Are you ready to listen to a podcast? Upskill, upskill, masterclass. Hi everyone, thanks for listening. Thanks for downloading the eighth episode of the Upskill Masterclass.
My name's Ral Tucker. Today we'll be chatting with one of our recently appointed student ambassadors. We'll take us through their individual experience of doing one of Upskill's courses. We hope by them sharing their journey and learning experience, other students will take great benefit from it.
We'll be talking to real students with real challenges sharing real stories. Today we'll be joined by Kara Dara Guana. Welcome to the Upskill Masterclass Kara and congratulations on being named as an Upskill student ambassador. Thanks so much for coming to be here.
First of all, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Where you're from, what age you are and what you do for work? Yeah, sure. So I'm 23.
I live in Adelaide. I'm not working at this stage, but I'm about to do some more study with T. What course did you do with Upskill? I did the Diploma of Human Resources Management.
And what made you choose that particular course? I think there are lots of things that help me to decide. I'm forever learning and wanting to study. So after doing a certificate in business, I mean I just kind of wanted to move up and specialize.
At the time I've been rolling, I was working in admin and part of my role was working out. Sorry, I was helping out the HR department. I always had an interest there and I like to say, the role allowed you work so closely with people. Why did you pick Upskill to do your qualification?
I've actually been thinking about study for a while, but in the end of the thing, the one that I was up with, I was actually the student supporting. I felt like I understood what a big decision it was to study, not just with money, but also with time. And as I studied correspondence, I also knew that I had to take my time to decide and I really opened up answering the questions and giving me time to think. Were you always confident about being able to well at the course, or did you have any doubts along the way?
I think I always knew that I was going to be able to finish, but I was worried about how much I struggled with being correspondence. And what was the issue that you thought that you'd have with correspondence? Because of correspondence, you're not in class, so you've got to keep yourself accountable. But I managed to pick up from time management skills, like the Pomodoro technique and facing up my day, which helped.
Can you tell us about the Pomodoro technique? Yeah, sure. So my experience is that you study for about 20 minutes and then have a break for 10 minutes. So in the beginning of doing my course, I just went hard at it for a few hours.
But after a while, I learned what to do to me best. When did you think you were starting to make real progress with your studies? The first module was definitely the host, but I knew that and I told you to tell me that. So I think once I'd finished the first module, then I kind of had a bit of flow going and found it a lot easier to keep your routine and knock down more assessments.
What were the major factors that encouraged you to keep going? I can progress. I think just a little bit, every time it was just a little assignment, I used to drink that I'd have chocolate as a reward, because that would just be something a little bit I could use to kind of keep me motivated and keep me progressing on. So what do you think your biggest challenges were with your studies?
I actually had some health issues and I've laid up a lot while I was studying. So it was a bit of a balance to try and negotiate that with assignments. And how did you get over the top of that? How were you able to put the health issues to one side and continue studying?
I think I probably have to say my tutor. She was the one that was able to keep me going, able to give me some flexibility with some deadlines. And because I was keeping her up to date with how I was going, she was able to allow that flexibility for me. She was very supportive from the word grower, it was much more than a tutor relationship.
I felt like she was always very encouraging. She was able to give me some extensions in my deadlines, which helped relieve some of the pressure. And then keeping in contact with her and a regular basis, help me keep her accountable to the academic progress, as I slowly or as quickly as I could. What was the response from your family when you said you were going to do this course?
Were they very supportive of everything that you were trying to do? I think so. I've always been starting for as long as I can remember. Sorry, there were kind of no surprise there that I wanted to enroll in another course.
And what were you able to use in a positive way in your work and also your life? I actually had to stop working because of my health issues, but I was doing some volunteer work. Well, I'm doing some volunteer work with Beyond Blue. They're being able to use human resources and business in mental health has been really helpful, such as discrimination in the workforce and being able to talk to your manager.
It's also been great in being able to pick up on things like in the news and just general day-to-day conversation. And you did the course online? How did you find that? I found a great day.
Introduced Facebook groups while I was studying. And I think that that added to the sense of community and reduced the sense of isolation that often comes with studying online. And what kind of things did the Facebook group do to help you? I think just knowing that there were other people who were in the same boat as I was.
So lots of people who were studying online working at your own pace. Other people who were have barriers to studying to and then being able to chat to different students and share articles on news and talk about the module that we're on. So I gave you a feeling that you were part of a larger student community. Absolutely.
We were all there to celebrate each other's successes when they'd finish my job and then if they were struggling with questions, we could all help each other out. You mentioned there that you received some great tutoring. How was the up-skilled student support team? And I would imagine they were of great assistance to you, given the fact that you've mentioned that you had a few health issues along the way as well.
Yes, they were great assistance. I studied with other colleges in the past, but I think I really generally felt that I've been going on beyond supporting me to finish my diploma. And you definitely now think that your career prospects have improved by going through this particular course? Absolutely.
I haven't yet applied to work, but I think when I do, it'll just be smooth feeling. And you also think that your own personal development has improved as a result of having this experience? I do. There were lots of concepts in the course.
Initially when I applied for HR, I thought it was just about recruitment, like hiring and firing. And I think that's a lot of what people think about HR, but then when I delved into the course, I was surprised to learn how in-depth it really was. And how do you think you've improved as a person as a result of doing this course with up-skilled? I've been told that I'm much more confident, even if it's probably not coming across in the podcast.
I think in general, just being able to know that I can complete things, even with a number of personal barriers that have probably been the biggest accomplishment there. Learning to put your trust in other people like you did with your up-skilled trainer has also probably been officially in that personal development area. Absolutely. Yes.
It's so important to have a support team to keep on going. Would you ever consider doing another course with up-skilled? I would. I haven't rolled it out if I were to offer another course that was somewhat what I wanted, then I'd be up for it.
And finally, before we wrap things up, you've been very generous with your time today, Cara Roberts. What advice would you give to any other students considering doing a course with up-skilled? Number one, don't be afraid to ask all the questions. I think that people who have listened to this podcast might not have been studying in a while or have been out of the field.
So I think just starting with the questions and just starting is probably the most important thing, be open to opportunities. And number two is find out what drives you. It can be pretty daunting studying from hire initially. So it really comes back to the motivation of why do you want to study because that's what's going to keep you going.
Okay, Cara, thanks very much for your time today. Your experience and sharing your experience with us has been, I'm sure, very beneficial to other prospective students who will be looking to do up-skilled courses in the future. Congratulations again on being appointed an up-skilled student ambassador. Thank you so much.
This is Cara Bugwanath, what an inspiring story. Thanks for taking the time out to listen today. If you've got any questions or feedback, please head to the website upskil.edu.au. Don't forget you can like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
You can also leave us a rating or review on iTunes, which will be greatly appreciated. If you really enjoyed our podcast today with our student ambassador, Cara Bugwanath, please tell a friend. I'm Ralph Tucker. Thanks for listening.
Thanks for downloading and we'll catch you next time on the upskil masterclass.