The Essential Guide to Doing Transition. How to do Transition in your University/College. | Page 60

Plan your work around the academic year

The time pattern imposed on university life through the academic year will also affect projects.

It is good to plan for the busy times and the quiet times. Think about when students and staff

are going to be the most stressed and when fewer people are around.

Universities are typically very bad at working with the peaks and troughs of energy and engagement levels in the academic year, at least for students. Deadlines and exams all come in the same week, to be followed by weeks or months of less intensive activity. This is something you can take advantage of! If you recognise these patterns, you can design your Transition activities around them. Not only will you avoid frustration when nothing gets done because everyone's too busy with their academic obligations, but you can also create projects that are

not contributing to that stressful structure.

Some examples of how you can do this are:

• Writing funding applications and reports in the summer or winter holidays.

• Hosting easily accessible engagement events during the first weeks of term (Freshers’ week in the UK), e.g. free stuff/food giveaways, open sessions in community gardens,

• Refraining from planning important meetings or events during exam times and essay deadline weeks.

It can be helpful to have a plan of a yearly cycle. Student unions might have one with deadlines on it as they also plan their events around the academic year - perhaps investigate whether you can share it! People and Planet developed one that can be found on page 8 of their Transition University guide. Transition University of St Andrews have made their own.

Complementary projects

It can be a good idea to investigate whether you can design your projects to complement each other, with one perhaps attracting and engaging people to another. For example, Transition University of St Andrews has run a very successful project with Carbon Conversations, encouraging participants to engage with their thoughts and feelings about climate change in a safe environment.

This has led many to realise a deeper motivation to get involved, and although the Carbon Conversations don’t engage the largest amount of people, these people tend to stay engaged and take on the most important roles within the steering group or leading projects.

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