Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Live Video - Student Forum

Please join me for this webcast to discuss your future and the future of CQuni…. I’ll consider comments/questions that you post to the blog during the webcast or at any stage before or after the event.

Look forward to hearing from you,
Scott




The Student Forum will be broadcast live over the Internet.

When: 7.00pm AEST Wednesday 21 July

Click here to watch/listen


Click here to provide feedback or ask questions during or after the event

Please Note:
  • If you are connecting via a modem or have a slow Internet Connection, you may only receive audio

  • Please see our technical help page if you have any difficulties accessing the video/audio

  • I recommend that you test the link above prior to the event, to ensure that you do not have any technical issues during the event

30 comments:

Rockhampton student said...

Hi, I was disappointed that the Disability Access Room (DAC Room) for disabled students was recently closed at the Rockhampton campus. In the past myself and other students with disabilities relied on that room to make it easier for us to attend classes and do our work on campus. I've certainly noticed a difference without it. I've heard that some sort of space might be set up inside the library in lieu of the DAC Room. Would you please give more details about this - is it definite, when will it be available for use and what kind of facilities will it include? Thank you. I also just wanted to comment that apart from the DAC Room closing, I've found CQU to be a great University in terms of other support that is offered and how much staff (academic, counsellors, disability officers) go out of their way to help when needed. It's been very much appreciated and I couldn't do Uni without it. Thank you for reading my question.

Tina said...

Hi,

Over the time I have been studying mostly in a flex mode at CQUniversity using the Gladstone campus as my base I have noticed the steady decline in student numbers, the response to this seems to be a continual loss of services for those students who are still here. For example Gladstone students recently lost access to an after hours study room, which was the only one on campus. I can't help but feel that rather than taking away from students it would be more beneficial to improve what is offered to students to encourage new students to enrol.

Cheers Tina

Anonymous said...

It is difficult for Flex students to get off work in the middle of the week, could flex student resident days be taylored around weekends or at least Fridays or Mondays?

aaron said...

Hi,
Wondering about the future of Bundaberg. Many students are moving to Brisbane to achieve their goals.In particular internal courses for Psychology. There is also a complete lack of Psychology courses over term Three in Flex mode. The buildings and services are great, but the offerings seem a bit short for certain subjects.

Anonymous said...

A lot of courses in my program are only offered externally. I find that learning is much easier when I'm actually on campus and in class, but to study my Psychology program this isn't always possible. Is CQU looking at offering more courses internally?
Thanks

Anonymous said...

Hi,
With end of year results is it possible to get our exam marks, not just our overall grade letter. These results are valuable feedback for future courses.
Even when we contact lecturers they fail to get these marks back to us. Once we finish their course the response to these sorts of requests are ignored.

Anonymous said...

Can more subjects be offered over Term 3 please? It feels like I have to work really hard for 6 months of the year (terms 1 and 2) and then waste the other 6 months of the year because courses I need to do aren't offered during Term 3. I'd rather be working at a steady, managable rate during most of the year and I think other students would agree!

Anonymous said...

Hello,
I am a new nursing student, studying by flex mode.
I am interested to know what the program structure looks like for the entire course(and course completion time). I have attempted to find out this information via email and direct contact, with no outcome. Just hoping to know the struture for future plans...
Thank You,
Justin

Jo said...

Hi Scott,
I am a flex student, and have been studying part time for the last 4 years. In this time I have noticed changes regarding what we are given for our studies.We used to get hard copy study guides, this semester one of my subjects was an online study guide only. As FLEX I study in numerous places and not always with computer access, therefore making an online study guide useless. This specific study guide and lab manual were in excess of 400 pages, that I had to print. This was a cost of near $40. Not much it would seem, but these costs all add up. Why is CQUni going this way? I know less paper is better for the environment...but most FLEX students would need to print this anyway. Is this just cost cutting? If it is, this is of great disappointment, and something I strongly disagree with.
Thanks
Jo

Michelle said...

I am currently studying Psychology in flex mode and have been thinking about studying a dual degree in both Psyc and law but was really disappointed to find that CQU doesnt offer any law courses. I understand that not every course can be offered but I would be very interested to know if law degrees will be something CQU may initiate later on?

Jodi said...

Scot

I am a postgrad IT student who has studied on campus at CQU and at QUT in Brisbane. I have noticed in comparison to QUT CQU's IT systems seem to be a little aged. I am wondering if you can let the students know if significant investments will be made into these services which so desperately need it. I must say Moodle has been a great step in the right direction! Is this budget or GFC related ?

Rok Postgrad said...

Hi Scott -
I am a masters student in Rockhampton and am interested in going into an academic career. However, I cannot find much information about this - do 'junior' lecturing jobs ever get advertised? What kind of support is there for junior lecturers and researchers?
Thanks for your help Sir

Anonymous said...

Central Queensland is a regional/rural area, is there any chance CQU might look at introducing courses in the Veternary Science area. At present students interested in studying Vet Science must move to Townsville or Gatton. I enjoy studying at CQU and find the atmosphere very friendly and encouraging and would really like my daughter to be able to study from Rocky rather than relocating so far away.

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Hi, there used to be a bulk billing GP available to see students on the Rockhampton campus. This was a really useful service to students, do you think CQU might look into bringing this back?

John said...

Have heard quite a bit of rumour going around about Engineering building moves in Rocky. Is this the case?

Anonymous said...

Hi I am in Gladstone and I am studying Social Work by flex and I feel that the Gladstone campus could benifit if there was a sciences, engineering and health faculty here.
Regards,
Sarah

Anonymous said...

Hi Scott,
As an external/flex student, it would be helpful to have video lectures similar to the one your doing now. It's often difficult to get your head around things when you've just got the textbooks and study guides to go from. The forums on Moodle are good, and would be better if some of the lecturerers and tutors actually put a bit more information on them. I am enrolled in 2 courses at the moment and we are now half way through week 3 and there is not a single comment on the forums for these 2 courses...
Alicia

aaron said...

Scott,
Just a quick thank you for this session. This has been most informative and comforting that our VC is prepared to be so honest and open with our Universities future.

THANK YOU

Tina said...

Hi,

Would like to thank you for taking the time to talk to students and especially for making allowances for those students who are unable to make the face to face meetings. Thanks for answering our questions.

Cheers Tina

Student from Rocky said...

Thanks Scott. This has been a very valuable and informative forum. Thank you for being so honest and candid in your answers. Really appreciate it.

Jodi said...

Scott

Thank you for answering my question on IT. I porbably should have clarified and perhaps my comment came across a little negitive which really wasnt my intent.

I have seen a massive improvement over the years since I first was a CQU student back in 1999. I'm not too sure what the change has been but keep up the good work IT people.

My concern is really around the MyCQU system which seems to be aged and really not functional as an online "Kiosk" compared to the QUT connect system.

To clarify - moving from Blackboard and the other system (I cant remember the name of it) to Moodle was fantastic as a "one stop shop". This is what the MyCQU system really should be.

My question in relation to budget was directed at upgrading these older Websites to new technologies. Did you know the current CQU front page doesnt display properly on a mobile device like an iphone or ipad ?

If CQU is going to move forward with flexible learning then you need to invest in technologies which are compatable with devices that students have in their hands TODAY... not next year !

Final comment.. would love to follow you on twitter ! When are you going to start tweeting to your students :)

Nicole Mellor said...

Hi, I am a 3rd year psychology student and have been studying internally at Rockhampton since I started. I would like to note the progressive decline in internal lectures for psychology subjects: for first year subjects lectures ran the full 12 weeks and it was wonderful having a lecturer (and other students) to clarify topics and even expand on some. During my second year however, I had 2 course that actually had lectures the rest was done by distance. Third year, one subject was internal but only had classes for the first 3 weeks (one class a week) and then internal classes were cancelled; out of 3 subjects for term 1, only 1 of them had lectures for the entire term and this term is proving the same. I know that one of the reasons is because of small class size but for psychology, having internal classes is great; you are able to talk to fellow class member, no matter how few, and you are also able to talk to the lecturer on a one-on-one and group basis (without having to book in advance which is ultimately not helpful). My question is, what is CQUni doing about this - will you eventually go completely distance ed. for psychology? Because that is your choice but please do not advertise internal classes and then have them cancel 3 weeks into term. When that happens I question what I am doing staying in Rocky (I moved here for uni), proving to be a rather expensive exercise just to do it virtually by flex regardless.

Curiously, Nicky

Anonymous said...

Re: term 3 and offering more courses.

If it's a problem for lecturers to work through Christmas because they need to do research etc, perhaps CQU could consider going back to how term 3 used to be - that is, a 6 week term with courses running at double speed.

This might suit the lecturers better and allow them to teach and do the research they need to do. It would also give students a good break between term 3 and term 1 the following year that they wouldn't otherwise get if they were studying during a 12 week term 3.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this opportunity to ask questions, it was very interesting.

hibsusan said...

Hi
just want to let you know that I absolutely love being at CQU Bundaberg! The education faculty are extremely dedicated and helpful.
Sometimes we can feel a bit isolated when needing to contact faceless people in Rocky, but through forums like this problems can be sorted.
I am applying for an international study exchange which I consider to be a privilege.The hardest thing in applying has been to secure time with really really busy supportive lecturers/co-ordinators in order to seek their advice and direction. Having a program advisor on campus may alleviate that problem.
Thanks

cheers
Sue Hibbard

Anonymous said...

Hi Scott,
Thank you for taking the time to be "all ears" to the students at CQU. Firstly I would like to say that I am appreciative of the lecturers and the work they put into the nursing courses. My only problem is that as an internal nursing student at the bundaberg campus I expected that I would have "internal" lectures. However at the moment 50% of the courses for this term are external subjects. One of these subjects feels like there is no lecturer, there was supposed to be a one hr lecture for this course over the live teleconference but now there is none. I suppose I am just feeling as though we as students are completely alone. I understand that as adult learners we take responsibility for our studies, however, as I chose to be an internal student I expected more "face to face" contact with lecturers. As much as I dont want to be an external student I am considering dropping from full time and going part time flex after this term because I am finding that for a one hour lecture or lab a day it is costing me more in petrol and child care fees than it is worth actually coming in to uni for a one hr lecture or lab in a day, perhaps these labs/lectures could be put into one or 2 days. I would love to go to uni everyday if it was worth the while coming in and I also feel that this is the best way I learn. I understand also that as times change and the world becomes a more technological place we need to understand the world of computers and online business. But when we have not been trained in this system of learning it can come as quite a shock, especially considering that CQU is mostly made up of mature age students. Not to mention the constant "glitches in the system". I believe and Im sure most people agree and other students I have spoken to have also said that there is far too much online rather than what is offered face to face on campus. I also feel that some online assessments are irrelevant to what will help us in future nursing practice. I have spoken with other students who also feel the same way that I do about wanting to be full time internal students, but are studying part time flex because it is not worth it to go to uni for the little time we actually get to spend with a lecturer. And most bundaberg subjects are via teleconference from lecturers who are not from here and we dont get to see them personally. This is where communication issues occur between students and staff and becomes quite a problem.

Julie said...

On the topic of term 3 subjects for Science, Engineering and Health faculties:
For student nurses wanting to ease their up and coming workload by adopting some courses over term 3, would it be at all possible to offer Population Health Epidemiology in that time period?
Upon asking for courses to study over the third term, I have been told that I may be able to do cross institutional study for this course through another university, but absolutely no mention has been made of this university offering this subject.
If this could be looked into it would be highly appreciated.
Julie

Sandy Stronach said...

Hi, I was wondering if there is any chance of population health epidemiology for nursing students to do over the christmas break. There is a few in my class interested in this as we know our third year courses are going to be full on and having this opportunity will take some stress off.
Many thanks

Anonymous said...

Hi, I was wondering if there is any feedback or answers to the questions that were asked by students above? I know some were answered during the forum, but others were going to be looked into and answered at a later date, so I was wondering if they've been answered yet and I've just missed it?

Thank you

Vice Chancellor - CQUniversity said...

There has been follow up to many of questions posted here. We're continuing our conversation on these topics on Moodle, the e-learning space at CQUniversity for students. So, if you are a student, please log in to Moodle to access the discussion.