The Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies recently hosted their end of year prize competition for this year’s ‘Classic Tales’ project. Thirty pupils in Year Seven at Dover Grammar School for Boys were invited to attend an event at the University to celebrate their achievements.

The pupils were required to produce an artistic interpretation of Homer’s Odyssey, either individually or as part of a small group, with the thirty students who produced the most original projects invited along for an unforgettable day at the University’s Canterbury campus.

With interpretations ranging from pottery to poetry and re-imaginings of the tale set in locations as far-flung and far-fetched as space and cloning labs, Lecturer in Classics and Philosophy Dr Kelli Rudolph, and Dr Alexandra Martin-Carey, Humanities specialist from the University’s schools outreach team, were delighted by the range and quality of the submissions.

The project was delivered with the aim of giving pupils access to the history and traditions of story-telling, with the day at the University designed to allow pupils to experience what life with lecturers and being on a real campus would be like. The pupils who took part in the project said they enjoyed ‘the atmosphere around campus’, with another remarking that ‘before going on this trip, I didn’t really want to go to a university, but after my experience I now really want to go!’ The vast majority agreed, with just 42% of attendees saying they wanted to go to university before the trip, but that number soared to almost 75% after their glimpse of life on campus.

Kelli Rudolph said: “Classical Tales has had another amazingly successful year! The power and beauty of Homer’s Odyssey inspired thirty 11-12 year olds to new creative and intellectual heights. In addition to their creative responses to this 3000 year old tale, they easily sustained a near university-level analysis of key aspects of the text in a seminar style setting. This is a spectacular outcome for a programme designed to make the literature of antiquity accessible to all students regardless of their background or attainment level. The students’ outstanding work is evidence of the timeless nature of ancient literature, and its ability to spark imagination. After getting a taste of what Humanities has to offer on a university campus, it was no surprise that the number of students in the group wanting to go to University nearly doubled. This is what great literature has the power to do: inspire students to dream bigger, strive harder and let their imaginations run free.”

Dickens was one of England’s greatest writers and he lived in North Kent at two different times. Why did he return and what kind of impact did his experiences have on his work? Find out more at the next Drill Hall Dialogue 2 July 10.00 in the Guildhall Museum DA002 in Rochester. The talk, by Dr Jeremey Clarke, will be illustrated with objects from the Guildhall Museum’s collection. 

Dr Jeremy Clarke has been Education Officer at the Guildhall Museum, Rochester, since 1998. He is responsible for all formal education and learning programmes supported by the museum collection or its listed buildings. Most of this is work with or in local schools, but he also runs courses, lectures and illustrated talks for adults. 

Dr Clarke has also run partnership projects to support children in making music for Dickens’s novels, in illustrating scenes from Great Expectations, and in working with actors at locations made famous by the novel. In 2010 he hosted a shared reading of Great Expectations in the original parts, timed to coincide with their publication 150 years before.

 Drill Hall Dialogues is a monthly series of talks held at the Drill Hall Library, the learning resource centre for the Universities at Medway collaborative project. A wide variety of topics has been covered including prison libraries, NHS libraries, Dickens and Christmas, Medway regeneration, the Medway Floods of 1953 and Fort Amherst.

Previous Drill Hall Dialogues have been from academics based on the campus including the Centre for Journalism and the Faculty of Education (CCCU). The talks take place on the first or second Tuesday of the month and usually last no longer than 45 minutes with 15 minutes allotted for any questions and answers.  All staff are welcome to attend.

KMTV has launched the county’s only dedicated video news app.

The Freeview channel, owned by the University of Kent and the KM Media Group, broadcasts to thousands of residents across the county every day. Now, even more people are being kept up to date with stories and content that really matter to their communities through its innovative app.

The app, that’s available to download for free on both Apple and Android devices, broadcasts KMTV’s live output 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Users are also able to watch all of the channel’s shows on demand, including its flagship news programme ‘Kent Tonight’.

‘We’re so excited to be launching the app and serving even more people in Kent,’ says Andy Richards, KMTV’s News Editor. ‘Every single minute of the content that we create at KMTV is now available on the app. 90,000 people currently watch our content on Freeview and Virgin for three minutes or longer every week. 100,000s use our social media and website and we’ve achieved 1,000,000s of views of our videos since launching. We’re delighted to have built this audience in our short existence but by developing the app, we’re now able to serve an even wider audience.’

After a soft launch of the app to help test the software, hundreds of people have already downloaded it on both stores. ‘It’s been amazing, considering there’s only been limited promotion whilst we finessed the app’s functionality. I think it shows that there’s a huge appetite for the kind of content we’re creating and we’re really excited about its future’.

The app has been developed by Publishers’ Toolbox, an international digital agency that’s working with media organisations such as NewsUK and The Gay Times.

Working with Publishers’ Toolbox, KMTV’s helped develop key innovative features. Users are able to submit their own content to the channel that flows directly into KMTV’s news gathering system. ‘Through producing our content online, we’ve seen how well user generated content does in terms of traffic on social media groups,’ says Richards. ‘Why not take this a step further? We want smaller communities to use our various channels to tell stories that wouldn’t usually get a platform to thousands. The public are more educated than ever before on how to use powerful devices such as smartphones and it’s a really simple process to send the content. We’re hoping to work with lots of diverse groups to deliver hyper local stories to areas that doesn’t traditionally get a voice’.

As part of its relationship with the KM Group’s newspapers, KMTV will also be trialling the use of ‘Augmented Reality’ through its app. Users will be able to scan pictures in the KM newspaper titles that will bring the pages to life by delivering videos within the app. ‘This
could be the future,’ continues Richards. ‘Augmented reality has been around for a little while, but has had limited uptake or success. That’s because technology wasn’t ready for it but I think it is now. It’s a fantastic way of bringing a modern twist to traditional media and we think it’s a really interesting feature that’s worth exploring, as there are both editorial and commercial opportunities through its use.’

For more information contact Andy Richards on 01634 202024 or visit the KMTV website and social media pages: Facebook, Instagram & Twitter.

In October 2018, the Student Experience Board commissioned a review of student welcome, induction and transition activities and communications.

The review aims to better co-ordinate all our welcome activities and communications to ensure our activities are accessible and fully support our diverse student population.

We have worked closely with the Union throughout this project.

For 2019, we are implementing the following quick wins:

• A joint ‘Hello Kent’ campaign with the Union to welcome new students to campus.
• This campaign includes a shared ‘Hello Kent’ campaign webpage, which pulls together all events and information for new students in one place. The Hello Kent webpage will be available in early July at – www.kent.ac.uk/hello
• Improvements to our current maps on the Kent website. The new maps will work well on a mobile device and have geo-location.
• A more co-ordinated approach to arrivals communications.

For September 2020, we hope to build on this work and improve the support we offer to both new and continuing students.

Study Plus and the Centre for Journalism ran a free journalism course for Kent students from 10-14 June. It was the perfect opportunity for students thinking of journalism as a career, adding a Year in Journalism to their degree, or considering doing Kent’s Master’s in Multimedia Journalism, to have a go at being a journalist for a week.

The course offered an intensive immersion in the basic principles and practices of journalism in the multimedia age. Philosophy and Literature student, Iona, says: “Not only did I develop skills directly in line with my passions, but I expanded my skill set by taking on new skills I wouldn’t have considered if it weren’t for this course.” You can read her blog post on the CEWL (Centre for English and World Languages) webpages.

Study Plus is a range of short, non credit bearing courses which can improve students’ employability skills, develop their personal creativity or expand their cultural and academic knowledge. They are free to all students registered on an existing Kent programme. They range in duration from single one-hour workshops to a 30 hour, five-day course.

We are always looking to add new courses to the Study Plus portfolio and welcome suggestions from any member of staff. If you have an idea for a new course or one-off workshop for 2019/20, please read the information for staff on the Study Plus website. 

If you have any questions about Study Plus, email studyplus@kent.ac.uk or contact Ruth Newman on 01227 823790 for an informal chat before submitting a course proposal.