Post-Uni Plans: by Becky and Katie

Hello!

This week we thought we’d talk about what to do after university. There are of course many options for what you can do. Whether you want to apply for graduate schemes, postgraduate study or just do your own thing, it’s always good to plan ahead. For example, when applying to jobs, particularly graduate schemes, application deadlines can close up to a year in advance, so it’s always good to have in mind the kind of thing you’d like to do before you start your final year at university.

However, having this said this, it can quite often be the case that you just don’t know what to do which is also ok!

There are plenty of options and opportunities which arise at uni, as well as careers advice and help. This is definitely worth taking advantage of because they really are so useful and happy to help with suggestions and mock interviews.

The PPR department will also offer a lot of support when it comes to thinking about applying for a Masters/PhD. There are plenty of people you can talk to about the courses available to you, how to apply and any funding options available to you.

By third year, most people don’t actually know what they want to do so if you have no idea what your future plans are when you arrive at uni then don’t worry – chances are most other people won’t either. It is good to come to uni with an open mind and to see where your degree takes you, so many opportunities arise and you meet so many people who will influence you and so by the end of your time at uni, some ideas will have fallen into place.

We are both staying on at Lancaster to do a MA in religion and conflict, something which neither of us thought we would do when we first arrived at uni. It definitely is nothing to worry about as many opportunities will arise and something will definitely fall into place for you!

Becky and Katie

Blog: Week 19

It is now not long until the end of the Lent term, which means only one thing: it will soon be Easter and a frenzy of exam revision will shortly ensue. This week I thought I would write a short blog on revision tips. Of course many of you looking to attend Lancaster University next year will be no stranger to exams and revision. However, University exams are a far cry from A-level exams and new tactics often have to be employed in order to successfully revise.

The first piece of advice I would give is to always start revision well in advance of the exam. There is no way that you will be able to clinch a 1:1 by pulling an all night revision session the evening before the exam. It simply does not matter how bright you are, this just will not happen. University modules are often densely packed with difficult and challenging material that cannot easily be grasped in one sitting. Instead, the optimal technique is to try and revise as you learn the course. Don’t leave the difficult material to later; tackle it as soon as you are faced with it.

Lecturer’s office hours are much less busy towards the start of term as opposed to the couple of weeks preceding the exams. At this time, they’re usually inundated with stressed out students all trying to squeeze in last minute questions, so lecturer’s may not have as much time to spend answering your queries. Therefore, my second piece of advice would be to take advantage of lecturer’s office hours at the start of the term.

Thirdly, I would seriously recommend group revision sessions. The newly refurbished library has bookable group work spaces which are ideal for revision purposes. Although it may not seem quite as appealing, I have found that revising with those who are not necessarily close friends, but who just happen to be on your course is a far more effective method of consolidating your learning. You are less likely to be side tracked and lose focus on the task at hand if you have fewer things of a social nature to discuss. Group study is invaluable when it comes to bouncing ideas of each other, confirming you have grasped concepts correctly and identifying areas of a module that are difficult and in need of practice. Going over past exam papers with a group is also very helpful as answers to the online past papers are not available online.

My last tip would be to devise a revision timetable and more importantly to stick to it! There are very many websites from which one can create such timetables which accommodate time slots for working interspersed with slots for relaxing, eating and other activities. As long as you create a balanced and realistic timetable there is no reason at all why this shouldn’t be a useful revision tool.

Design Ethnography

Design Ethnography

What is Design Ethnography?

In Design we have been looking at the meaning of Design Ethnography and the tools in which we use to complete it.

Ethnography is fieldwork; observing people in their natural environment. Therefore, Design Ethnography is a method of understanding, what the designers do in order to know the experience people will have with the products or services they design. This is a very important part of design, as it gives you the opportunity to witness behavioral patterns and see beyond the preconceptions which they may have had previous to the research.

I found this very interesting, especially all the different methods.  One of the most interesting was the Participant Observation. This is where you take part in the research, allowing you to experience the emotions and feelings the users will have when using the product or service.

Using this in the field.

We were then set the task of trying out some methods, one being Participant Observation. My group and I went to a food store on campus and took turn trying to use the service with a physical impairment. Such as restricted or lack of vision, others tried restricted use of limbs. This gave us the opportunity to understand what it is like for people with these impairments (not just watching them use the service), but actually experience what it is like ourselves. It allows you to have a greater level of empathy for the users, which as a designer is important when designing as we must consider all types of users. Having done this mini experiment, we developed it in a slightly different direction, this was when the workshop task was set.

Workshop task.

In the workshop we were set a task to look at an experience of a service on campus. As a group we looked at a milkshake bar, the brief asked us to make a short video showing the user experience. This required planning, and then the shoot of the video along with a bit of editing to make it interesting and engaging to watch. I think the most interesting thing about this project was not the execution, but watching what all the other groups had made and how different each video was. We all had the same brief, yet every single video was different. If you would like to watch some of the videos our teams produced the links are at the bottom. 

Goburrito Video Link

Fylde Bar Video Link