THE INTERNATIONAL PEN
THE FUN GUIDE TO UoN
our group's thoughts...
It's been an honour to have this chance to publish ‘The International Pen’ for prospective students. Producing an online publication has given me valuable experience in writing for the public. As a media student, I got to practice public communication skills, and more importantly, learn all these new skills with my group.
Thanks to my group mates for being responsible and caring. We divided our workload equally and they offered help to me when I met difficulties during the project. I also learned how to communicate effectively with my group mates, as this is different from the group work I have done back home, where all my group mates and I shared the same cultural background. Doing group work at the university with people from different countries, made me more aware of our cultural differences.
This publication is not just a project for the module; this is a piece of valuable information for prospective students, as it provides a first-hand overview of my course and the university. It reminded me when I felt uneasy because there was nothing like a student review about the course on the internet. I sincerely hope new students will find this website useful.
PAULA
By working on a publication which helps international students integrate with the local Nottingham community and gain an insight on the university, I believe our group best used our strengths in making this project a success. Our group was well-organized and divided each section such that every one of us had the opportunity to put our own spin on the academic and cultural sections. This allowed each one of us to contribute perspectives from our personal backgrounds (Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Macau).
It was a pleasure working with my team. Although our team might have been passive at times in terms of stepping up with ideas or getting a starting plan out, once we learnt to better work with one another, we were able to best utilize each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Once our group became more comfortable with each other, we also started to inject more creative and fun elements into the project rather than sticking to mere guidelines. We strived to make our cultural section fun, engaging and personable, making an additional special segment on memes University of Nottingham students can relate to.
I’m glad that our group has invested such time and effort into this project that it has become a collection of personal experiences for all of us, not simply a mere academic project.
NICOLE
Working on this project made me realize that I have yet a lot to learn. First of all, it gave me the opportunity to meet new people, to learn how others work and manage their time; it has made me, to some extent, a more responsible person. Our group was very organized. We divided tasks on the very first meeting, we worked really hard to make an impressionable presentation, and we always tried to make everything different and fun.
The main theme of our project is to help any international students with an interest in International Communications. Our main purpose, therefore, was to do something that wasn’t done for us, to help, to make a guide for anyone in need. And, personally, I feel we succeeded at that. Working with everyone was a very nice experience. I learned a lot from my group mates, and so in a way we not only helped others, we also helped each other. I hope in the future I’ll have just an experience just as fulfilling.
LILY
I am glad to have this opportunity to work on this online publication with this part of this amazing group. It has been a real pleasure to be able to learn and collaborate alongside five other people with different yet somewhat similar backgrounds, as we all have some roots in Asia. We managed to use this to our advantage, as this website is based around this niche of ours.
We all knew the problems and issues we faced as fresh, naïve and unknowing international students living on our own for the first time, some of us studying in the British education system for the first time. I am just glad that this website will help prospective international undergraduates make their transition to the British way of life.
Working on this website has also allowed me to gain some practical skills I may require in the near future. I have learned how to communicate in a more professional manner than I normally do in my day-to-day life. Overall, it has been an enjoyable and fruitful experience.
DARREN
This website was built by six Asian students who studying International Media and Communication at the University of Nottingham. We try to share our experience both about study and life, as a fresher and an international student.
We started this project in February, after four months, it is here finally. During these four months, we did an amazing presentation, a case study, set deadlines for glossary nearly every week, made our own part of a book review, a creative section. There is no doubt that everyone did a good job both in individual and group work.
Personally, I really like the glossary part, which including ten key terms covered in the spring term. It helps me to do revision every week, and could be helpful for exams. Also, the presentation we did as a group should be remarked. It is not only an experience of publish speaking, but also a great opportunity to improve skills of group working.
At last, a big thanks to every member in our group, Darren, Nicole, Paula, Monica and Lily! It is really nice to work with all of you. And we appreciate for advices for this project from our teachers, Eva and Paola.
Hope everyone will like this website and good luck with your life as an IMC student in Notts.
LIN
This is my first group project in UK. I was impressed by the power of six people instead of one. Combining everyone's idea, our website become multicoloured from a blank page. Also, I am very proud of our group's work division. We know what we needed to do from the very beginning and it helped our group work to progress smoothly. As our entire group members are international students, we caught this group characteristic successfully and made it our project’s selling point. We had the same experience as other international students, especially those from Asia, so we knew what we wrote is more convictive.
Without doubt, I have learned so many things from this project and from my group mates. I know how to make a website now, an area which I have never touch on before. Also, I realise the important of cooperation in group work. All in all, I really enjoyed this group work as everyone was helpful, working and caring.
MONICA
