General Rant: Are these really 3rd year students?

[Wyvern]

When you get down to such fine detail "Fowler's Modern English Usage" is reckoned to be the definitive reference worldwide, and it changes slightly with each new edition..

 

[Ivo]

The same is true this side of the city too. I was talking to one of the people in my lectures earlier today, and he was saying that one of the freshers he knows decided to get on the Portsmouth Harbour train in an attempt to get to Bristol. They realised when they got to Trowbridge :roll:

Good to know you appreciate this happens. The number of times some of your lot having tried to board a SPA1 expecting it to ferry them right through to Calverton is ridiculous! If only First still used the old Magnetic Validator Cards, because it was amusing watching them get wasted in the SPA1 machines before their users realised they were on the wrong bus...!

 

[Dennis]

Speaking as a 3rd year student who just had to complete their first report - it's very possible for a 3rd year student not to have the faintest idea how to write accademically. I didn't, nor did my partners.

I find that statement disheartening; do you never bone up on subjects by reading journals and research papers? Being able to critically appraise others work is not only a useful skill in its own right but a good way of learning not only about a subject but also how to write a good report. Read a good one and you will feel inspired, struggle through a few bad ones and you'll soon realise the value of a well written piece of work.

Or is everything spoon-fed or copied and pasted these days? I still recall day 1 of my degree course - being told that the lecturers were not there to teach but that I was there to learn.

 

[Badger]

I find that statement disheartening; do you never bone up on subjects by reading journals and research papers? Being able to critically appraise others work is not only a useful skill in its own right but a good way of learning not only about a subject but also how to write a good report. Read a good one and you will feel inspired, struggle through a few bad ones and you'll soon realise the value of a well written piece of work.

Or is everything spoon-fed or copied and pasted these days? I still recall day 1 of my degree course - being told that the lecturers were not there to teach but that I was there to learn.

Should have mentioned, I'm on a computer games programming course. Really shouldn't be an academical course. Indeed the only reason we have to do "a" report in the three years is to justify it being academic.

 

[Nym]

I'll tip toe around getting onto the topic of degrees that really shouldn't be degrees...

Not to mention mickey mouse courses where they have seen exam papers!

 

[Wyvern]

There's a lot of politics here. I've heard a whisper that even OFSTED cannot criticise the teaching of some courses because they are part of some flagship scheme. Some commercially provided courses of course are paid by the number of passes.

I got my first grounding in report writing by writing up my Physics and Chemistry practicals, but I dont think they are taught any more.

 

[Ivo]

I'll tip toe around getting onto the topic of degrees that really shouldn't be degrees...

Not to mention mickey mouse courses where they have seen exam papers!

Hold up a minute Nym. Both you start saying that, I invite you to come visit Spa for a day. After that we shall see if your former understanding of a Mickey Mouse Degree will still be the same as it is now...

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Both you start saying that, I invite you to come visit Spa for a day. After that we shall see if your former understanding of a Mickey Mouse Degree will still be the same as it is now...

If I were to attempt a comparison between Degree level courses, I think I'd want to examine their intellectual legacies and not the daily experience of students.
Some knowledge of the Lecturers' knowledge and experience might also assist.

I'd feel more confident in a judgement if it was based on the analytic practice and capabilities of its Graduates than a snapshot of life in the University.

Where have our finest minds been trained? Which subjects have they studied?

 

[Ascot]

I'll tip toe around getting onto the topic of degrees that really shouldn't be degrees...

Not to mention mickey mouse courses where they have seen exam papers!

I wouldn't knock naff courses so soon. Those people end up doing the low grade jobs you wouldn't dream of doing. It keeps the world spinning, people happy and everything in order.


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[Nym]

Rutherford, Physics, UMIST...

more to follow...

 

[sprite]

Rutherford, Physics, UMIST...

more to follow...

I just love that last week I had a lecture in Bragg in the Schuster lab and part of the content was Bragg's work, and the amount of times we have done work based on Rutherford's research in the Rutherford theatre. Ofcourse it would be nicer if we could do some of the work in the same building they did, but Schuster is a pretty nice building with good views from the top.

Are EE still confined mostly to North Campus then? I think it is a bit of a shame how little of Sackville Street bldg gets used for teaching as that is a truely beautiful building. I remember my first exam in the entrance hall I spent a good few minutes before it started just admiring the room.

Also back onto the topic of the sustainabillity module, are your group really quite too Nym. My housemate was commenting on how little her group speak and that they just look at each other blankly when asked questions by their supervisor.

 

[Nym]

I just love that last week I had a lecture in Bragg in the Schuster lab and part of the content was Bragg's work, and the amount of times we have done work based on Rutherford's research in the Rutherford theatre. Ofcourse it would be nicer if we could do some of the work in the same building they did, but Schuster is a pretty nice building with good views from the top.

You'll be pleased to know that the ex physics space on F, G, H, I and J floors in the UMIST main building are now pretty much deserted with a few admin offices and only really using the Control Systems Centre in F1, the lecture theatre in F47, a smattering of offices on the North side, and two lecture theatres in G37 and G41, the rest is just collecting dust.

Are EE still confined mostly to North Campus then? I think it is a bit of a shame how little of Sackville Street bldg gets used for teaching as that is a truely beautiful building. I remember my first exam in the entrance hall I spent a good few minutes before it started just admiring the room.

We're confined entirely to the North Campus, and I like it like that!
E&EE lives in the Sackville St Building with most of our labs in there, but we do share some labs with the MACE dearment in Feranti, George Begg and Pariser Buildings. Most lectures take place either in SSB/F47, C36, or some of the smaller theatres in SSB, or mainly in Reynold Building. I remember having some in The Old Mill, MSS Building and Feranti, but I beleive most of these buildings facilities where run down post merger when Physics etc. moved to South Campus, and now they've realised they don't have enough space the're spending a fortune re-doing all the theatres up here that where previously neglected, mainly in the UMIST Main building, a new lab in the George Begg Building, and the're soon moving on to the Farraday Buildings and Maths and Social Science Building to get more seminar rooms, offices and lecture theatres together. But they still favour south over north campus, this is especially anoying when one has a lecture in the Stopford Building, especially when most of them are in the Sackville St Building, (1st and 2nd year students use the Reynold Building).
As far as I know the only schools based up here now are in the EPS Faculty and are the School of EEE (Sackville St Building A - G Floors), School of MACE (Pariser and George Begg Building), and School of Meterials (Sackville St C Floor Admin and the A Floor Lab). I can't think of anyone else based up here now.

Also back onto the topic of the sustainabillity module, are your group really quite too Nym. My housemate was commenting on how little her group speak and that they just look at each other blankly when asked questions by their supervisor.

And yes, most of my group are dumbstruck and stupid whenever they get asked a question, it's no supprise really since they have never actually had to work with eachother before outside of spesifically assigned lab tasks, and even then, the 2nd year group project usually fails because the group fails.

 

[Ivo]

If I were to attempt a comparison between Degree level courses, I think I'd want to examine their intellectual legacies and not the daily experience of students.
Some knowledge of the Lecturers' knowledge and experience might also assist.

I'd feel more confident in a judgement if it was based on the analytic practice and capabilities of its Graduates than a snapshot of life in the University.

Where have our finest minds been trained? Which subjects have they studied?

A snapshot of the courses available at Bath Spa: http://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate

Not exactly Oxbridge is it? At least mine is one of the decent ones.