the den - august | 2012

The DEN Issue 34, August/September 2012 1

THEDENDEN

Distance Education Newsletter

Issue 34August/September 2012

The CSU Distance Education Newsletter

FeaturesCSUs Global Exchange ProgramFree the BearsExam Tips

CSUDistance Ed

RegularsWriter’s CornerMeet a DE studentQuiz

2 The DEN Issue 34 August/September 2012

From The EditorIssue 34, August 2012

CONTRIBUTORSErica Dilworth, Melanie Smith, Sandra Stewart, Lucy Watt

Cover PICTUREMel Smith

Welcome

Hi everybody my sincere apologies, this semester has been a strugggle on a lot of levels and I missed August and this is a very late combined August and September. I have put a deadline of one week on my self, - you can tell the last assignment has gone, to get October completed (it has been started).

I have reused some exam tips and found some new ones and wish all those peo-ple sitting ecxams the best of luck. Lucy Watt has shared with us her CSU global story about working with Free the Bears in Cambodia, Erica Dilworth has intro-duced herself; Welcome Erica as has Mel Smith who bravely introduced herslf in pictures and has also provided the photo on the front cover a view of a sunrise from the Valley Heights where she was completing her Bachelor of Education (0-5) practical experience.

I am unsure how long this edition will take to be approved as it has to go to the Hungappa Editor first. I am sending it tonight 14/10/12 so hopwfully it will be out before the next edition.

Now that things are back on track, I had forgotten how much i enjoy this role.

Best of luck with exams and results

Sandra J StewartEditorA Demolition of wombats (fast asleep).These three are in my care for at least another year. Ed


The best bit of this trilogy was the sense of the

danger offered by the sacked boss p10

Disclaimer: The DEN is a Rivcoll SRC publication and the opinions expressed within are not necessarily those of the editor, staff or student members. Association by persons or companies with ‘The Den’ does not necessarily reflect the religious, political, sexual or racial beliefs of those parties. The Editor and Rivcoll SRC do not accept any responsibility for any omissions, errors, inaccuracies, or the views and opinions contained in any article accepted for publication. The editor reserves the right to edit or reject any articles submitted for publication.

email letters to the Editor & submissions to [email protected]

FEATURES

6. Eating Well During ExamsHealthy Snacks

8. CSU Global Exchange ProgramFree the Bears

10. 50 Shades of GreyReaders Thoughts

14. Surviving ExamsA repeat from earlier in the year.

16. Short StoryFrozen in Time

18. Exam Tips

REGULARS

4. Distance EdComics from his Facebook page.

9. QuizWhere in the world?

12. Meet a DE StudentErica DilworthMel Smith

The traffic was a major WOW with limited road rules. p8

They neglected the citizens who lived girt by the seas of this land, not caring about individuals who had the land in their souls, whose physical and emotional health was tied to this relationship with the land. p 16


Distance EDhttps:/ /www.facebook.com/DistanceEDatCSU

Some of the recent comics seen on facebook

Also check out the Student Services Prezi by Kara King.

http://prezi.com/ov1xbiz53wgu/student-services/

Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.

Winston Churchill


Distance ED’sView of the world

If man made himself the first object of study, he would see how incapable he is of going further. How can a part

know the whole?Blaise Pascal


Eating Well During Exams1. Coffee is NOT Food

Coffee may give you a bit more alertness but it can also trick your body into thinking it is not hungry. Even if your body feels awake your mind woll become groggy without food and will be unable to

absorb what you are studying.

2. Small meal oftenLarge meals can slow you down both physically and mentally

and even make you feel like you need an afternoon nap.Eat lightly 5-6 times a day.

3. Don’t rely on junk food

Pre-pack healthy meals and snacks even if you are studying aat home. Then they will be ready when you need them.

(Just don’t finish them all by 9.30am)

4. Stay hydratedNO coffee does not count as a drink to keep you hydrated.

Drink caffeine (including caffeinated soft drinks) in moderation and for each caffeine drink pair it with a drink of water or even juice (but

be midful of the calories in juice)Too much caffeine will make you jittery. Another drink to choose

could be tea or even better green tea.

5. Before the ExamEat a balanced dinner the night before and go to bed at a reasonable

time (an all night study effort will not help in the exam).EAT BREAKFAST ensure that you get some protein, carbohydrate,

calcium and fibre in your breakfast.

Adapted from: 5 tips to eat right during exams. http://blog.openstudy.com/2010/04/28/5-tips-to-eat-right-during-exams/


Healthy Snacks

SANDWICHES: with ve

getables and a protein so

urce.

FRUIT: apples, oranges, bananas, mandarins

etc

Rich in nutrients, vitamins and fibre fruits are

great brain food,

PLAIN YOGHURT and FRUIT:

Even the flavoured ones at a push.

Veggies. Baby carrots, sugar snap peas, celery and bell pep-

pers - a crisp, crunchy snack

Sunflower Seeds. If you want to mindlessly chew on some-thing while you study, these

small seeds are a great choice.

RAW NUTS - not salted - just watch

how many you eat!

Healthy Brain Food Wholegrain Foods, Walnuts,

Cashews, Almonds,

Pecans, Blueberries,

Strawberries,Eggshttp://www.mindaerobics.com.au/gray-matters/super-brain-

foods/


CSU Global Exchange ProgramFree the Bears


Where in the Worldwould you find?

1. A continent with a permanent human population of zero?2. The country with the highest population of millionaire households in 2011?3. The world’s tallest structure?4. The longest river5. The narrowest straight used by inter-national ships?6. The longest railway in the world?7. World’s oldest train station still in use?8. The world’s largest ice-rink?9. The world’s largest swimming pool?10. The world’s most active volcano?11. What city has a swimming pool that has had over 86 world records set in it?12. The world’s largest mural?13. World’s oldest university?14. Australia’s oldest university?15. Largest Monolith16. Fastest Car17. Most expensive Private Plane18. Windiest Street19. Deepest Canyon20. Biggest Mine


Fi f ty Shades of GreyDE Reader Thoughts

There has been so much hype about this book and so

I made the decision to find out if the blurb was right up

there. Can I just say that I considered it was not – in

reality this was just the next level of a ‘Sexy’ Mills &

Boon due to the S&M. All I can really say is that the

writer of 50 Shades Trilogy EL James has earned her

money on hype and good on her. The best bit of this

trilogy was the sense of the danger offered by the

sacked boss and if you thought Grey had emotional

issues then the ex-boss had far more sinister issues to

deal with. I do not believe this is worth the hardback

cost and even the e-book cost was a little high for

what I considered to be a book that born on hype

and not exceptional writing or plot.

Elizabeth Wiliams

50 Shades of Grey is a woman's novel - men

aren't allowed to read it.

Samual Gallagher


Almost Fi f ty Shades of (Eastern)Grey


Whereabouts do you live? Central Coast NSW

What are you studying? Bachelor of Voca-tional Education & Training

What are your likes? Girl Guides (I'm a leader of youth working with girls aged 5 - 17yrs), collecting pens and snow globes (always on the look out for funky pens)

What are your dislikes? brussel sprouts,

If you had 3 wishes what would they be? to have a baby, be in my dream job and my parents set up for retirement

Would you rather have warts or pimples and why (you can’t say neither!)? pimples as I know how to deal with them!

When you were young, what job did you want to have when you grew up? a music teacher

Meet a DE StudentEr ica Di lworth

What did you end up doing? working in dis-ability employment services assisting people with mental health find and maintain a jobActivities when not studying? Girl Guides

Pets: one beautiful dog called Bundy (as in Bundaberg)

Your thoughts on the environment: we don't treat it well enough for the future gen-erations to enjoy

Favourites:• party food? - finger food but NO SUSHI• TV show? -• music? - anything that gets me to move! love music from country to pop to rock• Song- this changes regularly but lately its Moves Like Jagger or Payphone• Movie - Save the Last Dance• Game - Scrabble• Book - anything by JD Robb (Nora Roberts alter-ego)• Things to do on a Sunday - spend time with hubbyMost• embarrassing moment -• memorable holiday - camping trip to far north coast of NSW for my honeymoon


Meet a DE StudentMel Smith in pictures.

From Mel’s Diversity and Difference as-sessment. We had to complete a cultural plunge experience. I am hearing impaired and for my experience I went out to dinner with a blind fold. This was a surreal experience and presented opportunities for me to use my other senses to obain information about the world. I am also learning to read Braille so I got to put my skills into practice.

The photo on the right was an achievement for me. I completed the city2surf with my mum and a group of friends. It was a fun experience and I have now signed up for a number of other events including the Blackmores Sydney 9km Bridge run, 7 Bridges walk, Rebel run4fun, and next year the color run tour from America.

The last picture- A hard days work! I have taken out the children from this - not very well I am afraid. Editor


Surviv ing Exams


Frozen in TimeA Short Story

From her favourite chair on the verandah she saw green hills and cows grazing con-tently; waiting to ease the burden of their udders full of rich milk. On the flats the abundant lucerne crop rippled; creating gentle waves as the tips gently bowed to the breeze. After harvest there would be more than enough quality hay to feed the herd through drier times. Her love of this place knew no comparison, she gave her heart to it and in return the land became part of her soul. For generations her family had worked this earth, providing rich, creamy milk for those that were not blessed by a country life.

Nearby, country remained as it had been since the dreamtime; raw and untouched with the scent of eucalypt travelling on prevailing breezes. The family believed that nature was important too and had always preserved part of their land as natural habi-tat. Native fauna that slept soundly in hid-den logs or under shady ironbark trees dur-ing the heat of the day, would, as darkness fell, become part of an active and vibrant nocturnal world. The river was sacred both to her family and its indigenous caretakers. At all times the river was to be protected, not exploited, for its life-giving water was essential to all life. In times of drought its flow was lost and the gift of water scarce, but eventually the rains would appear; the river banks would burst and leave the gift of rich alluvial soil on now fertile flood plains.

This whole land was both fragile and re-silient and her people respected this. Over millions of years its indigenous inhabitants had learned to live with and preserve this

unique land. Newer inhabitants were learning from the errors of their past. Nevertheless a frail balance had been found between the need to supply food for urban dwellers whilst protecting the flow of the land and its native fauna and flora.

There was not an exact time to recall when the change began, it appeared to be sudden but was not. It crept its way into communi-ties in quiet, devious unchallenged ways. A neighbour would move:; their land and home now deserted. Overnight, it seemed, the whole nature of acquisition changed as wealthy companies became more aggres-sive; raiding serene villages with the force of a mass invasion. Nobody felt safe anymore. The threat of having your treasured lifestyle taken cast an insidious shadow over life. It was not just the possibility that beloved land and animals could no longer be yours but friends disappeared as they felt compelled to escape the madness.

Strangers, city dwellers from overseas companies appeared with an agenda to rape and plunder productive fertile farmland and destroy rich native habitat with abundant wildlife. These representatives had no knowl-edge of the true gifts that came from this land. They only saw financial gain. Their given plan was to acquire the land and re-move the dark commodity beneath. As time progressed and the world lusted for greater energy supplies the companies with money on their minds advanced as one insidious plague.


Frozen in TimeA Short Story

The earth below the first six inches be-longed to the mythical crown, the govern-ment. Those elected by the nation’s citizens to represent and look after their constitu-ents. Yet, this role of advocate for all was forgotten by the greed for power and wealth driving the desire for economic growth and re-election.

They neglected the citizens who lived girt by the seas of this land, not caring about individuals who had the land in their souls, whose physical and emotional health was tied to this relationship with the land. They did not consider the home that held the his-tory of generations within its walls, stories of birth, death love and heartache. Emotions had no value to those who demanded all. Indigenous owners, their ancestors and the sacred sites permeated with millenniums of dreamtime stories surrounding life’s mean-ings were not valued.

The corporate assessors came, coveting property abundant in the gifts of nature’s natural bush and fertile for productive farming. The connection of families, tribes and ancestors to this land meant nothing to them; they were blind to history and the land’s rich and rare beauty. The company representatives aspired to destroy what they saw. They visualised large holes and the hidden commodities ripe for exposure and exploitation. Their vision saw explosions of debris that would produce gaping canyons deep into the bowels of the earth and moun-tains created from fertile land that would be labelled as waste.

Once the land was acquired by force or stealth the huge machines arrived to make roads. They pushed the bush aside like twigs. The birds and animal that survived the on-slaught were forced to flee in terror from the noise and falling trees. Hills where cattle had grazed became tarred roads for monster trucks that would carry the ‘commodity’ away. No mercy was shown landscapes were destroyed; communities and lives devastated.

Velvety, starlit nights were gone as the huge lights of the mines lit the sky for miles around. The droning machinery noise was constant day in and day out with no breaks. Any native creatures that had remained dis-appeared as their habitat depleted or were seen as a mangled bloody mess after a night time encounter with a truck. The lust for profits destroyed millions of years of mother earth’s creation in a tenth of a human life-time.

From her favourite chair on the verandah she saw green hills and cows grazing contently as they waited for milking. Watching this landscape was still the most treasured time of her day. Her family often joined her; she enjoyed that, although she was unable to let them know this. She loved this land its green hills, the grazing cattle and the call of the na-tive birds. It was her life. Her view remained eternal; she did not see the desecration, for from that moment when the mines had demanded the family property her soul had become frozen in time.Copyright Sandra Stewart Rocky Creek Creations


Exam Tips

Focus on one question at a time.Take the question at face value

Think before you start to write your answer

Note the key points before starting to write

Re-read your answers and make appropriate changes if requiredMark off each question on the

exam paper as you finish it.Keep an eye on the time - try to plan out a time frame as soon as you have access to your paper.

Focus on yourselfyour paper

Don’t worry about others or early finishers

If you don’t know something, leave it and come back later - focus on

what you do know and can answer.If you go blank move onto another

question and come back later, if it is an essay jot down points on the question paper or back cover of your writing paper - this might help you to rememmber important

pointsTry to relax

Take som deep, slow breaths

ANALYSE Show items by identifying the essential elements and their relationships also note weaknesses or disadvantages.

EXAMINE Critically, assess a subject in detail.

OUTLINE Present the important features, showing main and lesser features. Leave out minor details. Emphasisthe organisation of things.

CRITICISE Express your conclusionsv about the value and integrity of the issues or views mentioned. Draw conclu-sions, discussing both the inadequacies and the good points.

ARGUE Present the case for and/or against.

CONTRASTHighlight the differences between whatever the question is asking.


QUIZ ANSWERS1. Antarctica2. Singapore with approximately 17% of the population.3. the 829.84 m (2,723 ft) tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.4. Nile River - Africa - 6,695 km5. Bosphorus between Turkey and Russia - a minimum width of 700m in one section.6. Trans-Siberian7. Broad Green railway station in Liverpool, England, which was built in 1830 and is on the Liverpool to Manchester Line.8. Rideau Canal, 8.Ottawa, Canada equal to 90 Olympic-size rinks9.San Alfonso del Mar Seawater pool in Algarrobo, Chile. It is 1,013 m (3,323 ft) long and has an area of 8 ha (20 acres). At its deep-est, it is 35 m (115 ft) deep.It was completed in December 200610. Kilauea volcano on Hawaii11 Sydney - North Sydney Olym,pic Pool12. Dubai’s Gloria Hotel13. University of Bologna Italy14. Sydney15. Mt Augustus (Burringurrah, as it is known by Wajarri Yamatji traditional owners), in Western Australia, located inland, east of Car-narvon, and about 850km north of Perth.16. Bugatti Veyron Super Sport: 267 mph (429 km/h), 0-60 in 2.4 secs. Italy17. Airbus A380 $300 million-plus Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal18. Lombard Street San Francisco19. Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru20. Salt Lake City Utah USA Bingham Canyon Mine

Email letters to the Editor &submissions:

[email protected]: Photos sourced from stock.xchng http://www.sxc.hu/homePrintmaster Platinum 18. All other photographs and graphics as indicated.Sandra Stewart Editor,

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