Simon Davies :: Teaching
Simon Davies :: Teaching |
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These
teaching pages are replicas of my University of Bath pages. I am
leaving them here because I am aware students from Bath and other
universities have accessed these pages, and might want to still do so.
Note though, that these pages are not currently maintained. Links to 2007/08 Courses: EC10007 Introductory Macroeconomics EC20018 Cross-sectional Econometrics EC20155 Development Economics Notes/Links for Courses Taught on in Past: EC10003 Introduction to Statistics EC10004 Computing and Data Analysis EC10006 Introductory Microeconomics Announcements:
"Education is what is left when what was learnt has been forgotten" (Unknown) You are not at University just to pass exams. You are here to learn, gain skills and have life experiences. If you learn things by heart, you might get good exam grades to begin with, but you won’t be able to apply the knowledge in the future. And your grades will eventually go downhill. To make good long-term progress, you must understand. University is about gaining not just knowledge but also a myriad of personal transferable skills and an overall understanding of life. Amongst other important things are the ability to write and communicate well, the ability to think for yourself and be flexible, the ability to interact well with other people, I could go on. You are also here to gain experiences. Living away from your family for the first time perhaps, or meeting new and interesting people (especially from cultures and backgrounds other than your own) you would never have had the chance to meet otherwise are just two ways in which you should broaden your horizons. While you are here, you should work hard. You will learn interesting things. But those things are only one part of your personal development. Meet some random people. Do some random things. Visit the local area and cultivate your learning spirit. Don’t just accumulate knowledge you won’t use after your exams. Unless you learn skills (and that includes the ability to think for yourself and make your own judgements), gain a rounded understanding of life, and thrive on new experiences, you will not be a very employable or a very interesting person. In short, you are here to develop as a person. So take advantage of your academic environment to learn, but education is a lot more than that. Don’t throw the chance away to do more! Plagiarism: Plagiarism is cheating. I don’t like cheating. I don’t like footballers who dive and I don’t like people to plagiarise. As I once heard someone say, “You are at University now. We don’t just read the books and articles that you read; we write them”. If you plagiarise, you have a high chance of being caught. If I am marking your work, please do not ever let me find (amongst other things) blatant copying and pasting from the Internet for paragraph after paragraph after paragraph. Not even if you change a couple of words. And not even if each paragraph comes from a different source. Reference your information, and put in quotation marks any sentences or groups of sentences you take from someone else’s work. I have heard a rumour that if someone else can say something better than you, then you should simply put their words in your essay. Anything you take directly from other people’s work must be in quotation marks and this does not extend to taking your whole essay from other people’s work. I myself have nothing to say that someone else couldn’t say better. But I still wrote this. Do not think that by offering references different to those you have plagiarised that you will get away with it. You won’t. You can find more information on plagiarism, including many useful links at: http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/plagiarism/ International Students: You have left your country at great emotional expense to yourself and great financial expense to your parents or Government. Don’t waste your time and money. Do your best to mix with native students; especially do not mix just with people from your home country. It will inevitably be more difficult for you than for others to make new friends. Asking whether this is fair is the wrong attitude. You will have to make more of an effort whether you like it or not. But make the effort. It will be worth it. You will improve you language skills and learn a lot about British and European culture. A British person going to your country would also have to make additional efforts to integrate him or herself. Take the time to notice differences. If you are from China, you should notice the importance of religion in European attitudes and history (and indeed the attitudes of almost all other peoples). Ask questions. All those big, beautiful churches are there for a reason! Notice how shops shut early (or don’t open at all) on a Sunday. Ask why. Why do people celebrate Christmas? When you meet people of different religions, ask about them! You might notice different groups of people defined by their clothes, music-tastes, or other characteristics. There are hippies, goths, surfers and boarders,… the list goes on. Notice these different people – especially if these sub-cultures are different from those in your own countries. Although it is impolite to stare at people in British culture, you might find that you can look at people for longer and more directly than in your own culture. If you get an opportunity to meet different types of people, take it! Read about British and European history. It is impossible to understand a culture without some knowledge of its history. You could read “Dummies Guide to British History” or European History, for example. Or something in your own language. Try to read some English books. Maybe start with Harry Potter. It is well-written, easy to read and fun. Read small books – perhaps the ones British people read when they are children. Roald Dahl is still excellent – even as an adult! These books help to shape our attitudes, beliefs and way of life. They will help you to understand us. I encourage you to visit the local area and mix with Brits. You will notice that we tend to go to the pub a lot. Pubs in Britain are places where everyone goes. Friends meet to relax, families to eat, couples for a drink, business people to meet or entertain. Although not all pubs are the same – some cater for younger people, some for older – and have different atmospheres, they are a place where everyone goes, of all classes, wealth groups, ages, professions, etc. They are not reserved only for a small group of people. If you are invited, I strongly recommend you accept. They also form an important part of British culture. If you are lucky (or unlucky, depending upon your point of view) you will find me in them frequently – especially on the rare occasions a Southampton or Celtic match is being shown! Notice how British lifestyle issues and habits differ from those in your own country. Depending upon your background, you might want to take special notice of our political system. We have regular elections, several political parties and an opposition, whose job it is to oppose the Government. If you are from anywhere outside the British Isles, you might find it interesting to learn about the different components of the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and how people’s identities reflect this. (Some English people might even like to try and meet people from other parts of the UK to understand this!) English Language: If English is not your native language, or even if it is, please spell-check your work before you hand it in. This will also help to pick up typing errors. If you do not have an English-language spell-check on your home computer you have two options: (1) Bring your completed essay onto the campus to check the spelling on a computer; (2) Download openoffice (www.openoffice.org) – an open source piece of software similar to office which has a spell-check. Even if English is not your native language, I seriously recommend writing essays directly into English. Firstly it will give you good practice and help you to improve your English rapidly and to a good standard. Secondly, translating is difficult. Professional translators train for years to become proficient, and even then, they almost always translate into their native tongue, not away from it. Give yourself lots of time to write your first few essays. Take your time, and do it properly. Your will find that it is very difficult to begin with but will get easier and easier with time. Read around your topic and you will see how native speakers write, and will eventually start to write like them. Get yourself a good English dictionary as well as a bilingual one. Thesauri are very useful. If you don’t yet have one, here is a good online dictionary: www.dictionary.com. It also contains a thesaurus. If you don’t already know them, you could start by looking up words such as “hippy” and “Goth” (see above). Places to visit in and around Bath: See Links Page. |