April 2013 MALIC Residency in York

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Hi everyone,

Just back from York, after an exciting (albeit tiring too!) week with an amazing group of students. Forty-five people from all corners of the world, including the usual suspects South Africa, the UK, Nigeria,  Kenya, UAE, but also some representatives from countries  like Trinidad and Tobago, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Papua New Guinea. The wealth of backgrounds and cultures in any one of these residencies is a source of constant amazement and joy – learning is so much richer for everyone, including teaching and supporting staff.

Dissertation “round”-table discussions

The week was quite busy, but luckily the weather was on our side and did not give anyone any reasons to wish to be outside the classroom – the sun only shone for 10 minutes on Thursday, just enough to give us time to take a group photo in the Quad, the oldest part of the University.

A happy bunch - April 2013 residency in York

A happy bunch – April 2013 residency in York – © George Boak and Brendan Paddison

As you can see, most people still managed to smile despite the intense schedule and serious discussions around research and Master level dissertations. Many of them will have gone back by now to their homes, thinking about their research subjects – and we seriously expect to see many of them back in York for graduation in the Minster.

York does see a bit of sun from time to time, and even for periods of time longer than 10 minutes – a vibrant city, York has a very well developed tourism industry, and that can be seen by simply walking the streets of York during business hours. Since our students were slightly busy during those hours (we all were, in reality), I went out on a documentary mission on Saturday, just in case they missed it.

So, I give you York, in April:

First, the University, with its more modern part in which we were hiding from the rain all week, the FOSS building all the way to the right.

Old and new – a modern campus

Then, the streets leading to the Minster, with a river of people enjoying the sun.

York Minster and the Ghost Walk

A glimpse into the past with this ice cream cart and its customers?

Jackson’s icecream of York

How about the Moaning Lisa, who feared she might fade away from such intense exposure to sunlight?

“The sun’s too bright, I may need sunglasses” © 2013 the Moaning Lisa

The Shambles, much more populated than at those late night hours when some of the people in the above photo group (you know who you are, and don’t even think about saying I was with you…) walked them home…

The Shambles

Live music, which always manages to stop people in their tracks, well, if it is good, I guess, and Ed was indeed amazing! A one man orchestra, and you can tell people were impressed! Look him up on Amazon for an audio preview and let yourself “teleported” to York.

Ed Alleyne-Johnson live in York

Thanks again to all of you attending and sharing with the rest of us your life experiences, visions for the future and hopes for a renewed meeting at the November graduation, be it 2013 or 2014! See you all there!

Students for students: Donald’s impressions on MALIC

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A few minutes after recording the video of Jaap, I managed to grab hold of Donald. I believe I’m not mistaken in saying that the November residency attendants unanimously elected him the “joker” of the group. You will notice he cannot help it and lets his young heart show in this short clip as well, even if he speaks of serious things, like the commitment needed to be successful in the programme.

So I give you Donald!

Students for students: Jaap’s advice for the York residency and more!

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Hello everyone,

Although I am in the middle of reading midterms for the January cohort, I could not resist the temptation to surprise you all with a new video from the Students4Students series. Today our special guest is Jaap, whom some of you will know either from the residency or from our online world.

I caught up with Jaap last year in York, and for reasons outside my control the video was delayed again and again, but now it is here. Jaap has some practical advice for those of you attending the York residency, and also some advice about the programme in general.

Students for students: Patricia and Mike’s advice on reading for academic writing

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Hello everyone,

I’m sure you’ve missed me 😉 Life has a funny habit of getting in the way at times, so I have been very silently on the blog lately. Now however, I am back, with a new piece of advice from one of your fellow students, Patricia, whom I’ve met in Zurich last summer. Time flies – it will be almost one year ago soon!

Anyway, neither myself nor the MALICs present at the dinner managed to convince Patricia to stand in for a short video, but she promised she’d send us something once she’s home, and she did! Patricia works as a Senior Digital Inclusion Specialist, and here’s what she had to say about her experiencing in MALIC, with a particular emphasis on reading for the modules:

Patricia – MALIC lesson learnt

"This was taken the weekend of her wedding last year, so a very happy time for us as we had a quiet mother/daughter meal together." ~ Patricia

“This was taken the weekend of her wedding last year, so a very happy time for us as we had a quiet mother/daughter meal together.” ~ Patricia, Sep’2011 cohort, Qatar

I will add to this what I also told Patricia on listening to her recording for the first time: in reality, it is difficult to give a generic piece of advice in what concerns reading. We are all different, and different types of learners read differently – one may be very comfortable skim-reading, while another will find that unless they read everything cover to cover they can’t make sense of it.

Just as I was preparing this post this morning a further discussion on this topic was taking place in the Induction module, where Mike, another MALIC “veteran”, had the following to say:

My experience is that in the beginning you try to read the books from cover to cover but I found that I quickly became overwhelmed and depressed at my lack of progress, so you need to learn to read differently.

I learned to take a topic in a book and read that and then look for similar topics in other books to get a range of opinions on that topic. Some you can read properly if it sounds valuable and some you scan looking for things of interest. Try also to read all the Introductions in each book to give them context.

Doing this means you can get through up to 25 books or articles in a module without have to read all of them completely. Only read what is relevant and what fits into the section you are researching using the Power Point slides in each unit as a guide. You will find things of interest not covered in the slides which is also good.

I always tried to thoroughly read the essential books and not so thoroughly the recommended books, but do look out for the recommended books marked with a # as they are usually very good.

Mike, Sep’2011 cohort, Papua New Guinea

 

Students for students – Kaiss’ advice on using journals

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Hello everyone,

I thought I’d fire just one last post before the end of the world 😉 So here’s Kaiss’ advice on reading – just like many of you, Kaiss is a busy person and it seems he found a good way of reducing slightly the amount of reading one must do to catch up with the field.

We too, of course, often tell students to read journal articles, both because they summarise the theory before making their own point, but also because they are more recent than some of the books out there – but who listens to the prof?

I give you Kaiss:

Students for students: Sean’s tip about academic thinking

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Hello everyone,

After a somewhat longish break, here I am again with some more videos from the Zurich residency last autumn (so far already, considering the 20cm of snow on my balcony!). Today’s student is Sean, who works for Vodafone as solutions architect and holds, as he says it, a Bachelor of Experience. Here’s his tip about wrapping your head around all these academic theories!

Enjoy, and drop a word off for Sean to say thanks – he had the impossible task of staying focused in a room of 30 MALICs having fun 🙂

Students for students: Greg’s advice on assignment writing

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You have probably noticed a bit of silence since my return from York – breaking the routine of daily life has an effect on tutors as well, just as it does on students: had to focus on delivering feedback on midterm drafts for the September cohort, so the blog took the back seat.

Back now, and continuing our series on student tips and tricks, here comes Greg, with a bit of advice on writing assignments. Greg was also in Zürich and had a part in making everyone have a jolly good time.

The floor to Greg:

Live from York: Graduation for RKC’s own MALICs – photos inside!

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I have been telling you for about a week now about the excitement this week was to be filled with. Well, guess what, today was graduation day, and we got to see, cheer and hug our very first MALICs to graduate from York St John in the York Minster.

Yours truly had a good seat for taking some unofficial photos, and as promised (and demanded – hi Biliana!), here they are! You might recognise Francis, Adriaan, Reda, Helgi and of course Sarah, George, and Alistair. Susan received the Postgraduate Prize in Leading Innovation and Change, so congratulations are in order!

 

Live from York: MALIC residency well under way

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Hi everyone,

So excited yesterday about meeting a whole group of MALICs that I even forgot to take any photos. I mended this today: here are the MALICs in one of the group-discussion sessions. To be continued with reports from tomorrow’s graduation!

There are many photo cameras in the room – feel free to share your own photos on our Google+ page!

Deanna’s MALIC story

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Currently on my way to the airport, heading for yet another week of excitement in York, in the company of more than 50 MALICs: 40 attending their residency, and about 20 attending their own graduation! Will try to have some photos from the event as well.

Seen how so far I am the most prolific RKC blogger, I’m leaving you with a bit of a testimony from Deanna, a soft-spoken jamaican with a big heart.

Sorry for the rather noisy audio, but a room full of MALICs having fun tends to get noisy! Thanks Deanna for sharing your experience with the rest of us and hope to hear from you and the good things that happen in Jamaica!

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