Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Ola, I’m 17 years old and I live in Poland. Currently I’m in high school, my first year. I’m interested in biology and chemistry subjects and I took the EtonX Critical Thinking course.
Tell me a little bit about what you had been doing to develop your soft skills before you tried EtonX.
Well, actually I didn’t take any other course, so I didn’t really know how I could develop my soft skills. I guess my parents help me with that, without me knowing it, but this was the first time I actually knew what I was doing and how to work on my skills. My school does not really, I mean in school sometimes we had subjects that covered it or we had psychologists speak about it but it was not really interesting for me.
What are your future study plans?
My future study plans are to go to university, mostly because I love to study biology and chemistry. My future plan for now is to go and study biology. I am planning to study in another country, to know some more languages or to just see the other countries and places, I want to see the world.
How did you hear about EtonX and why did you decide to take your course?
I found out about EtonX because my mum told me about it. She encouraged me to take part in it! The main reason I decided to complete the course was mostly to see what it’s like to be on an online course. I also want to know some people from abroad because it’s a very interesting experience to know how other people think and how different we are from each other. Also, critical thinking is not a thing that you focus on in school or during class, so it very interesting to see what it’s about and how I can develop these skills.
Tell me a little bit about the features of an EtonX course.
I really liked the way classes were taken, I had the course content and exercises and examples, and it was always really clear what I had to do. I found the presentations and videos really encouraging and I didn’t really feel like I was learning… it was fun, and the online classes were enjoyable. I think the content covered a good range, and it was very clear and obvious to me what I had to learn and how to do it. Like I said the pics and videos were really encouraging and fun for me!
Tell me about your EtonX online tutor and classmates.
My tutor was called Patty, and she was very nice and always interested in my opinions and I felt like I could ask her any questions and it was a very nice atmosphere in class. Also, the time was very well organised.
I studied with students from other countries, Russia and Greece and more… and we were all very different! We had different points of view and interests, but we all got along very well. It was very interesting to see what others think about the same thing and how they can see it from another perspective. I think our communication was good. I practised my English skills and I was more confident after the course because it was the only language that we could all connect with and understand each other with but we all had pretty good speaking skills, so we got along really well.
How did the EtonX course vary from your traditional school learning/normal classes?
The main difference from traditional learning in Poland is the connections you make with students. We had more teamwork and pair work so we could work on something together and also helped with social skills and worked in groups which was very good for me. We had to do more presentations and we were always free to say what we think about things, and we were more free in the class to talk about things.
Have you seen any personal results since completing your course?
Well, I’d say I am more aware of what is going on around the world, I can easily see bias and fallacy that I haven’t really seen before, mostly because now I have it in my mind and I’ve practised it. So, when I see that something is wrong, I don’t really have to think about it. For example, I can easily see whether someone is making a strong argument and also, I can create my own strong arguments without making mistakes.
Do you now feel more confident in any skills since your course?
Well, I mean mostly it’s about statistics for example. I didn’t know much but on the critical thinking course I studied how to see if statistics are good and well taken or if they are showing me what I want to see.
If you could meet any historical figure from your home country, either living or deceased, who would you choose and why?
I’d choose Marie Curie because I am interested in chemistry and she was known for finding some interesting chemistry and she was a very independent woman. She went to university, when in her age and country, it was not very popular for women to go and study. She was really brave.