January 09 edition
5 things you should know!
Ambleside
Beat the January Blues with Refreshers 09 Vitality week
Drinks offers & more inside.......
Ambleside’s ‘Up the Wall’ programme On Saturday 13th December Young people from Ambleside’s ‘Up the Wall’ programme went on their first trip to Kendal Climbing Wall. The program “Up the Wall” offers local youths a free, action packed Friday evening in Ambleside’s University of Cumbria Climbing Wall. The young people took part in a sponsored climb to the height of Scafell Pike (978m) within Ambleside’s wall, in order to raise money to go to Kendal’s wall and also to raise funds for next terms group of young people to go through the programme. This was a wonderful way to end what has been a very successful 8 week programme. All youngsters have learnt the basics of climbing, how to tie knots and belay. As instructor Mark Eddy has said “The most important thing many have learnt is how to
trust others for their safety and to be trusted in return”. The success of this initiative has been very much due to the hours volunteered by 1st year Outdoor Studies Students at University of Cumbria, who have been giving the children one to one instruction, under the careful eye of instructor Mark Eddy. The students will be benefiting from the Universities ‘Get Qualified’ Scheme, which aims to help students pay for NGB awards when they do volunteer work in the community. Head of School for Outdoor Studies Richard Lemmey said “This is just the sort of programme we would wish to see our students taking part in – adding value to the local community as well as to their own experience at Ambleside” The project has been organized by Cumbria Constabulary, University of Cumbria Sports centre, Young Cumbria and is funded by the Kelsick Education Foundation, St Mary’s Parish Council and the Rotary Club, with sponsorship from the Ambleside outdoor shop ‘Lakes Climber’. For any further details about this programme please contact Niki Wilson on 015394 30210 or email Niki.Wilson@cumbria.ac.uk
ON YOUR MARKS! Nominations open Monday 16th February CAN YOU HELP MAKE A BETTER UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE? IF YOU THINK SO, THEN GET INVOLVED!
www.thestudentsunion.org.uk/elections
5 things you should know! 1 The University often uses computer software to check assignments for plagiarism. If you have not been careful to reference your work properly, you may find yourself in front of a malpractice panel. The University recommends the ‘Cite Them Right’ guidelines, which can be found on Blackboard, and SDAS can offer you academic tutorial sessions that may help you.
2 The Student Code of Conduct does not only apply to you when you are on University proper ty. You could still find yourself in breach of the University Code of Conduct for your behaviour outside of class and placement activities. If you are on a professional course that requires you to be ‘of good character’ then some breaches of the code of conduct, or being found guilty of plagiarism, might mean that you cannot qualify with your professional qualification element.
3 If you don’t submit an assignment on time then you normally lose your reassessment oppor tunities, so don’t make the mistake of missing a deadline thinking that you’ll simply get a fail mark and get to hand in a reassessment at a later date.
£1 A PINT
EVERY MONDAY
SAMBUCA SHOTS £1
4 It takes one hour to process one unit of alcohol (half a pint of normal strength beer/small glass of wine) plus one hour on top of the total time. So if you drink 4 pints of Stella Ar tois, and finish your last pint at midnight, then you will still have that alcohol in your system until 1pm the next day. If you drive or have placement then you, in par ticular, may need to bear this in mind.
5 You can contact the Advice Service for advice, or a listening ear, about any issue at all – it doesn’t have to be something ‘big’ for me to help with – No question is too small or strange, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you think I can help..
To get in touch with Trish for Advice please call 01524 526576 or email Trish.Lee@ cumbria.ac.uk. Alternatively you can search for Trish Lee on facebook and look for the Advice logo.
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See whats go ing on @ Th e Overdraugh Refreshers t over 09........ os N Saturday 17th Jan - Hot C ream Live M (see next pag usic Event e for details ) £3 per ticke Monday 19th t Jan - Consp irators - An Indie band w amazing ho made it to No. 3 in the £2 entry charts! To Tuesday 20th Jan - Dark K night Premie buy tickets or to UCSU kicks re off its film nights! 9pm ask anything about start Wednesday 2 1st Jan - Pre Refreshers contact A -Sporties P get you in th arty, to e mood for Gutkowski on a sporties e Amazing drin vening. k deals all n ight. Andrew.Gutkowski@cu Thursday 22 nd Jan - Co ac.uk go on UCSU A medy Evening of Michael M - Showing cIntyre, FR on facebook or drop EE Friday 23rd J an - Cowbo Office for a chat! ys & Indians get your ste - Yeeehaaa tsons and h ead dresses Challenge out! Stay on the Bull and WI dress essen N. Fancy tial £2 Entry Sunday 25th Jan - Super Sunday Quiz Guaranteed cash prize o f £50, poten if more you itally more and your team come along to be crown and aim ed the 1st c hamps of 20 player 09! £1 per Friday 30th Jan - Battle of the DJ’s gets 20mins - Each DJ to show of f their skills, Vote & winn Students er announce d on the nig onto the DJ h t & put rota for the year! Put yo forward at th ur name e SU to get your slot!
Duke of Edinburgh lues
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umbria.
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with Refreshers 09!
Hi my name is Chris Turner, Student Activities Coordinator for the Students’ Union at Ambleside. For some years now I have been involved in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme as a leader, I have helped students achieve their gold awards and even been invited to attend their presentations at London and Holyrood Scotland. This is a wonderful scheme and students who have not previously been involved with the scheme can still come in as a direct entrant for the gold award. The benefits of this scheme are quite impressive, as not only does it help young people acquire skills and how to learn to rise up to challenges, but improves communication, how to work in a team, how to work independently and improve confidence and self esteem. On top of the benefits personally it also is invaluable on a CV, future employers have always looked favorably on award participants as it shows commitment, initiative and loyalty. One student is learning the skill of Makaton which is not required for her degree in teaching but will help enormously in her future work with special needs and also will be looked on with favour by employers. If you are interested in DOE then contact Chris Turner on 015394 30216 or email chris.turner@cumbria.ac.uk. Alternatively you can pop into the Ambleside Students’ Union office. http://www.dofe.org/
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itality
Two programmes will take place this year, the first one from 2-6 February 2009 and the second from 27 April – 1 May 2009.
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A full programme of the events being offered at each campus will be widely distributed by Monday 26 January 2009.
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Vitality Week – “Feel Good Inside and Out” A programme of events and activities promoting well being issues affecting both UoC students and members of staff. The initiatives will focus on:• physical activity, • emotional well being, • healthy eating,
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sexual health, alcohol, drugs and tobacco spiritual well being.
The programme has been prepared in collaboration with:Chaplaincy Occupational Health and Safety School of Sport Sport & Recreation Staff Development Student Development and Advisory Service The Students’ Union Hospitality and Campus Services
HOODIES WERE £23 NOW £20
or £18 wIth N.U.S EXTRA CARD RED, CANDY PINK, FOREST GREEN or BABY PINK ONLY
Volunteering opportunities Happy New Year everyone and welcome back! I’m Emma Egglestone, your Volunteer Co-ordinator. We have some great volunteering opportunities and training events coming up. Teaching Literacy to Travellers’ Children and Young People in Lancashire Do you like working with young people and/or on community projects? Could you teach literacy skills to traveller children and young people given the appropriate training? Would you like to work on a large-scale conservation project in collaboration with student volunteers from Universities across the North West? The North West Regional Volunteering Event is on Wednesday 25th February at Beacon Country Park in West Lancashire. Transport will be provided. We are re-launching the paper, cardboard and plastic recycling scheme on the Newton Rigg Campus and need student volunteers to get involved. If you can commit to a maximum of half an hour a week, get in touch! Do you have an interest in community networking? Would you like experience of helping at an event? We need 6 volunteers to steward at the Community, Equality & Diversity Conference being held at
Fusehill Campus, Carlisle on Saturday 31st January. You will have the opportunity to attend some of the workshops available for free. With over 40 training workshops to choose from, a sensational gala dinner, and fun activities, the Annual National Student Volunteering Conference is your opportunity to make new friends, learn new skills, network with other volunteers and socialise! It’s taking place from 6th to 8th March. If you would like to attend and benefit from this great opportunity to network, socialise and free training please email me at suvolunteering@cumbria.ac.uk by 5pm on 9th February explaining why you should be offered one of the two free tickets. Free training - ‘How to put Volunteering on your CV’ is being run initially in Lancaster, subject to demand, on Wednesday 4th February at 1pm. If you are interested in any of these exciting opportunities then email me, Emma Egglestone on suvoluteering@cumbria.ac.uk or for more details go to our Facebook group ‘ucsu volunteering’.
You said……..You wanted better information about any changes to your lectures We are responding by………Using Blackboard more effectively to ensure you get the information you need at the right time You said……..You wanted us to improve our communication with you regarding changes to your timetable OK students, Monday 19th January sees the launch of the National Student Survey (NSS) 2009 here at the University of Cumbria and with the NSS entering its fifth year, it is YOUR chance to have YOUR say about what you liked and didn’t like about YOUR student learning experience during YOUR time at the University of Cumbria. So…What is it? The NSS is a survey of mostly final year undergraduates in the UK which aims to do a couple of things! 1. Provide robust data on the learning experience for prospective students and their advisors! 2. For institutions and Students’ Unions to identify areas where they performed well and/ or less well and then do something about these issues in order to improve the experience of their students. Why should YOU be interested? The results don’t just disappear into a file! Future students can use them and the University and the Students’ Union can use the results to effect change and bring about enhancements. The questions allow you to give feedback on things such as what you thought about the Academic Support you received during your studies and how you felt about the Organisation and Management of your course.There’s also space at the end for any positive and / or negative comments that you had about your experience. Were you satisfied with the way cancelled lectures were handled? Did you feel that the library had enough copies of that elusive key text? Write it down and let the University and the Students’ Union know about it! It may be worth your while as you could be in for a chance of winning a first prize of £100 cash or £50 of high street vouchers in the prize draw for all students who complete the survey!!! WOW! The University of Cumbria has been participating in the NSS for a number of years and as a result of listening to what former students said here is what we have done…
We are responding by………..Trialling a new text messaging system to make sure you get information about any changes to your timetable in good time You said……..You wanted access to your timetable earlier so you could plan your study in advance We are responding by……….Putting the timetable online and we’re working hard to have this available for you much earlier in 2009 How can I get in on the action? Eligible students will be sent an invitation email by Ipsos MORI, an independent research agency that administers the survey, and later non-respondents will be contacted by post or ultimately by telephone. Alternatively, visit www.thestudentsurvey.com to complete the survey online. You may also opt out at any point that Ipsos MORI contacts you about the survey, but remember YOU can have YOUR say on what really matters. The success of the NSS depends on your feedback so please set aside a few minutes to participate. Your response is anonymous so your answers can reflect your genuine perceptions of your experience. Plus there’s no need to worry about your contact details being passed on because they will only be used for the purposes of the NSS and are destroyed shortly after. Remember…It may be worth your while as you could be in for a chance of winning a first prize of £100 cash or £50 of high street vouchers in the prize draw for all students who complete the survey!!! Want to know more? Visit www.thestudentsurvey.com or contact the National Student Survey team at Ipsos MORI at thestudentsurvey@ipsos.com.
We hope you have enjoyed the 1st edition of The Scene. If you would like to advertise anything in our publication please contact Harriet Airey on 01228 616164 or email harriet.airey@cumbria.ac.uk