I can haz general discussion? 2!!

PictureFrame · 16-02-2015 10:36pm

I'm in one of the smaller departments in the college, with very few examinations taking place between any year of the degree in its entirety and we always are one of the last to get our results back for Semester 1 exams.

Throw in the fact that we currently have no Department Head, we're suspecting that it'll be Easter before we hear anything about them :pac:

How so Joe · 16-02-2015 10:37pm

It's probably something to do with the fact that all results released are only provisional, until the exam board sits. Therefore, the departments don't actually *have* to release them.

Boeing777 · 16-02-2015 10:38pm

mickstupp wrote: »

I was going to say it's never in election manifestos because there's sweet FA the SU can do about it... but then again they put all sorts of tripe in the election manifestos.

I have no problem with staggered release. If we all had to wait on the really slow departments to get their backsides in gear, that'd suck. I'd rather get them when each department is finished correcting them.

Yeah, that's very true. There's obviously some departments faster than others so a designated release date might actually cause an overall delay of results. DCU had their exams during the same time period as us and ALL students got all their results last Thursday.

mickstupp · 17-02-2015 10:10am

Boeing777 wrote: »

DCU had their exams during the same time period as us and ALL students got all their results last Thursday.

I can only assume that's because we're such better students than DCU students. Their exams must have been really really easy to correct compared to our ones. Like multiple choice or something.

barleybooley · 17-02-2015 1:18pm

Boeing777 wrote: »

Is there any particular reason why Maynooth don't have a specified date for the release of semester 1 exam results? Why does Maynooth opt for a staggered release of results at the various departments' discretion? Nearly all other universities have a set date for the release of semester 1 results. It's never in any election manifestos either so there must be a reason for it?

Exactly what HowSoJoe said. The externs sit twice per year: once for the Semester 1 and 2 exams and once for repeat exams. Up until they sit, results are provisional.

thelad95 · 17-02-2015 3:28pm

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/150m-backing-maynooth-university-campus-expansion

Still no sign of a new arts block? 300 extra campus accommodation places is only a drop in the ocean compared to the massive demand. It will still be incredibly difficult to secure on-campus.

Kiwi_knock · 17-02-2015 4:09pm

thelad95 wrote: »

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/150m-backing-maynooth-university-campus-expansion

Still no sign of a new arts block? 300 extra campus accommodation places is only a drop in the ocean compared to the massive demand. It will still be incredibly difficult to secure on-campus.

I don't see why they are aiming for a massive increase in student numbers, when the new facilities will barely fit the existing students. There is just going to be an increased demand for space. Accommodation prices will continue to soar. We might get some fancy new buildings but the students will definitely lose out with this new plan.

17-02-2015 4:50pm

Where's that new building in the photo going to go? Looks like its beside the road. Is the ICT building the new one going up beside the Bioscience building? I think the education building is going in the space where they cleared the trees earlier last week, beside the pedestrian crossing at the front of the campus.

And Kiwi mo students=mo money. I agree though the place is already full to bursting and we'll have students camping down by the canal soon.

Kiwi_knock · 17-02-2015 5:33pm

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

Where's that new building in the photo going to go? Looks like its beside the road.

Yeah it is beside the road at the pedestrian crossing. The plan is to put two buildings there, one building where the car park is and one where the bridge used to be. One of the buildings will be for Admin and the other will be the new Student Union.

thelad95 · 17-02-2015 6:58pm

Kiwi_knock wrote: »

Yeah it is beside the road at the pedestrian crossing. The plan is to put two buildings there, one building where the car park is and one where the bridge used to be. One of the buildings will be for Admin and the other will be the new Student Union.

Really?! What's wrong with the current SU or will it be a second SU building? The current one's amazing apart from the fact that it's a little bit out of the way.

Kiwi_knock · 17-02-2015 7:51pm

thelad95 wrote: »

Really?! What's wrong with the current SU or will it be a second SU building? The current one's amazing apart from the fact that it's a little bit out of the way.

The SU is out of the way, they want it to be the centrepiece of the campus. It is too small as well, it needs to be used more by the students.

thelad95 · 17-02-2015 7:53pm

Kiwi_knock wrote: »

The SU is out of the way, they want it to be the centrepiece of the campus. It is too small as well, it needs to be used more by the students.

Will the current one be knocked then? They could keep it on and convert it into a bigger venue for events or something. I've a feeling it'll be knocked and used for extra parking though

I Am_Not_Ice · 17-02-2015 9:41pm

Although I'm no longer a MU student (mu-dent?), it'd be nice to see a shiny new Arts Block on campus. The current one needs to be razed to the ground and the earth it once violated with its hideous presence blessed with holy water and salt to ensure the evil dies.

Lara_15 · 17-02-2015 10:59pm

Pretty sure the new education building is going where that car park is

Kiwi_knock · 17-02-2015 11:16pm

I Am_Not_Ice wrote: »

Although I'm no longer a MU student (mu-dent?), it'd be nice to see a shiny new Arts Block on campus. The current one needs to be razed to the ground and the earth it once violated with its hideous presence blessed with holy water and salt to ensure the evil dies.

The Arts Block will remain but all classes and offices will be taken out of the building, instead it will be a relaxation zone for students.

Lara_15 wrote: »

Pretty sure the new education building is going where that car park is

The Education Building is going across the road from the car park, where the trees used to be.

18-02-2015 9:10pm

Wow even less car parking with even more students. Who plans this ****.

thelad95 · 18-02-2015 9:22pm

One thing I notice is some people I know are renting houses downtown and drive into college instead of walking simply because they can't get out of bed early enough or it's raining. This practice should obviously be discouraged and I don't think it's something the authorities are really that aware of.

Alt_Grrr · 19-02-2015 8:30pm

I think it might be time to post this link to the Campus Planning and Development Office website.

In particular the section for Externally Designed Projects will interest some of you.

I went along to a joint Union Council and Clubs & Socs Council Meeting where the president of the university outlined the master plan. So far his slides or a report about it haven't appeared online. But I expect to see them some time in the future.

So here are my 2 cents, I remember going to the conference and accommodation reception on the south campus a few years back and on one side of the room was a model in a glass case, inside was a model of what the north campus was going to look like.

It has little resemblance to what the North Campus actually looks like. There are probably a few reasons for that. Ideas, schemes and opportunities come and go. But I suspect much of what was shown in the president's presentation won't happen. I think he had a price tag of 450 million on it.

Sure the 150 million will go a long way to improving the two campuses and not everyone will be happy with all the proposals or the results, but I look forward to seeing the results and comparing them to models in glass cases.

mickstupp · 19-02-2015 11:05pm

I wonder if any of those 150,000,000 euros will be used to fix the broken wifi.

Or the broken library site.

I may have my head in the clouds with this next one... but maybe we could join the 21st century, and have it set up like some US universities where you can essentially Skype from home in to a lecture, live, without having to commute an ungodly amount of miles to attend.

Eric Cartman · 19-02-2015 11:20pm

mickstupp wrote: »

I wonder if any of those 150,000,000 euros will be used to fix the broken wifi.

Or the broken library site.

I may have my head in the clouds with this next one... but maybe we could join the 21st century, and have it set up like some US universities where you can essentially Skype from home in to a lecture, live, without having to commute an ungodly amount of miles to attend.

I quoted a job for a conference centre before for wifi to deal with 15000 devices at one time (a similar volume would be required in maynooth, perhaps more) and the cost was in the region of 130k just to buy the equipment. If I was to quote for installation over such a spread campus and the equipment if would easily be 200-250k to deploy wifi across the campus site. On top of that you'd need a 4Gbps ish connection to provide all of those users a useable standard of internet. It may be 150 million quid , but wifi deployment is a huge issue in high density sites.

Pai Mei · 19-02-2015 11:32pm

Maybe they could fix all the broken sockets too while they're at it. That would be something small that would benefit everyone. Finding a working one is nearly f*cking impossible.

banquo · 19-02-2015 11:50pm

mickstupp wrote: »

I wonder if any of those 150,000,000 euros will be used to fix the broken wifi.

Or the broken library site.

I may have my head in the clouds with this next one... but maybe we could join the 21st century, and have it set up like some US universities where you can essentially Skype from home in to a lecture, live, without having to commute an ungodly amount of miles to attend.

Want to learn about X? No problem. Classes are 1 hour long whether not they need to be.

Between 10am and 11am.
On a Thursday.
In this room.
In this building.
In this town.
In Kildare.

This model won't last forever, especially as costs get more prohibitive.

thelad95 · 20-02-2015 12:59am

banquo wrote: »

Want to learn about X? No problem. Classes are 1 hour long whether not they need to be.

Between 10am and 11am.
On a Thursday.
In this room.
In this building.
In this town.
In Kildare.

This model won't last forever, especially as costs get more prohibitive.

I think UCD have something like this for part time masters students. They can log on and watch the lecture from their own bedroom either live or at a later date. If they wish to ask the lecturer a question, it shows up on a screen in front of them and the lecturer either answers it in class or replies at a later date if there's a time constraint.

Some lectures are filmed in the lecturers office. In general, I don't think college is very friendly to commuters at all. In Maynooth especially there isn't much for commuters to do between lectures apart from drink tea and play pool.

Alt_Grrr · 20-02-2015 12:33pm

mickstupp wrote: »

I wonder if any of those 150,000,000 euros will be used to fix the broken wifi.

Or the broken library site.

Pai Mei wrote: »

Maybe they could fix all the broken sockets too while they're at it. That would be something small that would benefit everyone. Finding a working one is nearly f*cking impossible.

It's never been clear to me who your supposed to report these broken things to, I know the university have maintenance people on staff for electricity and plumbing. But how you get in contact with them is anyone's guess.

mickstupp wrote: »

I may have my head in the clouds with this next one... but maybe we could join the 21st century, and have it set up like some US universities where you can essentially Skype from home in to a lecture, live, without having to commute an ungodly amount of miles to attend.

I know that some courses already have this. I know a student doing an MSc in digital Humanities who had some lectures this way.
It might be used more in the future for some of the bigger courses like Biology 101 where it is getting too big to hold in any venue on campus.

mickstupp · 20-02-2015 3:34pm

Pardon my negativity, but [studentname]@mumail.ie sounds utterly f***ing stupid to me, compared to [studentname]@nuim.ie.

thelad95 · 20-02-2015 3:52pm

mickstupp wrote: »

Pardon my negativity, but [studentname]@mumail.ie sounds utterly f***ing stupid to me, compared to [studentname]@nuim.ie.

To be fair, there's probably some company or something already using @mu.ie They could've just kept @nuim.ie anyway. It is still in the university's official title.

XxMCRxBabyxX · 20-02-2015 3:56pm

20-02-2015 4:07pm

It is the most retarded e mail address suffix I've seen in a while. And if we think it other people outside the college will certainly think it which means I won't be using it ever, which makes the whole process a complete waste of time and money.

mickstupp · 20-02-2015 4:23pm

I may not like the new university title, but even @maynoothuniversity.ie would've been far better.

Planemo · 20-02-2015 4:40pm

Lol @ "tell your friends", cos loads of people communicate with their mates using their uni email :pac:

I can haz general discussion? 2!!

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