Official Bitch about daily life in NUIG!

ciano1 · 23-01-2011 10:55pm

Lecturers who don't use blackboard or who don't post notes anywhere really get on my tits...

Maigh Eo · 24-01-2011 7:28pm

snubbleste wrote: »

Nobody forces you to go to the Bialann. Did you not see the price before you approached the till?
Tesco is right across the road.

Hey, sorry but there is no single price included for yoghurt. How true that no one forces me to go. Please remember that this is a rant about NUIG campus, college life. But, hey thanks!

meeka · 24-01-2011 8:45pm

brianthebard wrote: »

Mary I has a tap/fountain for water in their canteen so you don't have to buy bottled water, we don't.

Just wondering - there was definitely a water tap in the bialann last year, beside where they used to have the soup. I was under the impression it was still around this year... or have they removed it?

TheCosmicFrog · 24-01-2011 8:47pm

Here's another rant about An Bhialann. Got a hot dinner today and used my usual line, "No veg please, just plenty of mash". Normally I'd be given about five or six scoops of mash instead of veg. Today the lady behind the counter informed me that, "From now on, there's only two scoops of mash in a portion. It'll cost extra if you want more than two scoops."

What the f*ck? It's only a bit of mashed potato, one of the cheapest things you could possibly make. The vegetables that I'm not asking for probably cost more than the "extra" mash I ask for. There's no problem at all over in the College Bar.

It's one of the silliest cost-cutting measures I've ever seen :mad:

Ficheall · 24-01-2011 8:53pm

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Here's another rant about An Bhialann. Got a hot dinner today and used my usual line, "No veg please, just plenty of mash". Normally I'd be given about five or six scoops of mash instead of veg. Today the lady behind the counter informed me that, "From now on, there's only two scoops of mash in a portion. It'll cost extra if you want more than two scoops."

What the f*ck? It's only a bit of mashed potato, one of the cheapest things you could possibly make. The vegetables that I'm not asking for probably cost more than the "extra" mash I ask for. There's no problem at all over in the College Bar.

It's one of the silliest cost-cutting measures I've ever seen :mad:

1845

Never forget.

Fionn MacCool · 24-01-2011 11:35pm

ciano1 wrote: »

Lecturers who don't use blackboard or who don't post notes anywhere really get on my tits...

So very much this. I had an entire ****ing module that I only found out about a week before my exam because it wasn't on Blackboard. Obviously the underlying problem there of not going in much is my own fault, but it seems silly that an IT module (of all subjects) would not be integrated into Blackboard at all.

Also the lecturers that pretend to use Blackboard, tell you notes are available there etc then you check before your exams and there's like, 2 Powerpoint slideshows on there that make absolutely no sense in their own right.

KittyeeTrix · 25-01-2011 11:35am

What I find even worse is that there are lecturers who will not put up the lectures on Blackboard in order to try and coax the students out of bed!!!

I attend all my lectures and now have to run around like a tít half an hour before my lecture to get the notes from BB so that I can annotate them. :mad:

snubbleste · 25-01-2011 11:53am

Imagine how students used to manage in the past without blackboard etc.

JohnCleary · 25-01-2011 4:31pm

There IS free water available in the canteen.

At the centre island thing (where you get tea etc.) at the till end of it. There are also small white disposable cups there which you can use, but they're small. I recommend bringing a bottle, otherwise you end up like me and have to fill 4 cups (I like my water).

As much as I hate defending the canteen, the free water is there!

KittyeeTrix · 26-01-2011 8:04pm

snubbleste wrote: »

Imagine how students used to manage in the past without blackboard etc.

Probably how my great grandmother managed without a washing machine and all the other modern conveniences we have today....What's your point???

EDIT: What I'm asking you is
a) are you saying that students in the past had a difficult time as they lacked the technology us current students can now avail of or
b) are you sayin "suck it" and quit whining??

Ficheall · 26-01-2011 8:29pm

fluffyorganic1 wrote: »

Probably how my great grandmother managed without a washing machine and all the other modern conveniences we have today....

Your great grandmother?

:rolleyes:

Young people these days...

muselover · 27-01-2011 3:10am

is Blackboard working for anyone else?!

Ficheall · 27-01-2011 1:35pm

muselover wrote: »

is Blackboard working for anyone else?!

Working grand for me..

HotDogger · 27-01-2011 7:19pm

snubbleste wrote: »

Imagine how students used to manage in the past without blackboard etc.

I hate this attitude. "They didn't have this electric shyte when I was yer age laddy, just copy the notes frantically off the overhead and you'll get on grand."

I heard they use the internet in the future. Might as well use it now too.

Fionn MacCool · 27-01-2011 7:25pm

tbf if there was no Blackboard, and by extension no internet, I might actually go into college

HotDogger · 27-01-2011 7:39pm

And we could junk that useless "concept" the wheel. Then we could ride goddam dog sleds into the auld lectures. Wouldn't that be grand?

Luddism works well in a country blighted by rampant alcoholism.

randylonghorn · 27-01-2011 7:57pm

Fionn MacCool wrote: »

tbf if there was no Blackboard, and by extension no internet, I might actually go into college

... and actually listen to the lecturer, and take your own notes which would obviously then be tailored to your own learning style?

I'm not anti-Blackboard at all, I think it can be a very useful tool, but there's no doubt that it's a mixed blessing at times.

Fionn MacCool · 27-01-2011 8:46pm

randylonghorn wrote: »

... and actually listen to the lecturer, and take your own notes which would obviously then be tailored to your own learning style?

I'm not anti-Blackboard at all, I think it can be a very useful tool, but there's no doubt that it's a mixed blessing at times.

Mixed blessing? Apart from getting assignments off it, I've never actually found Blackboard useful. None of the lecturers use it properly (whats the point in putting a Learning Outcomes link up if it's blank on every module?) and the notes are always completely abstract Powerpoint slides.

Raging_Ninja · 27-01-2011 9:41pm

Fionn MacCool wrote: »

Mixed blessing? Apart from getting assignments off it, I've never actually found Blackboard useful. None of the lecturers use it properly (whats the point in putting a Learning Outcomes link up if it's blank on every module?) and the notes are always completely abstract Powerpoint slides.

The 'Learning Outcomes' thing is just part of the default template.

Blackboard is useful for submitting assignments, has a facility to be used as a discussion board, for notes (obviously), and can also be used for continuous assessment.

However it's up to the lecturer and the students to use the facilities.

Squeeonline · 28-01-2011 12:24am

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

The 'Learning Outcomes' thing is just part of the default template.

Blackboard is useful for submitting assignments, has a facility to be used as a discussion board, for notes (obviously), and can also be used for continuous assessment.

However it's up to the lecturer and the students to use the facilities.

It is only ever used for lecture notes for science.

What I would really appreciate (and have suggested to a few lecturers and heads of depts) is to use a shared google calendar where updates and changes to the time can be put up and EVERYONES calendar is then updated.

I've set one up myself and I know a couple people in the class use it. Any time a date or a deadline is emailed to us, I put it on the calendar. I don't do this for the good of the class, i do it for myself otherwise I'd be lost. final year be crazy yo.

Fisher Calhoun · 28-01-2011 3:26pm

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Here's another rant about An Bhialann. Got a hot dinner today and used my usual line, "No veg please, just plenty of mash". Normally I'd be given about five or six scoops of mash instead of veg. Today the lady behind the counter informed me that, "From now on, there's only two scoops of mash in a portion. It'll cost extra if you want more than two scoops."

What the f*ck? It's only a bit of mashed potato, one of the cheapest things you could possibly make. The vegetables that I'm not asking for probably cost more than the "extra" mash I ask for. There's no problem at all over in the College Bar.

It's one of the silliest cost-cutting measures I've ever seen :mad:

The College Bar tried to do this about two years ago. They were going to charge something like 50c for each extra scoop of mash. I remember the chef telling me one day and I simply avoided the place for a long time after. When I did go back, they didn't seem to have kept it on.

HotDogger wrote: »

I hate this attitude. "They didn't have this electric shyte when I was yer age laddy, just copy the notes frantically off the overhead and you'll get on grand."

I heard they use the internet in the future. Might as well use it now too.

I hate this attitude! Students are expecting everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. College is supposed to have an element of independent learning. I do think Blackboard is one of the most useful tools of recent times and having notes beforehand means you can get so much more out of a lecture (by making your own notes, etc, instead of having to frantically take down overhead notes!). That said, it's an educational support tool. It's not a replacement for attending lectures like many students seem to think it is.

Fionn MacCool · 28-01-2011 5:41pm

Fisher Calhoun;70333994]I hate this attitude! Students are expecting everything to be handed to them on a silver platter.[/QUOTE]
When you're paying 6 grand for one year you can be forgiven for expecting a little more than a man talking at you for an hour and some keywords on an overhead projector.

I do think Blackboard is one of the most useful tools of recent times and having notes beforehand means you can get so much more out of a lecture (by making your own notes, etc, instead of having to frantically take down overhead notes!).

But most of the time the 'notes' are just words or very short sentences that don't really make any sense unless you already know the topic.

That said, it's an educational support tool. It's not a replacement for attending lectures like many students seem to think it is.

Which is true, but the students that do go into lectures shouldn't be punished with a scarcely used Blackboard just because the lecturer wants to 'encourage' the other students to come in.

Raging_Ninja · 28-01-2011 7:21pm

Squeeonline wrote: »

It is only ever used for lecture notes for science.

When I did biochem it was used for continuous assessment every week.

KittyeeTrix · 28-01-2011 7:32pm

Fionn MacCool wrote: »

Which is true, but the students that do go into lectures shouldn't be punished with a scarcely used Blackboard just because the lecturer wants to 'encourage' the other students to come in.

Excactly my point. I would miss on average about 4 lectures over the course of the whole year and I hate when I don't have access to the notes until after the lecture.
It is particularly difficult as I'm studying molecular biology and there are an awful lot of diagrams which are very difficult to make sense of unless you can annotate them during the lecture....

HotDogger · 28-01-2011 7:33pm

90% of my lecturers:

"Oh em gee, um, first you... oh no wait... oh yes you errr... okay take this and... wait something's not right.. well anyway... I guess we'll finish here for today."

Literally.

Squeeonline · 29-01-2011 3:51pm

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

When I did biochem it was used for continuous assessment every week.

We've never had proper continuous assessment. It creates too much work for lecturers, setting all those questions and reading/correcting all that work! Far easier to have one exam at the end.

/rollsEyes

Ficheall · 29-01-2011 4:20pm

Too right. And even correcting those exams is a pain.
Students will complain anyway - about having too much coursework, about the methods used to assess them, about the exams... etc. Students are a complete shower of whingebags.

TheCosmicFrog · 30-01-2011 5:21am

A lecturer was trying to demonstrate an online assessment tool to us a few days ago. Seeing this come up on a massive projector screen was pretty hilarious/embarrassing:
http://webwork.nuigalway.ie/

Fisher Calhoun · 30-01-2011 5:24pm

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

A lecturer was trying to demonstrate an online assessment tool to us a few days ago. Seeing this come up on a massive projector screen was pretty hilarious/embarrassing:
http://webwork.nuigalway.ie/

That's just brilliant! Now I'm curious as to who the lecturer was!

muselover · 04-02-2011 8:48am

Just had a hellish 24 hours due to food poisoning, thanks to the Bialann! :mad:

meeka · 04-02-2011 10:13am

muselover wrote: »

Just had a hellish 24 hours due to food poisoning, thanks to the Bialann! :mad:

What had you eaten? I'd like to know what to avoid! That's crap though..

aido179 · 05-02-2011 7:54pm

muselover wrote: »

Just had a hellish 24 hours due to food poisoning, thanks to the Bialann! :mad:

Me too! egg salad sandwich I think...

Blinking_Badger · 06-02-2011 2:20am

the broccoli from the salad bar tastes like it's been marinating in diesel for a week and the scrambled eggs from the breakfast bar bit taste like a watery old rubber cloth

Blinking_Badger · 06-02-2011 2:25am

While I'm at it-the most annoying thing I've noticed in NUIG are the people who come into lectures, sit behind you, then proceed to "whisper" a conversation for the entire hour leaving you half hearing the lecturer and half filling in the gaps for yourself.......why do they even bother to come in at all?!

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 06-02-2011 4:10pm

Blackboard is down again :mad:

musical.x · 06-02-2011 5:46pm

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Blackboard is down again :mad:

its working for me

probably just a temporary thing

JohnCleary · 06-02-2011 5:48pm

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Blackboard is down again :mad:

Workin fine for me too just logged in

Ficheall · 06-02-2011 6:18pm

Blinking_Badger wrote: »

While I'm at it-the most annoying thing I've noticed in NUIG are the people who come into lectures, sit behind you, then proceed to "whisper" a conversation for the entire hour leaving you half hearing the lecturer and half filling in the gaps for yourself.......why do they even bother to come in at all?!

I told my class the last day that they were welcome to whisper if they wanted, but only if it was actually whispering because otherwise I couldn't hear myself think.

Nobody seems to know how to actually whisper these days - it's a shame

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 06-02-2011 8:37pm

Came back for me as well.

Squeeonline · 06-02-2011 9:16pm

I frequently tell people in the library to shut up. I've gone over to people and asked them to take their conversation outside. People are usually so embarrassed that they leave immediately.

I haven't been in big lectures for a couple years but people whispering used to annoy the **** out of me.

Blinking_Badger · 06-02-2011 9:58pm

Ficheall wrote: »

I told my class the last day that they were welcome to whisper if they wanted, but only if it was actually whispering because otherwise I couldn't hear myself think.

Nobody seems to know how to actually whisper these days - it's a shame

It is a real shame, whispering appears to be a dying art........;)

Fionn MacCool · 07-02-2011 6:35pm

Just got an email telling us that the results for all our work last semester are now available... on the office door. It's a shame there isn't like, some way of conveying information these days in a fast an efficient manner, an internet perhaps.

ZRelation · 07-02-2011 6:56pm

Fionn MacCool wrote: »

Just got an email telling us that the results for all our work last semester are now available... on the office door. It's a shame there isn't like, some way of conveying information these days in a fast an efficient manner, an internet perhaps.

Guess walking all the way to the office kind of adds some suspense?

Fionn MacCool · 07-02-2011 7:05pm

ZRelation wrote: »

Guess walking all the way to the office kind of adds some suspense?

Online alternatives can offer suspense too, like when the CAO website couldn't handle the traffic got hacked and went down on offers day

It's confusing though... surely if it's printed off and stuck on a door, it came from a word/excel file... I'd expect an IT lecturer to have the capacity to upload it..

ZRelation · 07-02-2011 7:20pm

True, even e-mailing it would probably take less time than printing and rooting around for a thumb-tack..

HotDogger · 08-02-2011 4:03am

Fionn MacCool wrote: »

Just got an email telling us that the results for all our work last semester are now available... on the office door. It's a shame there isn't like, some way of conveying information these days in a fast an efficient manner, an internet perhaps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUs7iG1mNjI

HotDogger · 08-02-2011 5:12pm

I think feedback would be helpful at my school.

I hand in some assignments every now and then and it would be nice if my assigned pedagogues would take some time away from their research to correct them and add some shet like: "this is right, and this is wrong and here's why..."

I reckon they could have as much time to correct them as they gave me to complete them (a week). Instead I just get them out of a box at the end of the semester with a grade at the top and zero comments.

ZRelation · 08-02-2011 7:08pm

I used to leave lots of feedback when marking...when it became obvious no one was reading it I stopped.

HotDogger · 08-02-2011 7:24pm

Ah, so you gave up then eh? You sound like a quitter.

ZRelation · 08-02-2011 7:30pm

Yeah, pretty much. Doesn't help when you're not getting paid for it though!

Official Bitch about daily life in NUIG!

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