Time Out!!

(Photo taken from Wikipedia)

SCENARIO ONE - At IHS the Three Rs are not Reading wRiting and aRithmetic its Reading Reading Reading. That's right and at some point you are gonna be in need of more Rrrs....Recreation and Relaxation. But problem is you are not gonna be short of Required & Recommended reading BUT you will be very short on time. But its the weekend, you say, surely I can spend a half day blowing off some steam and short trip to a neighbouring town might do the trick.

Hmmm lets see....I think I might just have something for you. How about a visit to Madurodam. Madurodam is a miniature city located in Scheveningen, The Hague, in the Netherlands. It is a model of a Dutch town on a 1:25 scale, composed of typical Dutch buildings and landmarks, as are found at various locations in the country. So in essence it scales down the Dutch experience and distills it all into one "City". Its a pretty cool tour and by train its only 20 minutes on average to the Den Haag HS station from Rotterdam (NOTE: not the Den Hague station) at a cost of $8.20 return and only $4.90 (40% discount with the NS discount card- put discount in the search bar for more on that). A trip via tram from the station to Scheveningen which takes only another 20 minutes and you are there. You'll see minature representations of all landmarks in Holland so as the year passes the neat thing to do is try to see how many of the actual sites you can visit. We've look at some in older posts and will add to future posts.

No I won't tell  you how to get to Scheveningen....come on guys...gots to leave some mystery for you to discover and explore - the address is George Maduroplein 1 2584RZ Den Haag. Entry fee € 14,50 and if you gather a bunch 20 or more students its € 10,25. Opens at 9am every day but closing time varies. Between Sept to March its usually 18:00; April to June at 20:00 and July - Aug at 23:00.

To the left is a map (click to enlarge) of the entire walking tour, of which there are two thematic routes you can choose to take. The Water Route and/or the Architecture Route.

To get a preview of what's in the offerings, you can visit youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0cZYR8SLKc&feature=related for a 5 minute viewing.


SCENARIO TWO - It's too far Jeanette...the paper is due tomorrow and we really can't afford more than a two hour break but I'd like to get a little further than a game of pool in the common room. No problem, I gots a solution and guess what just like Madurodam you can go and sense no guilt as you are still observing Cities in Action and contemplating urban management...LOL. Another mini city experience is Railz MiniWorld and its only 4 minutes walk from the Weenapad. That's right. Even easier on your conscience if you have studying Sustainable Transporation cuz its all about that oh so critical challenge of moving people from one part of a city effectively to enhance productivity and at reduced cost, congestion and impact on the environment. Now with that sales pitch here's what it offers.

Covering 500 m2, Railz Miniworld is the largest indoor model railway network in Holland. More than 100 model trains travel around over 2 kilometres of rails! Fully automatic model cars also drive among the many buildings; every 30 minutes the overhead lights are dimmed while a thousand tiny lights illuminate the mini world. This lively and interactive model world is the ideal chill out spot for a time out with a self serve restaurant and a small cinema. Cost is only € 9,25. Closes at 5pm so its more than likely a weekend visit and it opens at 10am. Its close, its affordable and its all about the City of Rotterdam scaled down but equally delightful.

The RailzMiniWorld Bld...look familiar?
Its the same building you live on :-)

A shot of  one model

SCENARIO THREE -  But its already 7pm and its too late to go out of Rotterdam but its Friday or Saturday nite and you need some air. Well how about an evening at Watts (formerly knows as Nightown) the hippest coolest club in town. Turns out its only 10 minutes walk from Weenapad and the reviews from students have been good. I for one, am not a clubber so I can't speak to that but I did attend once as its not just a club but a venue for concerts. I saw the most awesome reggae concert with Taurus Riley and Duane Stephenson and oh man, it felt like I was right back there in Kingston 5 hangin with ma yardies. But I digress, so one way to keep in touch with what's on and happening at Watt's is via their Facebook page. The address is West-Kruiskade 26-28 3014 AS Rotterdam which is the road parallel to the Weena (the road you take from Central Station to the Apt). So have fun and don't miss the reggae shows y'all they are the bomb!!

West Kruiskade showing Watts on the left

 Now I mention Watts because its close and many students have opted for that convenience BUT there are others you can google for additional info - Club Vie, Rotown and Club Elit. Well that's it for today folks....hope it helps, til next time.
~JC

What I Wished I Knew Before.....Part 2

So here there we were Dec 13, 2008 - only two months into the programme but by now very accustomed to the many many hours spent working with others, discussing issues in our own country and drawing straws to see who was gonna be the presenter next day.

Just from this photo I see such a wonderful cross-section of students we had a Phillipino, two Indonesians, a Ghanian, Serbian, Romanian and of course a Jamaican:0), with such representation you can just imagine how informative and interesting these debates were.

Now as the Blog Title suggests I am gonna share another "What I wished I knew before...." story. The question is how could I have been better prepared for the rigour of group work, discussion and presentation...all of which forms the bulk of what you'll be doing for at least 8-9 months of this adventure.

Nothing beats doing a bit of reading before getting here. Now to get an idea of what type of information will be in the offing and the material that will be thrust at you for digestion a really good place to go is (drumrolllllllllll)...if you guessed it then you are well ahead - the Institute's website, and address by this I am sure you are all familiar. BUT!! you might have bypassed a juicy page under the heading "Urban Professionals".  http://www.ihs.nl/urban_professionals/ihs_publications/

Here you will find great stuff to occupy some of those pre-arrival weekends.

• Working papers
• Project papers
• Past Thesis papers (summaries)
• Etc

These are papers written by IHS lecturers and associates as well as past students. So browse through and just click on a few that might speak to your own area of interest/expertise, perhaps subject matters that you are considering for your thesis research. One of my favourites was The Integrated Urban Infrastructure Development, Programme and Urban Management Innovations in Indonesia in the "Working Papers" section. It introduces you to a number of the primary issues but via the Indonesian experience which might share commonalities with your cities. Issues like urban financing, city land management, infrastructure, institutional development, public private partnerships etc etc.

PRESENTATION SKILLS
This one is a certifiably necessary skill. Not just because part of your grade depends on your ability to clearly present your ideas and thoughts and justify the positions you take but you need it in your professional life as you interact with stakeholders in developing and managing your cities. My recommendation is to start playing with Microsoft Powerpoint as a few students in my year really struggled (time wise) to meet deadlines because of an unfamiliarity with the software. If you need help you can google anything but my favourite place to go to get real help with learning software is http://www.lynda.com/. For a small investment of $25 bucks you can spend a month getting video tutorials for any software including Microsoft Powerpoint. In far less than the month you will have mastered all you need.

And last head over to this website www.iasted.org/conferences/formatting/presentations-tips.ppt   These tips are spot on with highlighting where lecturers had the greatest difficulties so don't fail to check it out. By the time you get to end of programme you will have mastered the art and be ready to rock the house with your thesis defence. Well that's a wrap for now, hope it was useful.

Yup that's me, in mid-flight of thesis defence!!

What I Wished I Knew Before.....

I suspect this is something I will be adding to as time passes but for now its August 2010 and the new UMDers are in their respective countries counting down the weeks to arrival next month and the beginning of a memorable and exciting year. That you will enjoy yourself is almost a given, that you will maximise the learning experience is another thing. That will take investment of time and effort both inside and outside the lecture room and is entirely in your hands.

I stand corrected but I don't think any graduating class has ever had more than 10% graduating with distinctions. Last year we had exactly 10%. Now with a few weeks to go I think you should have what I call a flying start. I would recommend getting the brain in gear for the kind of thinking and the subject area that will demand your constant attention for the 12 months after arrival.

How would I have done that?

Well a little reading is for sure. Let me warn you, this course like any masters requires a humungous amount of reading so it seems almost wrong to suggest you even begin before getting here but it will only help. Despite the clear emphasis on Development in the programme title I had absolutely no exposure to reading on development issues prior to the course. I was trained as an architect and many if not most of the others are trained as planners but development was another issue. All concepts, all presentations, all papers, all lectures encircle the goal of development and although this is targeted at urban spaces, a strong understanding of development is at the core.

I would suggest heading to google books at http://books.google.com/ and plugging in the word development or development theory and find a couple good ones to read. I would recommend one I read after I had graduated but that I found had helped to cement so much into a cohesive whole. Of course, I found it more meaningful to read after the programme but am sure there would have been much value had it been before. That was Development and the Developing World by Uma S. Kambhampati. which answered question like .....What is development? The Difference between growth and development. Does industrialization lead to growth and development or does fast growth cause industrialization? etc.

Above all, go with where your interest lies, follow your bliss as they say and enjoy it. I absolutely loved the learning process at IHS and found that it can even become addictive as the more you learn its the more you realise how much you know and how little you really know. :0)

Academic Integrity - Plagiarism

Sooooo its August 11 and as I sit here typing up this blog, UMD 6 is pretty much under house arrest doing their analysis and write up of all the field research just finished back in their respective countries. Folks are sleep deprived, frustrated, redoing the 8th draft of their chapter on literature review and watching the days roll by too quickly. Pressure and Panic sets in and the big temptation sometimes looms in..... the other big "P" - PLAGIARISM.

This scenario is by no means unusual for university students but the consequences are dire and so I thought we'd take a look at this problem that plagues many; especially those who are guilty of accidental plaigiarism, simply because you are not sure when you are committing the "crime".

What is plaigiarism?

"The wrongful appropriation, close imitation, or purloining and publication, of another author's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions, and the representation of them as one's own original work". Lynch, Jack (2002) The Perfectly Acceptable Practice of Literary Theft: Plagiarism, Copyright and the 18th Century in Colonial Williamsburg: The Journal of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation 24, No. 4 (Winter 2002-3), pp. 51-54.

As with all Universities, plagiarism is taken very seriously at IHS. Students upload papers on the university's website (http://www.eur.nl/english/) and each paper is rigourously checked by "Blackboard" to determine the extent to which a student has utilised the work of another. This is expressed by the percentage of work found elsewhere. This does not necessarily mean plagiarism. If the percentage is above a certain amount, the lecturer will then check to see if those areas identified by Blackboard have been properly referenced by the student. If it has then all is well. Bear in mind however, that there is a limit to the amount of work that can be quoted even if referenced but those details will be explained to you further on arrival.

You are probably wondering what is Blackboard?

It is an online software tool which allows a lecturer to interact with students via the Web. You can do some or all of the following, depending on how your instructor sets up the course:

• View important announcements and information
• Participate in online discussions and in small group activities
• Access course materials and resources on the Web
• Submit your assignments, take on-line tests and quizzes, and check your grades

And of course, there is SafeAssign which is the plagiarism prevention service that comes bundled with Blackboard Software that is the subject of this blog entry.

But what exactly does Safeassign do?

SafeAssign checks all submitted papers against the following databases:

• Internet - comprehensive index of documents available for public access on the Internet
• ProQuest ABI/Inform database with over 1,100 publication titles and about 2.6 million articles from '90s to present time, updated weekly (exclusive access)
• Institutional document archives containing all papers submitted to SafeAssign by users in their respective institutions
• Global Reference Database containing papers that were volunteered by students from Blackboard client institutions to help prevent cross-institutional plagarism.

Trust me, this software ain't perfect but it comes pretty close. I had a recent experience with student who tried to outsmart Safe Assign by downloading and installing a plagiarism checker online before submitting his paper (Viper in photo to left) . The software reported 0% but SafeAssign caught 57%. He was stunned because he had not only used other software to see if he could get away with it but he also had paraphrased the information to bypass Safeassign. Or so he thought. The consequences were severe. Undoubtedly this was not a case of accidental plagiarism but many cases are.
So how do you know for sure if you are in the clear? IHS will provide a handbook on thesis writing which tells you how to reference work from others that you use, the format that is specific for IHS and a small booklet on plagiarism. Of course all the lecturers are there to guide you. You will be expected to learn and use proper referencing in your papers from day one so that by the time your thesis is being completed you will be an expert. Now to get you on your way a bit faster here are some links you might want to peruse.
http://academicintegrity.dal.ca/Student%20Resources/Plagiarism_defined.php
http://library.duke.edu/research/plagiarism/
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/mla/plagiarism.shtml
Just a word of warning. Its also practice among students to pay persons back at home in other universities to write your papers for you. The lecturers have not only been lecturers for a while now but they have been students and its far easier than you think to detect such tricks of the trade. My advice is resist the urge, mostly because even if you "get away" with it you would have only cheated yourself.

Taking the Train

So you've gotten up the gumption to go beyond the boundaries of Rotterdam and try out the nearby towns. Utrecht is beautiful, as is Den Haag as well as relatively near by. But Maastricht is a popular favourite that is not to be missed. Admittedly its about 3 hours away but worth the trip with a couple of your friends. But the question is how to get there.

FIRST I suggest going to http://www.ns.nl/ to plan your trip. There you can determine the time the train departs Rotterdam Central or arrives at your destination. If its a non-direct trip, meaning you have to change trains mid-trip. And you can determine the cost. The page can be viewed in English by an option top right of the first page.

Confession is good for the soul so I can boldly tell you that I was a tad bit intimidated by the idea of using the ticket machine (seen in photo above) simply because I thought it was all in Dutch and I simply couldn't be bothered to try to understand it so I would always go to the ticket office upstairs Central Station to buy my tickets. That costs a bit more, can't recall how much but its about one euro..I thought it was worth it. But truth is I wasted quite a few euros and not to mention time (lines upstairs are almost always long with tourists buying tickets) before I realised the process was mighty simple. Here's how it goes and we will do this 'pictorally'.

TO SEE BETTER YOU CAN CLICK THE PHOTOS TO EXPAND.

STEP 1. You're not gonna think me very smart when you realise that there was always an option to get "ENGLISH". In the bottom left corner. Not gonna tell you how long it took before some student shared this.

STEP 2.
Choose Day Return or Single depending on plans and type in name of City or select if it comes up automatically.

STEP 3. Follow the prompts and choose the Class Ticket, Full Fare or Discount, Date of use and how many tickets you need. Now is a good time to remind you that you can pay about 75 euros and apply for a one year discount card that give you 40% discount on trips taken outside peak hours.

STEP 4. The next option should be payment but if you are asked to choose between FYRA AND NS bear this in mind. NS is the normal train and Fyra is a extra fast train that you pay extra for. Payment is usually by coins or using your ATM card from Rabobank. Most of us assume the option is debit card but no, its Maestro. (See photo). You are then prompted to stick your card in, then to take it out, to put in your PIN and choose a receipt or not. THAT'S THAT!!