Studying: third year of a BA with majors in Psychology and English Literature and a minor in Education.

Lives: In Whitby with her parents.

Interests/about: Plays squash and is a volunteer coach. Used to do competitions but was running herself into the ground. Works in the children's section of a community library. Christian. Loves reading. Has a boyfriend.

Influencers: Boyfriend, parents, friends.

Social media: Recently joined Facebook and really likes it. "I didn't have it when I started at Vic but my friend made me a page. It's a good way to meet people." Likes to subscribe to cool, positive pages about health and wellbeing. Looks at them on the train to "get inspired for the day". Thinks the Victoria Facebook pages are "fantastic", particularly class rep pages. "They feel like more of a community." Was a class rep for her last class and really enjoyed it.

Devices: Has a Samsung smartphone and a "big ol' clunky laptop". Uses the Blackboard app on her phone.

High school: Private school

Picking a uni: I always wanted to come to Vic. I think it's got cool philosophies, and I love the slogan. That's me, I know what I want to do. And I'd heard through word of mouth that if you want to do arts, Vic is the place." Went to a Year 13 information evening. Found the publications she was given interesting. Course planners came to her collage and helped her make a mock timetable.

Expectations vs reality: Coming to university was "daunting". "I had a cousin who did a Masters and when she talked about it it just seemed unreachable." "It took me awhile to realise that the thinking and mindset is really different at University. In NCEA, they tell you want to think. I got good at copying and pasting and memorising. At University, they reward you for original thought."

First year: At first she struggled. "I felt like I didn't have a right to be here." She had done well at college and had a scholarship for university, but wasn't achieving good grades. "It wasn't just my grades, I wanted to make my parents happy."

"It took me awhile to realise that I was not defined by my grades, and that I had just as much a right to be here as anyone else." Started focusing on how much she enjoyed what she was learning, boyfriend encouraged her to go and see Student Support, and she ended up working with the Awhina programme, which has provided excellent support for her. Grades went from Cs to As.

Attended PSYC Survivor and joined WGTN Hall.

Enrolment: Applied over the summer break. Used the 'plan your courses' information online. Was disappointed when she found pages with just "a timetable and two sentences about the course." Especially for English Literature, she wanted to be able to see what novels they would be reading but all it said was "books are to be advised." "I thought, I'm going to need to know more than this to sign up to spend $800." She "clicked on random things" and googled to find her way to course outlines. "I just want to know a bit more information."

Actually enrolling was pretty smooth. "I'm not a computer whizz or anything. The tips as you go were good." Was happy to get updates about how her enrolment was going once she had sent it in.

Re-enrolment (course planning): Wished you could save courses and build your timetable. Planning for next year: not yet.

Extracurriculars: member of the awhina tutoring programme. it's great that they have their own computer room because there's nearly always a machine free.

Future plans: "If I get good grades I will go on and do a Masters of Teaching. I'm a long term thinker. I knew what I wanted to do at a young age. God told me. I knew that I wanted to be a teacher when I was 14. I love kids and I want to make a positive impact on their lives."

Jobs/career: Teacher.

News and events: Follows Facebook and email updates from VUWSA, WGTN Hall, Psyc society. Interested in projects people have worked on and student rights. Looks at the 'what's on' section of the website (current students?). It's where she found out about the mindfulness and grounding workshops. Also sees events on the big screens, school bulletin boards (physical) and on fliers.

Victoria websites: on information pages she would like to see a couple of sentences from past students, perhaps covering what their expectations were and were they met? Likes the design and layout of homesite.

Channels

Likes BB, Facebook, Screens and Vic website.

BB:

Info on assignments and when due; and help and tutor contacts
Course outline.

Facebook – follows:

Class rep for each subject – great for student questions. Nice community, being connected.
VUSWA – events, what’s on
Overheard@Vic
Psych society
Ad hoc group from the Psych Survivor course.

Email:

Not so keen on email any more. Too much stuff. Likes everything together.

Vic website:

"So much" info on Vic website. Has taken time out to just explore it. "Fantastic".

Current students' profiles and experiences
Info on what’s on (Current students’ area)
Student health – workshops
Looking for course outlines.
Vic Plus
Career Hub.

F&S sites:

Faculty site - has never used (that she’s aware).

Interactions with F&S

Faculty = offices

School – has contacted a few times

Behaviour:

From the homepage went to current students. Liked the visuals and the events list (actually the promos). Uses the footer for quick links.

To find courses went to manage your studies then course planning and advice. Had trouble finding course finder on the page.

Using course finder: selected her subject and searched. Filtered by 200 level. Wished you could save courses and build your timetable.

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