University Campus Suffolk Taster Day!

Hey all,

This morning, I arrived at the Norwich train station with Catherine and Zoe, as well as with other students from my class (Level 3's), one level 3 extended, and students from both level 2 class A and class B. On our way to Ipswich, I was incredibly excited to see what they offer. When we arrived to our destination, we spent 15 minutes walking as a group to University Campus Suffolk.

Upon our arrival, we firstly sat in a lecture room with two student ambassadors. They explained to us many different reasons of why HE (higher education) is important. In addition, they provided factual information, statistics, general advice, and more. Afterwards, they also persuaded us into why we should consider UCS and further education overall.

Once the 20 minute introduction is over, we made our way to the actual taster session: computer games design. There, we met a man named Roy who is the course leader - he spoke about why games are important and gave us an overview of what students do, the content throughout the years and the life there. He also taught us a simple method to make games, called the "iterative method" where designers would come up of the game idea, then implement it, play test it, and then gather feedback and evaluate it (then repeat). We followed through this process and eventually played everyone's game on our table. When we did this, we had a sheet where we wrote the positive things (fun testing), and things that didn't work (bug testing). One important barrier is to step back and let everything work itself out - no interference, no disruptions. If the game doesn't work, note it and fix it later, then repeat. This was a fun part of the day and he had persuaded me to consider UCS as a third option or something - however they do scripting and I am not quite keen on that.

Afterwards, we had lunch at the cafe area of that building. Although there are many many buildings that includes rest areas, eating areas, cafes, and restaurant, it provides enough for all students. For a funny laugh, we saw Edward L tried to vape Alex S' vaping thing, he choked on it and we all laughed.

At the end of the day, we had a campus tour with the student ambassadors. They showed us a lot of cool rooms, especially the one where medical students use a fake human like doll to stimulate and perform experiments on. They showed us the library, student accommodations and much more. It was an enjoyable part of the day as we walked around, and I certainly like the interior of a lot of rooms, especially the library as it is so heart welcoming. However, a lot of the rooms were irrelevant to what I want to study and I could not get to see students in action working on their 3D games design course.

At the end of the day, we went back to the lecture room and did a survey. I filled out my name, email and college department. Then I proceeded to give them feedback from their questions. Overall, today was a really "informative" day, as I have mentioned in the questionnaire. I gave it a 9 out of 10 overall because it has sparked my interest slightly. Although I know a lot about what courses there are out there now due to intensive research, they always provide the additional information you can't access unless you actually go for yourself. I enjoyed today very much and I would recommend another trip booked for the future years.

When we were attempting to go home, we forgot Billy B. I ran back with Zoe and Matthew T and picked him up, then our train had been delayed for almost an hour. When I got back to Norwich, my bus was delayed for 30-40 minutes due to an accident. It plummeted my mood, but I'm glad I don't have much to do today! I have missed slightly part of today's new unit, Computer Hardware. But tomorrow I will be sure to catch up and work over the half term for anything I am behind at! I have finished the Website Productions unit so I am glad to say I'm on track - ish.

Until tomorrow!