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.

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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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.

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’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!