Pencils sharpened, fresh clean sheets of lined paper at the ready, binders all efficiently divided into subjects. Or you have a computer that replicates this. All ready for the first day of learning. Think of all the possibilities, the chances, the questions, the discussions, the passion...

Perhaps.

You sitting in a lecture and madly scribbling notes, probably isn't going to teach you a lot. It's what we all do, but are you learning? Really?

So change what you do, so you learn. I take notes at times, but sometimes, I don't. I sometimes use my classes to be introduced to the topic and I pick it up better later on, when I am working on a piece of work for it. A do a lot of my own reading on all sorts of related things. It's really about whatever works for you.

Oh and ask questions. Remember, it's your education and if you don't know something about it, find out and keep going till you do. Say things, comment on things. It's your time and money, so use it...

ps. a big welcome to any new students this semester and apologies for not crossing your path at orientation...

Posted by Richard at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, I'm sick. Flu, body and head is achy and tingly. So no orientation at the moment for me; hopefully, I will be able to get to at least some of it.

I was in Melbourne. I like Melbourne. It was cold, really, but I don't mind the cold. I think it was the change of temperatures. Melbourne is somewhat more open planned than Sydney, fractionally calmer and a little more culturally aware. Don't get me wrong, Sydney is a great city and all.

I was at a conference on creative thinking and schooling. Not enough of the former done at the latter. I have lots to say on the topics of education and schooling, but not in this post. A decent summary is that we all need to be able to ask more questions (often more important than getting the answers) and to be able to take more time to reflect upon our work, neither of which any type of schooling really allows us to do.

Classes start next week, so check your timetable and move your classes around, as much as your little heart so desires or until you've got a good timetable, take your pick.

Posted by Richard at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, my 2nd as part of the Peer Network (PN). A short but sweet week of orientation next week.

Here is the thing about uni and I guess life. It's pretty true to say that the more you put into it, the more you ultimately get out of it. We are at uni for more than just studying, so it's good to add to that something to the learning experiences.

I chose PN because I've done lots of community stuff before and I enjoy helping people find out about things. PN fits pretty naturally into my background and I enjoy doing it. As a bonus, I've met some great people from the city campus (we are a somewhat more isolated from a lot of activities, out KG way), from all sorts of faculties. Though it would be great to add to the numbers of PN's from KG!

So the moral of the story, is to do something else at uni besides studying (or not). Get involved in uni life. Join the table tennis club (do we have one of those?), the BSAS (Britney Spears Appreciation Society) or the UTS People Watchers, it doesn't matter. Find one thing that's of interest and do it.

More orientation goodness to come...

ps. Anyone want to join the UTS People Watchers, if we start one up?

Posted by Richard at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Autumn semester results are out this week (Wednesday) and One Stop Student Admin is where to find them.

So let me say something on this topic of marks. In the whole grand scheme of life, it doesn't really matter what letter appears next to each subject. What does it really mean to life everyday, that Billy got 58, Janet got 71 and Leudo got 76? It's just one sliver of a person's experiences.

I know, easier said than done and don't get me wrong, it's good to do well and study and learn and so on. It's an issue that goes beyond essays and subject outline and textbooks and lectures and so on. It's an argument that runs deeper than just the surface and it looks at how we try and assess learning and it's incredibly hard to do really well, so we do what we do.

Learning and assessing is very slowly changing and hopefully in the future you will be recognised as a learner by more than just a series of letters and numbers, but at the moment, we are in the system that we are in.

So if you are hovering around the P / F line, don't panic. Sit and take some time and think. What sorts of things can you do to improve next semester? Who can you talk to about it? How can you find new ways of learning? Can you make any lifestyle changes?

There are also loads of services that can help you out, so if you are feeling a bit lost, take a look. Remember, it's your university, it's services are there to use and help you. So use them!

Posted by Richard at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Step 0 - Welcome.

Step 1 - Sit back and relax, please noting your nearest exit may be behind you.

Step 2 - Read this blog regularly. I will pay you to do so. Unfortunately for you though, the currency I trade in does not exist anywhere on earth. Though feel free to be greedy and take as much as you want.

Step 3 - If you are in or thinking about joining the Education faculty, come join the UTS Education group on Facebook and hang out with us there. If you are not in the Education faculty, fear not, leave a comment below!

Step 4 - You might want to know that I’m a 2nd year Primary Education student at the Ku-ring-gai Campus (which is most likely entering it's final few years of being) and I also do lots of other bits and pieces around the uni, which we will both find out about as we go. You also might not want to know, but I am telling you anyway.

Step 4a - I’m a “mature aged” student, have been a chef and I run a well respected national youth / community services project. Now I am moving into the broader education field, have lots of thoughts on related matters and am pondering opening my own “school” system in the years to come.

Step 5 - In my bloggy thing, I’m going to be sharing with you stuff about uni, uni related things, inside uni goss and happenings, some things in the world and probably a bit of other nonsense. Just to let you know, UTS has to approve all the comments (mostly due to spam), so if your reply takes a bit of time to appear, fear not.

Step 6 - My name is Richard and these are some of my words; which you are more than welcome to share with me. I really appreciate hearing your thoughts and please comment lots on what I have to say. You are also welcome to make suggestions for things that you want us to type about. Thanks for stopping by!

Steps 7 - 1479 - Rinse and repeat.

Posted by Richard at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)