Are you considering further education?

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Further education opens up opportunities for different jobs. The year is nearing its end and I'm sure there are those of you out there looking at your options and deciding what you want to do next. With that in mind, today I thought I'd share my experiences so you can decide whether or not further education is the path you'd like to go down.

It may not be what you expected

Be prepared for it to not be what you expected. It can be demanding on you, socially, emotionally, economically and academically. If you find you're not coping well seek assistance before you decide to chuck in the towel.

Uni or Tafe isn't just for school leavers. I feel that going to uni when I was 23, instead of fresh out of high school, made a difference for me. I was more mature and responsible, and I handled the challenges that were thrown at me better than I think I would have at 19. Don't let your age hold you back if you want to start studying again.

It's expensive

Education can be expensive, so be prepared for the associated costs. The first time you buy textbooks will probably leave you wondering where all your money went, especially if you're buying brand new books for every subject. Here's a tip to save money, have a look for second hand books of an earlier edition of the book you need.

The student union at the university I went to sold used books that were still in good condition and relevant. In addition, you could even sell your used books back to them at the end of the year once you were done with them. For most classes using the previous edition won't be a problem.

There are some down sides though, but if you're willing to put in a little more effort they shouldn't be an issue for you. In older books the information may not be on the same page as the current edition, so when you're told to go to a certain page for information, you'll have to go to the index first to find what you're looking for. Worst case scenario, your edition is missing some information the new one has. A trip to the library often takes care of this, and you can sometimes find what you're looking for online. So if those things don't bother you, give it some thought if you want to save some money.

You need to be responsible

Taking responsibility for your own learning is very important. Lectures aren't mandatory, so you're not going to get in trouble for skipping them. I skipped a few during my time because all this particular lecturer did was read word for word from the slides, without any discussion, and I could do that at home. If you do decide to skip a lecture, make sure you go over the material for that week. Semesters go quicker than you realise. If you're not going over the material, you're going to have a harder time when it comes to completing an assignment or sitting for an exam.

It's your responsibility to get your work done. Your lecturer isn't going to check on you to find out why you missed a class, harass you to hand in your assessment work, or have much time during a class to go over the material from the previous week for students that didn't attend. Make sure you stay on top of everything. It gets more hectic the further into the semester you go, so don't wait until the last minute to start a task, or seek help if you're struggling.

When it comes to lectures unfortunately some are going to be boring, a few may even put you to sleep. However, don't skip them just because the material is dry or the lecturer has difficulty making the information interesting. My Project management lecturer was great. He had a lot of industry experience and really knew how to get you engaged and make the information interesting. In contrast my Communications lecturer was an academic, she really knew her stuff, but she taught it like she was talking to a room full of academics, it made it a chore to attend those lectures.

Your first year may also be the least interesting, as most students are getting their core subjects out of the way. It gets much better in the following years as you get to pick the subjects you want to do. So bear through those boring classes and I can promise it will get more interesting.

It can be tough

Uni work can be tough and for many students it may be the first time during their education that they aren't automatically the best, the first time they struggle or even fail a subject. This can come as a shock, make you upset, or angry. But it's important to remember that it's not the end of everything, high distinctions are hard to get, and credit doesn't mean you did poorly.

If you do fail. pick yourself back up and give it another go. With all the course information you now know, you'll do better next time. If you think you may be falling a subject, seek assistance early. Your teachers don't want you to fail, and depending on your situation may be able to provide special considerations, or point you towards helpful resources.

No one wants to fail, but if you fail a subject, have a think about how you could improve. Do your study or assessment habits need to change? Do you need a tutor for some additional help? Or, are you just taking on too many classes at once, and creating a large workload for yourself?

The one thing you shouldn't do if you're having trouble, is decide to cheat during an exam or plagiarise work in your assignments. The uni I went to, used a system called Turn It In. This system crawled the web and archives of previously submitted work, looking for anything that may have copied. It was very effective at spotting people who had Plagiarised. Punishments ranged from automatically given a fail grade for the assessment task or exam, with the additional possibility of failing the subject, or worst case failing the course. This one action can have a big impact on your education. So don't do it.

Final thought

If you take away one thing from this it should be, don't leave things until the last minute. Be it an assignment, or studying for an exam. You may be thinking, but I always things to the last minute and never have a problem. Well, you may change your tune when you have 4 assignments and 2 exams to study for, and only 4 weeks to fit it all in.

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