I think that the timetabling of the Preparation for Self-Directed Study module could be improved: I would reschedule the seminars and workshops to an earlier date rather than leaving them so late in January.

Examples include Dave’s talks and Adrienne’s workshops, Alison Stirling’s workshop, Dreamweaver workshops: all held in January when nearly everyone was concentrating on getting the visual culture essays handed in. (I certainly was).

I would suggest moving these workshops to an earlier date in the module run. (Eg: November or December.)

Also there was a dubbing seminar scheduled for 02/04/2009, which I don’t remember having. (In 2008 I attended a seminar by Dominc Grant, Duncan Speakman & Eiffion Jones. That seminar was extremely helpful!)

It was great to see Garry Stadden and Martyn Harries again, but I think that these lectures should have been scheduled earlier. I was sad to find out that Martyn’s foley workshop had to be cancelled due to insufficient funds. In 2008 I wasn’t allowed in because the workshop reached the maximum number of participants.

My other suggestion is to spread the seminars apart. There were some examples when I would have liked to attend both documentary and drama seminars but I couldn’t go because there was a workshop that I had to attend. I like going to university, but if everything is crammed into one day I can’t learn what I would like. I learn what I must learn.

There has been major improvements since last year, which I am very happy about.

Apart from one of those really (and I mean really) noisy computers are gone, so now it is possible to listen to what is going on in the final mix.

The computers have MS Word on them, which is great, considering that I’m using word templates to log my recordings. Absolute essential.

The only thing that I would suggest is to get FLAC codec installed but that is not so important as the previous two items on the list. Well done!

First the idea of having to come in once a week sounded great. Then I started reading between the lines; actually I had to come in every day (not that I mind it, no, not at all!)

What I did mind though was that there were seminars and lectures which would have interested me, but it was impossible to attend them. The reason? I either had a tutorial or another seminar or lecture or workshop. This I think misses the point of the 3rd year. I believe that students should be able to pick and choose the lectures they want to go to.  As far as I can see things the course’s timetabling could be changed. There is hardly anything to do in the 1st year, and in the 3rd year there is an incredible amount of information dumped on us. (Workshop wise – certainly)

I missed what I missed, there’s not much I can do about it.

I have problems with the university’s (or at least some people’s view working within it) overall attitude towards teaching. It was a Z7 camera workshop, when I heard the words from a technician: ‘You are students. You are not expected to do things well’.

I highly disagree with this mindset. I might be a student, but the least I expect from my tutors is to encourage me to do things well, and learn them well. This lazy attitude of ‘experiment just for the sake of it’ can prove utterly useful and challenging, but on the other hand it can turn the opposite way and make us lazy.

With some people this already happened. They became lazy, because their minds are soaked with this attitude. This attitued also has a nother side effect: some university empolyees are escaping to answer my questions. I really hate it when someone doesn’t answer my question because the answer might be complicated. How am I expected to learn new things? Will that person be there in my life when I’m faced with the same question and I’m standing there shrugging my shoulders?

Here is another positive feedback.

I am person, who relies on his diary when it comes to allocating time for work (both as a student and employee). This is a practice I got into in the past year or so.

Having been to the induction, I have to say well done for coming up with a schedule that can be used as a solid basis for the next 15 weeks! Knowing that there are definite days of the week when certain activities will be taking place is simply great! (lectures = thursdays / seminars = mostly fridays / workshops = mondays, fridays / etc…)

Thank you very much! Now it’s easier to fit my life around my studies.

I think that feedback shouldn’t be just about the things that need improvement, it is equally valid to comment on successful decisions being made. In relation to this thought, I feel it is important to comment on the visual culture lectures being recorded in my second year.

As a student, whose first language isn’t English, I think that recording the lectures was a thoughtful decision. I didn’t have to worry if I didn’t understand what the lecturers were talking about, because I knew that there was a chance for me to listen back. It is a shame that this kind of support is not available in our final year.

IBC is a great exhibition, full of people who share the same interest and they are all enthusiastic about what they do.

I believe that it would improve our technicians attitude (and widen their knowledge) if they could visit the exhibition in the future and exchange ideas about current trends within the industy. I think that the resource managers could also find themselves in an appropriate environment to get the information about where the industry is going. It’s only once in a year!

Hungarian and British essays differ in style. At least that’s what I thought. My previous essays were more descriptive (Hungarian style) than discoursive (British style), and I knew this is what I had to improve upon. I believe that my second (year) essay was much better then the previous because:

• I had the luxury of talking to several tutors before writing
• I was already aware that I have to engage in a discussion (argument) rahter than being descriptive
• I had time to rewrite the basic drafts (even though I ran out of time by doing this)
• I got more engaged in the data collecting process
• I had access to and therefore I read ‘The Writing Guide‘

I can not emphasise the importance of the last point! I believe that even my first year essay could have been better had I known about the guide.

However, the quality of the essay degraded, because I chose my subject withouth thinking about the implications the topic could touch upon. In other words: I didn’t think of the keywords, which would describe the topics my essay would connect to (advertising, consumer culture, and at some point celebrity chef culture).

This resulted in me realising slightly late that the topic I chose didn’t really interest me. (Actually a fraction of it did, the others didn’t.) At that point, it was too late to back out of it. Knowing that thinking of keywords is a powerful way of determining whether I will be interested upto the last minute of the module, I will be doing it before digging too deep for my dissertation.

I also learnt how to use the electronic databases effectively. Most notably I realised how easy it is to determine an article’s relevance by reading its abstract. Something I never paid attention to.

Admittedly my note taking and summarising (this inlcudes linear note taking and mind mapping) abilities need to be improved, but I’m getting better in these areas too. Especially after realising that indexes in books are such a powerful tools in locating relevant information (keywords, concepts, names, etc).

In conclusion I think it’s fair to say that I’m in an advantageous situation with my dissertation; I’m still in the swing of researching, finding, filing, categorising and processing information. This part of the process will be easy for me, because I’m already experienced at it.

Having spent enough time engaging with the theories and discussions relating to my subject I can say that I gained a fundamental understanding of Postmodernism and consumerism. I also realised that my aim (which I set up in my first year)  to educate myself to an extent whereby I can get engaged in any discussion brought up by a lecturer, is not possible to achieve in three years. The field of Visual Culture is huge and my time has to be relocated to study other subject simultaneously.  Visual Culture would demand a full time dedication over three years, or even more.

I’m also ahead of some people as I have a sense of what I would like to discuss in my dissertation.  It is still not perfectly clear, but it will become clearer by mid September / early October.

Through my last essay I learnt that I have to set myself limits, otherwise I could keep adding to it, making it better.  I also learnt that the earlier this happens, the better, so that by the time the cut-off date (note: I prefer using the term ‘cut-off date’ as this expresses that something must stop being created.) arrives I’m confident about my work.

Finally I’m, again, ahead of many fellow students as I gained confidence that the above statements are true and that I hand in a proposal for my dissertation that will make me content.

I’d like to comment on ‘The Writing Guide‘ that we were given near the end of our second year. (Our Visual Culture seminar leaders handed them over just at the end of our last group seminar.)

The guide is purely fantastic! The problem with it, that I wasn’t aware of its existance in my first year. I believe that handing this guide out to students in their first year would make their life tremendously easier! At least it would have made mine easier.

No, I’m not blaming our tutors, because we were given talks on how to write self-evaluations, reports, etc. but I don’t recall having a seminar on writing proposals, treatments.

I shall let this post stand here, to remind us of getting better at learning and teaching.

“Media is all about contacts” and “there are no jobs in media”. The two clichés I hear on a regular basis when I talk to people in the industry. I believe that building relations within the media course is something that could do with a little improvement.  Once we are all students and are all here, I believe we should take advantage of this.

I am aware that we are encouraged to collaborate with fellow coursemates, but I don’t feel this has been extended to the whole course. Naturally the notice boards are useful in creating inter-level relationships (invitation for work, socials) but I suppose this could be strengthened. I only know two people from the year below mine, but I’m sure that there are more good fellows.

I was more lucky with the above mine (3rd), as I managed to meet with them, and talk to them more. (I believe I was a bit aggressive, though.)

It might be true that I don’t notice that bringing people together from different levels is already going on by our tutors. In which case they must be selective. If it is so, then this comment is worthless taking into consideration.