How do you find the IT facilities here?

I find WebCT very useful. I do quite a lot of reading on-screen, following links from WebCT, in particular for compulsory readings and other links that the lecturers make available through it.

Did you have a computer in China?

Yes.

Did you use it in the same way as you do here?

No. I cannot live without a computer here, but I can do without it in China.

— Caroline

Do you use the Net a lot? Do you use WebCT?

Yes, I think the library system is very good. They will help you a lot. That is something you cannot get in China – at least in my University.

How do you find the facilities in the library?

Pretty good; they've got everything I need to use there. But, I'm not sure, but one of my classmates said the computers were outdated; but I thought they were fine. And I think the Postgraduate Study Room is good – I used it almost every day. Very quiet.

— Nova

The problem I had is, when I started to study here, how to use the library system. Because I had no experience in my undergrad study, because that time [there was no] Internet and online database; but here, a lot of information, but how to get the information efficiently, this is a problem I met when I started study here. But when you practise more you get familiar with how to use it, so now it's much better. I think the information provided by Monash Library database[s], is very good. In most cases it's enough for me to write an assignment.

— Luke

Are you happy with the library facilities?

All except the long waiting times. Sometimes here at Caulfield, there are so many students that you have to queue up and wait a long time, for library computers, for example; and often books are already out. Teachers ought to put the compulsory readings they set in the Reserve area, so students can borrow them and photocopy them.

So you have to request them and wait - do you think you have to wait too long?

I don’t wait. I’ve told the teacher, "You have to put them on reserve." But I don’t use the reserve - you only have two hours; I just photocopy them to read at home. Waiting wastes too much time.

— Grace

I did a bridging program at Monash College, so I've kind of got some idea how to survive in university. Because in that program, they teach us what is plagiarism, how to do essay, how to do the report that's kind of different, and how to do the research. Also research skills that program taught me, so that was useful

— Faith

What resources and what services have you found the most useful in your studies to enhance your language and study skills?

Student Service Centre and Language and Learning. Language and Learning can, you know, help you a lot to improve your proper English

— Gerry

I found it useful to be able to consult Language and Learning and the library, and the Q Manual, on what is an essay, how an essay is different from a report, and so on.

How did you know about the Q Manual?

Probably from the Orientation Week handbook.

Have you found it helpful?

You can consult the Q Manual on the web. But I found it more useful to go to one-to-one tutorials and classes run by Language and Learning and the library. If I couldn't find out what I needed to know from them I would go to the Q Manual.

— Daniel

How did you get to know about the services and resources available?

Orientation.

Have you made use of them?

I've used the ones I need?

For example, short courses.

Yes – language courses – two or three of them; how to write essays, how to deal with exams, how to manage your time.

Helpful?

Yes. At least you know what you need, and what the teacher requires of you.

— Grace

Generally speaking, do you think there's anything the University should be doing to help students to adapt more quickly to the study methods here?

Actually, I think they're already doing pretty well. I think it depends on the individual. But I think they need to make sure that Chinese students know about and attend Orientation activities – they can be very helpful.

— Jade

Has the library been helpful to you?

Yes, I think the librarian is quite helpful, they help me to find the information if I can't find it.

— Susy

What about the library staff: did you find them easy to approach, and willing to help?

Yes. If you had a question they would always help.

Did you ever attend the library training courses?

Yes, I did. I think that's really essential. Because when you first get here there are so many things you don't know, and they will tell you how to use the internet, how to find the book you want, even how to organise your time.

— Jade

How did you manage with your first assignment?

That assignment took me so long to write. There were so many references – I'd never had to do that before.

So how did you deal with it?

I used the library. The library helped me enormously.

Did you know already how to use the library? - how to do research there and find references?

Not then.

So how did you learn?

When I had to write my first assignment, I'd never been to the library. My teacher said we had to include references. I thought, "References? What's that? How do I do that?". I asked the lecturer; she just said, "References are materials you look up in the library to support the argument in your essay." So I went to the library, to the information desk, and they took me through the process step by step. After that I could do it myelf – find out the call number, locate the book on the shelves, and so on…

Since I've been at the University I think I've spent more time in the library than I have at home. The library helps me with everything.

So the library is very important in your life?

Without the library there's no way I could get a degree. I can say that.

— Diane

Do you know about the Q Manual?

Ah yes, I got a lot of help from the Q Manual – I think that's useful. That's a direct way, very timely: when I met difficulty I can get some information and some guide from Internet.

— Nana

In your studies, have you used the Q Manual?

Q manual? Oh – yes, I have. I only found out about it relatively late; for help with referencing, and there's an introduction in it – very helpful, I think.

You didn't know about it at the beginning?

No, I didn't.

How did you find out about it?

That friend of mine doing the bridging course, he talked about it a lot – tells you how to write, and so on.

How did the Q Manual help you most?

In writing essays. It teaches you how to write, how to – I think it's really helpful.

— Pearl

Do you think there's anything the University could do to help NESB students with their study skills problems?

I think the University has already done a great deal. That are a lot of resources available for students to use. The individual tutorials and drop-ins available from Language and Learning are good – though I've only ever used drop-ins: individual appointments are a bit difficult to organise in advance.

Caroline took her first assignment, a Law assignment, to Language and Learning, and found them very useful. She also attended Language and Learning presentations.

Did you find them helpful?

Quite helpful, in some aspects – referencing, organising an essay, how to write a law essay – quite useful.

— Caroline

Did you ever go to the Language and Learning Service at Monash?

Yes.

Did you find it helpful?

It's quite helpful.

In what way?

They check my grammar. At the same time they suggest me to do lot of self-study – yes. And they have motivate – they give me some encouragement to work. Yes.

— Susy

Why do you think tutorials should be compulsory?

I think, like, tutorials give you the whole picture of the subject and go into details of the subject. If you don't go to the tutorial and just come home and read a book, if you have some question you don't know how to solve it.

— Gerry

… But then you would have had tutorials after the lecture.

I think tutorials is more important than lecture. Give you some very good hints for the - you know, just revision of the lecture, and give you very clear idea for this topic.

How many students in a lecture?

I think - fifty; a hundred.

And how many in a tutorial, normally?

Mmm - fifteen.

So in a tutorial has it been easy for you to ask questions, find out what you need to know?

Yes, that's right. I like tutorials.

Also, tutorials provide a lot of help for exams. The topics that turn up in the exams turn up a lot in the tutorials.

— Diane

Why do you like that subject in particular?

I am motivated by the material

Ok

And the tutors are easy going.

What do you mean by easy going?

Easy going is that – don't know – maybe, [you can] ask questions and they're willing to answer the questions.

— Sandy

What about the lectures and tutorials? What's that experience been like for you?

I think the tutorials are good. It's a communication way. When I first started, listening was a problem for me, and I could hardly understand anything; but in the tutorial I feel less stressed, because there are many classmates, and we can talk – not like the lecture, where we can't talk. I also think the tutor is not like the lecturer, because in our opinion, depending on our experience in China, the lecturer is very strict, and we have distance between us, but in the tutorial I think we don't have much distance with tutor

So you find it easy to ask questions, and to raise your voice in the tutorial?

Yes, more free, more relaxed in the tutorial. But after spending three or four months here, I think the lecturer is not as distant as I thought – that's also very interesting.

—Nana

What was so good about that course?

In that course we had tutorials, and in the tutorials we had closer contact with the teacher. So it was easier to speak up if there was something you didn't understand. And every week there would be different sorts of things to do; and these increased both your interest and your understanding of the class.

— Jade

Did you find at all that the tutors were able to help you understand things that the lecturer had not made clear to you?

Yes. When we was in tutorial, some of the tutors would explain what the lecturer had said, especially in the first semester.

— Lionel

The tutorials – do you think they are well-run? – in terms of encouraging interaction and making sure that everyone gets a chance to speak?

My impression is that the tutorials are helpful – quite good; well run. Some are run by the lecturers, some are run by students. But I think the student-run tutorials are pretty good, because they have done thorough study, based on their understanding. I am pretty satisfied with those tutorials; they are very helpful.

— Luke

Do the tutorials give you the opportunity to have the sort of discussion you're talking about?

Yes, they have, but I didn't use it very well, just because I didn't prepare well. But if you prepare well you can ask so many questions, but because I didn't, so I have no questions to ask.

—Nova

How did you find the tutorial experience? Did you enjoy going to tutorials? Were the tutorials better than the lectures or worse than the lectures, in terms of their interest and how much you could learn from them?

You can learn more from the tutorial, from the discussion, and talk with the lecturer more – more directly. But I think it's all the same: if you prepare something you know what the lecturer talk about; if you don't prepare you need to go back and read the textbook again. It's the same.

But do you think you learn things from the discussion that you wouldn't learn from the textbooks?

Yes. Because some of the lecturer even don't believe textbook.

— Susy

Were you surprised about any aspects of how people study here and learn here?

I think the communications between the teachers and the students are quite well here, I think. You can talk a lot with the lecturers and all tutorials here... I think I would suggest to students, if they have any difficulties, just try and find some help – don't try to figure it out by yourself, because I think the staff here is quite helpful

Which staff? All staff?

Yeah. I think

— Anne

When you went to a lecturer or tutor for help, how did you find their attitude?

Their attitude was fine - very friendly, very willing to help you. Most people contacted them by email if there was something they didn't understand.

Did you normally contact them by email?

No. I went to see them, in their consultation times.

You didn't have any trouble getting to see them?

No. I was never refused a consultation.

— Diane