Lee’s Daily Blog

A few of us were discussing over lunch today what makes a great lecturer.

Is it someone highly knowledgeable about a subject?
Yes they know a lot and if you have questions about a subject, they can probably answer them in a confident manner. However, these academics haven’t always got the best teaching skills, often making it difficult to learn what they’re trying to get across

Is it someone who gives you plenty of hints for the exam?
Although you may appreciate it for passing the module, how much is this setting you up for when you may need the content of the module elsewhere. In cases where you’re being forced to do a module, but you feel it is really of no use to you, is this the best type of lecturer to have?

Is it someone who has been lecturing the same module for a number of years?
At this stage, they normally have reasonable lecturing skills. They should also know the subject material pretty well. However, we felt they were normally bored of it if they were onto their 5th/6th time of teaching the same thing.

What are your thoughts on what makes the best type of lecturer?

A good video of our now former SU President, Alex Nicholson-Evans, discussing achievements for BUSU in the past year and what can be looked forward to in the future.

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Further to my post on the U18 Vs The Bright Orange Bus, could we be seeing the U18 making another move towards taking some of First’s business and making it more likely for people to switch.

The following was posted on the Uniconnect facebook group:

Having the buses going till 3am – even only 2 an hour, would certainly remove one of the main arguments of getting a U18 bus pass. It would also make life a lot easier for people getting home after the SU’s club nights.

All we need now is a joint bus pass between the two services.

I’m bogged down with revision for my last three exams at the moment, but saw this video posted by Bath Students’ Union President – Alex Nicholson-Evans and thought I had to share it

It’s a brief video showing some of the things BUSU has achieved in the last year – from Freshers’ Week to the success of societies to the various campaigns that have run throughout the year and of course – improvements to the buses.

At the end of the video, there is even some good news on their latest project – the new Student Centre.

More can be found out about BUSU at BathStudent.com

This Post is for Thursday 14th May, 2009

At the start of this week a new battle started around Bath – the Battle of the Buses between First and Wessex Connect.

The Existing Service - The 18/418 - The Bright Orange Bus, provided by First

Vs

The Newcomer - The U18 - UniConnect - Provided by Wessex Connect

This Monday Wessex Connect launched its rival service to the 18/418 – the U18. Concentrating on the Oldfield Park to University route, it has been highly campaigned for from the Students’ Union as an improvement to the bus service from First – a topic of conversation which seems to frequently come up.

The U18 was announced at the same time that Wessex Connect announced that they would start providing an alternative to the cancelled 20a/c service in Bath. As well as providing more buses and lower fares than first, they also announced that they would be donating 1p per ticket sold to a charity, chosen by students.

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The University of Bath broke up for its Easter holidays last week. Since then, I’ve still be on campus every day doing work of some sort – but it is so desserted up here! It’s almost as bad as it was in the Summer Holidays.

The SU bars are closed, with Pitstop (Sandwich Shop), on reduced hours and extremely reduced options (almost to the point of why bother opening). The University bar is on reduced opening hours too.

Now I know most Freshers’ go home for the holidays, but I feel sorry for those who are still here. Their options are dramatically reduced and they’re even limited with travelling into / out of town itself due to the buses running a reduced frequency service and finishing earlier.

I’ve even been surprised with how empty the Library is. Even with the holidays, I was expecting it to still be reasonably busy with people working on Coursework and final year projects, but it doesn’t seem to be that full when I look through the windows.

The reduced number of people also seems to make a difference on Internet speeds (especially wireless) – everything seems to be running a lot quicker and smoother.

I do quite like looking out of the office window onto an emptier parade, but it does seem to be lacking the atmosphere somewhat.

Bath University Parade in Snow

The University was hoping to open almost as normal today, but how are they doing so far?

Update 8:02am: The university has now cancelled 9.15 lectures as well as 8.15. There are also no buses running up the hill yet. Keep an eye on Twitter or internal news for updates. Should hear more from the university by 8.45.

Update 8:25am: Apparently the STV will be open as normal today.

Update 8:50am: all lectures before midday have been cancelled. The refresh fair has also been postponed to another day. Still no buses running.

Update 10:00am: Buses still not running to the University. Some other bus routes in Bath are attempting to run though. For further bus updates follow the bus service on twitter @bathcsc

Update 10:19am: The University is now closed for the whole day. Further information for people on campus is due to be posted on the internal news page soon. Fresh is open till 2pm today.

Update 10:27am: Looks like the STV can’t saty open and will be closing at 2pm today.

Update 11:15am: The Flirt! Foam Party has also been postponed and will be taking place next week. Check the internal news page for the most up to date list of shop opening /closings. Worthy of note though is Level 1 will be open for food between 11:30am and 2pm tomorrow.

Photo by Katie Mabery

For those of you looking, the University of Bath is closed today (5th February).

Look at the internal university news page for updates.

Update (9:50 am): uLive has been cancelled for tonight (The Twang)

Update (11:56 am): All ICIA related things have been cancelled. The busses are running again though if you wish to get on/off campus

Update (7:57 pm): The University should be open again tomorrow, although any 8:15 lectures have been cancelled. Expect an update on the campus homepage by 8am tomorrow if any of this changes.

A bonus post for you. It has been all over the news about snow in the UK. In Bath, we haven’t had much yet, however I took the following photos on my way out of a lecture.

Lake at The University of Bath in The Snow

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This post is for Thursday 1st January, 2009

It seems strange to talk about a new year in Bath because at this stage, there isn’t really much new about it. Next week is revision week, followed by two weeks of exams.

As such, we don’t start our next semester for another 3 weeks, so there isn’t really a ‘new’ feeling until then.

That is unless, you’re frantically revising and realising you can’t really remember covering some of the content, in which case, you’re learning a lot of new things. Fortunately, it’s not too much like that for me, however there is a lot of frantic revision going on.

Having a Christmas break is a bit deceptive, when over the few weeks you have off, you need to finish a coursework project and revise for 4 exams, all fairly early in the exam timetable. On top of that I’ve had the fun of sorting out placement applications and organising interview dates. All in all, it gives you a small amount of time to enjoy Christmas, but not a huge amount. (continue reading…)