Off Campus magazine: November 2002
Rotorua profiles
A change for the better
Science to business
Phone lines
Downloading assignments
Awesome internet
Could go it alone
Wired in Rotorua
With the government set to pour $37.8 million into e-learning over the next four years, computers will become an even greater part of the extramural landscape. Pat Martin talked to some Rotorua extramurals about how they use email and the internet now.
Email
and the internet are a big change for the better, says Huia Naera.
She is in the last year of a BA in Psychology, a degree she began as
an internal student at Massey in 1999.
"I used the old pen and paper then but now with a home pc it is
so much easier. If I didn't have my computer I could still do all my
papers but I'd be doing it the hard way," she says.
Huia had also struggled with some extramural papers in 1998, but says
email and internet access is one reason she is more successful now.
"If I don't understand something, I just email my tutors or other
students. In 1998 I wasn't doing that and it was a lot harder."
One of her three papers is on WebCT, which has helpful student discussions
and is another way to communicate with the lecturer. Another good reason
to have the internet, she says, is to go online and look for books through
the Massey library website.
Huia is a full-time extramural who studies during the week and works
weekends in a residential setting for people who have a mental illness.
Her psychology studies have been very relevant, she says, with a Memory
and Cognition paper particularly interesting.
When she left school after School Certificate, university was an unthinkable
goal - now she is weighing up whether to do a masters degree. She enrolled
as a mature student aged 20 and, with strong family support along the
way, has appreciated a 'second chance'.
"I know plenty of people who left school with nothing but later
would like to give school or university a go."
Two
papers each semester on top of a full-time job is hard work, says business
student Chris Dow, one made even tougher by not having a computer
at home.
He types assignments on a work laptop, and after-hours at work goes
online to keep up with fellow students' WebCT conversations.
"Generally I tend to work alone, but I do feel a little disadvantaged
with no home pc. You tend to miss out on the contact and feedback."
Chris is in his first year of a Graduate Diploma in Business Studies.
He plans to complete the qualification next year, majoring in Personal
Financial Planning.
A veterinarian in a practice looking after dairy cattle and large animals,
his normal work day is from 8am to 6pm. Spring is particularly busy,
and one week in every four has after-hours' duties weekends and nights: "On a bad weekend I wouldn't pick up a textbook," he says.
Chris graduated with his veterinary degree from Massey in 1991. He enrolled
for the business diploma partly out of a personal interest in finance
and the share market, and partly to leave open the option of a career
change.
'A' grades for his first two papers suggest he's coping well with the
move from science to business, which was a big step, he says.
"In science, you are marked more according to your knowledge. In
business, layout, presentation and referencing count for up to 30 percent
of your marks, so it helps to have a computer."
City
dwellers take for granted having two phone lines into their houses,
but a second phone line would be costly for rural families like the
Carpenters.
Cindy Carpenter, a Graduate Diploma in Arts and Sociology student,
lives 20 minutes' drive out of Rotorua. Digging a trench to the house
for another phone line has been priced at more than $2000.
"If you live in town it's okay, but the extra expense for us would
be major," she says.
Cindy already competes with her husband and two teenage sons to use
the one available line for the Internet. One line can create other problems
- Cindy is a part-time nurse, so tying up the phone while she is on
call could be risky.
All her papers to date have been paper-based as opposed to web-based
and, as a self-confessed "study junkie", she loves having
a book in her hands.
"I read anywhere. I hate to think how many study guides have taken
a dunk in our spa."
After 12 years of taking one or two papers a year, Cindy graduated last
year with a BA in Social Anthropology.
Nursing friends travelled with her to Albany to help celebrate graduation,
an event she describes as "one of the highlights of my life".
She's a real enthusiast for her extramural papers - earlier this year
she spent four months nursing in a Queensland Hospital to deepen her
understanding of Aboriginal culture.
"Social anthropology is the study of culture, and after taking
it I wanted an outback experience. I worked at a children's ward at
Mount Isa Base Hospital, which was amazing."
Carol
Harper downloads programming assignments for an information systems
paper on to her home computer and, when completed, they are uploaded
and copied into Massey's system.
Although Carol still receives study guides and course reading in the
mail, the paper, Implementation of Information Systems, has a website
with a range of course information for viewing or downloading such as
lecture notes, tutorials and examples, and a discussion forum.
"[The website] has been very good in some ways," she says,
"because it provides access to so much more material. However,
you can spend a lot of time looking for small amounts of information."
Carol is working towards a BBS with an Information Systems major, a
degree that will reflect her interest in computer-based papers.
She took up Massey study in 1981, after taking Correspondence School
lessons to gain UE. For ten of the past 21 years she has enrolled for
just one or two papers a year, with most completed in the 1980s. With
just three to go she hopes to finish her degree next year.
Along the way she has organised her study around work and family commitments.
Finding the hours to do all the work is the most difficult aspect of
being an extramural, she says.
"It's easy to underestimate the time needed to devote to it. You
need to make the time available."
However, the satisfaction of getting a good result for an assignment
you've put a lot of work into makes it all worthwhile, she says.
"The
internet is awesome," says double sports international Karen
Taylor, "although some Massey papers need to do more to make
the most of it."
A former New Zealand representative in both rugby and touch rugby, Karen
has browsed through other universities' websites and believes Massey
could beef up its internet support.
"Some [paper sites] could be jazzed up a bit more, and others aren't
updated that often."
Karen had just begun a BBS in 1996 when picked for the Black Ferns.
Competitions in Australia and Canada meant she had to curtail her studies.
She had opted for Massey extramural despite winning a scholarship to
Waikato University. She also visited Auckland University, but Massey's
atmosphere and strong sports programmes appealed.
"Massey didn't feel like I was going into a tertiary institution.
It felt like I was going somewhere relaxed."
Karen plans to major in either management or sports management in the
next five years, and is now managing Te Papa Takaro O Te Arawa, a Rotorua
trust that promotes healthy lifestyles to Maori, primarily through sport.
The trust sponsors her papers and provides study leave ("which
is awesome"), but Karen cautions that people thinking about extramural
must be prepared to commit to it.
"It has to be something you really want to do."
Support is also important. Husband Vaughn helps by minding their daughter,
and studying with a local student taking the same papers has proved
a real bonus.
Honours
student Louise Buchanan is a big email user and a fan of Massey's
online library services, yet doesn't feel completely wedded to her computer.
"If I didn't have a home computer I could still get by with all
my papers," she says.
Louise is taking six papers in Industrial Organisational psychology,
plus a research project. She has a passion for organisational and management
development, and hopes to research it at doctorate level.
A full-time student, she finds that email helps break down the isolation
of extramural study. And access to the library's online journal articles
is a real bonus at honours level.
A Groups in Organisations paper is particularly interesting, she says.
Yet despite more than 17 years' work in human resources, her academic
study can seem unconnected.
"I've spent 17 to 20 years in HR related roles, but sometimes I
don't feel that is recognised in my courses. However, the papers are
still very useful and I've picked up a lot."
Louise is studying in block mode, which means a one-week course at Albany
for each paper. Small classes and the opportunity to meet lecturers
and other students have been great, she says.
About the only drawback to study is the suspicion from friends and family
that 'full-time student' is a euphemism for being unemployed.
"There's a suggestion that anything that's not work is slightly
dodgy. I often get asked, 'Have you found a job yet?'."
