Fast-forward 10 years and I’m back at the university but fortunately for me this time I can leave the running shoes behind – thanks to technology.

The lecture was coming to an end. The professor hadn’t yet finished explaining the coursework we were meant to submit in a week’s time when all of us were readying ourselves to sprint to the library to check out the books needed to write it. Our haste, sadly, had little to do with our academic ambitions and was rather a result of the sad truth that with the ratio of 50 students to 1 book, you had to be a quick runner if you wanted to stand a decent chance of completing your compulsory reading.

Fast-forward 10 years and I’m back at the university but fortunately for me this time I can leave the running shoes behind – thanks to technology.

Coming back to university as a mature student I was a tad apprehensive – a lot has changed in the last decade. Luckily however, it turns out that these changes have been to my advantage- especially thanks to the following advances in the technology department:

1. Digital Library

Back in the days of my BSc, I had to spend hours looking for journal articles I needed to read for each of my classes or run to the library as soon as my lectures were finished to even stand a chance of getting the book my course required. If I didn’t get there fast enough, I had to join a queue with other classmates, waiting for all the other students to finish reading it before it made its way to me,  which often left me with next to no time to complete my compulsory course readings in time for the class.

Imagine my surprise when I joined LSE and found that not only do all my courses have an online reading list with the essential and additional readings (both articles and book chapters) already uploaded and linked to each of the course modules on Moodle, but more importantly  with functionality to track my reading progress! This digital library not only has proven to be a real time saver, but also allows me to make most of my time commuting to the university as I can read relevant content on my mobile.

2. Moodle

Another pleasant surprise upon joining LSE was Moodle itself. I was introduced to this learning system already during my earlier stint at the university, but was very pleased to see the upgrade it has gone through over the years. The revamped Moodle is more user friendly and has features like course completion progress, automatic links to library reading lists and easy “drag and drop” coursework submissions. All of which have greatly improved my learning experience. Having everything in one place also makes it easier to ensure I am not missing any deadlines, which really helps to put my mind at ease.

3. Online Lectures

In the midst of all of the disastrous effects that COVID-19 pandemic had on our lives, it did force us to embrace technology even further. One of such silver linings was the adoption of hybrid working and learning practices, which meant that unlike my earlier university experience, I am now able to have more flexibility and learn from home as well as in person.

By combining in-person seminars with online and pre-recorded lectures, LSE not only has given me more autonomy over my time as I get to choose when and where I watch my lectures, but also provided me with an opportunity to take better notes as I can pause the video or get back to a part I need to listen to again. I am sure the lecture recordings will be of great help when preparing for my exams at the end of the term!