What's the strangest uni assignment/task/practical you've had?

[Joseph41]

"Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen just came on Spotify, and it reminded me of an exam I had in one of my first-year gender studies units at Monash Malaysia. The entire exam was analysing the music video to the song, and I couldn't get it out of my head for days haha.

I've heard of some pretty unusual tasks in other units, too - have you had experience with any? Or just the standard? 😂

[sweetiepi]

Trying to market a new drug.
That was pretty fun; but it was odd because we had to make it memorable (one of the criteria)
I'm not on my laptop to give a link to the end result, however I think the video is on my journal!

[zofromuxo]

Not for me, but a friend of mine in a class called Professional Computing Practices and one of the topics was ethics.

They had to read a summarised text of the 48 laws of power, analyse it and write an email to a company how I their software could help them cheat the EPA emission tests using the 3 laws.

Its strange because the lecturer and tutor advocated for students to use these laws during negotiation. I mean Law 7: "Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit" = How is that even ethical?

[vox nihili]

We once had to give a speech in mathematics about a maths equation, which was really weird in the end because the tutor was really cutting about people's use of English.


I guess all the early med pracs are weird. Kind of weird to meet people one week and then a couple of weeks later you're all like "if you wouldn't mind removing your shirt so I can examine your heart ty"

[Poet]

We had to act out the purpose of the immune system in year 10 biology, that was probably the most amusing impromptu rugby game I've ever played

edit: this isn't uni, but I can see the potential.

[beatroot]

TW: death

Spoiler

Pitch a potential film that had to be inspired by the controversial Logan Paul incident where he posted the video of a dead body online.

This was my very first uni assignment ever so I was surprised to have gotten a distinction for it.

[Alter]

Not necessarily the strangest, but I took an elective class within a German subject at uni that was all about analysing expressionist German poetry. Was probably the most difficult but simultaneously enjoyable assessment I've done.

We once had to give a speech in mathematics about a maths equation, which was really weird in the end because the tutor was really cutting about people's use of English.

A bit off-topic but both of the oral presentations in biomed cores are pretty abysmal, to be honest (frontiers + maths for biomed). I don't know anybody that got <80% on either and it's like they're smashed into the degree for the sake of saying they fulfil more graduate attributes by doing so. A real shame, imo.

[clarke54321]

For my first linguistics research essay, I basically had to eavesdrop on conversations between strangers to collect address terms. This was surprisingly difficult, as most people aren't all that creative when they greet another.

Not necessarily the strangest, but I took an elective class within a German subject at uni that was all about analysing expressionist German poetry. Was probably the most difficult but simultaneously enjoyable assessment I've done.

Ooh, which subject is this? I like the sound of it 

[RuiAce]

Actually the most "strangest" task I've had was just this homework question (which was very easy but was too hilarious).

[K888]

I guess all the early med pracs are weird. Kind of weird to meet people one week and then a couple of weeks later you're all like "if you wouldn't mind removing your shirt so I can examine your heart ty"

ooh yeah, I'd seen most people shirtless in first year first sem before I knew their name.
palpating the ischial tuberosity, while pretty basic, was a weird experience.

I had a video assignment last year where my group had to act out a fight between a doctor and a physio to explain how important teamwork is

[Alter]

Ooh, which subject is this? I like the sound of it 

It was actually in German 6, as a 1 or 2 hour class each week. Daniela ran the expressionist poetry group, and there were like 2-3 other options to choose from that had nothing to do with poetry. Not sure if they still run it that way.

[Springyboy]

This is kinda off-topic, but the strangest moment I ever had in uni was during my first-year accounting mid-sem when the fire alarm went off RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the test (classic Monash). I literally thought it was a joke for like 15 mins, but still went out of the building for like 20 mins, and then came back inside and finished it off. The sound still rings in my head today.