What better time to start blogging about work than when I’m on holiday?
But today - a day from our staycation week - I found myself working on the reading for the next reading group, and then going to a shop, and the person who helped me in the shop was a current student. They wanted to talk about their experience of the university (they feel disconnected - so few contact hours, so many connections outside university) and about online marking (approves on the whole, very much approves of less paper, picked up one lot of essay feedback on top of a mountain using their phone because they could, finds the feedback less thorough than when people mark with pen and paper). Sees being my age (in your mid-40s) as old, and a good enough excuse for not being comfortable with technology. Yikes.
Anyway, I am sitting in a cafe a stone's throw from the office, choosing to think about work, on my day off. So maybe I like my job better than I give myself credit for.
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Small aside from our week by the sea.
On the pedalos, eldest declaring that as she was steering we were going to zigzag across the lake because “if you’re going in a straight line you’re not really steering”. This is a common misconception in the world of work too.
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And now we’re back.
I was thinking again about the student I spoke to and how different their experience of what university is seemed to mine - in particular the lack of connection.
When I was at university it was all-consuming. Everything was the university. I lived in halls for three years, I didn’t have a job, I knew no one there who wasn’t a current student or a member of staff. I didn’t have contact with friends from home while I was there. Only occasionally did I venture into the parts of town that weren’t effectively part of the university.
Being disconnected sounds like a problem, and it was one of the first things the student said to me so maybe they felt like it was a problem to them. But it may have advantages compared to the strange and secluded life I led as a student. Anyway, it’s different and it’s good to be reminded of what I don’t know.
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I found the weeknotes idea via @jukesie, like many good things. I'm note sure this really counts as a weeknote as it covers two weeks and those weren't working weeks. But it's a start :)
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