Remote Teaching Case Studies: Ugonna Onuoha, School of Economics and Finance

Aisling
Friday 25 September 2020

Ugonna Onuoha is a postgraduate Masters student in the School of Economics and Finance here at St Andrews (and one of the Development Football Squad’s star players!) and recently, he kindly gave us some time out of his busy schedule to talk about what it has been like learning online. A keen student of advanced econometrics, portfolio theory, and investment analysis, Ugonna found that lecture recordings really helped him to master the material on his fast-paced Masters degree and he hopes that this aspect of online teaching and learning will be kept when we get back to a more normal teaching and learning situation. He also tells us that he missed working at the Gateway, and interacting with fellow students, but he commends the School of Economics and Finance for doing a superb job handling the sudden switch to online teaching. In particular, he thanks the phenomenal job his supervisor Dr. Gosia Mitka did supervising his work. His one piece of advice to us? Separate your work and study spaces and make time to unwind!

 

Could you tell us about your role at the University of St Andrews?

I am a postgraduate student, studying Economics and Finance.

I am also a part of the Development Football Squad.

 

How much had you integrated the use of technology into your study habits and teaching before the Covid-19 outbreak?

Prior to the pandemic, technology was an integral part of my studying. I always employed the use of my laptop or iPad to read articles and do research for my studies because I preferred using them as opposed to the traditional books.

 

What were your first thoughts when you heard that St Andrews teaching, learning, and study was temporarily switching to an online mode?

Upon hearing the news that teaching was been switched to an online mode, I was sceptical about how exams, tests and assessments would be handled. I was mostly worried about my more quantitative courses that required a lot of math and how they would be taught due to their nature and rigour. I was equally worried about studying and revisions as I preferred studying at the Gateway Library in the School of Management. With the switch to online learning, I was anxious about how effective my studying and research would be since I also had to work on my dissertation without full library resources.

 

How do you manage the process of learning, studying, and teaching tutorials online?

During the ‘lockdown’ period, time management, discipline and support from my partner helped me manage the process of learning and studying. I had to give myself a structure closely resembling times of normalcy to be able to cover all the work required. I followed my timetable and gave myself time to work on lectures and/or tutorials, sometimes even watching them more than once to ensure I understood what was being taught. My lecturers did a great job in making the lecture videos easy to understand. I also made sure that I designated some spaces purely to study. This meant that I fully immersed myself when I needed to focus. I spent the lockdown with my partner, a student in the School of Medicine and we allocated different work spaces to be able to focus on completing the tasks for the day. I also prioritized the quality of the study rather than the quantity: I usually worked on a lecture until I fully understood it, rather than working on multiple lectures and tutorials, and only half understanding them. In the evenings, I usually unwound by reading literature relevant to my dissertation.

 

You also see things from the point of view of a postgraduate Masters student. In general, how has your postgraduate student experience of learning online been?

In all honesty, I fully enjoyed the online experience of the postgraduate studies this year! My reasoning is that it really made me prioritize the depth and quality of knowledge I was gaining, and it improved my ability to work at my own pace. Prior to the pandemic, I had spent two hours on a lecture not fully grasping all the elements being presented; in contrast, during the ‘lockdown’, when learning online, I easily spent an extra hour on a lecture to understand the logic behind them, even sometimes going as far as to researching more about the applications in real time. Regarding my dissertation as well, I had more time to focus on the research aspect and was able to go through a considerable amount of literature. With the removal of travel time and all the other miscellaneous time-consuming activities, staying home and working online was a great experience and of great benefit for me.

 

Did the process of switching to an online mode of learning make you think differently about the way you approach your study? Have you made any changes to your study habits?

I can’t say if I’ve made any changes to my study habits but I did learn that designating distinct areas of leisure and study has become very important to me. That distinction helps with the focus and immersion needed for adequate studying.

 

How has your experience of lectures, seminars, and tutorials (if you have them) been?

Before the lockdown, I have only had positive experiences with lectures and tutorials. All of the materials offered were relevant and sufficient for my degree. However, I found it difficult to always grasp what was being taught due to the fast-paced nature of the lectures. So now that we are learning online, I have really appreciated being able to go over recorded lectures.

 

What has been your experience of having postgraduate supervision online been?

My experience with online supervision has been nothing short of positive. As a Masters student, my dissertation is very important and the support from my supervisor during this period was impressive. We had bi-weekly, and sometimes even weekly meetings, for guidance, and to go over the progress I had made.

 

You are a Masters student in the School of Economics and Finance. Which technologies or online resources have you found especially practically useful for studying your subject in particular?

Datastream and the S&P market intelligence application were very useful. Both were crucial for the completion of my Master’s study. Additionally, statistical analysis software such as Stata, R, or MATLAB were very useful. All of these softwares were important during both the learning and research portion of my Masters programme.

 

What one piece of advice would you give someone based on your own student experience of learning and studying online?

Give yourself time to fully understand what you are studying; work at your own pace. It is more effective to prioritize the quality of the study session in order to fully understand the concepts and rationale behind them, rather than to rush through multiple lectures and not fully grasping anything. I would also advise the need for note taking and annotating while studying, it helps for when you have to revise or revisit certain lectures.

 

Is there anything else that you would like to add?

I would like to commend the School of Economics and Finance for how well they handled the sudden shift to online learning. It was a stressful and impromptu experience for all parties involved but I believe they did the very best they could.

 

Based on my experiences, I can say that the available of data and online resources on Datastream prior to the lockdown was difficult to access due to the limited availability of computers that have this software. I recommend that the School of Economics and Finance follow the procedures they setup during the ‘lockdown’ period, allowing the booking of 2 hour slots which enable the online access of the applications such as Datastream, an important tool to Masters students on this course. This was really helpful and would benefit majority of the cohort post lockdown. I would also recommend the School of Economics and Finance consider the addition of Bloomberg terminals for the more financial inclined research questions and data analysis.


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