5th Student K

Owned by Paul Seiler (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jul 14, 2015 by Anne Nelson (Unlicensed)
3 min read

Lives: In Wellington, with parents, likes Wellington; mother has tertiary qualification and has explained how uni/degrees work. Seemed shy; mature in making decisions; balanced; etc

Schools: Wellington High School; Year 12; studying three sciences, maths, english and music

Interests outside of school: Playing flute, dancing ballet, reading, tv (Dr Who), enjoys websites (Tumblr, YouTube). Is on Facebook.

Awareness/preparedness for post-school: Started thinking about this when careers advisor spoke late Yr 10); little interest then and little action taken just after. Went to the Careers Expo at TSB and this made her think a little more (earnestly) about future when choosing subjects; a little more interest now when planing subject selection for 2016 so might attend Vic Open day in August.

Post-school options: Will probably study sciences (Science, Chem, Physics) (good at them, currently doing all three) but not yet sure which one/part; has an altruistic motive to help people/make a difference (e.g. would like to cure diseases so somewhat aware of or drawn to biomedical sciences). Vic is clearly on the top of the list (because she likes Wellington, friends likely to stay here, can live at home and save money, etc. Would like to study music BUT unsure of the employment prospects and this is (already) a consideration. Also looked round Auckland Uni website following Careers Expo and found it good.

Want to know from website: "I don't really know how it all works at uni." ? Mother has explained it but I do not yet have a grasp on it all. Publications were a good place for her to start but she wants more time to browse online. Does not really watch videos on websites as she prefers to read.What sort of jobs are related? Need to learn more about points, papers, degrees, subject? "What do I learn, exactly? How would I use/apply it?". How does uni differ from school (e.g. class sizes, formats)? If I was considering Auckland I would also want to know about accommodation/halls

Info needs summary:

  • How it works
  • What would you study (ie, options)
  • Does it lead to a job? Is important – but more important is how can it help me contribute to the world AND what work would I be doing?
  • Class sizes, how is uni different from school

 

High level I/A: Numbered are where to find info about what you want to study, rest were to tease out understanding of the term.

  1. Faculty and schools: F&S would have subjects/areas of study.  Broad areas eg science. 
  2. Study at Vic: broad area containing lots of stuff. Really want to know total costs and about scholarships

What would expect to find in other areas: 

  • Life at Vic: facilities, accommodation
  • Current students: About them, features/profiles, what they do
  • Future students: No idea even with prompting
  • About us: history
  • Learning and teaching: Methods, standards

Meaning of F&S

  • Faculty = different subjects – eg, maths, science
  •  School = not sure

 

2nd level I/A: Numbered are where to find info about what you want to study, rest were to tease out understanding of the term.

  1. Subjects or Study areas (broader than subjects) 

    Then would look at Careers or Qualifications

     

    Then maybe Papers

     

What would expect to find in other areas: 

  • Careers and qualification: BA, like degrees, etc. Maybe relates to getting a career?
  • Programmes = groups of papers, or maybe similar to a degree
  • Papers - courses

To enrol: Future students

Starting on the home page: Asked to find a subject or area they wanted to study

Straight in to Course Finder (via quick links), then selected science as a subject

K expected to find courses/papers in the science area. Was too broad so returned and selected biomedical science, then entered a specific (300 level) course screen from the result list.

Saw 200 level prerequisite so inferred that they were in a third year course. Then wanted to know what the school pre-requisites were (i.e. what they could do before coming here to be better prepared).

 Assessment – what is internal assessment? She doesn’t know.

 How do trimesters work?

Redirected to look for a subject of interest, tried Research, came back out, tried MyVic and got stuck (return but effective).

Guided to Future Students, Clicked on ‘Plan your career’ – a page where she felt she'd be able to ‘work backwards’.

Would rather read than watch videos on websites, so waded through long pages on how degrees are put together.

Still had questions ("Can I do all {any} subjects as a major?" 

Terms Hons and Masters – vaguely familiar

Guided to the subject listing page. Selected biomedical science and early on wanted course information/details. Also wanted more details about careers using this subjecyt, not just the job titles.

Subject page

 Wants to know:

 Prerequisites from school

 Specific courses – needs to see this near start of page. Requirements and options.

 Careers (but a bit later)

Visited Planning your degree – wanted to link through to Degrees page(s) but link not obvious enough.

 

Subject selected for Treejack: Need to match up with results in the tool

  1. Music
  2. Biomedical science
  3. Chemistry