GE2204 Cities in Transition is a 4 MC Urban Geography Module that covers issues faced by different cities with focus on comparisons between Asian and Western cities. As already mentioned, I am in Chemical Engineering and thus, I took this module as an elective/UEM. Reason being I overshot my 60 MCs cap of level-1000 modules and thus, I needed a level-2000 module to cover the overshoot. Also, this module had no pre-requisites (which means I can use my SUs) and the module fitted in nicely with my timetable too, soooo I decided to take this module. There are other level-2000 modules in FASS that could also be considered if anyone faces the same situation as me but this review will only be for GE2204. I would provide my perspective as someone who last touched Geography in Secondary School and as someone taking this module as an elective.
(I will be providing my review for both this semester (circuit breaker/online lessons) and a General Semester. If next semester is still fully online, my review for this semester is likely to be helpful. If all things are back to normal, then I guess the review portions on General Semester is pretty sufficient.)
(I will be providing my review for both this semester (circuit breaker/online lessons) and a General Semester. If next semester is still fully online, my review for this semester is likely to be helpful. If all things are back to normal, then I guess the review portions on General Semester is pretty sufficient.)
Assessment (For this semester)
10% Class Participation
15% Mid-Term Essay Assignment (1 essay question, deadline within 3 weeks)
25% Group Project
50% Final Assignment (Open Book, 24 hours, 3 essay questions)
15% Mid-Term Test (Week 7 lecture slot, combination of MCQ and structured questions)
25% Group Project
50% Finals (Closed Book, 2 hours, 3 essay questions (usually 1 compulsory question, and another 4 questions given, in which 2 questions are to be done))
15% Mid-Term Essay Assignment (1 essay question, deadline within 3 weeks)
25% Group Project
50% Final Assignment (Open Book, 24 hours, 3 essay questions)
Assessment (For a General Semester (without circuit breaker))
10% Class Participation15% Mid-Term Test (Week 7 lecture slot, combination of MCQ and structured questions)
25% Group Project
50% Finals (Closed Book, 2 hours, 3 essay questions (usually 1 compulsory question, and another 4 questions given, in which 2 questions are to be done))
Lecturer:
Prof Pow Choon Piew
Tutor:
Prof Pow Choon Piew
Prof Pow Choon Piew
Tutor:
Prof Pow Choon Piew
Textbooks/Readings
Pacione, M. (2009) Urban Geography: A Global Perspective, 3rd edition, London & New York: Routledge.
Pacione, M. (2009) Urban Geography: A Global Perspective, 3rd edition, London & New York: Routledge.
This is the main textbook that is usually referred to for the module. BUT there is a whole list of readings that Prof Pow gives every week with online access (this textbook has an online pdf too). So, just stick to the readings Prof Pow recommends every week. For me, personally, I did not finish reading all the readings as there were quite a lot and as an Engineering student, these readings can bore me after a while haha (but I have to admit there are some that are quite interesting to read since it provided a different perspective on cities and the environment in which we live in.)
In my opinion, if the readings are summarised by Prof Pow in the lecture slides, it is not a must to read them. If they are not summarised, do at least look through them briefly and at least just read through the headings if you really find readings boring.
Lectures
This module had a 2 hour lecture weekly. There are 4 main sections in the module content. On a General Semester, lectures for the first two sections will take place from weeks 1 - 6. There will then be a mid-term test on week 7 which covers the topics taught in weeks 1 - 6. The test will consist of MCQ and structured questions. Then, lectures for the last two sections will take place from weeks 8 - 12, and a revision lecture will be held on week 13.
For this semester, the first 4 weeks of lectures were face-to-face lectures. Then,
for the rest of the lectures, they were webcasted or recorded on
luminus since we could not have lessons with more than 25 students in
one setting. The first two sections of the module content was covered in weeks 1 - 5. Prof Pow combined the lectures for weeks 5 - 6 into one lecture. There was no lecture on week 6. [Then, for week 7, we had a small zoom session on how to use Examplify as Prof Pow initially had thoughts of having the final exam on Examplify. (But, that idea was eventually not done.)] Thereafter, the next two sections of the module was covered on weeks 8 - 11. Prof Pow again combined the lectures for weeks 11 - 12 into one lecture. He then provided a zoom revision session on week 13.
Okay, now to the lectures itself. In my opinion, Prof Pow is a really good and nice lecturer. I really like listening to his lectures and it feels as though I'm listening to a TED Talk when attending one of his lectures. He explains things pretty well and I could understand new terminologies pretty quickly from his lectures. He does add on to points in the lecture slides which are real useful for exams, so do take them down. He also replies emails promptly too if u have any queries about the lecture content and what not. The only issue I can think of is that his slides can be a little messy haha. Like the pictures and words can be all over the slides. Other than that, I really like attending his lectures.
Tutorial
Well, for this semester, we only had 2 face-to-face tutorial sessions (usual 2 hour tutorials) and the attendance for these 2 sessions gave us the 10% tutorial participation. Prof Pow gave tutorial worksheets for the other tutorials as well but they were only briefly discussed during the online lectures.
For the General Semester, there would be 5 fortnightly tutorial sessions which are 2 hours long. For each tutorial, Prof Pow will usually have a tutorial worksheet with a few issues or questions that are open to discussion. During the actual tutorial, he would usually start with some form of lecture summary before looking at the tutorial worksheet. As for the discussions, it's pretty open and anyone can just speak up (I'm not too sure whether class participation for a general semester is just merely attendance or requires at least some form of speaking as well. I mean Prof Pow doesn't really take down names of those who have shared during class, so I think so long as you're present in class, all's good). He may also plan some form of debate for 1 of the tutorial sessions which is kind of an impromptu thing. So, don't worry too much, it ain't like a serious sort of debate but just a platform for us to discuss some of the issues raised in lectures.
For the General Semester, there would be 5 fortnightly tutorial sessions which are 2 hours long. For each tutorial, Prof Pow will usually have a tutorial worksheet with a few issues or questions that are open to discussion. During the actual tutorial, he would usually start with some form of lecture summary before looking at the tutorial worksheet. As for the discussions, it's pretty open and anyone can just speak up (I'm not too sure whether class participation for a general semester is just merely attendance or requires at least some form of speaking as well. I mean Prof Pow doesn't really take down names of those who have shared during class, so I think so long as you're present in class, all's good). He may also plan some form of debate for 1 of the tutorial sessions which is kind of an impromptu thing. So, don't worry too much, it ain't like a serious sort of debate but just a platform for us to discuss some of the issues raised in lectures.
For the General Semester, a mid-term test will be held in week 7. I can't give too much details about it because I really don't know what is tested here (check other reviews online). For this semester, the mid-term test was converted into a mid-term essay. It was an essay question which consisted of 2 parts. There was a 1,500 word limit. The question was released on week 6 and was due on week 9. It was pretty tough for me, I guess, as an Engineering student as I haven't written an argumentative essay for a while. Thankfully, since this was human/urban Geography, there are some links to Economics that I've learnt in JC which I could apply to this essay (and to finals as well). I wrote this essay like a GP essay hahaha which in the end, I still took quite a bit of time to finish it. Thankfully, my effort paid off since I got an A- for this assignment.
Group Project
I believe that this section will be generally applicable for both kinds of semesters. To start off, we formed groups of 4 to 5 in the first tutorial session. I took this module alone, so I just formed a group with whoever was sitting near me during tutorial. For the group project, I think the topic changes for every semester but the topic for this semester was on urban livability. We were supposed to investigate a neighbourhood in Singapore which has gone through a significant change or some form of rejuvenation recently. Then, we had to write a 4,500 word report (luckily no presentation required for this!). My group chose to focus on Paya Lebar and we had to head down to that area a couple of times to study the area. Thankfully, this all happened before circuit breaker started so we still managed to get the data we needed and completed our report. We couldn't conduct interviews obviously (given the virus situation), so our report content was entirely on based on our observations of the area. To be honest, as someone with no or little Geography background, I wasn't really sure how to approach this project at all. Thankfully, my group members were really helpful and guided me through the process. They are really good in writing as well so the report was ultimately manageable for us.
Group Project
I believe that this section will be generally applicable for both kinds of semesters. To start off, we formed groups of 4 to 5 in the first tutorial session. I took this module alone, so I just formed a group with whoever was sitting near me during tutorial. For the group project, I think the topic changes for every semester but the topic for this semester was on urban livability. We were supposed to investigate a neighbourhood in Singapore which has gone through a significant change or some form of rejuvenation recently. Then, we had to write a 4,500 word report (luckily no presentation required for this!). My group chose to focus on Paya Lebar and we had to head down to that area a couple of times to study the area. Thankfully, this all happened before circuit breaker started so we still managed to get the data we needed and completed our report. We couldn't conduct interviews obviously (given the virus situation), so our report content was entirely on based on our observations of the area. To be honest, as someone with no or little Geography background, I wasn't really sure how to approach this project at all. Thankfully, my group members were really helpful and guided me through the process. They are really good in writing as well so the report was ultimately manageable for us.
Final Exam/Final Assignment
For the General Semester, the finals is a 2 hour closed book paper consisting of 5 essay questions. The first question is compulsory. Then, you get to choose to attempt 2 questions out of the other 4 questions. Thus, only 3 questions had to be completed (which is pretty rushing for a 2 hour paper). You only have roughly 40 minutes to complete each question. And since it's closed book, I guess some form of memorisation is required too. As for the topics tested, all topics from weeks 1 - 13 will be covered in the finals but more emphasis will be on the later half of the module. You can refer to some of the past year papers in the NUS exam database online.
For this semester, well it became a 24 hour assignment. The paper was released at 9 am and the deadline was 9 am on the next day. The assignment isn't meant to be completed in 24 hours. Prof Pow set it to be 24 hours because there are exchange students who went back to their home country but were still taking the module in NUS. Thus, you know, timezone differences etc; Prof Pow decided to make it into a 24 hour assignment. We were given 3 compulsory essay questions and we have to write our essays in a single word document to be submitted. The topics tested were content from weeks 1 - 10 which covered the first 3 main sections of the module. The last section of the module was not tested for the final assignment.
Well, that day was a torture for me doing the final assignment hahahah. I haven't written essays in a while and having to write 3 essays in a day was bad for me haha. The only good thing was that Prof Pow doesn't require formal citations for this assignment and in-text citations were enough. I literally spent the entire day to finish the assignment hahaha.
For the General Semester, the finals is a 2 hour closed book paper consisting of 5 essay questions. The first question is compulsory. Then, you get to choose to attempt 2 questions out of the other 4 questions. Thus, only 3 questions had to be completed (which is pretty rushing for a 2 hour paper). You only have roughly 40 minutes to complete each question. And since it's closed book, I guess some form of memorisation is required too. As for the topics tested, all topics from weeks 1 - 13 will be covered in the finals but more emphasis will be on the later half of the module. You can refer to some of the past year papers in the NUS exam database online.
For this semester, well it became a 24 hour assignment. The paper was released at 9 am and the deadline was 9 am on the next day. The assignment isn't meant to be completed in 24 hours. Prof Pow set it to be 24 hours because there are exchange students who went back to their home country but were still taking the module in NUS. Thus, you know, timezone differences etc; Prof Pow decided to make it into a 24 hour assignment. We were given 3 compulsory essay questions and we have to write our essays in a single word document to be submitted. The topics tested were content from weeks 1 - 10 which covered the first 3 main sections of the module. The last section of the module was not tested for the final assignment.
Well, that day was a torture for me doing the final assignment hahahah. I haven't written essays in a while and having to write 3 essays in a day was bad for me haha. The only good thing was that Prof Pow doesn't require formal citations for this assignment and in-text citations were enough. I literally spent the entire day to finish the assignment hahaha.
Expected Grade: B+
Final Grade: A
Final Comments
Well, I really didn't expect an A for this module. I took this module with an expectation of SU-ing it. But turns out I don't have to! I think it was partly because of me luckily ending up with good teammates for the group project. AND I guessed the GP/Econs writing skills I learnt in JC really helped here too.
You can check out my self-compiled notes here. My notes only cover content from Weeks 1 - 10 since the last section wasn't tested for finals in this semester. In my opinion, if you really hate writing essays, then this module is not meant for you. But is worth a try as a UEM if you are just planning to SU it as the workload is not too heavy.
Well, I really didn't expect an A for this module. I took this module with an expectation of SU-ing it. But turns out I don't have to! I think it was partly because of me luckily ending up with good teammates for the group project. AND I guessed the GP/Econs writing skills I learnt in JC really helped here too.
You can check out my self-compiled notes here. My notes only cover content from Weeks 1 - 10 since the last section wasn't tested for finals in this semester. In my opinion, if you really hate writing essays, then this module is not meant for you. But is worth a try as a UEM if you are just planning to SU it as the workload is not too heavy.
Stay tuned for more updates.
- Alan
Hi! Thank you for the comprehensive review! I'm thinking of taking this mod next sem and was wondering for the final assignment, what is the length of each of the 3 essays?
ReplyDeleteMax 2000 words per essay!
Delete