The Exams Office (and their pets!) share the top 10 exam disasters you should avoid.

1.Walking into the wrong exam check your timetable carefully!
Personal timetables are available on SDS now. Module codes, dates, times and venues are listed here. Please check regularly as information may change

2. Oversleeping – leave yourself plenty of time to get to your exam.
Morning exams begin promptly at 09.30, afternoon sessions at 14.00. You should arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of your exam.

3. Inappropriate clothing – wear layers of clothing, temperatures can vary.
Keep an eye on weather reports and check Twitter for updates from the Exams Team.

4. Turning up late
Latecomers will not be given additional time. Speak to your student support officer regarding concessions after the exam if there are exceptional circumstances.

5. Your mobile phone or smart watch ringing
   Mobile phones and smart watches are not permitted in exam halls. Leave it at home!
   Any electronic device brought into exam venues will be reported to your school.

6. Sitting uncomfortably
Allow enough time to leave your property in the bag rooms and check the seating plan outside the venue so you know where to sit.

7. Bringing your bag in
   Bags are not allowed in the exam halls, please leave at home or use the bag room provided – Keynes Building Room KS7 . Stationery should be in a clear plastic pencil case. Food and drink are not permitted unless you have prior permission (for medical reasons).

8. Forgetting your Kent ID card
You need to bring your ID card to every exam. If you’ve lost your card please visit the Student Reception in the Registry to purchase a replacement.

9. Last-minute revision! But don’t bring notes into your exam.
There’s lots of help available. Contact your school and tutors for specific advice. Preparation is key!

10. Panicking! There is lots of support on campus to help you keep calm.
It’s normal to feel anxious before exams. Make sure you’re well prepared and seek advice in advance if you’re unsure or unclear about your exams.

Good luck with your exams!

To enable the Pay and Pensions Office staff to meet the demands of the implementation of the Staff Connect project and ensure a smooth transition to the new HR/Payroll system, the opening hours of these offices will change, with effect from Monday 14 November, to the following:

• Monday: open from 13.00 onwards
• Tuesday: open 09.00 – 17.00
• Wednesday: closed all day
• Thursday: open 10.30 – 12.30 and 13.30 – 16.30
• Friday: open until 13.30.

These opening hours are designed to allow employees on all working patterns an opportunity to contact the offices direct. Emergency matters will be dealt with as a priority where possible.

Sent in by: T.G.Craswell@kent.ac.uk

Unfortunately the Galvanising Café at the Historic Dockyard is closed on temporary basis. The closure is due to further work required by the contractor.

We hope this work won’t take long and the Galvanising Café will be open for business again soon.

In the meantime, please see the other food options and discounts available at the Historic Dockyard.

A selection of productivity tools and assistive technology software is available to help access material in supporting preferred methods of working, enhance productivity and save time.

There are a wide range of options available including:

• Help using accessibility features available on existing devices and platforms (eg Moodle)
• Text to speech and screen reading facilities for people who prefer to listen to text, rather than read (eg ClaroRead)
• Voice recognition software, for staff who prefer to dictate text, rather than write
• Tools to tailor reading experiences by changing display
• Time management tools
• Writing tools to check grammar, provide writing clarity
• Tools to turn images into text or audio, or to edit audio and video, to make content accessible such as Sensus Access
• Tools to help with planning or to help manage note taking, ranging from mind mapping to memory apps.

You can start using the above on the University’s productivity tools and assistive technology webpages.

Accessible teaching and learning guidance for staff

Guidance on how to make learning and teaching resources more accessible to everyone. These include practical tips on:

• alternative formats for accessible learning and teaching material
• how to make documents, presentations and online material accessible
• guidance for supporting specific disabilities such as autism, dyslexia, hearing impairments, mental health, mobility and visual impairments and advice on key accessibility questions to ask suppliers.

Read the guidance online.

Accessibility guidance in relation to Word and PowerPoint is now also linked to in the Good Moodle Guide (GMG).

We have also produced a guide to accessibility features in Moodle and advice on adjusting settings.

Sent in by: b.watson@kent.ac.uk

Gulbenkian want to know what you think about their Cafe, Theatre and Cinema. Complete this short survey (30 questions, about 10 minutes) and be entered into a prize draw.

Gulbenkian will also be holding a Staff Focus Group, to discuss the café and artistic programme in more detail, at 12.00 on Wednesday 23 November. To book your place on that please email d.yard@kent.ac.uk.

Dr Antonio Da Silva, Language Coordinator in Portuguese from the Department of Modern Languages, is co-editing with Mariana A C da Cunha from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, a collection provisionally titled ‘Human Rights, Social Movements and Activism in Contemporary Latin American Cinema’.

Can film play an active role in denouncing human rights abuse and exposing the struggle for visibility of different social movements? Each in their own way, Latin American societies have experienced different cycles in implementing and enforcing human rights policies, and more often than not these rights have been strongly violated. Social and activist movements have seen the increasing use of film, video and digital media as a means of campaigning for social justice and protection of vulnerable citizens. Questioning to what extent cinema can impact social transformation can open up new avenues to understanding the subjects of human rights films, be they the oppressed or the violators. This edited volume seeks original contributions that bring to light the themes of human rights, social movements and activism in the Latin American cinema of the new millennium.

Contributions may include the ways in which human rights have been violated by the State, and also how the State has responded to the rise of social movements and activism; the effectiveness of social movements and activism; how transnational issues have had an impact on human rights in the region, such as migration, globalisation, economic shifts; or how cinema’s technology and aesthetics have had an impact on the depiction of these issues (for example the use of mobile phones, especially in the case of documentaries).

Further information, deadlines and details for submissions are available on SECL’s webpages.

Kent students and staff can get 10% off tickets for the UK/Polar music event at the Historic Dockyard on 27 November at 17.00.

To claim the 10% discount you must buy your ticket from the admissions desk in person with your Kent ID card. If you buy in advance you will get a ticket for £5.40 or £7.20 on the night.

This special event marks the finale of the Historic Dockyard’s latest exhibition ‘Pole of Cold’. The exhibition takes visitors on the remarkable journey experienced by Kent’s own Polar explorer, Felicity Aston MBE.  Felicity travelled more than 35,000km in a Land Rover Defender from the UK, across Scandinavia to Siberia.

The line-up for the evening features:

• Traditional Swedish fiddle playing from Ben Paley (author of Swedish Fiddle Music: An Anthology)
• Beautiful, melodic folk, jazz and pop from Icelandic Osp
• Folk music from Yorkshire’s Kimber’s Men

Find out more at the Historic Dockyard website.

Upcoming EDI lectures taking place in Jennison Lecture Theatre include:

On 16 November, from 18.00 – 19.00, we have Dr Mark McBride-Wright, Co-Chair of InterEngineering, coming to talk about empowering LGBT engineers and addressing LGBT inclusion in the engineering sector in the UK. Free tickets can be obtained via Eventbrite.

On 23 November, from 13.00 – 14.00, we have Dr Nike Folayan from the Association For Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers coming to talk about encouraging young people to transition from education into engineering, particularly those from a BME/BAME background. Free tickets can be obtained via Eventbrite.

Study Plus courses (part of the Kent Extra range of extracurricular activities) are free and open to all registered Kent students.

You can still sign up for these courses:

KE004 Dirty History
KE111 Talking Cultures: Intercultural communication
KE112 Talking Cultures: Enhancing cultural awareness
KE073 Bleak House? Poor and rich in Victorian England
KE068 Excelling in the graduate recruitment cycle
KE107 Improving presentations with MS PowerPoint
KE106 Preparing essays with Word 2016
KE108 Beginners’ spreadsheets with MS Excel
KE109 Preparing dissertations or extended assignments with Word 2016

We will also be running the popular “How does it work?” science courses later this term.

They are a great way to gain new skills, earn Employability Points while you learn or just learn for pleasure.

You can sign up in the Student Data System via: My Study>Workshops>Study Plus

Visit the Study Plus website to view the full range of courses, and find out more.

Dr Bike is back at Medway campus on Thursday 10 November 2016!

Find Dr Bike outside the Rochester Building (on the grass to the left of the main entrance) and get a free check-up and any minor adjustments made to your bicycle.

Come along between 11:30 and 14:30 to get your bike checked over for free by trained bicycle mechanics.

Let us know if you would like Dr Bike to make a more regular appearance at Medway.

Transport Team

01227 82 3609   transport@kent.ac.uk   @unikent_travel   www.kent.ac.uk/transport

Estates Department, University of Kent, Park Wood Road, Canterbury, CT2 7NN

Transport Updates: @unikent_travel   Transport News Blog