Posts Tagged ‘access to higher education’
Genius of the Modern Age
Posted on: July 8, 2016
This week we’ve added DVD recordings of the three episodes from Genius of the Modern World to our collection.
BBC 4 broadcast the series in June 2016. The series examined three famous figures from the nineteenth century whose ideas and theories influence the world today; Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. Our Access to Higher Education Humanities and Social Sciences students will find each of the episodes as equally relevant. They study Marx’s theory on the industrial revolution and its effects in their sociology unit.
Episode 1 examines Marx’s theory on revolution as well as the work he did with Engels which resulted in the Communist Manifesto. Episode 2 on Nietzsche discusses how his philosophy on science and religion and a godless world links in with their history unit on fascism as Nietzsche’s sister reinterpreted his work to match in with Nazi propaganda which he himself would have been against. Episode 3 on Freud outlines his work on desire and the unconscious mind which resulted in psychoanalysis and its theories. Our students study Freud as an integral part of their psychology unit.
Find more on Marx, Nietzsche and Freud on our library catalogue. And if you missed the series you can still catch up on it on BBC iPlayer.
Wide Sargasso Sea
Posted on: April 15, 2016
This week our Access to Higher Education Humanities and Social Sciences students have started reading Jean Rhys’s novel the Wide Sargasso Sea. One of the students was asking me if there are any online literary criticism notes to help with novel. There are two free online from Shmoop and Spark Notes. We have a paper copy of Carl Plasa’s Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea in the Learning Resources Centre for students to borrow too.
Many of our students also find it useful to watch a DVD version of novels and plays they study. We have the Wide Sargasso Sea directed by Brendan Maher which was originally broadcast on BBC television. In addition there is a recording of a BBC Radio 3 broadcast from the 17 January 2016 which you can listen to on BBC iPlayer called the Sunday Feature, Literary Pursuits, Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea which uncovers the story behind the novel.
Our students read Rhys’s novel in tandem with Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Take a look at our 24 February blog post for more links on Jane Eyre material to match. Plus as this year marks the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth there is the BBC programme Being the Brontës which was broadcast over Easter which you can rewind on the BBC iPlayer.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Posted on: March 18, 2016
Last week saw the launch of a World Health Organisation Report on the increasing use of antidepressants in children across the developed world reported by BBC News.
Those under 18 years old are often prescribed anti-depressants and no other forms of treatment are made available. These other treatments can include talking therapies such as counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) however, there are long waiting lists.
This prompted a longer look at our current issue of Philip Allen’s ‘Psychology Review’ which has a double page spread on CBT. Don’t forget this resource is available on the VLE under eresources > Dynamic Learning ejournals. The article is written by Dr Judith Beck, daughter of the ‘father’ of CBT, Aaron Beck. She covers the following aspects:
- What CBT is
- How did it develop?
- What is its effectiveness?
- How does it work?
- Contents of an average session
At the end of the article, it directs you to Beck Institute audio clips and their blog. Hodder Education also direct you to a YouTube clip on CBT.
Other LRC resources covering CBT:
Collins Key Concepts in Psychology by Kendall
Psychology: a very short introduction 2nd edn. by Butler & McManus
Introduction to Psychology 16th edn. by Nolen-Hoeksema et al.
Riot girls!
Posted on: February 24, 2016
Did you know that BBC Radio 4 are running a season on feminist writing from the 1970s to the present day? It’s called Riot Girls.
You can catch up with broadcasts on BBC iPlayer.
The season includes Fay Weldon’s The Lives and Loves of a She Devil. The next episode is 2100 on Saturday 27 February. There is a set of 3 plays called Katy charting the feminist movement across three generations of women. Plus there’s Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying which is running in 5 episodes examining a young woman’s sexual liberation which was published in 1973. The next episode is today at 1945.
This year is the bicentenary of Charlotte Bronte’s birth. For our Access to Higher Education Humanities and Social Science students Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre in the Fifteen Minute Drama slot will be broadcasting on Radio 4 next week at 1045. There’s a In Our Time episode on Jane Eyre on BBC iPlayer too. Our learners compare Bronte’s novel with Jean Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea. Spark Notes gives you a summary of the plot and analyses themes and characters. As it does for Jane Eyre too.
Summer for Study
Posted on: June 19, 2015
Next week our Access to Higher Education Humanities and Social Science and Access to Health and Human Sciences and Preaccess students finish their courses. Our Access to Higher Education students will be waiting to start university in the autumn term. If you are like them then Palgrave Study Skills website is useful in reducing those pre-university jitters before you begin a new course of study.
The Palgrave Student Life area gives you advice on everything you need to know about study at university before it starts! Your First Weeks at University gives you a thorough grounding of what to expect when you begin student life – everything from halls of residence, to freshers’ week and socialising. Getting in the Study Mindset advises you on how to get yourself in the zone for studying. The Look After Your Wellbeing page gives you hints on eating, sleeping, dealing with stress and getting exercise. Its Common Challenges and Getting Help helps you overcome homesickness and nerves and boost your confidence.
Their Essential Study Skills page gives you advice on drawing up a learning strategy, organising your time, reading and getting the most out of independent study whether you are going on to study at university or going to study at local college.
If you’ve got some money in your pocket then you would do well to equip yourself with the Study Skills Handbook by Stella Cottrell which has more advice again. Why not invest £8.99 in the Palgrave Student Planner 2015-16 to get yourself ready for your studendom?
Natural intellectual brilliance
Posted on: January 16, 2015
Astrodeep by Rich Murray is licensed under CC BY 2.0
I read this article today in The Independent newspaper (available in the LRC) on women and science. According to research, women overestimate the need to be naturally brilliant to succeed in science and engineering. This conclusion follows from research carried out into why so few women do engineering, technology and science degrees and even fewer progress further into such fields. It seems women feel less confident in their instant intellectual abilities.
This is compounded by images in the media portraying geniuses like Sherlock Holmes who when faced with a problem immediately solve it and don’t need to work long and hard at it. I watched the film ‘Theory of Everything’ recently and Stephen Hawking is shown in the lab writing complex maths formulae all across the blackboard. He is just naturally brilliant at physics. But hard work is important too.
Hopefully we can find ways to encourage women and men to challenge themselves with subjects that seem out of reach. There are lots of ways to find out more about subjects before deciding to go to university. For example, University College London holds weekly free lectures in science for everyone to attend. The next one is called ‘Auroras Abound – Comparing the Northern Lights of Earth, Jupiter and Saturn’ on Friday, 23rd January. Does this kind of lecture interest you?
Who Are You?
Posted on: December 9, 2014
As a college Hillcroft aims to reflect the diverse background of its learners and staff. Our Access to Higher Education: Humanities and Social Science students look at identity as part of their Psychology and Sociology units. If you’re interested in diversity and equality then you’ll like the Turner Prize winning artist Grayson Perry’s exhibition Who Are You? running until 15 March 2014 at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
The exhibition follows the 14 items in the exhibition which appeared in the Channel 4 programme Grayson Perry: Who Are You? broadcast this autumn. They include a poster representing the identity and beliefs of a deaf community group, a Benin-styled statue of Peter Pan depicting a female to male transsexual and a young British woman from Kent who has converted to Islam encapsulated in a silk Hijab. Plus 3 statues of women from a women’s group which supports so called obese women. One of Perry’s signature ceramic pots portrays a gay couple who have adopted a mixed race child. You can follow Grayson’s trail of works at the National Portrait Gallery.
If you’d like to find out more about the artwork go through backruns of the TV programme by visiting 4oD.
At the same time the National Portrait Gallery is displaying Suffragettes: Deeds Not Words examining how the suffragette movement spent the summer of 1914 increasing their fight for the vote and protesting against the Cat and Mouse Act up. The display runs up to 10 May 2015.
Both the exhibition and the display offer free entry.
Fascist Groove Thang
Posted on: October 31, 2014
Next week our Access to Higher Education Humanities and Social Science students return from their half term reading week. The next part of their term in their history unit will be spent on fascism.
The students will be looking at the rise of fascism in Germany after the first world war which culminated in the Nazis rise to power. As a result we’ve bought some new books covering the history Germany and Nazism in that period:-
Germany 1848-1991 by Derrick Murphy, Terry Morris and Mary Fulbrook
Germany 1919-1945 by Martin Collier and Philip Pedley
and ebooks:
Understanding Nazi Germany by Michael Lynch part of the Teach Yourself series available through Dawsonera
Democracy and Dictatorship in Germany 1919-1963 by Geoff Layton
Through ebooks for FE from Jisc we have access to ebrary’s:
Intermediate History. The Road to War, 1933-1939 by Andrew Hunt
Plus we’ve got these two guides on fascism:
Fascism: a Very Short Introduction by Kevin Passmore
Introducing Faschism: a Graphic Guide by Stuart Hood and Litza Jansz
The second one will particularly appeal to students with dyslexia. We’ve also added a dvd:
and we recorded the whole BBC2 series the Long Shadow under our ERA licence which covered the effect of World War I on Germany and other countries. It also looked at the rise of fascism in episode 2 Ballots and Bullets.
Gone Gothic
Posted on: October 17, 2014
Our Access to Higher Education Humanities and Social Science students are studying Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber and other novels on a Gothic theme. We’ve already supplied them with the Company of Wolves film on DVD and copies of Gothic Literature and The Fiction of Angela Carter: a Reader’s Essential Criticism by Sarah Gamble and Gothic Literature by Sue Chaplin. Both the BBC and the British Library are launching a focus of programmes and exhibition around the gothic.
Terror and Wonder: the Gothic Imagination from 3 October 2014 to 30 January 2015 at the British Library looks at Gothic literature, film and design influences from early literature by Walpole and Shelley to the films of Stanley Kubrick and the designs of Alexander McQueen. The British Library also has a page dedicated to Gothic Literature.
The BBC is starting a season called When Gothic Was Born. BBC4 begins next week with Andrew Graham-Dixon’s programme The Art of Gothic: Britain’s Midnight Hour on Monday 20 October @ 2100 followed by Dan Cruickshank on the architecture of Sir George Gilbert Scott and Giles Gilbert Scott in Dan Cruickshank and the Family That Built Gothic Britain on Tuesday 21 October @ 2100. The season also covers film too.
Revolutionary Lives
Posted on: October 3, 2014
This autumn we’ve added two new autobiographies of famous female suffragettes to our collection which are part of Pluto Press’s series on Revolutionary Lives. They focus on Sylvia Pankhurst, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, and Ellen Wilkinson Both of these are relevant to our Access to Higher Education (HE) Humanities and Social Science students who study female emancipation as part of their history course. We’ve also bought a copy of Molly Housego’s book:
which is a colourful easy read to the fight for women’s voting rights.
We’ve also been adding a range of books on sporting women to our biographies collection. These include:
My Life: Queen of the Court by Daniel Paisner and Serena Williams
Serena and Venus Williams: Tennis Stars by Gregory N. Peters
Maria Sharapova by Jeff Savage
Game, Set and Match: Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women’s Sports by Susan Ware
