Off Campus magazine: September 2001
People:
Communication and Journalism extramurals scoop the prizes;
Daryl Cullen studies in exotic Key Largo;
Profiles of Massey staff, Rachael Selby and Chris Watson;
Acting up: Emma Kinane on acting and study;
Seventh formers Donald MacKay and Anneliese Choat on extramural study;
Apologies for a marital mix-up.
Extramurals tops
Extramural education second rate? Never! That was proven once again when
Massey's Department of Communication and Journalism honoured its top students
at a ceremony in August.
Of five prize winners, four were extramurals. Leigh Parker and MaryAnn
Geddes shared the prize for the Cross-Cultural Communication paper; Pamela
Moore was top student in Speech Communication; Lori Trigwell took the
Interpersonal Communication prize; and Marie Duncan, the lone internal
student, was number one in News Media Processes.
From a class of 90, Leigh Parker shared the $1000 Collis and Helen Blake
prize, a result she puts down to a lot of hard work.
"When you hold a demanding job the last thing you feel like doing
at the end of yet another 12-hour day is studying."
A communications manager at the Wellington City Council, Leigh has now
completed six of seven papers for a Diploma in Business Studies.
All papers have been "absolutely useful", she says. But heavy
work commitments mean she is unlikely to press on for a Business Studies
degree.
"At the present rate of one paper a year, I would be about 65 before
I graduate."
Departmental head Professor Judy McGregor says that honouring its best
students was a priority for the new department, which was set up in the
College of Business at the end of last year.
Marital
mix-up
Massey professor Ken Milne and Taranaki extramural Trish Shaw unexpectedly
became spouses following a photo caption mix-up in the June
Off Campus story about the graduation dinner.
The gentleman seated next to Trish was in fact Professor Milne, not
Trish's husband Bryan who was seated across the table - apologies to
all concerned.
Keys
to overseas study
Daryl
Cullen, an extramural living in tropical Key Largo in the Florida Keys,
has volunteered to become an overseas contact for EXMSS.
Daryl chose to study extramurally not only because she wants her degree
to reflect New Zealand's high standards, but also because the nearest
classes are 160 kilometres away in Miami.
The Florida Keys is a string of islands connected by bridges, the longest
seven kilometres.
"We have one road down [to Miami] and one road back," says
Daryl, "and the views are spectacular as you can see the Atlantic
Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico at the same time."
Author Ernest Hemingway made his home in the Keys' southernmost point,
Key West. The 1948 movie Key Largo, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren
Bacall, was filmed in a popular watering hole now frequented by bikers.
Daryl works in her husband's law firm, which specialises in family law.
Currently studying a paper in Adolescence, she has four remaining to
complete a BEd. A great help to study, she says, is to find an email
buddy taking the same course.
"Remember, there are many other students who are in the same boat
as you."
Despite Daryl's idyllic Caribbean surroundings, a recent three-week
visit back home to Tauranga with her son and husband rekindled some
fond memories.
"Now that I have been away for 14 years, I appreciate how special
New Zealand is."
(For Daryl's contact details, see EXMSS
regional reps)
Acting
up
Katherine
Hepburn once said that acting isn't all that difficult - after all,
Shirley Temple could do it at four.
While that's debatable, what can prove difficult is organising your
life around the demands of the theatre. In that regard, Emma Kinane
has found extramural study just the score.
Emma, who has two children aged six and nine, is currently acting in
Sisters, a play by Alison Quigan and Lucy Schmidt now being performed
at Centrepoint in Palmerston North.
Husband Michael, a pianist, has just returned from a four-month stint
in Melbourne with the Abba musical Mama Mia. All the while, Emma has
been studying the double-semester paper Creative Writing.
"The 'feast or famine' nature of acting works really well with
extramural," says Emma. Rehearsals ran full-time for five weeks
before the play opened, and now she organises babysitters to cover her
six nights a week on stage.
"I study whenever I can get a moment - mostly afternoons."
The Creative Writing paper makes it all worthwhile - it's been "fabulous",
says Emma, with a website adding an enjoyable new dimension.
A "writer's café" enables course participants to publish
their work where it can be critiqued by other students. And an email
forum where extramurals discuss everything from the weather to poetry
styles has proved very lively.
"There's been quite a few spats, because you can't discern a person's
tone in an email. Some people can get very hot under the collar but,
overall, having the student support has been quite incredible."
Staff
snapshots
Name
Chris Watson
Position
Senior lecturer, Media Studies
What do you teach?
Film history and film studies and, in particular, studies of directors
such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, and of genre - the types
of films. I like to deal with youth films and horror. I've also taught
on a series of 22 community comedies made in New Zealand in the 1920s.
Why are you interested in those areas?
I've been interested in films ever since I was a child, and the history
of film in this country is under-researched, I feel.
What are you researching now?
I'm completing some work on censorship in New Zealand for an International
Encyclopaedia on Censorship to be published in Britain, and I'm also
preparing a chapter on New Zealand censorship for a book to be published
in the United States next year.
What's the best thing about being an academic?
The freedom to pursue your own interests and to build that into the
curriculum. You can't do that anywhere else. If you find something you're
absolutely enthusiastic about, the students tend to enjoy it too.
What's the worst thing?
The last couple of years, I'd say. All the stresses and strains of repositioning
and restructuring. Also, the increasing workloads - the number of students
has risen substantially and my workload would have doubled since I started.
What are extramurals like to teach?
Wonderful. They're more mature, and more likely to think outside the
square because they don't know the received wisdom in the way that internals
do. I've had some brilliant essays from extramurals.
One of the sad things, though, is the decline in contact courses. I've
always enjoyed contact courses, but they are either disappearing or
fewer students are turning up because travel and accommodation are too
expensive for many.
Staff
snapshots
Name
Rachael Selby
Position
Senior lecturer, School of Sociology, Social Policy, and Social Work.
What do you teach?
A first-year extramural paper, Social Policy: An Introduction, which
usually has 180-240 students from Northland to Gore. I also teach a
Maori Development paper and two extramural Masters papers.
Why are you interested in those areas?
With social policy, it's the historical aspect. I'm passionate about
history and my teaching is an opportunity to look at how social policy
is influenced by such things as changes in government. With Maori development,
it's understanding how New Zealand came to be the place it is now, again
taking an historical perspective.
What are you researching now?
I'm part of a panel reviewing the impact of social workers in primary
schools. I'm also recording oral history, particularly by Maori women.
What's the best thing about being an academic?
Meeting hundreds of students every year. I do that through organising
contact courses, which I run in Auckland and Christchurch as well as
Palmerston North.
I also love research. Academics are required to do research, so it's
great having a job where that's part of it.
What's the worst thing?
Seeing students overcommit themselves and not managing to complete their
studies - that's a great pity.
What are extramurals like to teach?
Great, because they're really keen. They're also very busy - it's like, "Who do you put on a committee? The busy person, because they get
things done".
Most of my students are mature women, and that's really nice. Many have
not had an opportunity for tertiary education, so it's great seeing
those women come through.
Two
Auckland college students are finding that extramural study can not
only extend learning options, it can also help bridge the gap between
secondary and tertiary education.
Western Springs College seventh formers Anneliese Choat and Donald MacKay
are both taking a Massey computing paper, Programming Fundamentals.
Anneliese, who is taking four school bursary subjects, says the course
is "great fun".
"It's very different from what was offered at school, and I'm sure
that other kids would take up extramural study if they knew about it."
College principal Ken Havill and the board of trustees have supported
the students financially, and time to do the paper has also been built
into the students' study programmes.
The students have been to a contact course in Massey Palmerston North
and both are getting good grades. While Donald is still mulling over
his options once he leaves school, Anneliese has plans for a computing
career.
