Tag Archives: honours

A Simple Comment to a Video…

or Why You Don’t Ask An Internet Communications Student For A Comment On A Video Off YouTube, Because You Might Just Get What You Asked For (but that was too long for a title on my blog, so you get the simplified version).

So, it appears I cannot retire my “political hat” any time soon. If you haven’t seen it yet, here is a link from the Vice Chancellor of Curtin University, Professor Terry. All in all, it’s a good delivery of an update on the goings on around campus and what she is doing to keep up-to-date with the various campuses. I, however, have the following email which I am about to send to the Vice Chancellor, as per her invitation for comments.

And now for my extensively long comment. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Dear Professor Terry,

Thank you so much firstly for posting your video on YouTube, and for inviting comments. It is rare to hear someone in an actual position of authority openly ask for, and encourage feedback in such an engaging medium as the Web.

I was happy to hear you speak of the restructuring of the academic teaching system within Curtin University. As a current student, completing my Honours thesis this year with a view to going forward to higher degrees by research in order to join academia and the teaching profession, it is a relief to hear that you will not be cutting numbers of teaching staff. I do, however, offer my story as a view from the other side of the fence that you may not have considered in the implementation of these changes.

I began my undergraduate degree as an Open University’s Australia student, not because I wasn’t as committed to my studies as on campus students but because, as a mature aged, single parent student without high school completion dependant on public transport who was working full time in order to make ends meet, it afforded me the best possible opportunity to fit me life and study together in the same 24 hours everyone else had.

When I made the realisation that this degree I had undertaken was giving me a more rounded sense of accomplishment and personal pride than almost anything else I had undertaken, I decided that I would be furthering my studies. The staff of the department with which I was studying afforded me every opportunity to obtain the necessary information, facilitated my education with a shared passion for the learning material and concepts of study that I thought were a myth amongst academics.

This department was that of Internet Studies, out of the school of Media, Culture and Creative Arts at Curtin University – a group of academics whom I owe a great debt of gratitude and thank no end for the development of a lifelong love of learning.

This inspiration is, I’m afraid, in spite of almost being erased from the history books due to a proposed cancellation of on campus enrolments last year. This move would have seen the end of this department – the first and only dedicated Internet Studies department in Australia. The students of this department lead and won the fight to retain the opportunity to attend on campus classes, despite opposition from the chancellory of the university, through online and offline means of protest.

But my story does not stop here.

As a current Honours student in the Arts, I have seen more uncertainty regarding the offerings to students already this year than I feel is acceptable. This is absolutely through no fault of the teaching and support staff who have done the very best with what they have had available.

I am attending classes on campus, having made arrangements with my family and employer, as an off campus option has not been made available to students this year. I have been lead to understand that this is due to a revision and restructuring of the unit material and teaching method. This, in spite of having been offered as an off campus study stream in previous years.

Class timetables were finally made available to students, in order to select the  days and times of their classes, only a few days before the beginning of the semester. We then received automated confirmation that our chosen times and days would be made available, only to be told the following week that they were not, and that the classes would be combined and only available on a single day of the week. Thankfully for me, I have a moderately flexible employer who understood that these changes to my schedule were not under my control.

We were then told, just a few weeks later, that the previously possible day and time for class to be held was still available and that the consensus of the class would be the deciding factor as to whether or not the day and time of our compulsory-attendance class would be changed in the middle of the first term. While it only took a matter of an hour or so for the decision to be made by the students that keeping the current day and time would be best, the moments of panic were felt by more than just myself, I can assure you.

I was probably not the only student who felt that continuing studying would be jeopardised if the class were to change circumstances again.

I was probably not the only student who felt that their employer might not be so understanding if study circumstances were to change again.

I was probably not the only student panicking that the Honours we had invested ourselves in might be taken away from us before we had the opportunity to really get started.

What I do know for certain is, I am the only student from my department currently studying Honours with Curtin University. Why? An unofficial poll of my fellow online students puts this down to the inability of enrolling off campus.

With so many Internet Studies students currently enrolled in off campus or online only study of the Internet Communications degree, it makes no sense to not have this further education offered online if, as you say, numbers of teaching staff have not been reduced.

It makes no sense to not offer Honours online or off campus, especially with the fine online access to Curtin Library resources we now have available.

It makes no sense to not offer Honours online or off campus with the degree of control and interaction possible through the Blackboard system, which served as my lecture, seminar and tutorial space for three years quite sufficiently.

It makes no sense to not offer Honours online or off campus, when the Internet Studies department of Curtin university have shown that this mode of study facilitation can create future scholars that will, one day, make Curtin University proud.

This, Professor Terry, is why I find it difficult to believe that the current restructuring at Curtin University has no negative impact on the numbers of teaching staff available to students of Curtin University. I have seen the ability of the teaching staff of Curtin University to traverse space and time to deliver a world-class degree second to none in the world. I have also seen the trials of trying to deal with university bureaucracy when staffing changes, restructuring, budget cuts, reforms and proposed denial of access take place.

Please, if you want to be sure that these staffing changes hold no negative impact for the students of Curtin University, both current and future, I suggest you ask the current students if they are seeing any ramifications from the initial changes today. You may be surprised to hear what they have to tell standing in direct opposition to what the numbers and figures suggest.

I may be just one student telling my story today, but this is not my story alone.

Many thanks for your time,

Melissa Nile.
– current Honours student of B.A. (Internet Communications)

 

TL;DR:

I didn’t write all that so you could cheat and look for the Brodie’s Notes (and if you don’t know what they are, you’re too young!) version of my email. Go read it! And get off my lawn!

Honours – The Calm Before the Storm.

Yesterday I managed to complete all my enrollment and admissions for Honours this year. It took me long enough to find out how. The instructions were like something out of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Buried under seventy bajillion clicks to get to the right website, I then had to jump through hoops aplenty to make sure that my submission for enrollment went to the right place. It’s all done now, so all I have to do is wait another month, attend the compulsory Orientation meeting (an hour and a half of what I expect will be unbridled excitement and uncontainable joy whilst sitting in the uni stadium) then classes every Thursday afternoon.

 

Honours RollHopefully, this time next year I will be the holder of a fancy piece of paper that says I know stuff… Fingers crossed it even has the words “First Class” on it. Even if it doesn’t, I will be proud of myself. I never thought I’d get a degree, let alone graduate with Honours.

 

Here’s to the calm before the Honours storm.

The Search for the Holy Grail…

aka: information on how to apply for Honours.

Mortarboard and scrollLast year I completed my undergraduate degree in Internet Communications with Curtin university. It was a great achievement. For someone who attempted year twelve of high school twice, dropping out at the half way point each time, I never truly thought I would get this far, let alone consider a future in research or further education.

This month has seen me make some changes to my life so that I can enroll to do my Honours year on campus instead of the external online study I have been doing up until this point. It will be another first for me, as I have not attended a single class in a real life university (unless you count a day course in Old Kingdom Egyptian artifacts I did when I was 15).

Turns out, applying properly is not so easy when you haven’t already been studying on campus. Certainly not when there is no information online and no one on campus actually really understands how your degree is awarded or what is needed to get you where you need to be.

I spent the better part of a day last week finding out exactly how NOT to run applications for enrollment to an Honours program.

I drove to campus, parked my car and went to find my way to Student Central. On the way, I happened to chance upon a printed A4 piece of paper informing students that there was an information session being held for student on Honours program from 10-3pm. This was not posted online anywhere or publicised.

I thought this would be a better place to start my search for information, so I used the campus map app I had downloaded the evening prior to find my way. It wasn’t that far away, thank goodness. The temperature was already rising and I am very much NOT a summer person.

I sat through the questions asked of the coordinators by a few arts students and one journalism student, only to find none of them answered any of the questions I had hastily prepared myself on the way from the car park to the lecture room. I waited for the other students to leave then asked my questions, namely “what did I need to prepare” and “how can I find out more information on what the process is, as no one has been able to tell me everything?” Turns out that on campus students normally have lengthy talks with teachers who can offer the majority of information required for their enrollment paperwork: things like how to choose a topic and supervisor and what necessary paper work is required in order to successfully enroll.

I was then directed to Student central, which was where I was originally headed in the first place. I walked through the sweltering campus, heat radiating off the mostly brick and concrete buildings. I took my ticket and waited for my number to be called, despite being only one of two people to be waiting to be seen.

The first person who saw me was new and had no idea what to suggest, called someone else to help me. I took my seat and waited for them to come out. They too had no idea what to tell me, so had to go and check with yet another person and come back to the meeting room, only to inform me that I had to direct my queries to the humanities student services. The building for this was next to where I had been for the information session. Needless to say, I was not impressed.

It’s a good thing that I carry water with me everywhere I go. Once I had spoken to someone int he humanities building about what was required to actually submit my application (intent to graduate, application for enrollment, marks for completed units, and my thesis proposal) I walked to the library to print and fill out a form I had not been informed I would need.

I am still waiting for my final unit marks to be released by OUA (this should be happening sometime this week), and to complete my thesis proposal (which I have only just now found the information regarding the format for), return to the campus to have these join my application, then sit and wait for my offer. I know I exceed the minimum entry requirements and I know that no one else will be studying my topic, but the running around, waiting and more running around is soooooo going to be worth it when I walk across that stage either at the end of this year or early next year.

So, when looking to enrol into the Humanities Honours program at Curtin university, what do you need to prepare? As with any other academic or bureaucratic system, it is always best to double-check information given with the necessary department, as they are subject to change without notice. Here is a check list for those considering it:

  • statement of final grades from your university or record of results (if you are a OUA student, this is your statement of attainment, found here and here, respectively)
  • application form (this can be found here)
  • credit for recognised learning form (necessary if you have studied at more than one university, found here)
  • notice of intention to graduate (yes, despite what OUA might tell you, you still need to fill this out, found here)
  • ID (this can be your student card, driver’s license, proof of age card, etc etc etc)
  • thesis proposal (guidelines for writing this can be found here)

For more information, or contact details, head to Curtin University’s website for more details.