First month over...

Hi everyone!

Well this is my last blog post of February! Can't believe its been four weeks already!

I thought I'd talk a bit about internships in this post, so I'll cover where to find them, how they benefit you and how the benefit readers...and whatever else springs to mind!

So, I began blogging for the University back in the first few months of my first year. I got a notification on my 'BREO Shell' which is basically where I get my lecture notes and anything university related is on here. It's an internal site that all members of staff and students use daily to keep track of lectures and assignments and all that good stuff! So I believe the notification was a link to get in touch with the marketing team and arrange an interview. The interview was at the Luton campus however, which is about 50 minutes away from the Bedford campus where I am based, but this didn't put me off because I wanted the experience and realised how interesting it would be to do.

So I am the blogger for Education and Teaching for the University. There are bloggers for the other courses too I believe. I was surprised to find out when I first applied that no one else had snapped the opportunity up and I think this was because we were all new and didn't really know our way around the whole 'BREO' site etc.

This brings me to my first piece of advice; read EVERYTHING. Don't miss out on something really beneficial just because you couldn't be bothered to read an announcement. The University lecturers really do try their best to help you gain experience and have an exciting time at university. I am extremely grateful for my lecturer putting this announcement on BREO back when I was a fresher because now I'm still here and still enjoying blogging about my time spent at university.

Not only is blogging beneficial to the readers, for example possible students trying to get an insight into what the University is really like and whether they would suit a particular course or not, but it is also a really good thing for people like me to do to broaden my skills, have something to stick at, and one of the best things that I cannot wait for is reading back from the very beginning of my blog posts to reflect on university and all the obstacles I've overcome.

In terms of lecturers and seminars this week, not much has been happening. I've been super ill this week but I still managed to make it to all but one lecture, yay! In Comparative ed we watched a documentary on the history of South African education to add to the growing collection of countries we need to know about. It was actually really moving and terrifying to watch how some parts of the world lived. In Lifelong learning we had a lecture on the ICT curriculum. We are currently having lectures on all the subjects to help us decide which two we want to use for our poster presentations we've got later on in the year. Digital age was actually an optional lecture where we got up-to-date on our webfolios, as our next formative deadline is creeping up on us! Research methods was the lecture I missed but it was in qualitative data analysis I believe (I will be catching up on notes soon)!

All in all it's been quite an easy week; just preparing for the next lot of assignments in April/May time. But I thought I'd tell you all a bit more about blogging and internships.

In all seriousness, if you can, go for an internship. They really are great opportunities and if you can manage to bag one that you really enjoy (which I really have) then even better. They also show such commitment to future employers that you were involved in your university and got stuck in. I really would recommend one and good luck to anyone who is interested.

On a side note, if you don't manage to get a blogging internship I'd seriously consider blogging your experience at university anyway... To have all or most of your experiences in writing would be really nice to look back on and treasure. So, have a think about it guys because blogging really is fun!

Hope you all have a great week and I'll speak to you next Friday!

Here's a couple cliché 'Spring time' pictures to brighten up the post and get you all looking forward to the next couple of months!

M

2000 words... DONE!

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all ok!

So I think I mentioned last week that this weeks post would basically be a low down on one of my units called The Lifelong Curriculum, seeing as last weeks was dedicated to the Digital Age unit.

I had to make this image really big so that you can see all of the words, which I hope you can as this is the biggest it will go. This image is one of many that come up when you search lifelong learning online. I personally think it is a brilliant representation of what lifelong learning is. It shows so many different words that contribute to the whole idea of lifelong learning and they are all jumbled together which shows that things may not be in order but they still happen and we still learn. 

As we speak I have just uploaded my 2,000 word essay (well 1,849 to be exact, we are allowed 10 percent either side of 2,000), for my first assignment for Lifelong.

I'm not going to lie to you, this is one of the units I thought I would love. I primarily took it because I wanted to become a teacher which most people on my course want to do (obviously)! However, I'm not sure whether it's because I have had a change of career path or because the unit itself may not suit me as well as I thought it would, but I'm just not loving it,which is a shame I know. One of the main good points about being able to choose two units of your choice in second year is that you are more than likely going to enjoy the two you get to pick.

You are probably wondering now "Change in career....?" Well basically, I still want to work in education, I had just been having cold feet a couple months back about becoming a teacher. I do still like the idea of it, I just don't LOVE it. I'm not upset about it, because I have done a lot of research and am planning to go and see the career adviser's at uni so I  don't want to say anything until I know its definitely possible, I'm sure it is I just want clarification from someone who really knows what they're talking about. A.K.A a career adviser.

So I do still love my course and I know it was the right choice for me, I'm just slightly moving away from the whole 'actual teacher' role.

The course is still completely relevant to my possible career path.

Lifelong curriculum is all about how the current national curriculum supports us throughout our whole lives and is not something we just leave behind at school. You study every subject and complete an assignment and presentation about the subjects of your choice. It is very interesting and has actually opened my eyes to the fact that I do still use such things I learnt in school that I thought would never be relevant in later life.

As far as the assignments go, I've only completed the essay so far but I know the presentation will be the nicer of the two for me because I am quite a relaxed presenter and writing essays is not exactly a walk in the park for me, especially long ones like this one!!!

For this assignment, I chose the English National curriculum for key stage 2, mainly because I enjoyed English the most at school. It was difficult, I won't lie, and I found it hard to start off, but once I was into it, it wasn't so bad. I wouldn't say it was the best essay I've ever written though; I'm not the most confident about this one.

If you want to be a teacher, take this unit as it is recommended by the University that you do so, and I do see the relevance to a teaching career.

I'd also like to say that it really doesn't matter if you don't know what you exactly want to be. I was getting stressed that I had changed my mind and tried to convince myself teaching was what I was doing; I had made up my mind and I just had to stick with it. But I just flipped one day, and realised that I can be whatever I want, and began researching and found something I'm truly interested in. So, basically don't worry if you are taking or thinking about taking a degree but haven't yet figured out your career path or ideas of what you want to do.

I thought this was an interesting image as it represents exactly what this post discuss... the fact that even if you go off track and change your mind, you're still learning no matter what path you choose, and that is what lifelong learning is all about. 

Until next time,

M

Undergraduate Year 2! First Blog Post(kind of)

Hello Everyone,


I'm Megan and I have been lucky enough to have been given the role of Education and Teaching blogger for the second year running.. YAY!


So I thought it would be best to start with an introductory post for those of you who need refreshing and those who are just starting to read.
A bit about me...


I am half way through my second year at The University of Bedfordshire and I am studying Education Studies. It is a three year long degree, which in my first year began with a huge spread of what Education Studies entails; history of education, inclusion in education, social constructions of education and finally, the young child in education. These units were fine, broad but fine for year one, however moving into year two I have seen a huge difference between being a first year and being a second year.


About my course...
I LOVE my course and I really enjoy studying at the uni, my second year has been so much better than my first for so many reasons.
Some of you may know the situation I was in first year, I didn't get on with my flatmates due to being singled out, I was so poor and just in general homesick. So now in my second year, I have moved back home and I commute to university three days of the week(which is when my lectures/seminars fall), I still socialise at uni as my friends are kind enough to let me crash at theirs for student nights and I am just overall enjoying the experience a whole lot more.


Why I chose Bedford?


I chose Bedfordshire for one main reason, it was close to home and after everything that happened I am so glad I did. I really liked the university itself but I probably wasn't ready to move away and that's why all I had in mind was being close to home.
Now that I'm settled at home I can appreciate the actual university so much more, the campus is great and so nice to study in. We've just had a new building open which is incredible, I can't wait to study in there in my breaks, and Bedfordshire is just a really nice place to study.


What I like most?


The people I've met and am still meeting. I have got a really great bunch of friends, most people chat on my course which is lovely. The choices I made this year. I got to choose two options myself this year and I chose Children and Young People in the Digital Age, which is SO interesting and the lecturers are so interesting. I really enjoy those lectures and am definitely going to take it again next year.
I also chose Lifelong Learning because I read it was the best option if you want to do a PGCE course after your degree finishes. This would have been ideal as that's what I thought I wanted to do but recently I have been researching and I think I've changed my mind(I mean recent, literally last and this week)! I won't reveal anything yet as I still need to meet with the careers team to make sure it's definitely possible. But, if you want to take a PGCE I would definitely recommend this unit.


What I'm looking forward to?


I got an A+ in my last exam which I am SOOOO proud of myself for, I was so over the moon. So as geeky as it sounds I think I'm looking forward to getting more grades back so I can see what I am on track to end the year on... I am also looking forward to a few nights out I have planned as I've had a long time off partying due to illness.


So, yeah there's a good update for you all. The posts will be EVERY Friday until the end of July!


M

An insight into my Second Year!

Today myself and everyone else carrying on through to their second year of studying education studies received emails telling us about our reading lists for next year. This may sound uninteresting but actually it's an opportunity for us all to get a head start on what we are all going to be studying.

I am sure I have mentioned in a previous post that we all had to choose two options of our own choices to study next year which I have now had a chance to look at in more depth. However, some of the books are not available as ebooks which means I have to buy them.  

I don't remember ever talking to you all about how important university books actually are... don't think I'm boring because trust me I used to think they were useless but they are soooo not! They were my saviors when writing my essays. I am so not a book person but now I've had to learn to be because there is no surviving university or passing university without opening some books. 

Yep, this is what I felt like my desk looked like a lot of the time...BOOK OVERLOAD! 

But, in all seriousness I am genuinely excited to find out more about what I will be studying in my second year and I think this is mainly down to the fact that I have grown up and learnt a lot throughout my first year and I am now in the complete right mind set to focus solely on my studies and achieve my goals. 

Going to university taught me a whole lot from living by myself to how to write a proper essay, and mainly how important my degree is to me.

Summer update!

So, I haven't really got much 'degree' related to post about this week, so I thought I would tell you all about how my summer is going... which is very well!

The one great thing about being a student at university is the LONG summer..

So:

• I've been on holiday to Spain which was amazing but a week is soooo not long enough!
• I have managed to bag myself two new jobs and I have been able to leave my old one which is great because I was not enjoying it anymore.
• It's my birthday this month..19th which I suppose is quite a boring birthday but I have loads planned, not thing necessarily to do with my birthday, some obviously, but I just have good plans in general at the moment.
• I may be planning a last minute holiday..maybe if I can afford it...I guess student shouldn't go on holiday twice a year should they...save save save! 
• I'm getting bored sometimes...long summers are good but not so good when everyone else is still at work/school.

One thing I can tell you all about is that I keep getting notifications about resits in the summer which I don't have to worry about but it's quite interesting because I can tell you all what it would be like if you did have to resit and whether you'd feel all alone because it's the summer and maybe the lecturers don't work in the summer....

WELL...
that's definitely not the case. The resit process is extremely good, lecturers have scheduled dates that they will be available throughout the summer so that students can meet with them and have revision classes which I think is really good, the tutors really care about their students and want them to do well so they give up some of their summers to help and guide those who didn't quite meet the requirements to go through to their second years but are so determined still to achieve their degrees.

There are notifications all the time on Breo about what to revise, the exam questions have been put up and it just seems like they are getting all the help they can get which is really reassuring to me and hopefully will be to all of you guys as well.

So, don't panic you wont be alone if you don't quite make it through.

I hope all of your summers are going well..

BYE! 

Lazy at uni?

So many of my friends and I have been talking about how LAZY we've become since moving into halls, this doesn't really apply if you're a commuter, but we often sit in bed all day because we either haven't got the money to go out and do something, or everyone's gone home for the weekend and we have absolutely nothing to do.

I admit that before I moved into my new flat I was guilty of most of these things, mainly because I didn't want to socialise with my old flat mates, so I'd sit in my room watching tv on my laptop, on social networking sites, speaking to family and friends from back home or when my other friends weren't at home I'd try and spend most of my time with them...although they did go home a lot.
I think it's hard to get motivated and go out when you're at university because it's just so easy and you've got everything on your doorstep, well we have here in Bedford.

But since moving into my new flat after Christmas I have been so much happier, because I'm a sociable person I hate being by myself as I just get bored so quickly, so now being able to sit in the communal area of the flat and just being able to talk to nice people is so much better, I don't think I would have many nice things to say about university life at all if I hadn't moved flats.

Saying that I would always want to be out and with people is a lie because uni gives you the best of both worlds, you can have a cosy night in by yourself which I'm sure everyone needs once in a while, or there's always someone about wanting to do something.

I'm definitely not as lazy now though, but tips to get out of that lazy, room hermit mode are;

1. Join the nearest gym, I was a member at a gym for a long time before starting university and I had every intention of joining the gym on campus however I never got round to it, which is silly because it was only £35 for the whole year!
2. Bag yourself a job! This has been a godsend to me for so many reasons; I'm not bored on weekends when uni's shut. I have met some wicked friends in my colleagues. I enjoy the job I do which is working at weddings and big events for a local hotel which helps. It gives me that extra cash to be able to go out on student nights and enjoy the fresher experience, and it means I can keep running my car whilst I'm at uni which I know I'm lucky to be able to do because most of my friends have either sold or sorn their cars while they are away. 
3. Invite friends or family from home to come and stay with you. 
4. Leave food shopping and other weekly errands until the weekend so you have something to do with your time if you're bored and your flat mates have gone home. 

I think this is a picture of the gym in my accommodation or if not it's very similar I was struggling to find it online.

University living is what you make it so try hard and you'll have an amazing experience. Everyone's in the same boat remember! 

Placements

Ok, so one of the major things I am going to be doing in second year which is different to my first is that I am going to be going on placements. I am not sure on how many or where, or many of the details actually, all I know is that I am definitely going to be doing one... which is exciting!

I can give you all an insight into why placements are so important and how to get yourself one as I have already done two placements before starting university.

I did both of them at my Primary school which is a small village school and I am glad I chose that school because I feel as though I have eased my way into learning the ways of schools without overwhelming myself by going to a huge school.
So, to get my placement I actually rang up and made an appointment to see the head who then was extremely helpful and scheduled my experience around my timetable, as I was at sixth form at the time. So, we worked out that I would do every Monday until I needed to knuckle down and revise for my A-Level exams.

It is SO important to get some experience behind yourselves not only in teaching but if you;re studying nursing, any kind of degree really, employers love experience and voluntary is a good sign that you're passionate and willing to work hard to get where you want to be.

I would say these are the best tips(that I can come up with anyway) on how to get yourself a placement;

1. Write a letter to the school to initiate your interest in doing some work experience there
2. Ring the school and ask to schedule an appointment with the head, or whoever deals with helpers coming in
3. Research the school before you go into meet who ever they have said you should meet so that you give yourself an advantage and get some background knowledge on the school and its history and goals/aims
4. Dress appropriately 
5. Be able to start immediately and make yourself as available as possible(but do not put placement before your studies!)
6. Make sure you know the name of the person you are meeting with
7. Look interested and on the ball, as if you know what to expect
8. Encourage your interviewer about why you are looking for such work experience and ensure they are aware of how much you want the position

They may seem like commonsense to some people but others may not have a clue how to dress/behave when being interviewed for a potential job. I do hope these tips help some of you and perhaps even encourage you to go out there and look for some placements for yourselves. It does feel good to already have some experience behind myself. 

Lectures, Seminars, Workshops

Hi everyone!

I thought I would write this weeks post on what really goes on at university in terms of studying and timetabling. As some of you may already know university consists of lectures, seminars and workshops so I'm going to break those down and explain them to you.

I am going to talk about them in relation to my particular university and degree as I don't want to generalise and then end up being wrong as I'm sure all universities have different ways and means.

Lectures
A lecture for me consists of every single person studying education studies as well as (dependent on the topic of lecture) certain other degrees for example 'Childhood and youth studies' are also in my Young Child lectures and 'Disability studies' accompany us in our Inclusion Through Professional Practice lectures.

So they have the biggest capacity of students sitting in lectures. I think this is because Education Studies has a lot of similar degrees and therefore we all need to study the same things sometimes so why not put us altogether and kill two birds with one stone.

Certainly this is the case for a lot of first years that I have spoken to from other universities. We will all split off into more specific groups in our second years we've been told and I do think the way they do it is a good efficient system.

I have four lectures a week, all but one are two hours long and the other is just one hour, however the time is made up with a two hour seminar. The lectures give you all the information you  need for what you're studying that week and it is entirely up to you to make notes and gain the best knowledge you can from them as you don't have lecturers nagging you like school, one thing about being a university student is how much independence you have compared to what you did have at school.

In my case, lecture notes are put up in advance so that we can print the slides off and make notes from them as that is how some people like to organize themselves. However, I do know that some lecturers prefer to put the slides up after the lecture has finished as it encourages students to attend the lectures.

This is pretty much what my lecture halls look like. Some this size and some smaller, we have a screen at the front which the slides are projected onto.

Seminars

A seminar is a group of about 20 students who have been broken down from the larger lecture group to allow a more one on one experience for the students with the tutor. Seminars always come after the lectures and are a chance for us to recap and discuss what went on in each weeks lecture within a smaller group of people. 

We often have activities to do in seminars which are always something to do with the lecture that would have happened beforehand. These are good because they allow us to think about the lecture in more depth and also hear other peoples outlooks on the lecture and topic. 

Seminars are usually an hour long with the exception of the one I have already mentioned which makes up for the short lecture. They are worth it because they allow both us students and tutors to listen and build a relationship with each other, they also give students more of an opportunity to speak out as some panic if they have a question to ask when in a large group and then never ask it. 

Workshops

Workshops are optional and are about anything and everything. I couldn't find my workshop timetable when writing this post so I will just have to give you a couple of titles of some that I can remember. 

They are basically extra lessons that specify in a very particular topic to allow students to brush up on the skills that they are not so hot at. 

A few workshops I can remember which will hopefully give you a good idea of what they are like:

• How to write a university standard essay
• A guide to referencing 
• Brush up on punctuation skills

That should give you a good insight into how a workshop works. 

They are held in the library and are open to anyone and everyone and personally I think they are a brilliant idea.They are there for students who may be worrying about something excessively and will give them the help they need to understand whatever it is they are worrying about.