Month: February 2010

No More Fees Please

A new study into the future of HE funding is calling for tuition fees to rise above £5,000 a year.

The report by Policy Exchange, More Fees Please?, states:

“It is clear that if the cap is set at £5,000 or lower, once again the majority of institutions will charge the maximum fee and no real market will be activated.”

Sadly, rather than look to alternative models of funding, the call is simply to raise fees and get students to pay more.  Specific caps are not discussed in the report as, “we do not think it is appropriate to stick our fingers in the air and specify a level for the cap here”.  However, it does not go as far to suggest a removal of the cap.

photo by benrybobenry

photo by benrybobenry

As this new study is released, Times Higher Education reports of a survey that suggests more than half of students would be willing to pay fees of £5,000.  Students were asked how low fees could go until they were so low that it would make them doubt the quality of their course, and how high fees could go before they would not pay it.

I don’t like the questioning here.  Tuition fees are not the only source of funding for universities and the reality is more complex.  To ask if a lower tuition fee would make students doubt the quality of a course seems the wrong question to ask.  If taken out of that context, I’m sure students would not consider fees in the same way.

Nevertheless, the survey does suggest that widening participation will be disturbed if fees are raised.

The Policy Exchange report argues that poorer students will not suffer from higher fees.  It states:

“There is clear evidence that top-up fees have not deterred poorer students from going to university, as the anti-fees lobby predicted they would. In fact in the second and third years of top-up fees applications soared in England, much more so than in the years preceding the introduction of top-up fees. Most crucially, the increase in applications was not just from middle-class students. In the 2007-08 academic year applications in England for students from the three lowest socioeconomic groups rose by nearly 10%, and in 2008-09 climbed by a further 27%.”

Firstly, applications in the higher socioeconomic groups rose even higher.  Secondly, it’s no surprise that so many students and parents have pushed toward degree study as greater belief is put on the thought that a university education is the only way to secure a bright future.  At some point, the game will change.  Along with it, poorer students will be deterred by higher fees and applications are bound to suffer.  This is bad news.

Universities group million+ agrees:

“The simplistic approach of this report, which proposes changes to the contributions made by students whilst at university, could have an immensely damaging impact on participation. […] It’s nonsense to suggest that there aren’t thousands of people from lower and modest incomes being denied places at university. This year alone up to a quarter of a million well-qualified applicants could miss out. This report’s proposals would simply serve to put yet more barriers in their way.”

The University and College Union (UCU) say that the call to simply charge students higher fees is an “astonishingly weak” solution.

The 1994 Group does give its support to higher fees, calling it “the only feasible option”. However:

“an increase should only be introduced if it is coupled with two fundamental guarantees. Firstly, a guarantee that a targeted and robust student support system is in place that ensures that no student is unable to attend university because of cost. Higher education should continue to be free at the point of delivery with repayments contingent on income after graduation. Secondly, a commitment from universities to continue to enhance the student experience on offer to all students.”

Raising tuition fees is not the way forward, no matter how much support is given to widening participation.  The state of HE is rapidly changing and the full effects of those changes haven’t been felt yet. Nobody can truly understand the impact of recent, and upcoming, alterations in HE.

Given this uncertainty, the ‘solution’ to HE funding by raising fees could prove costly not just to students, but to everyone involved.  To base so many future plans on past situations that no longer represent the true state of HE is unwise.

Last year, I hoped for more discussion on the future of HE funding.  Now tongues are wagging, it’s time to make our opinions heard.  One fantastic way of doing that is to visit Vote For Students and pledge to use your vote in the next general election to support candidates who would vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament.

Higher fees? No thanks!

Further Reading

Guest Post: How to Write an introduction

This post is part of the Guest Post Giveaway at the blog Unready and Willing.  If you think articles about writing or personal development (or personal development for writers) sounds like a good fit for your blog, please take a look at the Guest Post Giveaway page and see if any of the articles spark your interest.

Understanding how to write an introduction effectively is essential to generate a reader’s interest, to convince them that the subject you’ve chosen to write about is important or relevant. A good introduction should pull the reader straight in and make them want to read more. Also, learning how to write a good introduction can be very helpful in overcoming “starting anxiety,” one of the major causes of writer’s block. This article provides some guidelines on the different types of introductions as well as some tips that will not only help you succeed in drawing in readers, but will also make starting your essays much easier.

photo by arquera

photo by arquera

Types of essay introductions

Here are some of the types of introductions you can use:

1.   Ask a question – Questions engage readers and often make excellent introductions. The question you use could be the very same question you asked yourself before writing the essay.

2.   Paint an image – If you’re writing about the tragedies that take place in a war-torn country, write an introduction in the form of a short, provocative scene that describes the horrors of that country’s war in vivid detail. You can then move into your thesis about how such a scene could be prevented.

3.   Use an anecdote – People are always curious about other people. Provide the reader with an experience from your own life that’s relevant to whatever subject you wish to talk about. Anecdotes are generally humorous or amusing, but you can also write about a serious experience you may have had.

4.   State your thesis – Sometimes the best way to write an introduction is to have no introduction at all. Make your thesis statement the first sentence of your essay. Theses that work well for this kind of introduction are often controversial or humorous.

5.   State a problem – Use some statistic, personal observation or description of an event to let the reader know that a problem exists. Lead the reader from the description of the problem to your thesis statement, which could be your suggested solution.

6.   Emphasize importance – If you’re writing about water conservation you may want to alert us about how precious drinkable water is. Such an introduction could easily lead into an essay on how to conserve water.

7.   Quotes – You could start by mentioning a relevant quote to the subject of your essay. If you’re writing about the future of technology, for example, you might quote Bill Gates. If you’re writing about cooking, you might quote Julia Child.

8.   Outline first – Tell the reader what they’re going to get in the form of bullet points at the beginning of your essay. This isn’t a traditional introduction, but it’s very effective when writing for the web. As much as we’d like to think web surfers read every word, often the reader will only want or need a single part of your entire essay. Provide hyperlinked bulleted points in an outline which lead to a corresponding parts of your essay.

Other Tips and Tricks

1.   Make it relevant – When you write an introduction it should relate directly or at least indirectly to whatever subject you’re writing about.

2.   Lead into the thesis – Make sure that your introduction leads quickly and efficiently into your thesis. No rambling.

3.   Make it short – Write an introduction of no more than 200 words for a 1500 word essay. Get the reader’s attention, then quickly get to the point.

4.   Provoke an emotion, thought or image – An introduction should get the reader engaged, either emotionally or mentally.

5.   Write it later – Writing introductions should not be the hardest part of writing the essay, but for some reason it often is. One of the biggest reasons for this is because we’re worried about whether we can finish the essay or not. Skip the intro and write the body of your essay first. You can always go back to the introduction later when you have a better handle on your subject.

6.   Try several introductions – If you’re having trouble deciding how to start, you can try several different introductions and see which one works best.

Choosing Wisely

Ultimately, whichever type of introduction you use is up to you. It’s important, however, to choose wisely. An anecdote might work well for a humorous essay but could be very out of place if you’re writing about some serious issue. Try to get a feel for the different types of introductions so that you can develop a sense of which one might be most appropriate for your context.

For many, the introduction can be the most difficult part of an essay to write. Once you learn how to write a good introduction, however, not only will more people read your work, but you may find that starting an essay will become the easiest part.

—

Kenji Crosland is a creative writing major who, scared of becoming a starving artist, became a corporate headhunter in Tokyo. Since then he’s regained his sanity, quit his job, and currently blogs about creating an ideal career at unreadyandwilling.com. He’s currently developing a web application that just might change the internet. Follow him on twitter @KenjiCrosland.

EduLinks – Software, Psychology & loads of videos

It’s that time again. Enjoy the linkage!

Memorize Now / Pauker

Flash cards are great for learning specifics, such as words, brief concepts, equations, and so on.  If you want to break free from physical flash cards, here are two electronic variants.  Memorize Now is an online flash card service, while Pauker is downloadable for when you don’t want to rely on Internet connections.

Datamation – 65 Open Source Downloads That Could Change Your Life

A great set of free, open source tools with all manner of uses.  Software to suit all.  Well worth bookmarking.

Staring (Emory University)

A video that looks at our relationship with staring; being stared at and staring at others.  A short piece that’s interesting enough to keep you looking.

Study Hacks – Beyond Passion: The Science of Loving What You Do

Below is just a small section of a great post. I encourage you to read the whole piece:

Research reveals that autonomy, competence, and relatedness are the key to loving what you do. So how do you get them? There are different answers to this question, but the strategy that I keep emphasizing on Study Hacks has two clear steps:

  1. Master a skill that is rare and valuable.
  2. Cash in the career capital this generates for the right rewards.

The world doesn’t owe you happiness. Your boss has no reason to let you choose your own projects, or spend one week out of every four writing a novel at your beach house. These rewards are valuable. To earn them, you must accumulate your own career capital by mastering a skill that’s equally rare and valuable.

It’s important, however, that you cash in this capital, once accumulated, for the right rewards. The word “right,” in this context, is defined by the traits of SDT. In other words, once you have something valuable to offer, use it to gain as much autonomy, competence, and relatedness as you can possibly cram into your life.

Freestyle Mind – How to deal with Criticism in Writing

A huge post that’ll help you tackle your coursework feedback head-on.  No longer will you fear the feedback and ignore your not-so-successful attempts at writing essays.  The problem pieces may be the most useful items of work you write!

New Scientist – When your brain gets the joke

Are you having a laugh? Humour turns out to be both complex and essential.

From Scientific American – Mixed Impressions: How We Judge Others on Multiple Levels

“All over the world, it turns out, people judge others on two main qualities: warmth (whether they are friendly and well intentioned) and competence (whether they have the ability to deliver on those intentions)”

PsyBlog – 10 Social Psychology Studies: Why Smart People Do Dumb or Irrational Things

Why rewards aren’t automatically a good thing, why we tend not to share vital information, how body language really does help, how situation trumps personality in determining behaviour, and many other wonderful insights into the mind.

MakeUseOf – Top 12 Sites To Watch Videos That Are Better Than YouTube

The title says it all.  We’re used to firing up YouTube for a video fix, whether it’s for a laugh or in order to learn.  But there are many video sites offering even more content.  Okay, so it’s yet more linkage to procrastinate to…perhaps I should have kept this to myself, eh? Nah!

Jane’s Learning Pick – 25 places to find instructional videos

Even more places to find videos. This time, with an instructional angle. Some overlap to the previous link, but another worthy resource.

TVGorge.com

My final video link, honest! How about a site that lets you stream US shows to other countries?  I’m guessing the legitimacy of the site is questionable, given that shows on US streaming sites won’t stream outside the US for a reason.  Yet here we are with all shows available to stream…Still, while the site’s up, it’ll help you catch up on episodes of your favourite shows.

Zen Habits – 12 Classic Zen Habits Posts You Might Not Have Read

Now you’ve watched billions of videos and marvelled at all that psychological wonder, I’ll leave you to pursue a journey toward peace, calm, less stress, and a steady flow of gentle relaxation.  Sound good?

Order Plus Focus Equals WIN!

When you see the list of things to do getting longer and out of control, take action.

Here’s a quick way to get back on track:

Order in importance and focus on just a few tasks each day.  Anything else is a bonus.

I’m sure you don’t have 20 tasks that all need finishing TODAY, even if that’s how it feels sometimes.  Let’s say time truly is tight and you have a week to get 20 important things complete.  That’s less than three things you need to do each day that week.  Even if you relax at weekends, you’d only have four tasks to do each weekday before completing all 20.

I’m sure the jobs will take different lengths of time, but this doesn’t when your list is out of control.  Every job will seem to take up too much of your valuable time.  In the circumstances, you need to claw things back and be the master of it once more.

Do this:

  • List all the stuff you need to do.
  • Make sure you really NEED to do it.  Anything not important or urgent, take off the list.
  • Arrange items in order of importance. But,
  • Anything that requires urgent attention over the next day should come first. And,
  • Shorter tasks that are inconvenient to complete, but won’t take long, can be dealt with as soon as possible too. That’ll take them off the list and give you a warm, fuzzy feeling.
  • Everything else follows on the list, still in order of importance.

If you won’t feel any more warm and fuzzy just by removing the shorter tasks off the list quickly, it may be best to skip that step.  Just order in importance and don’t focus on anything else until you’re out of danger and able to relax once more.

This is a quick and dirty method that still requires a push on your own part, but it helps get the job done.  With a tight focus, you shouldn’t feel so overwhelmed, especially when you get closer to clearing the list of tasks.

I wouldn’t recommend this as a regular way to deal with your time!  The exercise is simply to get you over a panic.

May you never need to use such a method. 😉