Engineering Careers

Careers in Engineering First Year Networking Event

You have enrolled and are nearly through your first year – so what is in store for your graduate engineering career?

Come and find out! Join your engineering teaching staff, our contacts from the profession and Career Services for an information and networking event.

Friday October 17th 12.00 – 2.00pm Mawson Centre

Presentions on Careers in – Mechanical Engineering Civil Engineering Electrical Engineering

Your chance to meet industry professionals and ask alumni about studying and working in engineering. What is the best part of the job? How do you research where you want to work? What can you do while studying to graduate already employed?

Registration is a must at MyCareerPlan – “Events” NB create a registration with your UniSA username and password if you haven’t already.

Reviewing peer reviewing

Some computer science students were recently asked to review each others' work. The work was an article review or annotated bibliography. That was hard enough, but then they were asked to give feedback on the experience; to review the reviewing. Here are some of the things they had to say:


What were the challenges?

• We hadn't done anything like this before
• It's difficult to criticise your classmates
• It's hard to know what the standard should be
• It's hard to judge when you haven't seen the article
  

What did you learn?

• There are different ways of viewing the same information
• How to be fair while being critical
• What the article was about; what someone else thought of it
• How to improve my own work
• How to give feedback
  

What are some phrases you found helpful in reviewing the work?

• Can you justify this?
• I don't understand this point
• You need to be more specific
• Your summary was good because...
• I recommend that...
• You are good at...but there are some limitations in...

How did you feel about reviewing/being reviewed by your classmates?

• nervous
• excited
• comfortable
• fearful
• confident
• confused
• challenged

This Wikipedia entry shows the process of peer review in the culture of journal writing.

Colorado State University has useful advice on writing review comments.

Remember, peer review should not be an intimidating process for reviewer or student. It is a 'safe' process where each participant has an equal opportunity to learn and grow.

The Learning Advisers at Mawson Lakes

Your gold passport to higher marks

Academic writing is a great journey. We don't cross the campus tarmac and suddenly find our pockets full of high distinctions.

For some (like this learning adviser) the journey - especially in undergraduate study - is painstaking and it can take until the final years until the marks are solid and the academic achievement high.

For other students, some aspects of the journey are smooth sailing but others are mountainous terrain. For example, the structure might be there, but the referencing not.

In any case, there are a few gold passport stamps which can certainly make the journey shorter and (somewhat less painful). Here are some of the main ones:

• Make sure you understand the task you are undertaking. Is it an essay? Is it a report? Is it a literature review? Is it a research proposal? Each assessment task will be very different.

• Use excellent STRUCTURE. Remember 'firstly' and 'secondly' (I first learned to become good at this working with engineering students - who are the experts!) A really great resource is Linking Words. I give this one out almost on a daily basis.
  

• Show BREADTH of reading. A 2000 word paper with only three references is very thin. Do you realise, that the reference list is one of the first places a lecturer will look when he or she marks your work? A 2000 word paper should have at least eight references (unless your lecturer says otherwise).
  

• Show QUALITY references. Not Wikipedia. Not your lecture notes or your lecturer's PowerPoint slides. Scholarly references - books from the library, databases (such as Academic Search Premier or Web of Science or IEEE Explore). You must use your recommended readings as well as extended reading.
  

• Use an ACADEMIC tone in your writing. Here's a very simple formula to get you thinking about the rhythm of the writing. Note how others write - this sometimes helps.
  

They say that 'getting there is half the fun' but the journey to academic excellence is long. These are but a few passport stamps to collect on the way through to perfection.

In reality, nobody ever really achieves 'perfection' as we are all on a path to continuous improvement - lecturer, learning adviser or student.

If you need help with navigation...do post a question (click on comments and select anonymous, Google blogger or name).




Still travelling...

Andrea






Passport Image from: www.immigrationphotos.us

News Digest

Hi students

Here are a few snippets which might be of interest.

Expressions of Interest

• Do you have a passion for Mawson Lakes?
• Would you like a part-time job with flexibility?
• Do you enjoy interacting with other members of the community?

Then this could be the job for you!

As you know the Mawson Lakes Community Website is a unique online community resource that provides a comprehensive range of information, resources and online tools.

Due to recent expansion, the position of Community Website Administrator, responsible for the day to day operation of the site, is now available.

The position is a two year contract to continue the growth of the Website and its sustainability in the Mawson Lakes community. Mawson Lakes Development takes pride in the commitment we make to our employees and whilst it is a part-time role we can be flexible on working hours and arrangements with the right candidate.

For further information, please contact Megan O’Brien on 8260 3333.

*****

Writing in the Sciences

Register now for Kicking goals with Referencing to be held this Friday, 12.00pm - 1.00pm in G2-31.

Writing in the Sciences blog has a feature on The 7 Cs of successful oral presentations

******

Letters Home Competition

Study Adelaide invites you to submit text, photo and video entries to it's Letters Home competition. You can win up to $500.00. Entries close September 17.


The Learning Connection @ Mawson Lakes team

UniSA Changed My Life

Vandana and Dr Ruth Geer: graduation photo, August 14th, 2008

Vandana commenced the Masters of Teaching degree at Mawson Lakes mid-year in 2006.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank UniSA for making a difference in my life. I studied Masters of Teaching course from UniSA at Mawson Lakes Campus. I came to Australia and did a two year program which helped me to become a teacher. The support and encouragement I got from my teachers and Learning Connection was just unbelievable. I am currently working as a Home Economics Teacher at Findon High School for a semester. This course really changed my life and helped me to explore myself as a person. The course is well designed for International student to adapt their teaching skills to cater for the demands of Australian schools.

When I reflect back at my uni days, I think that I have come a long way. When I started my studies in July, 2006 I struggled to learn about the very basic things like accessing books through the catalogue or making assignments but Learning Connection helped me to make my way. I ended up getting 3 distinctions in a row in my first semester. Moreover, my Program Director Dr. Ruth Geer is a charasmatic person and the way she understands and support International students make a big difference. I am really proud to be a part of UniSA and will always remain grateful that it provided me a platform to explore my abilities and to establish myself as a good teacher like my role model 'Ruth'. I think that I have miles to go ....

How’s it going?

• 
  
  If you’ve been relaxing and taking it easy, it’s time to focus on what you signed up for. It’s week three already. It’s so easy to lose track of time when you're having fun. A few timely questions:
  
  Are you attending all classes?
  

This is an important question because there is a clear link between attendance and results. Your success is likely to depend on you knowing what is emphasized in your lectures and other classes, your support networks: the people you know .

What else? You might need to get organised.

• Have you mapped out all your assessment tasks on a study planner?
• Have you compared assignments to see where the weighting is in terms of workload and marks?
• Have you thought about how you’re going to manage study and your job in those very busy weeks? Do you need to speak to your boss now?
• Have you put the due dates into your diary?
• If you are doing group assignments have you scheduled your planning meetings?
• If you have major exams, are you already organising your notes, readings etc into themes/topics that will be easy to revise?

There’s a lot to do and good people around you to do it with. But if organisation and networking aren'treally your thing, explore the links to resources. You might find one or two useful hints that will help you make it all more fun and more successful.

All the best,

Helen

Name that footwear!

Warm greetings to all students! And welcome to my first post on Learning Connection @ Mawson Lakes.

My name is Damien and I have just joined the team at Mawson Lakes Campus as an International Student Officer, located in the Learning Connection offices just inside the Sir Eric Neill Library (C Building on your maps).

I am here to support international students throughout their study and I can assist with student visa issues; work permissions; tax file numbers; letters for banks or Department of Immigration, applications for leave of absence or deferral.

If you have a question and you are not sure who can help you then come by and see me and I will do my best to assist you or refer you to one of our Learning Advisers or Counsellors.

I know that some of you have come from warmer climes and are currently experiencing an Adelaide winter for the first time so I would like to take the opportunity to introduce you to a humble Australian innovation known as the “Ugg” boot.

Ugg boots are made from genuine or synthetic sheepskin wool and are a type of cold weather footwear popular in New Zealand and Australia, you may well have seen someone wearing ugg boots already and thought to yourself “what are they?”.

The origin of the Ugg boot goes back to the early days of aviation when pilots in exposed cockpits required footwear that would prevent frostbitten feet and toes. It doesn’t get quite that cold in Adelaide I assure you but it can be quite chilly catching the bus to Uni in the morning or in the evenings studying and some of you may wish to invest in a pair of “uggies”.

Ugg boots are available from a number of retailers including large retail stores such as K-Mart, Big-W and also at nearby Junction Markets in Kilburn. You can even purchase a pair on-line! Genuine sheepskin ugg boots can be quite expensive, usually at least AUD$100, but they are prized for their comfort and warmth. Cheaper synthetic ugg boots usually cost around AUD$10-30 and are a cheaper but still warm and “comfy” alternative.

All the best
Damien

Picture of 'Uggies' from Fashionspot.wordpress.com

Bollywood Festival

The Learning Connection Team