*Post in collaboration with Teesside University*
It’s my first day at Teesside University. I’ve got my folders in my bag, timetable in my hand and I’m trying to navigate my way to the Clarendon building.
The map says it’s next to ‘The Dickens’ so I make my way there, through the building doors and up the stairs.
Met by a receptionist, I’m told to head upstairs again to ‘TUBS’, or more finally known as Teesside University Business School.
There’s some computers around the edge and groups of students huddled in the little pods that are dotted around.
I head down the corridor to my very first class to meet my cohort for the first time.
Despite it only being a handful of years, you’d be surprised how much the business school at Teesside has changed.
Let’s take a leap down memory lane and lemme tell you what it used to be like.
I remember the first time I met my classmates. We were in one of the school’s seminar rooms which to you and me, looked like any regular classroom I’d been in before.
With desks grouped together in larger tables, an interactive whiteboard ready for the lecturer’s presentation, it was completely what I expected.
Lecture theatres for me as a student were scattered all over campus. So dashing from one building to the next between sessions was pretty much the norm.
But all of the lecture rooms looked and felt the same. You had your rows of seating that gradually got higher with us Marketing lot often choosing to sit right slap, bang in the middle.
Working in groups a lot meant we had to find space to do so. We often found a spare computer or two that were next to each other and pulled some spare chairs over or ventured over to the library to grab a big table to all pile around.
We’d sit (sometimes for hours) with our packed lunches and natter away, whilst typing at our laptops. Surrounded by piles of books ready to reference and making sure we were hitting that word count.
I loved University and the experience that I had.
But recently, I was given the opportunity to go back and have a little tour around the brand spanking new Business School and well, let me tell you about its swanky upgrade.
I met Femi, one of my old lecturers, in The Garden Cafe before my tour. We caught up on everything that had happened over the past few years and where we were both at now career wise.
‘The Garden’ cafe had just started up before I’d left, with us being invited to ‘sample’ the menu and getting a free jacket potato (winner!).
It was now a busy bustle of students and staff both socialising and working. With communal desks placed around the outside, this definitely would have been a relaxing environment to come and work.
We gossiped away, tea and coffee in hand as Femi told me all that had changed within the business school and how different it is to what I would remember.
Walking up those same stairs again, I walked through the opposite doors to where I would have to be met with a completely different space. What a makeover this place had had!
I was greeted with a smart looking reception and then something I really didn’t expect to see. A lecture/session happening right there in the middle of the communal area.
With Femi telling me this happens quite often, I was so confused. Where were all the computers? The chattering students? This place really had changed!
As we wandered round, there was one thing that I noticed massively.
The focus of collaboration.
The corridor was full of small group rooms with big tv screens for you to hook your laptop up to. With some students using them to get some group work done or for individual study with your friends by your side.
As much as I loved working with my classmates, it would have been so good to have these little pods so that you’re tucked away from everyone else’s voices!
Another thing to note about the Business School is the complete digitalisation of it. Well it’s almost 2020 after all!
If you’re a Year 0 or Year 1 full time undergraduate student, you get a free iPad to use alongside your studies whilst on the University campus.
& even better, when you complete your course, you get to keep it. What a winner!
The iPads are loaded with software and apps to help aid your studies as a student, something the University like to call ‘Toolkit’.
It’s ready and waiting with Microsoft Office 365 and Teams so that you can collaborate with your peers.
There are also a few other apps that help you engage with your learning online, where you can ask questions and give feedback.
All in all, it makes the learning process that little bit more engaging and interactive.
Who doesn’t love an iPad?!
With the new Marketing Clinic and completely different way of teaching, I can imagine graduates feel super prepared for the industry ahead.