Kelley Costigan, Producer
Welcome to the Wyrd Learning Podcast with your hosts, Dr. Tracy Dix and Dr. Alex Patel, with special guest Kia Morant. Today's episode, In Conversation: Settling into Student Life with Kia Morant.
Tracy Dix
Hello everyone. It's Tracy Dix here from Wyrd Learning with my good friend Alex Patel, and we're very excited to welcome a special guest today. Kia Morant, whom I've known for quite a few years as a family friend because your younger sister is good friends with my little boy. So we kind of met through playdates and nursery occasions and stuff like that. And that was since before you started going to university so I remember when you were still deciding which one to go to and so on and now you're in your third year - which year in gets a little bit muddy but we can explain more a little bit later. So since students are starting to move to university these few weeks, we thought it'd be useful to talk about your experiences of settling into uni, and you've actually had a very unique experience of having settled in twice because you changed course, after your first year. And although in some ways that must have been really, really difficult at the time on hindsight, hopefully, you've made the right decision and you're in a much better position now, with lots of wisdom gained along the way.
So Kia, could you tell us a little bit about which course you're doing and which University you're at now.
Kia Morant
Yeah. I'm doing politics and economics, which is a Bachelor of Science at Aston University.
Tracy Dix
And which one were you at before?
Kia Morant
I was at Goldsmith’s University, and I was doing, and Politics, Philosophy and Economics there.
Alex Patel
Okay, so what made you decide to change?
Kia Morant
I think it was a lot of things but I think the thing that was like the catalyst of me actually changing course was because Covid lockdown happened. So I was at uni, I didn’t go back after February ‘cos me and my mum saw it was realty starting to amp up and my mum’s ill, she's immunosuppressed, so she didn't want me to go back to London unless I knew what I was doing because I was debating leaving then but I wasn't quite sure. And then yeah, a week before the Covid lockout happened, mum really sensed it was going to happen, she was really telling me I need to stay home before I know if I'm going to just stay in London or just stay in Coventry. And I had to speak with my personal Tutor at Goldsmith’s, and they weren't really offering anything online. I didn't want to only be in London and not be able to see my family. So I was like I don't think this is gonna work out for me but before then, there was also issues that were going on, didn't make me necessarily want to stay at that uni.
Alex Patel
So was that to do with how the course was being taught? That it didn’t suit you or more kind of like I guess social, missing home, those types of things?
Kia Morant
I think I missed home quite a lot because I had moved away and so that was quite –
Alex Patel
It is a big change.
Kia Morant
And obviously being in London, it's very expensive to get back to Coventry unless you get a coach which takes such a long time, which I didn't enjoy doing so I usually got the train and it was just very expensive. But, no, I wasn't a fan of the area I was in in London. I was in Lewisham, which – it’s nice but it's… yeah, it had its rough areas and uni was unfortunately on the street where just a lot of not great things happened. And near the same area where Sarah Everard and I can’t remember the lady -
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kia Morant
That got taken happened and it’s got a really high incidence of violence –
Tracy Dix
That’s really not great.
Kia Morant
Towards women so it was, it was…
Alex Patel
That’s awful.
Kia Morant
Yeah. I had two instances where it was not good. So that was not great. And then also, from the teaching standpoint I actually quite enjoyed how course was taught, I didn't mind that at all. I enjoyed the subjects as well. I really enjoyed Philosophy, which I had to drop moving to Aston because they didn't offer it.
Alex Patel
Oh, that’s a shame.
Kia Morant
I know, yeah, I really, really loved it.
Alex Patel
On the plus side, you can borrow books from library and delve into Philosophy yourself. In fact, I've got a lovely big yellow book which I think it's called Philosophy for Dummies.
Kia Morant
I have the same book. [Laughter]
Tracy Dix
Oh, that’s cool. You might be able to squeeze a bit Philosophy into your dissertation, and final year project if I mean I want to say if there's someone who's willing to supervise it but actually they should be willing to, shouldn’t they? I think. It depends on the academic. But yeah.
Kia Morant
Yeah, there was a bit of Philosophy in the Politics that I've done last year, not so much… in fact, no - and this year I had two modules where I did an essay on sort of the links between Philosophy and Politics.
Alex Patel
Okay. There’s still some space to do that.
Kia Morant
Yeah.
Alex Patel
That's interesting actually that highlights one of the nice things about study, you are able to follow your interests a bit more, whereas in A Level and before that people you know have to stick very much to the curriculum. But I'm guessing you found at university that you kind of manage your own reading. So you might have a big reading list but you can decide what directions to kind of pursue within that.
Tracy Dix
Yeah. Yeah. Okay, we've digressed a slightly with reading list I suppose because we're talking about settling in, weren’t we? So, could you tell us about your recollections of settling into university life?
Kia Morant
They've been very different both times.
Tracy Dix
Yep.
Kia Morant
So the London, it was - everything was normal back then and for Aston my first year, it was during lockdown so everything was online. So they're very different, but for London I remember I was in a accommodation that was kind of far from campus, everyone else was in one area. I was like, a five-minute bus ride away so not too, not too bad. I was very conscious of that so I found a group chat of everyone that was in the same accommodation as me, and I made a couple of friends on there.
So I remember I had that kind of like support base which was very useful, especially considering everyone else knew each other from the uni and mine was a private accommodation so some people went to King’s and -
Alex Patel
Yeah, yeah.
Kia Morant
Imperial but I managed to make friends who went to Goldsmith’s. So, I had a social group from that and then we met more people on the course. I remember, it was a very good going to all the Freshers’ events.
Alex Patel
Okay, what was the highlight?
Kia Morant
Oh, gosh… [Laughter]
Tracy Dix
It must seem like a long time ago now.
Kia Morant
Do you know..
Alex Patel
Actually yes.
Kia Morant
Yeah about… Yeah, three… two or three years? Yeah, three years. Yeah.
Alex Patel
So what kind of events did they offer?
Kia Morant
So, a lot of them were at the SU. And I remember thinking that it was quite funny that there was so much stuff to do in London and they were putting on all these events at the SU. So we go and crash the Freshers’ events of other unis and they’d like try and stop us at the door. Bouncer’s like, “This is only for so and so.” And like we went to one that was for the LSE, and they’re like, “You can’t come in here” and we're like, “We’ve been in the queue, we bought the tickets, we want to come in,” and everyone behind was like, “Yeah, let them in!” So we went in. We did that a couple of times. I think the best one that we did was we crashed actually one of Goldsmith’s events which was for the international students, we didn't know this at the time it was only for international students. But then when we got in, they said, “Where are you from?” We’re like “Coventry”.
Alex Patel
Coventry. So, that’s a long way away.
Kia Morant
Yeah, really far. One of my friends pretended he was from France. I was like, “Edward. Stop it. Let’s go.” But that was very fun. They have great food so it's very very appreciative to be there.
Tracy Dix
I think a lot of the things that are fun about University is doing things you're not supposed to do. [Laughs]
Kia Morant
Yeah.
Tracy Dix
It is. I mean University is about pushing the boundaries right? It's not about – okay I’m in dangerous territory here, Alex is giving me looks. But it is about pushing the boundary of current knowledge and students start to learn that very quickly in their social life.
Alex Patel
Yeah, you’re in charge of your own lives basically. You no longer have that parental supervision. But you do still have a little bit of supervision, in terms of Tutors and if there's… what is that - Warden? - for the Halls of Residents, for example, but I guess you didn't have that.
Kia Morant
No.
Alex Patel
So a lot of freedom. So that can be bit dangerous. People can kind of go a bit off the rails.
Tracy Dix
Yeah. Yeah, so I mean the the kind of adults at university, the academics, the Hall Wardens, and people like that should be there to support you with the things that you want to do, they're not there to like discipline you because it's not like at school is it?
Alex Patel
No.
Tracy Dix
Like it's completely different.
Alex Patel
But yet, there are still lots of rules that student have to follow.
Tracy Dix
There are lots of rules.
Alex Patel
Like when you get there, did you have a big form you had to sign?
Kia Morant
Yes. Yeah, yeah at the accommodation as well. But yeah, every – it seemed that everywhere you went, there was just a whole list of things that you have to be aware of. [inaudible]
Alex Patel
Yeah.
Tracy Dix
So taking responsibility is a thing.
Alex Patel
Yes. So, yeah, you can get into trouble at university for, you know, obviously cheating…
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
Using the internet for inappropriate things…
Tracy Dix
Leaving the tap running in your accommodation… [Laughs]
Alex Patel
And definitely no candles. [Laughs]
Tracy Dix
Definitely no candles.
Alex Patel
Yep.
Kia Morant
Yeah, I did hear of an issue where someone had left a pasta pot boiling the entire night, which was not very – at least it was pasta, so there was water in there but I can’t imagine…
Tracy Dix
It could have boiled dry though…
Kia Morant
Yeah, well. They were quite lucky.
Tracy Dix
They were lucky.
Kia Morant
There was no fire.
Alex Patel
Yeah, yeah.
Tracy Dix
So apparently a slow cooker is a very good gift to give to someone at university…
Kia Morant
Yeah.
Tracy Dix
That are prone to leaving things, cooking for a long time.
Alex Patel
Yeah. People also talk a lot about slow - slow cookers because of saving money, as well.
Tracy Dix
Yeah. I think it’s really cool what you were saying about you know because of the various universities, there are in London, like people kind of clubbing together from different universities and making friends because that is a dynamic that I don't think exists anywhere else. I mean, so I don't really know if this happens because I went to Loughborough and that was like the only the university in a town. So we didn't go crashing anyone else's parties. But where we work, you know there two universities in a city and it'd be interesting to know whether like you know there's any kind of cross-University Freshers’ Week shenanigans going on.
Alex Patel
Yeah. So I know when I was at Manchester University. We shared Halls of Residence with students from UMIST, which I think now has become part of Manchester University, and the Manchester Metropolitan University. So, you know, we shared accommodation, often went to similar events, but didn't mix with the locals from Manchester at all. There was a very big divide.
Tracy Dix
That - yeah, yeah, that often is the way isn't it? Like students and like locals don't really mix, unless there's some kind of common interest so maybe through like a club or something, if you know if there's like any kind of partnership with a local club then you get a bit more of that kind of social stuff going on. Okay, so what about Aston? Did you have a specific question about Aston, Alex?
Alex Patel
No, just what it was like to start because you said that was during the pandemic.
Kia Morant
Yeah, so everything that I did was online, and there was no Freshers’ Week there was kind of Freshers’ events online, I went to one and it wasn't really…
Alex Patel
What was…?
Tracy Dix
How do you...?
Kia Morant
I can’t remember. It was like a virtual - like a society event or something like that which I didn't - I remember I went on that and I just didn't understand how this was possibly gonna work, and you kind of… people talk and it just wasn't…
Alex Patel
Yeah.
Tracy Dix
So it didn't work.
Kia Morant
No.
Tracy Dix
So…
Alex Patel
I think I heard stories of a university where one of the Deputy Vice Chancellors or somebody quite senior may well have been dancing at some kind of online disco event, [laughs] which just sounds very amusing to me.
Kia Morant
Oh, no, I didn’t see anything like that at Aston, [laughter] but maybe I wasn’t there.
Tracy Dix
That could happen elsewhere. I mean, a person like that could just pass off as a mature student couldn’t they? I mean, was he, was he in any way like demonstrating his position?
Alex Patel
No, no, no.
Tracy Dix
Okay, just having a dance.
Alex Patel
Yes.
Tracy Dix
Ah well, why not?
Alex Patel
You know, trying to get the party started.
Tracy Dix
Oh, the first person on the dance floor. That's always interesting.
Alex Patel
Some universities call it “Onboarding”, you know the actual –
Tracy Dix
Induction?
Alex Patel
Yeah, yeah, so you know, signing on to the university systems, getting swipe cards, or anything like that, getting access to your courses, your modules. How was that at Aston?
Kia Morant
Good question, I’m trying to remember. [Laughter] I think that we just… So, for all of our modules they seem to all be in the first week that they didn't communicate with each other they're all doing the same thing. It seemed that every introduction lesson was giving you the same advice on how to work everything that's I guess that's how we did it. For the past week. It was like three lessons of the same thing on how to go about uni. So yeah, that's how they did the...
Alex Patel
Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess it, you know… make sure it gets everyone, and if you don't get it the first time, you will by the tenth. [Laughs]
Tracy Dix
Yeah, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of information in the first couple of weeks and people don't always take it all in. And I think sometimes students feel you know like when you're well into the first term they start to feel like they can't ask questions anymore because it was all covered, but they can't remember, but it's also very normal to not remember everything, because…
Alex Patel
That means it's quite difficult for students who start late, or …
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
The students you've changed the course within the same University.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, within a few months, rather than after the first year. So I think universities overall are in a state of flux at the moment because I think there's still a bit of uncertainty, although the world seems to have gone back to normal since Covid I think they're still like a lot of hybrid activity going on, so it remains to be seen how, you know, current inductions and teaching goes for this year. Although I think most universities are trying to go more face-to-face now.
Alex Patel
Yeah.
Tracy Dix
Which should be better for the students’ experience.
Alex Patel
Yeah. Yeah, so the Quality Assurance Agency they’re the people who kind of regulate standards or give advice on standards to universities. They've just published a report, which has been talking about how the moves are online assessments has been really inclusive. So it's really good for students who still suffer from a lot of stress and things like that, or for students who might find it difficult to actually get into the university and all sorts of things. Yeah, so there is potentially a recommendation that we may stick with these kind of like online 24-hour windows for doing your exam. However, the flip side of that is that there's also been a huge increase in cheating, apparently. [Laughs] So there are some students on a course all getting together and in a giant WhatsApp group, talking about the answers over this kind of 24-hour period.
Kia Morant
I’m not surprised. I can’t say I'm surprised about that. [Laughter]
Tracy Dix
But then, you see like how is that necessarily different? So it's an exam, versus say, essays where you have like a, you know you have a deadline, and you have like an open window of when to do it, you know, you’re kind of given that deadline for a few weeks in the run up to just structure your time how you like. So, how is that kind of open window of like 48 hours to do an exam any different from an essay assignment…
Alex Patel
[inaudible] on your essay.
Tracy Dix
In terms of cheating.
Tracy Dix
It does, but also with the, you know, like for an essay students could also be on the WhatsApp group talking about it but they still have to bring it together themselves.
Kia Morant
I think it depends on your course because, say for my course, you get both. So you get essay but then also for the Economics, there's a lot of maths so I could see an issue for that because there's a definitive answer, and you have to show working out so if someone told you how to do the working out then - and you’ve got the answer and you get all the marks, so I can see how that would be…
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kia Morant
An issue but you have the essay. Yeah, I don't know. Because when I do essays, I usually do talk to people my course and I will give each other advice on like what sort of part of the question you think is interesting to like go and look into. Like what real world things you pin to it, so even if you did get that advice for an exam, I'm not sure it would actually make too much of a difference on what grade you got because I think it's more about how you can - your skills that actually being able to argue your point and how you got there and your understanding of the course and the knowledge and your own…
Tracy Dix
The application.
Kia Morant
Yeah and your own reading you've done that means that you've got different stuff than you’ve been taught I think that is what can make a difference. So I can see it being an issue for science or maths but not so much for essays.
Alex Patel
That’s interesting. So this was for Psychology, in particular.
Tracy Dix
See, I wouldn't have thought an assessment for Psychology would have like a definite answers I think a lot of it would still be kind of discussion-based or at least they'll be short answers. And, you know, students would still have to put things in their own words, like, you know, individuals just explain things differently. It's how we are so I can't really see you know that it would be a huge problem, but then again I haven't marked those exams, so I don't know.
Alex Patel
Watch this space for more developments.
Tracy Dix
Yes, maybe we'll find someone who can come and talk on the podcast about it. [Laughs]
Alex Patel
Maybe. Maybe.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
So if you've been enjoying this podcast so far, or if you have any questions, do get in contact, so you can share this with your colleagues, you could leave a review if you found it helpful, and you can subscribe. And if you have any questions for future podcasts do get in touch.
So, is there anything you would do differently. Like you know, advice you would give to students when they're starting University?
Kia Morant
That's a good question. I think for me, I got to Goldsmith’s through clearing so I didn't have the opportunity to go and see it and pick out my accommodation when it first comes available so I was left with what was available, which was a private one which isn't as desirable. It was a really lovely accommodation but because it's far away, not got a social aspect. It wasn't the one that got picked the most, I would say that definitely make sure that you look into the accommodation as soon as possible and then when it becomes available try and make sure that you get the one that’s the closest to campus - not necessarily the nicest because I wouldn't say they've even got the best social aspect but just one where you know that you'll be able to meet people because I think making friends when you're at uni makes all the difference in terms of how much you're going to enjoy your time there. And so I think if I could have, that's what I would have done differently. Trying to think what else.
Alex Patel
So how about studies?
Kia Morant
Yeah.
Alex Patel
So, coming from - was it A Level you did?
Kia Morant
Yeah.
Alex Patel
And then that transition to studying at university. What was that like? Are there any tips around how to cope with that change?
Kia Morant
I think that it’s not necessarily something I struggled with, but I've seen other people struggle with it, but I think a lot of people get caught on how you're taught to write essays when you're at Sixth Form.
Alex Patel
Ooh.
Kia Morant
Because I think it’s very focused on ticking boxes. Whereas when you're at uni, you really have to focus on getting an understanding of a subject, and then arguing your point, without focusing necessarily on what you've been taught in the lectures or in your reading and bring in other facts that can enhance that but it’s really your own work.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, yeah.
Kia Morant
It's not the work that you've been taught and you're regurgitating it so you get a good mark. It’s to show that you know it you got to find your own path to show you know that, and kind of try and bring something new. So when I've done it, I've done a lot of group work at Aston and I found that a lot of people don't necessarily understand that in the same way that I did, I think, when I came to university, so I think that's something really important people need to need to look into.
Tracy Dix
What do you think, gave you that advantage when it came to applying knowledge, and, understanding that sometimes you have to find ways to make topic your own rather than regurgitating like you’ve said.
Kia Morant
I think the only reason that I had that was because it's something that I did anyway at Sixth Form and at GCSE that I kind of got in trouble for because I didn't enjoy what I was taught, so I was just kind of…
Tracy Dix
You found your own path.
Kia Morant
Yeah, which didn't always work out for me in my grades. Yeah.
Alex Patel
Yeah.
Tracy Dix
That’s so interesting isn't it? How like you know the thing you do at school becomes something that's valued at university, and yet you know GCSE and A Levels, they lead to university, and yet they don't lay the foundations for what you need to study at uni.
Alex Patel
It’s a change in how we understand knowledge, isn't it?
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
And also, the mass education aspect of A Level is that, you know, the systems have to be set up so there is one answer and it can be marked and it can be standardized. So I know in A Level Biology, you have to use very specific terminology. So if you say the same thing, but using a slightly different term, you might not get the marks for it.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kia Morant
I did A Level Psychology and that is something that last year, which was very annoying.
Alex Patel
Yeah, whereas at university, particularly in second and third year, people are moving away from this idea of, you know, it's what's in the textbook. So instead, we're looking at what the meaning is, you know, that underlies the terminology. And also, you'll find that a lot of researchers or academics have different perspectives.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
You know, and they can often be contradictory.
Tracy Dix
There's also a movement towards de-colonizing the curriculum at many universities, isn't it? Which involves students co-creating the curriculum with their academics and like kind of bringing their own background and insights to it. And so I think moving away from in many cases like the kind of white male ways that many disciplines are taught or at least that kind of narrative. Are you familiar with that Kia?
Kia Morant
Yeah we covered it in Politics, yeah…
Tracy Dix
Okay.
Kia Morant
Yes, it's become very prevalent sorry in what we do I think at both universities, I think I took this very similar module on making the modern world and colonialism so we looked at that and then I’ve noticed the kind of like the viewpoint of most of my lecturers they really do try and make an effort to not just look at like a European white kind of viewpoint of the history and or political issues we do try and like go further, look at what Europe has done to other places but also we look at African scholars and Asian scholars and, which I think is is quite lucky, but I don't know if it's the same on other courses. I think it's just because of the degree course I’ve chosen.
Tracy Dix
I think it does vary from place to place, but I think overall there is a move towards doing more and more of that. I just wanted to pick up very quickly on what you said earlier about accommodation so it’s a bit of a digression. And you know, checking out the accommodation and finding somewhere that's close to where students live because I came across the same thing. I did my masters in Stratford-upon-Avon and ended up kind of living on the completely different side of town to where every - all the other students were. So the students - most of the students were living in somewhere called “Old Town”, and I was on the other side. And what this often meant was having to make your own way home after a night out when everyone else could walk home together, and just felt a lot safer. So, the following year when I started my PhD. I moved to Old Town. And then, that was a lot easier for nights out and things. So you know it might seem like a little thing, you'll kind of work it out at a time, but you could save a lot of things like taxi fares and just feel so much safer walking home on your own, or however you choose to get home.
Kia Morant
That's the same thing I did in London and I moved - in December I moved from my private accommodation, which I had to get a bus back to after a night out, to an accommodation that was literally around the corner from uni after I complained, saying I didn’t feel safe.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kia Morant
It wasn’t safe when I was going home. Things like a girl going home by themselves just didn't seem…
Tracy Dix
Sometimes you know, you’re catching a bus, but even waiting at a bus stop is not ideal, is it?
Kia Morant
Yeah.
Tracy Dix
On your own..
Kia Morant
Not at all.
Tracy Dix
In London.
Alex Patel
I clearly have no self-preservation instincts at all. You know, I would be in Manchester, go to a night, get bored being at the club and just wander off home on my own.
Kia Morant
Yeah, my friend, is that way and I’m like, “Really, don’t do it.”
Tracy Dix
Some people are okay with it like yeah so I've got a friend who happens to be a black belt in karate, actually, so this is Catherine, who came on our podcast recently.
Alex Patel
Ooh.
Tracy Dix
So Catherine's called black belt in karate and has no qualms about, you know, just getting on with her life and I really admire her for that you know she just kind of walks where she wants, does whatever she wants and, you know, and I'm sure she's come across incidents that are less than ideal, but she’s just kind of gotten on with life and she doesn’t let anything phase her.
Kia Morant
I think the confidence kind of helps, though. If you’re that way and you’re quite confident, to me when you’re walking on your own, I think it makes a difference to be…
Tracy Dix
I think having a black belt... [laughs]
Kia Morant
Well, if it doesn’t matter if it does to her or not, clearly. [Laughter] Yeah, if a black belt will…
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Alex Patel
Yeah. A lot of students seem to struggle a bit with time management, but time management is such a boring kind of craze and ugh! So have you got any advice for students on how to manage their studies, you know, to make sure they hit those deadlines, they don't panic at the last minute, you know, trying to cram for an exam the following day?
Kia Morant
Yeah, that's a great question. I always seem to start - I didn't notice that I did this actually until recently - but I've always started - whenever I started module, the first thing I look at is the assessment, so that I can get in my mind straight away what it's asking of me if I'm gonna – if I having to focus on one week's teachings for the entire assessment, or if it's going to be a mix, because then I think, in your mind, you kind of already, even if you don't consciously, know you already know what you're looking at and what you're going to need when it comes to doing an essay or the exam. I think that's really helpful because you can already start thinking about which area of your module you're going to start working on, and then you can really focus on the readings and the lecture and the seminars that week and take the best notes and that you're doing for the whole module hopefully you do the whole but if not, then you can that week.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kia Morant
I think that's a useful thing to do, but also I think I know people don't like lists and making lists of the things we need to do each week but I think it's really helpful at the start of the term to kind of make a very… it doesn't need to be very detailed, but just for each week just write the things that you need to do all the things you need to complete and then have the when each exam date is so you can just see the time, as you as the weeks go by, of like how much time you've got left to work on it, how much time you have to work on this and you can have goals in it as well.
Alex Patel
Yeah.
Kia Morant
I don’t know if I described that very well.
Alex Patel
Yeah. That’s really good advice, yeah. So, we’ve had the pleasure of teaching time management for a few years now and …
Tracy Dix
And a Gantt chart is a very good way of…
Alex Patel
Oh, steady on now.
Tracy Dix
Accomplishing what you…
Alex Patel
Steady on. [Laughs]
Tracy Dix
No, no, I was just going to say, Alex is a big fan of a Gantt chat and I'm sure we'll cover it sometime.
Alex Patel
Yes. But what you're talking about there was kind of both macro and micro, time management. So you're looking at the whole course and thinking. “What are the key deadlines?” and planning for that. So, when I used to do this, it was when I was actually doing lectures. I first started as a lecturer, and I was terrified that I wouldn't be ready. So I printed this out and kind of put it on my wall. So I could just keep track of the approaching deadlines, and that was really helpful. But the kind of task list, that's the micro you know the either day-by-day or the week-by-week, kind of, “These are the things I need to check off”. So, another thing that you might well be doing is actually looking through this list, and prioritizing which tasks you need to do first, so it might be that they're the most urgent ones or the most important. So if it's important, it might be, you know, writing your essay or, you know, writing the introduction section for something or other. But it's not urgent, so you might delay that a bit, but you know you have to get it done. If it's urgent, obviously [laughs] you need to get it done straight away. But if it's not important then you know maybe that's something you could…
Tracy Dix
What could be urgent? A bathroom leak. That’s pretty urgent.
Alex Patel
Ah, yeah. I was thinking studies, actually.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, but you know, students have to juggle a lot of things in their lives.
Alex Patel
Yeah, but maybe email-type communications.
Tracy Dix
Okay.
Alex Patel
Saying, okay, we need to meet up to talk about this project. That might be an urgent, and quite easy thing to just cross off. And if it's neither urgent or and not important, then that's when you ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” [Laughs]
Anyway, subscribe and follow us to find out more about Gantt charts.
Tracy Dix
Yes.
Alex Patel
Which we keep promising to do in the future. [Laughter]
Tracy Dix
Okay, so I keep bring the conversation back to social life. Maybe because my thing is how do you have a good work/life balance? Kia, are you a member of any clubs or societies?
Kia Morant
I am not, unfortunately.
Tracy Dix
Do you wish you were?
Kia Morant
Somewhat, but none have properly appealed to me as a woman.
Tracy Dix
Yeah?
Kia Morant
I did try out, but I didn’t really want to do this at all. My friend forced me for the football team at Aston, and that was just an awful experience. [Laughter]
Tracy Dix
Football sounds very active.
Kia Morant
Yeah, it was a very intimidating, so…
Tracy Dix
Very competitive?
Kia Morant
Yeah. And they all seemed like they were very knowledgeable and I am not. But then after the fact, I found out that they weren’t and I was like, “Oh…” I should have stuck with it a bit more. It wasn't me.
Tracy Dix
I feel like in a lot of university clubs there is like a pecking order, and I think the kind of seasoned members do like to strut around a little bit sometimes, you know when they see like all the Freshers and the newbies they're kind of looking a bit, you know, like rabbits in the headlights.
Alex Patel
To be fair, that is just social human nature.
Tracy Dix
It is?
Alex Patel
So if you look at your academic departments there will also be a pecking order there. You know, there will be the heads, the people who’ve got lots of influence, the people who you just don't want to go near because if you prod them it's like a bear, you know, attacking you. [Laughter]
Tracy Dix
Okay. I've never really thought of academics as a bear who might attack me before, but… I think I've been – well, okay.
Alex Patel
A bear with a sore head.
Tracy Dix
A bear with a sore head. Yeah, yeah, there were definitely a couple of prickly personalities in my department and as a student whom am I avoided, and others who were really love and really supportive.
Alex Patel
Yes, we should get back to this. So, did you have much contact with staff? Did you go to see people for help if you needed it?
Kia Morant
At Aston, because it's online, it wasn't really you didn’t really get the, sort of, well you did in a way, actually, I guess more so because our lectures were on – gosh, I can’t remember what they are on – Teams? Zoom? Probably Teams. I don’t know.
Alex Patel
Blackboard? Collaborate?
Kia Morant
Blackboard that's the one, yeah. There you go. We were on Blackboard and so you've got the chat box where you talk into, and you didn’t have the chance to speak, usually in a lecture you don't talk obviously…
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kia Morant
It's just someone speaking at you. So, that was good. You weren't really in the same room so you didn't necessarily want to have a conversation with someone, while there's like 70 people watching you having the conversations that it wasn't… you didn’t speak as much.
Tracy Dix
Yeah, it's easier to get to know people more than a small group or one to one so that your course at Goldsmith's was kind of more ideal for that wasn't it?
Kia Morant
Yeah, and there's only 15 people on my course, and we were the only group of people that did Philosophy. So especially in the Philosophy lectures and the Philosophy seminars, there were 15 of us in the room…
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kia Morant
So you got to know them quite well and also our leader of the department. He was our Politics teacher. He was really approachable. Like he would come and ask us how we, what we thought of the course ‘cause it was new, so they really wanted to …
Tracy Dix
That’s really good.
Kia Morant
Speak to us and we had a personal tutor who we actually with, which at Aston, not really, we don’t meet them, but he met with us. He’d schedule it into our timetable like was I wasn't there that long but I saw him about four times. So, Yeah, so it was quite…
Tracy Dix
Pretty supportive.
Kia Morant
Yeah.
Tracy Dix
Have you got a close group of friends now from uni?
Kia Morant
So me and my best friend from Sixth Form go to the same uni at Aston…
Alex Patel
How nice.
Kia Morant
On the same course in the same year, so.
Tracy Dix
How did that happen? [Laughter]
Kia Morant
So, yeah it worked out quite strangely. So she was doing a foundation year.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kia Morant
I was in my first year at Goldsmith’s. And these things happened and I was feeling very like stressed what to do. I was gonna have to go through clearing again
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kia Morant
To get into the uni. And, because I was going to have to be at home, didn't necessarily get to go to the uni I wanted to go to. I was going to look into going to the University of Manchester, but I would have had to move to Manchester it would have been the same issue. And so, I spoke to her about the course and what she thought about Aston. And, and she was saying that the course seemed really good, she was going to be doing Politics and Economics as well. So I just took the plunge and I was like, “Okay, I think I'll do this.” I was considering Coventry but they don't offer Politics and Economics on the same course which is really unfortunate. And so, I have her, and then because we have lots of group projects I got to know various people throughout my time there but recently, the most recent group I worked on in my first term this year I stayed close with, so we've got friends in that aspect, but yeah, the, I think the set-up of how we do uni at Aston isn't necessarily inclusive to being more social…
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kia Morant
Because it's very teacher-led, and we don't go in as much…
Tracy Dix
Okay.
Kia Morant
Because it was online.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kia Morant
And now we only go to seminars and it's kind of like front facing rather than a group discussion.
Tracy Dix
That's really interesting.
Alex Patel
Yeah.
Tracy Dix
We kind of saw the same, a similar sort of thing happening where we work, where the idea of like group discussions is something that's quite new to the university whereas other universities are a little bit more progressive on that sort of thing. {Laughter]
Alex Patel
Yeah. There's just so much value in seeing learning as being a social interaction.
Tracy Dix
A collaborative process.
Alex Patel
So, you know, you're bouncing ideas off each other, you’re hearing different perspectives, and it keeps you awake for one thing. [Laughter]
Tracy Dix
It keeps you on your toes.
Alex Patel
This is for lectures. So there I was lecturing, it was like 200 first-year Biological Science students, and without fail there’d be somebody falling asleep in each lecture. [Laughter] And I like to think it wasn't, you know, my style but you know, maybe it was.
Tracy Dix
It’s just like in – it’s a bit like in Parliament though, isn't it? [Laughter]
Alex Patel
I guess so.
Tracy Dix
There’s always someone falling asleep.
Alex Patel
I guess so. So, I asked everyone you know, “This this always happens so what would you like me to do if somebody falls asleep? Do you want me to, you know, highlight which individual it is? Get the friend to poke them, keep him awake? or – I can’t remember what they said now.
Tracy Dix
Aw, you forgot the punch line.
Alex Patel
I did. I did. [Laughs]
Tracy Dix
That would be interesting. Maybe you remember one day. So Kia, thank you very much for coming on today's episode and sharing your experiences, and we hope to see you again very soon.
Alex Patel
Yes, thank you. And thank you for listening to us.
Tracy Dix
Yeah.
Kelley Costigan, Producer
You have been listening to the Wyrd Learning Podcast with Dr. Tracy Dix and Dr. Alex Patel, with special guest Kia Morant. Music by Defekt Maschine, from Pixabay. Produced by Kelley Costigan.
