Given the unfortunate absence of EduLinks on Friday, here they are today.  Honestly, I don’t know…

NewsFilm Online - http://www.nfo.ac.uk/

Some of you might find use in this huge database of ITN newsreels, clips and stills for your coursework and presentations.  It stretches back to news from 1910 and brings you up to recent years. As The Guardian reports, “content can be held locally and used in and out of the lecture theatre. It can be used for independent research and integrated into teaching materials across a range of topics and academic levels”.  You are also able to edit the clips to suit your work.

Nick Burcher - Facebook’s huge growth

There’s now well over 12.5 million people in the UK enjoying Facebook.  It’s growing fast.  Now, do you accept that friend request from your Mum…?

Internet Psychology - Don’t worry if you don’t have many Facebook friends, you’re more normal than you think

Yes, Facebook is huge.  Way over 100 million users around the world.  Are you friends with half of them, or just a small circle of friends?  As Graham says, don’t sweat it.  The longer you use it, the more you’ll build up a solid friend list.

DoshDosh - The future of content in the age of information overload

Uni students now do a lot more of their reading over the Internet.  It’s not surprising to get a shrug or a blank look if you ask the question, “What daily paper do you read?” because most students are likely to buy no paper, yet digest articles from more newspaper websites than ever.

The DoshDosh article raises some good points.  I wonder if you’d buy a quality magazine if it catered specifically to you.  Would you pay money to get hold of informed and quality content that analyses the stories, rather than just tell you they happened?  Do any of you still prefer reading hard copies of papers and magazines?  Have you changed the way you read?  Do you keep track of news more now, but never used to bother reading a paper at all?

Seth Godin - Making it real

If you’ve not heard of Seth Godin, he’s a business & marketing author and speaker.  He’s full of ideas and has a great following.  Seth’s advice in the post above works well on a student level too.

Coursework has a tendency to get in the way of other plans.  As I’ve mentioned before, it doesn’t have to.  Seth explains that you have to make things feel real in order to take it seriously.  You can treat your work like this.  Just because a paper isn’t due for a month, doesn’t make it ‘weeks away’, because the deadline will creep up on you.  Take Seth’s words into account; if your work is due ‘on Friday, the 14th of November’, that’s what you need to keep telling yourself.  Worth a try if you’ve had due dates suddenly tap you on the back and shout ‘BOO!’

Get Rich Slowly - How do you turn passion into a career…and should you?

An insanely detailed article about passion and using it to your advantage.  A great piece, regardless of whether or not you feel you have any passions right now.

Angela Maiers - Teaching 21st Century Learning Habits and Attitudes

Designed for the classroom, but relevant for life.  Angela outlines 6 habitudes toward powerful learning, critical thinking, imagination and flair.  There should be no restrictions with learning.  No boundaries or limits.

Angela ends with a question, but I think she’s more hopeful that you’ll take it as a passionate request…”Come join me as we step outside the lines?”

Open Culture - Intelligent Life at YouTube

Another goodie from Open Culture.  This list outlines some of the best user collections of educational and reference videos on YouTube.  Not just universities, but also TV collections, talks at Google, and various science and technology groups.  You may never need watch TV again.

The BBC has reported on Ammon Shea, the man who spent a year reading the entire Oxford English Dictionary from cover to cover.  That’s all 20 volumes of the OED and he really went from A to Z.

The article mentions a good number of interesting words as it documents Shea’s feat.  What caught my eye especially was Shea’s list of 10 favourite words after his mammoth read.

Here is how I would put his favourite words in context of university life:

Cachinnator - one who laughs too much or too loudly
Most of us after a night in town with loads of mates and too many drinks.

Dyspathy - the opposite of sympathy
“You left the essay until the last minute, did terribly, but wasn’t allowed an extension.  Well, boo hoo you!”

Gove - to stare stupidly
Those annoying lads who stand at the side of the dancefloor, ogling the girls.  Seriously, it’s more fun if you actually interact!

Hansardize - to change one’s opinion
Frequently occurs mid-essay, rudely interrupting your flow.

Happify - to make happy
Just turning up guarantees me a pass!?  Yay!

Natiform - buttock-shaped
The tired seats in the lecture halls.

Pejorist - one who thinks the world is getting worse
The work is piling up, my girlfriend isn’t speaking to me any more (just because of a stupid drunken kiss, nothing worse…I can’t even remember her name), I can’t find the right references for my coursework, all the recommended books are already taken out by other students, I don’t have enough money to go out, my best jeans have a strange stain that won’t come out in the wash, and my housemate has found the ability to turn the sound of his music up to ‘11′ when I haven’t had enough sleep.  I blame everyone except myself.

Philodox - one who is in love with his own opinion
The lecturer who won’t stop talking, who keeps plugging their own books, who regards their own theories as ‘facts’, and who doesn’t have time to actually help you get the grade.

Secretary - one who is privy to a secret
The friendly student who likes to listen and who seems to be up at all hours of the day.  You need someone to talk to at 3am, no problem.  Door’s always open!  …but how far do you trust them?

Tripudiate - to dance, skip or leap for joy
A First!?  That paper got me a First!?  Woo woo woo woo woo!  Ceeeeeeeeeeeeeelebrate good times, c’mon! Yeeeee haaaaa!!  [...and so on.]

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What ‘university’ definitions would you give for any of these words?  And how would you put a university context to remord (to recall with a touch of regret), fubsy (short and stout) and assy (behaving like an ass)?

I have another guest post to present to all you lucky readers of TheUniversityBlog.  A warm welcome to Ali Hale, a Cambridge graduate who has a fab new student blog called Alpha Student.  Ali has also written for other blogs, including Dumb Little Man, ProBlogger and Pick The Brain.  Among other things, she is still enjoying student life, working on an MA at Goldsmiths.

Today, Ali presents us with tips on meeting others at uni.

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photo by lusi

One of the givens of being a Fresher at university is that you’ll be meeting new people. A lot of new people. Unlike school, where you probably knew at least some of your classmates at the start of each year, you may well not know anyone at your university when you first arrive. If you’re on the shy side, this can be quite a daunting experience.

Here’s a few ways to make the process of meeting, greeting and getting to know people a bit easier.

Remembering names

One of my worries when meeting a group of fellow students is whether I’ll be able to remember people’s names. I have an awful memory for names; couple this with feeling awkward and self-conscious when meeting people for the first time, and I often manage to forget a name within five minutes.

Some tried-and-tested ways of remembering names are:

1. Repeat the name back to the person (this also lets you make sure you’re pronouncing it correctly);
2. If you’re in a seminar where everyone’s introducing themselves around the table, jot down the names in the order of people’s seating position. You can glance at this if you’ve forgotten someone’s name half way through the seminar;
3. Concentrate when people are introducing themselves. I know that sounds obvious, but it’s all too easy to nod and smile whilst your mind is on something else (usually worrying about what you’ll say next).

Breaking the ice

Don’t be afraid to break the ice. If you’re sitting around with a group of people all silently waiting for a class to begin, say “hi” to the person next to you. You might be feeling shy, but as soon as you’ve greeted them, they’ll say “hi” back and you can get going on a conversation.

When you’re milling around in a room full of people, look out for someone else on their own, and strike up a conversation. There are a few questions which you’ll hear a lot in your first few weeks of uni, like:

1. What A-levels did you do?
2. What subject are you studying?
3. Which halls are you in?

These are all easy ways to get into a conversation, but to keep things going, try some more in-depth questions too. Ask what they hope to get out of the course, or what they do when they’re not studying.

photo by shanissinha

Don’t pre-judge

You’re likely to be exposed to a very different social mix at university than at school. Perhaps your uni has a strong international community, or students from a different educational background to yours (I went to a mixed comprehensive school, so meeting lots of people at uni from all-boys’ boarding schools was quite interesting!)

My big tip here is not to pre-judge what people will be like. We all make assumptions, even though we know we shouldn’t, and it’s easy to apply a stereotype to someone before you’ve even exchanged a word. I know that I had some fairly negative ideas about public school students; try to put any preconceptions out of your mind when meeting new people, and be open to making friends in unlikely places!

By Ali Hale, editor of Alpha Student – a blog aimed at helping you get the most out of uni life.

I’m amazed at news that around a third of graduates who took out student loans are still not paying them back.  The payback threshold is £15,000.  So there are around 400,000 graduates out there with loans, earning less than £15,000 a year.

photo by svilen001

As I’ve said before, university isn’t just about the piece of paper at the end of three years to help you find the perfect job.  Neither is it an excuse to have fun and forget the ‘real world’ for a bit longer.  Higher Education is full of opportunity, but you have to be ready to find it and to take it.  It doesn’t always come to you.  Without some conviction on your part, it’s easy for the university dream to fall apart and come to nothing.

That said, I’m still truly amazed that so many graduates are still earning lower than the £15,000 a year required before the student loan begins to be paid off.  I dread to think how much interest is piling up as the years go by (more on that below).

To make real sense of the data, we need more than the numbers.  A third of graduates who have taken out a loan sounds incredibly high.  But would it make more sense if the figures were broken down by each university, the degree taken, the grade each student received…?

Far less surprising to me was NUS President Wes Streeting’s mention of a graduate with £12,000 in loans to pay off.  In one year, the graduate paid £650 on loan repayments, just to find that £580 of that was just interest payment.  That leaves a paltry £70 off the original debt.  Chipping £70 a year off a £12,000 (or, worse, £20,000) loan is madness, but I’m used to that myself.

I’ve been paying my debt off and it feels like I’ve achieved precious little.  I don’t notice the money coming out of my pay packet, sure, but I wish more of the money went toward the actual payment.  When you consider that you start paying interest as soon as the loan hits your bank account, your final account balance will be higher than the amount you borrowed, even if you pay it all back pretty sharpish.

Student loans are adjusted by the Retail Prices Index (RPI), but the interest rate isn’t based on an average RPI over the year; it’s whatever the RPI stands at every March.  Last year, the RPI was at an unusually high level in March (4.8%), so interest on loans was also high.

I’m now antsy to pay back my loan more quickly, despite what the brilliant Martin Lewis may say…

Do you think I’m right or wrong in wanting to try and pay the debt back more quickly?

I’ve been thinking about my use of Twitter and have decided it’s more a social communication tool and ‘new post’ tool.  My initial intention was to put up links to interesting sites and the like, but the EduLinks posts suited me better and, through feedback, suited you better too.  That’s why I’ve been quiet on the Twitter front recently.  I hope to be more conversational there instead, which is a much better use for it.

So today welcomes back EduLinks.  Happy weekend reading!

Web 2.0 Expo: It’s Not Information Overload.  It’s Filter Failure

If you can’t watch for 24 minutes…start watching from 15 minutes in for an interesting talk about the way information is changing and how it caught up with one unfortunate university student…

Protoscholar: Articles to support dissertation writing

Two links provided by Protoscholar with sensible advice on starting and completing your dissertation.  I found that not all the advice will be directly relevant to your studies, but there’s more than enough advice and knowledge to take you forward.

The Manchester Review

A brand new journal, published by the Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester.  It’s got a solid line-up of writers for the first issue and includes an exclusive preview of John Banville’s new novel.  Banville won the Booker Prize in 2005 with his novel ‘The Sea’ (which I happily got an advance proof copy of way back).

Pick the Brain: 12½ Writing Rules

Ali has just started a new site, called Alpha Student.  I wish her luck on the new venture, especially as it’s aimed mainly at UK students.  Ali writes this guest post about writing at Pick the Brain.  If you follow the 12 (and a half) rules, you’re on to a winner.

Academic Productivity: Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the most productive of them all?

A great post on the benefits of reflective learning.  A great way of developing.  Even if you don’t succeed, you can still achieve great productivity.  Winner.

Education Guardian: Make friends before you start: Facebook easing Freshers into university

You might not need Facebook, but it certainly helps…

Gearfire Productivity: Cornell note templates

Are you aware of the Cornell note taking system?  As this post on Gearfire mentions, many students aren’t.  Luckily, the post also offers links to printable pages and great descriptions of the Cornell system, which may become a best friend of yours.  It’s not how I took notes, but it’s certainly a sensible, effective method for many.

Guardian Mortar Board Blog: Don’t blame students for ’studentification’

Students need places to live.  And with so many students now, it’s no surprise some areas end up looking a little untidy during term-time and then become ‘ghost towns’ in the summer.  It’s daft to blame students when the systems in place take us down these routes anyway.

The Independent - A helping hand: Voluntary work can bring unexpected rewards in your professional life

We don’t have to do everything for money.  There may already be a lack of money in many of your bank accounts and the world’s economy may well be in a mess, but voluntary work can help everyone, including those who volunteer.  I was happy to read about the efforts of the Heriot-Watt University Students Association and their “Target 50″ campaign, to get at least 50% of Heriot-Watt students volunteering in one way or another.  Ruth Bush, their president, says it really helps the overall student experience.

Open Culture: Top Five Collections of Free University Courses

I know you’re busy with your own work, but if you spot any courses similar to yours and you have some time to spare, you may find gold in the alternative lectures and notes on offer here.

Study Hacks: The Zen Valedictorian

Cal over at Study Hacks has been working on an interesting series of posts, highlighting the way less can be so much more.  Stress, overwork and oversubscription don’t help secure the top jobs and the best careers.  You just have to choose the right approach, which doesn’t require as much work as you probably think.  If you haven’t been following these posts, get involved now!

Charade: A Fabulous Lifestyle on a Student Budget

Last, but certainly not least, I want to mention another UK-based uni student website.  Megan over at Student Charade describes herself as an “undergraduate, writer and all-round life-enthusiast, posting ideas, opinions and findings in the form of regular articles on student life”.  She’s not been blogging long, but is already producing some great content.  It’s great to see another UK blog championing students in Higher Education.  Woo!

Today you get a break from my writing.  We welcome Kelly Kilpatrick who writes at bestcollegesonline.com. Kelly has written this guest post about settling down after you’ve started settling in.  Enjoy!

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Photo by svilen001

It happens to freshers every year: some, not all, take full advantage of their newfound freedom and forget why they are at the university to begin with.  Whether it’s dyeing their hair bright purple, piercing their favorite body part, or staying up ‘til dawn, something happens that makes some people break out of their shell the first year.  It’s hard enough keeping up with the coursework, so many get lost in the shuffle.  Here are five ways to reign yourself back in if you are falling into this trap.

1. Stay focused.  Remember why you are here in the first place, and that is for an education.  Of course, your time at the university will be filled with new friends and experiences, but don’t let that get in the way of your education.  Stay focused on what needs to be done so that you will have the luxury of being able to have fun later.
2. Limit social engagements.  There will always be something going on.  Try at first to limit yourself to social engagements when you are done with your coursework for the week.  This way, you won’t be thinking about what you have put off and you’ll be able to enjoy yourself.  If you spend too much time going out, the work will pile up and you’ll sacrifice your social life later anyway.
3. Use your time wisely.  Take time between classes to review notes and readings.  If you have an extra hour, work on an upcoming paper or study for an exam.  Doing this will solidify your knowledge of a topic and give you more time to relax later.
4. Set goals and reward yourself.  In addition to budgeting time, it is good to give yourself achievable goals and then reward yourself when these goals have been accomplished.  It’s better to get things done than to sit idly and wait until the last minute to start working on projects.  Setting small goals will help break down larger assignments into more manageable increments.
5. Be yourself.  If you have changed to suit your new friends, keep in mind why they became your friends to begin with.  It’s natural to want to fit in with a crowd, but your new friends initiated contact with you for some reason.  If you really feel like you are expressing yourself now that you’ve moved out, let your spirit soar, just don’t let it supersede the importance of your ultimate goal.

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This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of the best colleges online. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com.

Welcome to October.  Hopefully most of you are happily settling in to the new academic year.  You lucky things!

October last year was a busy month on TheUniversityBlog.  I covered homesickness, conversation, employment, and money, among other things.  Here’s my pick of the highlights:

Help for the Hopelessly Homesick

Moving away from home is already a big move.  That’s before you consider the amount of change you’ll encounter in your first few months at uni.  Inevitably, homesickness happens.  This huge post covers all sorts of advice.

Turning Smalltalk into Bigtalk: 7 ways to find things to talk about

Striking up a conversation is difficult enough, but getting into a flow of ideas to chat about can be boggling.  With a few pointers, you can boggle no more.

Pushing Toward Employment Nirvana Series

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Career Goals & Ideas
• 3. Your Abilities & Experiences
• 4. It’s Never Too Early to Start a CV

Who says you have to wait for the end of your degree before seriously considering your future employment?  As an increasing number of students need to work part-time, the CV isn’t unheard of.  So why not make it as good as you can from the outset?

Your Money Series

• 7 things to do as a student
• 7 thing NOT to do as a student

The world’s economy may be looking scary, but you can do your bit to look after your own pennies…

Every day, I have to battle stupid little quirks and niggles as if they’re intense uphill struggles.  It’s the same for all of us.  But how hard are you battling?  Can you think of those moments in the day when something upsets the balance for about five seconds…then lets it bother you for five hours?

Without fighting the urge to get angry or the craving to complain, it’s easy to let minor events take control of what we do.  In no time, we have no idea why we’re in a foul mood, but it’s certainly knocked out half the good intentions we had at the beginning of the day.

Picture by ba1969

You don’t have to picture 15 different ways of acting out your revenge on the guy who nearly ran you over in the road.  Neither do you have to build up an elaborate back story of grief and horror when you face a short setback on writing an essay.

Whatever issues come our way, the battle is to keep them as minor as possible.

Often, a real crisis is more easily manageable than a glitch.  A calm urgency can be insanely productive, as can being generally calm under pressure of any sort.  But give us something inconsequential that we have a few minutes to think over?  That’s a different story!

By all means start counting to ten before your anger gets to you.  Of course, take deep breaths and close your eyes to shut out the difficulty.  Do whatever you need to start battling an over the top reaction.  But once you’ve done this, get busy battling even more to get on with what you should be doing.

Personal thoughts are called personal for a reason.  The world hasn’t changed in a split second, but your thoughts can go off tangent in a blink.  With a firm awareness of your personal thoughts, you have the ability to turn your focus straight back to what really matters and stop wasting time worrying about everything else.

Once you start battling the quirks with confidence, you’re on the way to contentment with the world…whatever tries to get in your way.