Going inside the classes: 'Practical Leadership'

One of the requirements for graduation is taking a course from the Leadership Category where ‘Theoretical Leadership’ and ‘Practical Leadership’ are included in it. ‘Practical Leadership’ enhances your understanding of the leadership and gives you a chance to actually practice it. Depending on major of the Professor, what you learn in the course might differ a little bit. For Prof. Lee, Jung Hoon’s Practical Leadership course, which I will be introducing today, he focuses on the leadership regarding business administration, his major. Now, let’s take a look into Prof. Lee’s Practical Leadership course.

What do you do in Class?

In Prof. Lee’s course, textbooks are not required. Instead, before you go to class, you should go to icampus and print out the course plan which is uploaded every week. This one-semester course is divided into two parts by the mid-term exam. Before the mid-term, we study the definition of leadership and traits of leaders. Around 2nd or 3rd week, the professor asks you to choose a leader who could be your role model and then to read a book about the person. This is related to not only the one-minute speech which you will be doing later about a role model, but also the assignment after the mid-term, so be prepared. After the mid-term, you will learn what leaders do and what different types of leaderships are. Meanwhile, preparation for the team presentation, which will take place a week before the final, will start. 

The first class is done like it is always done. But at the second class, the Professor will give students time for preparation for team presentation. So use that time wisely. At every class the professor gives out a questionnaire, and it gives you time to ponder about yourself and what type of leadership that suits you. Before starting the second class, you will always watch a short five-minute long video which is mostly about a leader or leadership taken from famous movies. This makes the beginning of the class more interesting.

How is grading done?

The grade is evaluated by the mid-term, the final, personal assignment and team presentation. Considering that the professor tells students to attend the classes even if you are late, it seems that the attendance is quite important despite the fact it only comprises of a small part of the total grade. The mid-term and the finals consists of multiple choice and short answer questions. Most of them are from the course plan but some of them are not. However, you do not have to worry about it since even the questions that are not from the course plan are all mentioned by the professor during the class, making it not so difficult to figure out. The personal assignment is, as it is already mentioned above, about the role model that you have chosen. It is reading a book about the role model’s life or leadership and writing an essay that combines the role model and what you have learned about the leadership theory.

After the mid-term comes the assignment, but because the due date is far away, you won’t feel much pressured. The team presentation which will take place a week before the mid-term is to elect a leader from your own group and do a presentation about the leader in relation to the things you’ve learned about leadership in the course. Instead of setting another time to meet, it would be less of the burden to utilize the time given at the second class for preparing the team presentation. The evaluation for the team presentation is conducted by both professor and students. After listening to presentations, students give score to other teams on team presentation evaluation paper. The result will be announced on the notice board at icampus after the finals.

What are the Pros and Cons?

The good thing about the course is that it is not much of a burden. As it is mentioned above, in cases of both personal assignment and team presentation, the professor cares for students. So it would not be so stressful for students. It would almost certainly not overlap with other courses’ assignments and presentation, and even if it does, it wouldn’t be so hard to complete. The questionnaire given at every class is especially helpful. The content of the questionnaire is simple, but if you answer the questions earnestly, you will comprehend your own traits and find the right type of leadership for you.

The downside is that it is a 9 a.m. class, so it is painful for students who can’t wake up early. But even with that, there aren’t that many people late or absent. So you will have to be an early bird and not be absent.

Tips for students!

The mid-term covers a narrow range. Therefore, when preparing for the mid-term, you have to memorize everything from the range. It is because since the range is so narrow, the questions are from almost every part. Especially to answer the short-answer questions, you have to know everything thoroughly. On the other hand, the finals cover a wide range. So you will have to study for the final in advance. Because it covers a wider range than the mid-term, questions do not go into detailed as the mid-term, but it is always good to study thoroughly to answer the short-answer questions. And in team presentation, the leader will be given extra one point, so take it into account.