My Oxford Brookes Experience Thus Far..

On the 13th of September I left my home country Zimbabwe, to embark on a new exciting journey of learning in the United Kingdom at an exceptional university Oxford Brookes. This has come with many pleasant experiences.

As a learner in the foundation year plan before going into my Law degree at Oxford Brookes University (OBU) next year I have learnt about different cultures and their different learning techniques first and foremost, not only that but with the large group of internationals diversity and many different ideas have come about in our group discussions which have opened my mind to areas never explored before. Linked to this is the Thursday lectures one in particular that stands out was the lecture on Human Rights(week 3) and also the one on Environmental Sustainability(week 4), together with the lecture and further research such lectures will always have a great bearing on my actions especially once back in Zimbabwe.Week 5  we had to learn how to use the library which seemed complex but with the aid of the Thursday lecture and the website the task was simple.

The visit to Cadbury's Chocolate World was exciting especially the marketing tutorial we had before going around the facility, as this was related to the other modules I am taking. It was startling how companies will pay to be on the end of the aisle where everyone walks past.The amount of money that is spent on creating a brand logo with a specific meaning, such as the Amazon logo which has an arrow from the first A to the Z symbolising from A to Z ,or Wikipedia with the missing piece of the puzzle symbolising they will always have something they do not know.

Most if not all of my personal experiences at OBU have been positive, my first blog entry was though the one regret I had as the mark did not come as expected. However the teacher Gill was very supportive and helpful and this negative experience was soon turned into a positive learning experience. Positive experiences have been the amount of help and knowledge gained, an example is with the Human Rights essay the Tuesday teacher Dana was extremely helpful with my essay which was Article 28, she told me on what mainly to focus on as I was going in the opposite direction. The science lecture and then the TED video by Susan Lim on stem cells was informative as before this lecture I knew little about the science world and genetic modification.

As a person though I feel I have changed as a person. The main aim of coming to England all the way from Zimbabwe was for personal growth and to learn more this has come to me in many different experiences, all as a lesson. I have become more independent as a person as at university there are no parents to wake you up or to get you to do your assignments or study or check your emails to see what is going on.

The way I learn has changed dramatically with the amount of time one gets to do their assignments. This gives you a longer time span to view different sources, and to only sieve out the vital information which was not what I used to do before.

As a learner going into the second semester a number of lessons and new habits I wish to continue. Handing in assignments much earlier than the deadline is one aspect I would like to continue as this will help in case you send the wrong lecture or there arises a vital emergency on the day the assignments where due. The use of Moodle on a daily basis is one trend I would like to start as this will keep me up to date on lectures and ahead. Overall the first semester has been nothing short of a wonderful learning experience and the trend looks set to continue!