Studying at the University of Luton

In September 2003 I enrolled and began attending Faculty of Informatics at the Masaryk University in Brno, course Applied Informatics. First level was rather a revision for me than something new because I learnt many things during my studies at college. But at least there were some subjects that were pretty tough and I had to study hard. I did my best and got really good grades. But I'm still not the best student and students that are better than me just make me to work harder...

And now I'm here in Luton, studying Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Level 2. During the Induction Week, I was thinking that studies here will be tricky again and that I won't be able to cope with that. I wish it had been true! It's really surprising that some students doing Computing and Information Systems Level 2 are not able to download a file to start a practical session. You might think that I'm kidding but I'm telling you the truth! I was sitting next to such a guy last practical and I couldn't believe that. In a nutshell, many students, when they have troubles, first go and ask someone next to them what to do before they start to think and use their brain. That's one thing I cannot understand.

It's also very interesting that many students doing the same course as me are not able to program in any programming language although they spent all the first year studying Java. I don't think it's difficult to learn Java because it's quite an easy language. But you won't become a good programmer unless you practise your programming skills. :-) And if you study Computing and Information Systems, you're expected to do so, don't you think? Maybe I'm too strict but I'm here to study, I'm a student. And the noun "student" stands for "a person who studies", am I right?

Everyone here also keeps talking about Plagiarism (= copying someone else's thoughts and attitudes without referencing the source). Plagiarism here at the University of Luton is one the most serious academic offences that can lead to your dismissal from the university. I completely agree with this attitude as I know how it feels when someone uses your own work. But what would you do when a lecturer presents paragraphs downloaded from the Internet as his own without referencing it? Or just copies out an example from a book with all the mistakes? What would you think then? And believe me, this really happens here.

Now I have something unbelievable for IT-interested individuals. In one practical, we had to write a simple program in a pseudo assembly language. Our lecturer forgot to give us an operation code of one instruction. We asked the lecturer to give us the operation code and so he had to go to his office to find out. Then he gave us a BINARY number 0003... The same guy also spent one hour and a half talking about window controls. In the amount of time mentioned, he was able to include buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, text fields and lists emphasizing the difference between a check box and a radio button...

OK, I think that's enough about lectures, now let's examine facilities (see Photos of the university) and services available to students. First I should mention our famous Blackboard Learning System. It's a web-based application that enables you to access study materials published by lecturers. Each student can access only those materials related to modules he/she is enrolled in. Then we have an e-mail account that we have to use when contacting lecturers and other members of university staff. We also have another account to access the library, part of the Learning Resources Centre, which is pretty big as it has four storeys. Then we have some other accounts I don't use. In a nutshell, we have various accounts to do various things. However, considering that our "poor" Masaryk University in Brno has much more sophisticated information system with all-in-one account, it's not a big deal at all. In addition, our MUni IS allows you to manage personal, study and other matters from home using internet browser.

IT suite, another part of the LRC, provides us with a number of PCs connected into the Internet. The problem is that it is not open 24/7 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) as for instance our CPS (Celouniverzitni Pocitacova Studovna) in Brno. Even worse is the fact that many essential things are not allowed on these computers as they are protected by Ranger. However, there are ways how to bypass this protection and do almost whatever you like on the computer. ;-) The moral is that when you want to deny something, do not use the Ranger! The reason is that you only piss off the students and they'll do their best to find a way how to do those things they want to do.

Well, I don't know what else to add. Unfortunately, I still have a feeling that I know everything (at least in all the CIS courses I take part in) and that's not good at all! I need someone who's better than me so I can learn from him/her because I came to study, not to relax. Luckily, I've met some students and lecturers that are very good and I'm really glad for that...