Studying: Year 3. Doing a Bachelor of Science majoring in Physics. Also 'tacked on' a Philosophy second major. Currently doing three papers per semester. Did a stint studying film in Auckland.
Lives: In a big flat n the terrace with lots of flatmates.
Interests/about: Originally from Auckland. Moved to Wellington with a girlfriend and worked before starting university in 2011. Enjoys making animated video for work and for himself. Works for a tutoring company making web content for NCEA students. Plays in a band.
Influencers:
Social media: Browsers Facebook but is not a heavy user. Watches YouTube a lot. Also goes on Vimeo. Has started a vlog series for work.
Devices: Laptop, iPhone.
High school: Auckland
Picking a uni: Was motivated to go back to study and, having moved to Wellington, only really considered Victoria.
Expectations vs reality: Had lived in Wellington for a little while and had walked through the campus. Decided to do Physics and papers in calculus, neither of which he had studied at high school. "I probably should have gone to an enrolment person, but being older I thought that I could just do it." "The first semester was a nightmare." Was overwhelmed by the difficulty of the subjects he had picked and the workload. "I probably should have taken some introductory courses."
First year: Had to redo some papers and wound up going to see an associate dean and reassessing his workload. They did a degree audit and reduced his workload from four papers per semester (the usual standard) to three. So his degree is taking four years instead of three.
Future plans: Was offered a postgrad honours spot for Philosophy. Prompted some thinking about postgrad. Had thought about it a little in the beginning of his study as the avenues he chose are more academic than vocational. "I wanted to keep my options open."
Jobs/career: "I've thought about it most of the time that I've been here, but mostly in the last year because I'm finishing my degree, so I'm thinking about what to do next - travel? More study?"
News:
Gets most news through Facebook. Occasionally see professors talking about things like research projects on there - likes research stories. Isn't sure which pages he follows - probably the Faculty page? Likes hearing about that stuff.
Interested in relevant events, lectures (etc) and Victoria's achievements (in any area). Wants to know what lecturers do outside the lecture room (research projects etc). As a current student, is still interested in "how clever they are" because "I'm paying them all that money".
Events: Is interested in student politics at university. That's about it. Seemed to be a recent interest. Likes to know about what lecturers are doing and symposiums and that sort of think, but doesn't go looking for that information.
Faculties and schools: hasn't had much to do the the faculty office. But thinks he looked through the faculty website before looking for courses and lecturers. At the school, everyone is on a first name basis so he has not been to their website before.
Channels:
- Prefers BB and email.
- Facebook is OK for general information.
BB:
- Lecture notes
- Assignments
- Course info
- Would like BB notifications pushed to phone.
Facebook: He's a little unclear who he follows.
- Faculty page?
- Maybe VUWSA
- Vic in general?
Email:
- Lots - too much to read.
Vic website:
- To enrol in courses
- Key dates
- Prerequisites
School site:
- Old course outlines are good for textbook lists - because you don't get the course outlines until you start.
- Also talked about past exam papers and how useful they are.
MyVic:
- Exam and lecture timetables
- MyQual
E-newsletters:
- ? Maybe Careers'
Text:
- Never
Screens:
- No
Behaviour: Looking for course information: Started from google and went to homesite. From there he went to current students but couldn't find a link to courses. "Sometimes you have to pretend to be wanting to come here to find out about courses." Went to Future Students and found Course Finder. "Does the course code have to be in all caps?" Wanted to be able to have a 300-level filter at the front of Course Finder. Wished the results promoted upcoming courses and demoted ones that were over in Tri 1. Wanted to see the set texts. Said they would have been useful when he was originally applying as he might have been able to do some reading before he arrived. That might have helped him cotton on to what he was getting himself into. Mainly looks at the pre-requisites. "Noone looks at the money." Checks the timetable for clashes. Would like to be able to find old exam papers.
Also showed us how he gets to the key dates (via current students), which he uses to plan trips back home and that sort of thing. He said it had been hard to find in the past and it was annoying that it took so many clicks to get there.
Looked around faculty and school sites for information about who he could talk to if he was struggling. "Student admin - what is that?" Found a page but the contact details were at the end of the page. Wished there was one phone number instead of several there. Liked the photo. Liked to see things written in the first person. For him, this gave an idea of the person's teaching style and what he would be like to work with. "It's the difference between getting in touch with him and not."
Labelling/notes: "The homepage is geared heavily towards people who don't yet study at Vic. Some uni websites are exciting because they cover what stydents are doing. I like to see where people have been taken and what happens to them after graduation."