Teamwork Skills in Tutorials

Abdulaziz and Fawaz show off their tower

One of the benefits to studying a programme with FoundationCampus is the weekly tutorial.  Each student is assigned a personal tutor on arrival who they can speak to if they have any questions, problems or worries whether personal or study-related.

Students have a taught tutorial once in every three weeks which incorporates study skills such as note-taking, time management, revision and team work skills.  In the other two weeks students attend personal appointments with their tutor to discuss their studies and anything that might affect their progress or general well being.

Our September starters are now studying Module 2 of their subjects which contain a number of group work exercises and team projects.  To support them in this tutorial sessions this week centred around team work.  Students had to work together to build a tower using spaghetti and marshmallows.  Well done Abdulaziz and Fawaz on your winning tower!

Manchester United vs Reading

Last night, a lucky bunch of our students managed to get tickets to see Manchester United play Reading F.C at home in the FA Cup. 


One of the big perks of studying at FoundationCampus UCLan is that there are 5 Premiership football teams just on our doorstep and it is quite easy to get tickets for most of the matches.  Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, Wigan Athletic and of course the Red Devils Man Utd are all within a couple of hours drive of Preston.

Students visited the Theatre of Dreams and saw Man Utd beat Reading by 2 goals to 1 to secure a place in the FA Cup quarter finals.  It was an action packed match and following the excellent feedback we had we are looking to secure further tickets for Man Utd in the near future.  On top of that we have already booked a Manchester United Old Trafford Stadium Tour for keen students to see in a few weeks. 

Biology Experiments

While the rest of us are still waking up and coming to terms with another cold Monday morning our UFP Biology students are feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and are already carrying out experiments to find out about the mebrane structure of beetroot.

All cells are surrounded by a protective layer called a membrane and our students are busy finding out at which temperature the membrane of beetroot gets damaged.  When that happens the red beetroot colour leaks into the water.  Students need to work ina  predicted and planned way to find the maximum temperature a beetroot can withstand before dissolving into the surrounding water.

Biology students will be carrying out 5 different practical experiments in their upcoming lessons, 3 of which will be assessed and will count towards their module 2 assessment mark.

Other assessed practicals include 'investigating the water potential of potato tissue' where water is taken into the potato making it firmer and larger or water is removed from the potato making it softer and become smaller. All this is done by the power of sugar (or salt) dissolved in the water around the potato.

There will also be in investigation into the effect of exercise on our pulse rate, so students can pick the level of activity that increases or decreases the heart rate.

Keep up the good work class!

Valentines Day

Yesterday was Valentines Day in England, the most romantic day of the year and a brilliant excuse for people to express their admiration and love for others.

Traditionally cards, flowers and chocolates are exchanged between couples and many lovestruck people declare their love for unsuspecting acquaintances.

Here at FoC UCLan we had roses on sale, although it seemed love was not in the air in Preston as only 4 were sold. 

Spotlight on UFP Advanced English

 

This year at FoundationCampus UCLan we are running Advanced English; Extended Project for the first time. 

Students with stronger English are being encouraged to challenge themselves by undertaking a Research Project on their chosen topic and will split their time between advanced level English lessons and independent study, which will culminate in a 3000 word essay with research findings.  This will help prepare them for degree level coursework and the dissertations that they will expected to complete at University.

Here our Advanced English class are attending a Research Methods lecture to help get them started.

Our students have chosen from a wide variety of topics which reflect both their interests and the degree that they will undertake at UCLan upon progression.  Titles include 'Is it ethical to have a test tube baby?' 'How the Vikings have shaped Swedish culture.' 'Does Apple have a future after the death of Steve Jobs' and 'The life of Coco Chanel and her influence on the Fashion Industry.'

We look forward to seeing what our students will create as part of this project and hope they enjoy it.

York trip and Railway museum

Last weekend, as the grand finale to our induction week activities, students visited the historic city of York and took a trip to the National Railway Museum, the largest railway museum in the world.

The city of York is one of England's oldest and most beautiful cities, and is a mere 1 hour 45 minutes drive from us in Preston. 

York is famous for it's medieval city walls which were built nearly 2000 years ago and still in excellent condition, and York Minster; one of the world's most magnificent cathedrals.  There are a number of great, historic attractions to be seen around the city and our students enjoyed a walk around the city centre for sightseeing and shopping in the busy shopping area.

After lunch students went to the National Railway Museum, a free museum housing a number of trains and engines up to 300 years old, including the locomotive, the Flying Scotsman, and many trains from around the world. 

Our students were lucky enough to see engineers working on the Flying Scotsman as part of it's restoration project and Yohei Yasui, a Japenese student, was excited to see Japan's famous Bullet train which is one of the world's fastest trains and also the world's most punctual train.

In college we are already looking forward to our next trip..., to the home of Manchester United Football Team; Old Trafford Stadium.

Welcome back FoC UCLan!

It's a new term here at FoundationCampus UCLan, we have been joined by a new cohort of students on our January start programmes and lessons are now well under way after a very busy and eventful induction week.

Outside of our normal induction activities, such as campus and city tours, enrolling with the centre and University, police registration and subject inductions, our new students enjoyed a trip to the local bowling alley, had a getting-to-know-you pizza party, took a trip to the Trafford Centre and were also joined by September students on a trip to the historic city of York.

After all of that fun and frivolity, students are feeling well settled in and were ready to start their courses on Monday.  Good luck to all of our new students for their first term with us and welcome back returners.




 For more information on courses delivered at FoC UCLan please visit; http://www.foundationcampus.com/en/uclan/.