures.
The three subjects that were offered were The Classical World for Michaelmas term (October-December), Civilisation: Complex Society in Mesopotamia and Mexico for Lent term (January- March) and an Introduction to Egyptology for Easter term (April- June). I felt fairly comfortable going in with the Classical World and Mesopotamia but Mexico, Egypt were completely new territories for me.
At the start of the year, I felt I could attend the live online lectures which were at 7pm UK time (at around 10 or 11pm UAE time summer/ winter). This proved to be untenable as the course progressed and it was really a struggle to do the lectures at the end of a long work day. Also when the course started, we were still doing a hybrid model at work and so I calculated on being able to WFH the next day (and being able to wake up later). However, this changed one week before the course started and we were asked to come in everyday. Additionally, given that the live classes were on Wednesday nights, I calculated that there would only be one working day between the class and the weekend. However, this also changed in January with the UAE shifting to Mon-Fri workweeks. So this live class now sat smack in the middle of the workweek.
The first term was a learning experience as initially I tried to do all the assigned reading on all topics. However, there simply wasn't enough time and I kept falling behind. So the key was to focus on the topics that really interested you (potential essay topics) and read extensively on those while attending the lectures and reading maybe one general text book to familiarise oneself with all the subject matter.
For the first term, I managed to submit my essays on time. However, with work being what it was, I had to request a two week extension for both my second and third terms. The administration kindly accepted my request and it really helped me deliver better essays.
I discovered that I really liked learning about the evolution of complexity in human societies and focused the last three essays on related topics.
At times, I felt pushed to the edge. In fact, I was in tears the night before my second term essays were due because I had hit writer's block and simply could not write any more. However, word by word, I pushed through and got to the end. My mum and my sister were always there to cheer on me as I got close to deadlines and submission time.
In the end, I'm pleased to say that I received a provisional grade of 69.83 for my entire course (this is rated as good touching on very good by Cambridge assessment scales). For my first term I received 65%, for my second 71.5% and for my final term I scored 73%.
Feedback from the teachers always helped in improving my essays for the next time around. I have to always say that the teachers were always responsive, coming back with useful guidance (including once on my request for any reading recommendations for fantasy books based in Egypt). I really can't thank them enough.
My certificates won't come until next year so I don't have an image to share.
So what's next? I haven't decided yet, but I am strongly thinking about doing another certificate course either in Archaeology or Classics.
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