reflection

Phase 1:
After two years of Sociology in university I changed to international business management in Artevelde. It was a fresh start, back in the first year with people from all over the world who I didn’t know. The approach to education is also totally different in University and ‘hogeschool’, now it is way more personal, the teachers are more involved and want to make sure you feel okay. This change was kind of strange to me because I was not used to this, in university I never talked to the professors. Because everything was new I had to put myself out there and be open and welcoming to other people, this way you are able to find some people who you get along with. All the classes were new too, I have never had economics or banking and finance, so that was a big change too. I had and still have to proof myself in these classes. Another thing that was very new were all the group projects we have done this semester. This was challenging for me because in group projects not everything goes as planned or as you want, you have to compromise and collaborate. This first semester was also influenced very much by the Corona virus so it was not your typically semester. I think this changed a lot of things and made certain things harder, like making new friends etc, just creating a bond with your class in general.

Phase 2:
I have learned a lot this semester, first of all, that online education works but is not my preferred method of teaching. Other then the whole Corona virus situation I learned a lot of other things too, mainly how to work in group and how to handle conflict, if any would occur. I saw that there are actually a lot of benefits when working in group, you don’t have to do all the work alone and if the group dynamic is good it can even be fun! I saw that a mix of nationalities in students can be very interesting and you can learn a lot from each other. Like I already said, everything was new so I needed some time to adjust to all the differences. Like the fact that I now had a class with classmates you can actually get pretty close with. I feel pretty comfortable in IBM, I feel that I am finally in the place I should be, surrounded by international people and learning how can I use the materials we see in my future.

Phase 3:
The first semester of IBM means a lot to me because I have learned so much, new people, new materials and how to handle different situations. So far I have not experienced any problems but I think this is a question that I can better answer after the exams. A little problem might be that I still procrastinate some of my work, which is a bad thing but I’m working on it.

Phase 4:
I would not change anything in the way I acted, everything went well. But if I had to say something I would say to be more involved with my fellow students, make more effort to get to know them and become friends with them. I didn’t really feel like this was necessary because I already have friends in Ghent from the previous years. But of course this was also influenced by the Corona virus.

Phase 5:
I will continue to do my best and keep up with the studying in the second semester.

Phase 1:
After the first semester I had gotten quite used how everything works at Artevelde. I think everyone was hoping to get class on campus again, but sadly enough this was not the case. All classes remained online except one class each two weeks. This was business English. Although the classes were all new, it was a bit the same feeling because everything was handled via Teams. I followed the classes online but found it harder than the first semester. The first semester was still exiting and new, but now the new part was gone and the motivation went down a bit.

Phase 2:
Again I have learned a lot this semester, I had classes that I had never had before, such as accounting or marketing. Like said in the previous part, my participation this semester was a bit lower than in the first semester. I missed some classes and I sometimes had the mindset that ‘it is all recorded, I can watch it later as well’. This was not a positive thing because it is easy to lose track of some classes. In my opinion second semester asked a lot more engagement and participation because of all the group projects. Also for classes like business English, in which participation was obligatory, there were a lot of assignments. For me personally that is a good thing because you are obligated to keep up with the course. We also had some group projects for marketing, ICT and TMD. These group assignments take a lot of time and effort but are worth it in the end. I really learned to work together with other people. I already had the feeling of progress in the first semester, but now I am pretty sure I am capable of making it turn out good. I still feel comfortable in IBM, and even though it is Covid and we have not seen other students on campus, I have made some friends, online but this is still good.

Phase 4:
I stated in my previous reflection that I would like to be more involved with my fellow students, like said before I have done this a little bit. But I think I can make more work out fo this. Something that I would like to try is to get more involved in business matters but in my personal life. Right now there is not really anything related to business in my life. For example the teacher of our ICT class often gives fun and nice tips about investing and the stock market. I think this could be a fun challenge for myself to get more informed

Phase 3:
I got in touch with a lot of new things during second semester, from new learning materials to interviewing managers etc. I have a good feeling about the exams and the rest of the year. I think this is because I passed all my exams with good grades the last semester. So I will use the same technique as I did last time and hope for the best.