Now that I have been back from England for about a week and a half, and now I have some time to focus on finishing my blogs about my experience. This blog post will be about Oxford! I fell in love with Oxford by the amazing history that is behind its beautiful city.
Before I dive in to this wonderful day. I should just put it out there. While I was looking at schools and the possible ideas of where to do my Masters program, Oxford was on the list. However, I took it off the list because it was so far away and it would be expensive. Now that I have seen Oxford I may be looking at the possibilities of doing my Ph.D or EE.D in England, whether its at OXford or another university.
So what made Oxford so great? Its the amazing history behind its universitiy and city. The day bright and early. We had to meet out front of our flats at 8:30 am to catch a ride on a private bus for us. Its about an hour and half ride from London to Oxford. I had the perfect sit by the window all by myself. We had arrived outside of police station and told us that is where we are to meet at the end of the day. We get off and I was just blown away by the architecture of the buildings they were magnificent. We began our walk up the street to meet two individuals that are from ASU doing their Ph.D there. We walked past several centuries old cemetaries, old building, the cobble stone roads and sidewalks. I was in heaven.
We got to this statue and we meet Ngoni Mugwisi and Cameron Gardner. A little info on Ngoni, he won the prestiguous Rhodes Scholarship in 2016. This Scholoarship is like higher honor you can get and allow him to study at Oxford. He is from Zimbabwe. Out of the two that gave us the tour he was the most willing guy to answer questions. Where as Cameron well he very much had the attidtude of "I don't care" and it showed big time. We asked them several questions about who they are and what they study. The teachers asked them to give us a tour of Oxford.
We went to several different building. These student could not really give us much information about the buildings. But nonetheless I enjoyed it. The way Oxford is set up is they have several universities or colleges within oxford and they are all spread out. Each college has church and library. When you walk in the churches they are amazing just as amazing as if you were walking in the LDS temple. We got to see part of the "great hall" that was filmed in the Harry Potter movie. One of the amazing thing was to see where C.S. Lewis got the inspiration of Lion Witch and the Wardrobe. This part of the tour was probably my favorite. I grew reading those books and having the imagination come to live while reading them. It was a treat for me to see the lamp post and door.
After the tour we went to a pub to have lunch with these students. I had steam salmon and vegetables. For desert gingerbread cheesecake. It was scrumptious! During lunch I had the incredible opportunity to grilled by two of my amazing interpreters. They were asking questions about what I do for a living, my dreams goals, questions about my deafness and etc. It was very enjoyable. This was the highlight of my day. When I told them I had learned sign language when I enter into NTID (National Institute for the deaf) and I was 18 when attended that college. One of the interpreter, I think her name was Anna told me that I do not sign like it is my second language. She thought I had been signing my whole life. This is like the best compliment I can ever receive. It really boost my self confidence in my ASL and my desire to have it in my life more.
I also had the opportunity to interact with Harry our ACCENT person who help created the awesome experience in London. He was asking questions like is sign language different in every county, what kind of law are in the US to help those with disability get the accommodations that they need to help them achieve their goals, and how interpreters help me when I can very much be independent and talk for myself. The best part of this whole conversation what watching him learn something new and get a whole new perspective about deaf culture and individuals.
After lunch we had to walk all the way to Kellogg College to meet with our guest lecturer Steven Parissien. He was definitely a professor who knows how to give lectures in a college setting. A brief overview of who he is. He is professor at Kellogg College which is part of Oxford.
What did Professor Steven Parissien have to say?
First lets start with a little history of Oxford. The start of Oxford begain in 1096. However it grew rapidly after King Henry II who was King in 1167 had ban any student of the UK to study in Paris which then led the growing of Oxford. Just like any univeristy it has gone though several changes over the course of many centuries. The biggest transformation was in 1968 in all univeristies in the UK. Before 1968 UK univeristies only served the rich priviagle inviduals, however that was changed which allow more students to attend the univeristies. With the increase of number of students was a good thing for Oxford. It lead the creation of new universities and schools. Oxford is make of of 38 Autonomous college.
How is Oxford set up?
There are academic subject that are in four divisions. There is a chancellor (this is more for face) and a Vice-Chancellor (this person actually run the university). There are 38 head or in other word a dean for each 38 colleges. All 38 colleges does their own fundraising for the upkeep of their colleges and they determine what is the best route for them to take. Here in the US we have "main campus", in Oxford there is no central location.
What is it like going to school at Oxford?
Mostly what is taught at Oxford is Humanities and Arts and science. Most UK universities do not have academic advisers or student support services. Which then lead to the question, how do they help their student have success. As I mention in other blogs they have tutors. But what does that exactly mean? Well a lecturer or professors take on that role they will have one-on-one or 2:1 weekly or or more to help the students get what they need.
Lets say you are a student at Oxford but you are not doing so great. Once you fail, your done and its really hard to get back in. Students at Oxford are treated like consumer. Its business the student is putting in an investment on their education. Professor Parissien, mentioned that many of the student services have become more professionalized and are able to help the students in a more fluent way.
My thoughts on all this?
I think Oxford has pretty good setup. But my concern is that there are thousands of students and only so few tutors that can sufficiently make sure their students have the right support including financial aid. Not only do the tutors have to help the students by providing student support, but also the job of being a professor and teaching class. That got to wear down a person at some point. But I do think they are on the right track of having one person that the student can report to.
Where here in the US you have several different departments, such as, financial aid, student support, academic support, and other departments. A good 100 percent of the time these departments do not talk to the other department and often time a student get the run around instead of the direct support they need. Not only so many departments but there are a lot of changes that happen often such as advisers quitting and new replacement can often cause anxiety. The anxiety for the student is not good and sometimes can hinder the student success when they have to repeat their situation all over again. That is also why tuition is low there in the UK is because they are not having to pay for many staff members and to keep departments running. Its my personal opinion the less run around the student has to get to get service I think the the retention rate would be higher in the US and less little department each university has will help greatly. IF we cannot do that at least improve communication between departments so students can feel that paying that high of a tuition is worth getting a degree.
After the lecture we were given free time to roam Oxford. everyone went there own different ways. I went to the gardens. I love the gardens in England so rich in flowers and green grass and just a place of reflection. The one thing that Professor Parissien said is that green space is important to a campus and everywhere you go there is acres of green space to allow students to study outside and for enjoyment.
After our time at Oxford we had to make the trip back to London. It was a long wait for the bus. We got home and we very much exhausted and my right knee was in so much pain that I could barley walk. We went out to eat at a pancake place. They served crepes and they were big. I could not even finish it, let alone even get a dessert.
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| The class in front of Kelogg College |
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| The class in front of one of the library. |
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| Me and one of my amazing interpreter! |
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| In of of the churches at Oxford |
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| Some famous person that I forgot to get the name of. I was just fascinated with the burial. |
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| The Holy Bible |
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| The amazing architecture! |
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| The stairs lead to the Great Hall the was filmed in Harry Potter |
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| Who wouldn't want to go to school here |
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| Look at all the amazing green space! |
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| "They Open A Door and Enter a World." C.S Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe |
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| One of the oldest library! |
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| one of the oldest statues in Oxford |
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| A chapel |
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| How cute is this? |
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| " This is the land of Narnia, 'said the Faun, 'where we are now; all that lies between the lamp-post and the great castle of Cair Paravel..." C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe |
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| "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tumnus" C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe |
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| Some very old gravesites |
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The Alice and Wonderland Garden The Cheshire Cat
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" Ask Alice
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to" Said the cat
"I don't much care where-" said Alice
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go." Said the cat
~Lewis Carroll- Alice in Wonderland~ |
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The Secret Garden
"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden"
~Frances Hodgson, The Secret Garden |
The time came to be married! Everyone was all lining up. Daniel was waiting for me down stairs. I really wasn't nervous. I was waiting for someone to tell me lets go! The song I walked down the isle to is "A Thousand Years." My favorite line of that whole song:
