Education is a tricky thing. Many jobs require you to learn things prior to you getting on the job, but sometimes, that education is more valued in retrospect. What is and what isn't valuable gets especially lost in four year degrees that mandate something like 130 credit hours for graduation. A college isn't going to tell you, "These classes are important, and these classes... not so much."
To be fair to colleges, value is a subjective thing. What I might have found valuable might be different to somebody else. This is especially true for a more general major like mine, Business Administration. I took courses in macroeconomics, marketing, communications, finance, accounting, HR management, and more. If you go ask my fellow graduates which courses they valued the most, I bet every one of them would give you different answers.
Anyway, I was reflecting back on my own undergraduate education and thinking about the classes I wish I could go retake. It's not that I didn't pay attention in these courses at the time, but after having some job experience under my belt, I think I would benefit much more from these courses if I were to retake them today. That said, let's get into it!
1. Principles of Marketing. This is number one for a reason. Taught by Michael Gowin at the time, he shared things with us that were really ahead of the curve. Going back through and looking at my old homework assignments, it's clear that I did not show the same value for it then as I probably would today. Even though I'm not in an overtly marketing position today, I still think the principles from this course would help me a lot in understanding consumer insight when providing value and feedback for the projects I'm assigned.
2. Presentation Design and Delivery. Another course taught by Michael Gowin, I would love to take this course again, but maybe for not the reasons you think. While focused on creating good presentations, I would take this course again to learn more about the principles of design. This was the course that introduced my to the Heath brothers' book, Made to Stick, and also introduced me to the principles of whitespace. Because of my interest in graphic design, I would be interested to see how the principles garnered in this course would reflect on my design projects.
3. Human Resource Management. Much like the course above, I would want to retake this course (taught by Eric Teoro) for a reason you might not expect. Sure, learning about HR principles was fine, but the real value of the course came in the form of the final project. At the end of this course, a group of four of us were tasked with building and sharing a presentation to a real company centered around an HR-related topic of their choosing. We gave our presentation to a concrete company in Chicago known as Ozinga, and they chose conflict management as our topic. While the presentation wasn't a total failure, I regularly think about all the ways in which we could have made it better. Moreover, Teoro told us about one group in a past cohort that did such a good presentation that they took their presentation to companies all over Illinois. Talk about an excellent resume builder! In retrospect, I really, really wish we would have done the same.
4. Christianity and Science. Okay, so this one has the least to do with my job, but I would still want to retake it anyway. Taught by Dr. Rich Knopp (who is a delightful guy), he begins the course by talking about the philosophy of science for a few weeks prior to jumping into the fallacies and assumptions evolutionists make. (Disclaimer: the class doesn't say the Bible is 100% right, nor does it affirm evolution; it just points the gaping flaws in the latter) Anyway, I didn't really understand why we learned the philosophy of science until later on in the course, and it was one of those things that would make much more sense again if I could retake the course in its entirety.
5. "Leadership Independent Study". I put this one in quotes because it technically wasn't a class. As part of the curriculum at the time, you had to fulfill 4 random, elective hours, and I had one measly hour remaining. Fortunately for me, Michael Gowin was kind enough to do a 1 hour independent study on a business topic of my choosing. If I recall correctly, we met one-on-one for an hour each week where we discussed leadership, and he would assign me some homework for the next week. I really wish I would have taken better advantage of Professor Gowin's time by perhaps doing a different independent study. Or, if we would have continued with the leadership topic, then I wish I would have approached it from a different angle. Professor Gowin had a lot of great insights I wish I would have tapped into!
To be fair to colleges, value is a subjective thing. What I might have found valuable might be different to somebody else. This is especially true for a more general major like mine, Business Administration. I took courses in macroeconomics, marketing, communications, finance, accounting, HR management, and more. If you go ask my fellow graduates which courses they valued the most, I bet every one of them would give you different answers.
Anyway, I was reflecting back on my own undergraduate education and thinking about the classes I wish I could go retake. It's not that I didn't pay attention in these courses at the time, but after having some job experience under my belt, I think I would benefit much more from these courses if I were to retake them today. That said, let's get into it!
1. Principles of Marketing. This is number one for a reason. Taught by Michael Gowin at the time, he shared things with us that were really ahead of the curve. Going back through and looking at my old homework assignments, it's clear that I did not show the same value for it then as I probably would today. Even though I'm not in an overtly marketing position today, I still think the principles from this course would help me a lot in understanding consumer insight when providing value and feedback for the projects I'm assigned.
2. Presentation Design and Delivery. Another course taught by Michael Gowin, I would love to take this course again, but maybe for not the reasons you think. While focused on creating good presentations, I would take this course again to learn more about the principles of design. This was the course that introduced my to the Heath brothers' book, Made to Stick, and also introduced me to the principles of whitespace. Because of my interest in graphic design, I would be interested to see how the principles garnered in this course would reflect on my design projects.
3. Human Resource Management. Much like the course above, I would want to retake this course (taught by Eric Teoro) for a reason you might not expect. Sure, learning about HR principles was fine, but the real value of the course came in the form of the final project. At the end of this course, a group of four of us were tasked with building and sharing a presentation to a real company centered around an HR-related topic of their choosing. We gave our presentation to a concrete company in Chicago known as Ozinga, and they chose conflict management as our topic. While the presentation wasn't a total failure, I regularly think about all the ways in which we could have made it better. Moreover, Teoro told us about one group in a past cohort that did such a good presentation that they took their presentation to companies all over Illinois. Talk about an excellent resume builder! In retrospect, I really, really wish we would have done the same.
4. Christianity and Science. Okay, so this one has the least to do with my job, but I would still want to retake it anyway. Taught by Dr. Rich Knopp (who is a delightful guy), he begins the course by talking about the philosophy of science for a few weeks prior to jumping into the fallacies and assumptions evolutionists make. (Disclaimer: the class doesn't say the Bible is 100% right, nor does it affirm evolution; it just points the gaping flaws in the latter) Anyway, I didn't really understand why we learned the philosophy of science until later on in the course, and it was one of those things that would make much more sense again if I could retake the course in its entirety.
5. "Leadership Independent Study". I put this one in quotes because it technically wasn't a class. As part of the curriculum at the time, you had to fulfill 4 random, elective hours, and I had one measly hour remaining. Fortunately for me, Michael Gowin was kind enough to do a 1 hour independent study on a business topic of my choosing. If I recall correctly, we met one-on-one for an hour each week where we discussed leadership, and he would assign me some homework for the next week. I really wish I would have taken better advantage of Professor Gowin's time by perhaps doing a different independent study. Or, if we would have continued with the leadership topic, then I wish I would have approached it from a different angle. Professor Gowin had a lot of great insights I wish I would have tapped into!
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