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

Muditha on Studying at UniSA - Part 3

The Library at Mawson Lakes

In the first half of 2008 Muditha began the Masters of Teaching (LMTC), a two year PG Masters by coursework degree. She is planning to teach SOSE and English. See earlier posts.

Study here is different. As a class we share problems.

I soon found the lectures were very good. They were different from my experience in Sri Lanka because they are done as a presentation not in a lecture form. It’s all about sharing information, arranging discussions with groups, talking with individual students. Lecturers give handouts that are very good. I’ve really enjoyed my studies in all my courses. Even the readings are good: they back me up. My favourite course was Introduction to Australian Education by David Williams. His teaching is very interesting. Earlier I had no idea about the Australian education system. We also got help from Gretchen, a former International graduate student who comes to the lectures and helps with assignments. She is very good.

I was worried about understanding and speaking English: I thought I would not be able to understand the language here. But after coming to class I thought 'I can get it'. The lecturers always give handouts on the topics. I also find that lecturers speak slowly and clearly. Other Australians, in schools and restaurants, speak very quickly. And they speak slang which is not spoken by the lecturers. Here we get lots of encouragement to develop our English and learn local sayings so we can understand other people.

Muditha’s important tips for new students:Make lots of friends in different groups: do not limit yourself only to the people from your own country. Australian friends will help you get an understanding of Australian culture. It’s so interesting: everything is different: eating, talking, everything.

My top 3 tips for new students are:

1. don’t be anxious about asking for help



2. give priority to your studies at first. It is easy to lose that focus if you have a job.



3. be positive about everything that is happening

Muditha

Reading and Writing - Natural born friends?

Reading and writing go together naturally – or do they? Understanding the various readings set for study and then explaining those ideas in your own words is a challenge for many students.

We find that it doesn’t matter what level of study you’re doing there are always new demands.
If you’re studying in Oz for the first time or starting Uni from school, you are sure to find some things are different. Students are confronted by:

• The amount of required reading
  
• The emphasis on using academic sources
  
• Understanding the nature and purpose of some of the reading
  
• The complexity of some texts –so many new terms
  
• Keeping track of ideas – theirs and yours
  
• Critically analysing texts as well as understanding them
  
• Using sources without plagiarizing accidentally – such a big issue!

How can you build on your existing reading strategies? Check out these Learning Connection resources for great suggestions:

Notemaking from reading

Reading Log

Critical and analytical reading

Best of luck

Helen

We would like to hear from you! Now that we are in Week 1 of SP5 do you have any questions? Post a comment below.

Finding a Home Muditha's story... Part 2

In the first half of 2008 Muditha began the Masters of Teaching (LMTC), a two year PG coursework degree. She is planning to teach SOSE and English. Here are some of her early impressions of moving to and studying in Adelaide.

The main problem was finding a room. The motel was very expensive. Because we came during the Fringe Festival it was hard to find accommodation: it took one week to find us a room in a shared house.

We got addresses from the website then we had to catch the bus to go to look at places. One bus driver was very kind. We were setting out late to look at a house. He said he could drop us off nearby but there’d be no buses after 7pm and it was not a nice area. He called other drivers from his bus and confirmed there were no other busses. He arranged for another driver to collect us to drive us back to the main road. This showed us if you ask for help you meet good people. People will not try to cheat you or mislead you. We have found bus drivers here very helpful.

After a week we found a furnished house close to the campus and we share this with other students from the UK, India and China. We like sharing with different nationalities: it’s interesting. We help each other and we all speak in English. This is good for our English. The Indian guy in the house said he’d help find a job for my husband. This was good as we had to pay a deposit for our room and the rent was always high: $170 per week. The landlord wasn’t nice. But it was ok and good to be with students. To be continued...

Muditha

The wonderful world of wikis

Once you get the hang of them, wikis are great for group work and projects. They also take a bit of learning.

Here is a quick video which gives you a snapshot of the function of the wiki in plain English (produced by Common Craft). Highly recommended - especially for first year engineers!

Muditha's words of wisdom for commencing International students..Part 1

In the first half of 2008 Muditha began the Masters of Teaching (LMTC), a two year PG coursework degree. She is planning to teach SOSE and English. Here are some of her early impressions of moving to and studying in Adelaide.

Day 1
When I first arrived in Australia from Sri Lanka it was very strange, very. I was totally confused and didn’t know what to do. I arrived with my husband and we were just married. When we came into the airport after we landed it was very different: people moving about, talking in English, very busy, not smiling at all. We felt that we are strangers. Having come with him was the only relief because I could talk to him in my own language. My husband had travelled before but not me. Yet it was strange for him too.

We went to the motel that was booked for us: it was ok but although it was on the main road it was lifeless. There were not many people in the motel. We were missing the family, missing friends, everything. We felt very alone; we do not have anybody here.

We wanted to tell our parents we had arrived so we went in search of a phone box. We didn’t know about phone cards or anything. We couldn’t find a phone. A taxi driver, an Indian man, stopped and asked if we had just arrived. We said we had and were looking for a phone to call our parents. He gave us his phone and told us to phone our parents. He was very kind and helpful. He told us it was good in Australia but you have to ask for help. Ask people and they will help you. We were lucky to meet this helpful person the first day. He really encouraged us and gave us good advice. And he showed us the bus stop and told us about buying the ticket and how to come to the university. He gave us his number and said we could contact him for more help. He also said we should aim for jobs in the field we are experienced in.

It’s different here. If people go to my country, many people will talk to you. Here they won’t talk to you unless you ask them. But then they will be very helpful.

Muditha