Some advice for new first years

Welcome to Physics 16 September 2020

It’s almost time for a new set of first year students to join us in Physics & Astronomy. One of the staff members they’ll get to know in the coming months is lecturer Dr. Draga Pihler-Puzovic, who’s the First Year Tutor. You can find out more about her on her staff profile, or read on below for what she told us about what our new students can expect this year.

What is a typical week likely to look like for the first years?

This academic year is different to previous academic years – we are moving to a new teaching system (blended learning), which will also ensure safety of everyone on the campus, our students and the teaching staff.

Our two main forms of teaching in the first year used to be lectures and tutorials. In the former, a lecturer typically delivered 2 hours of live lectures weekly in big amphitheatre. These will be partially replaced by an extensive online material which will include pre-recorded video explanations of material by lecturers, examples, formative online quizzes and problem sheets with further video explanations. Therefore, the students will be able to go over lecture content remotely at their own time and pace, but would normally be expected to do so in the first half of a week.

During the second half of a typical week, students will have an opportunity to interact with lecturers and academic tutors in a synchronous manner via tutorials, workshops and Q&A sessions. These will be designed to practise problem solving, get feedback, address questions, go over material in more depth and present some interesting extra-curricular material. The blended learning is this combination of synchronous and asynchronous teaching. We anticipate that the synchronous teaching mentioned above will mainly be happening on-line in the autumn semester using tools such as Zoom, Blackboard etc, but some of it will be in person. For example, we will continue teaching laboratory work on campus. We have spent the summer planning safe small group teaching. We are implementing strict social distancing measures (students staying at least 2m apart, for example) and cleaning protocols from September.

What do you think is usually the biggest surprise for new students compared to what they expected?

By starting a university degree, students take a big step towards independence, both on the personal level, but also academically. This is very different to the school environment.

Do you have any advice for our new students?

Enjoy the newly acquired independence, but remember not to fall behind academically. As the department, we are here to support you in your academic journey, but it is up to you to take the first step by fully participating in the life of the department. You will gain more from your degree by readily and regularly engaging with us.

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