Category: In English

Tools and tips for the academic year that I wish I knew as a freshman

Studying is hard work, but the right equipment will make it a lot easier. In this article, Anca M. Catana shares her experiences and gives tips for successful student life.

In English Opiskelu

TEKSTI Anca M. Catana

There are things that will make studying a lot easier. Some of them might be obvious, but others not so much. Here is a list of things to consider, heading into the new academic year as a student. 

A planner

Coming straight from being a high school student, or from a job with a regular schedule, or from a parental leave with a very irregular schedule, the need for a planner might not be so obvious to you at this point. But once the courses get rescheduled, the assignments pile up and your free time gets crowded, you will definitely feel the immediate necessity of such an item. Luckily, there are several options regarding planners and I have tried them all. 

Online calendars. They are ok, but not great. I’ve been using online calendars as a back-up/complementary calendar to my paper planners, but never exclusively. The biggest advantage is that it’s always there, so you can easily book a date. The downside is I feel it easily gets more crowded than it actually is, and you might just “lose the track of time” if you ran out of battery.

Standard planners from supermarkets or book stores are for you if you just want to keep up with your lectures, assignments and student events, but are not the most hyper-busy type of student. Inexpensive (compared to other paper counterparts), ready to fill-in, with tons of design options to choose from, you just couldn’t ask more from a basic planner.

A personalized planner made-to-order. This is the option I chose for the upcoming year. If you can’t find your soulmate amongst the tons of ready-made planners, you can definitely create one fit for your taste and needs. The biggest downside: it is much more expensive than the standard one. Of course the production and shipment also take extra time. But if this doesn’t stop you from ordering one, you can finally become the organizing freak you were always meant to be!

Bullet journals. Some fall utterly in love with them. I love the time and money I save by not using one as my planner. If you have the time and inspiration to fill in a layout every single month/week/day and the money to spend on all the fancy accessories, go for it! After having a horrible time with a bujo last spring, I decided to opt out from using it as a planner this year, but I still bought a basic one (and the most basic accessories) for, well.. journaling. So I can keep all my 100 year-plans and 1,000,000 euro-worth ideas neatly in one place.

Writing tools

It’s a no-brainer. You’ve been buying writing tools since pre-school. But if you are one of those who fancy using a fountain pen, you might reconsider your choice, since the ink is very difficult to come across in the Finnish bookstores. 

Pencil and eraser. They never fail. I’ve seen people going through their uni years with only just that. So if minimalism is your way, just get your pencil and eraser (borrow the sharpener from your classmates when needed).

Erasable pens. If there’s something that I totally loved from my bujo adventure, that’s the erasable pens. When I first discovered them, I had a Eureka moment. How did I manage to survive some 15 years of education without ever using one is a mystery for me. But now, I can’t go anywhere without them. You need them in your life, too!

A laptop

This is another one worthy of “duh”. The point I wanted to make is that, when choosing your laptop, especially as a freshman, it is not a good time to get stingy. Do yourself a favor and go for a proper one. You will need it like air, because you need a tool that can keep up with you as well as your Zoom lectures.

A bag that fits your new laptop, if you are a minimalist. If not, you probably need a bag that is sporty, a bag that is more fancy, a bag that can resist a winter storm… and the list can go on and on. But really, you need some reliable ways of carrying your laptop around (or just go for a desktop instead), so the rain, snow and cold of Finnish weather won’t ruin your precious.

Discounts

Get all the discount apps/cards/coupons you can get your hands on (Tuudo app, Pivo app, student sticker). Now life in Oulu ain’t cheap, but over time, with a bit of diligence, you can save a fair amount of money by paying a close eye at all the offers available. There are student discounts for meals in university’s restaurants, bus card discounts, drinks, pizzas, movies, hairdresser, you name it, so you can spend the money on things that really matter (that laptop, I’m telling you).

A thermos

A reusable cup and/or a thermos and a water bottle. The winters are dark and cold, and coffee is your best ally ( we welcome tea-drinkers in our club as well). Do yourself (and the world around you) a favor and buy a reusable cup for when you need to run with your coffee from one place to another. A thermos will save you some nice money in the long run if you choose to bring your coffee from home. (It might not work that well if you like your coffee milk. As I learned, it starts tasting funny after using it for a few weeks). 

If you are going to follow your studies exclusively from home, nothing compares to a sip of hot coffee (yes, or tea) enjoyed outside by the fire on a freezing day!

A plan

While a planner will help you deal with day-by-day stuff, it is important that while in the midst of stress and rush, or the enthusiasm of a new academic year, you don’t let the big picture get completely out of sight. 

The beginning of a new academic year is a good moment to draw the big lines regarding the following semester and year. Think about your academic objectives and work life related objectives. 

If I learned something after four years of studies, is that you simply don’t have time to do everything you would like to do. You can’t take all the courses with catchy names, visit every event and fare, be involved in all the societies and organizations, while keeping healthy relationships and having a balanced lifestyle which includes lots of rest.

As an example, during my first semester as a freshman, I focused on the compulsory studies, and on the second one, I focused on studying Finnish. During my second year I decided to focus on my personal life and family, while during my third year I focused on catching up with all the school work. Last year it was all about gathering different experiences and networking.

Bonus tips

While this is not directly related to the studies, what I personally think works wonders for your well-being and time management is a fitness tracker. 

For example, if you decide to study using the Pomodoro technique (look it up if you don’t know it), you can set the countdown right from your wrist, so you won’t have to pick up the phone every time (and get tempted to check the notifications). 

A fitness tracker will let you know how little you moved around if you studied remotely, so it will motivate you to go for an evening walk or jog. It will also track your sleep, so when you will feel exhausted, you will know if you just need extra sleep, or it’s another culprit (lack of D vitamin for example). 

Finally, you should be able to set different alarms/notifications on your wrist, For meal times, or breaks or what not. The only one I don’t recommend is the morning alarm, it doesn’t work for me. And I am the one who never snoozes a morning alarm. 

An app and notifications blocker. The smartphone is a great tool for every student and an absolute must. But if you tend to get too distracted by it, particularly during lectures or study times, an app and notifications blocker might save you from lots of headaches and stress, and will make the study time significantly shorter and more efficient.

A multi subject notebook. You can go through your university years without touching a single notebook if you like. But if you are like me and remember stuff better when you write it, or get distracted by the laptop (aye for both!), a multi subject notebook might be great for you. Even if you do take notes during classes, there won’t be that much to write that you can fill-in a whole notebook for each course, and we don’t want to waste no paper, do we? Plus, it will be easier to prepare your bag if you just need to use one notebook everyday, instead of digging amongst ten different ones.

And finally, as your student career progresses I wish you good luck!

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Anca M. Catana

Education student, theater enthusiast, nature lover. Curious, spontaneous and ambitious, open for new challenges.

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Anca M. Catana

What kind of world to expect after this pandemic?– Part V: Culture

The current coronavirus pandemic has made a significant change on our daily lives across the world. On this series, researchers of the University of Oulu share their views on how of the pandemic has impacted economy, education, health, environment, and culture. On the last part of the series we focus on the effects the pandemic has caused on culture.

In English

TEKSTI Pablo Santur

KUVAT Anni Hyypiö

As gregarious beings, the isolation measures taken by different governments around the world, such as remote working and online learning, have profoundly affected our interaction with each other.

However, the prolonged time period alone has brought to light our collective resilience. Also, the particular vulnerability of some parts of populations, such as the elderly or asthmatics, has allowed the development of different strategies for their care. On the other hand, the fear of contagion has implied a change in our perception of physical contact, which could affect those cultures more prone to it.

To discuss the potential effects of confinement on our behaviour patterns and lifestyles, I talked with Hannu I. Heikkinen and Roger Norum. Hannu I. Heikkinen is professor and chair of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oulu, and has previously worked in the University’s Thule Institute in diverse of inter- and trans-disciplinary projects. Roger Norum has been a post-doctoral researcher in geography for the Relational and Territorial Politics of Bordering, Identities, and Transnationalization (RELATE) Centre of Excellence, and lecturer in anthropology at the University of Oulu.

Do you think culture affects the strategies different countries adopted regarding the pandemic?

Roger: “I think it is important to remember that culture is not fixed. You cannot point at people and say, “this is how they are”. Even though stereotypes can have a little piece of truth they are essentially exaggerations. So, it becomes dangerous to define culture according to certain parameters. Also, culture is always evolving and can change quickly.

One reason often cited for why Spain and Italy had such high rates of deaths and infections was because people are more social. That is, they are more concentrated in places. So, for example, in people’s home environments you often have several generations living together. However, this is only one element among others, such as geography, climate, or history.

Take the UK, which now has markedly higher infection and death rates than both Italy and Spain. This tragedy is something that many attribute to political decision making by its leaders. So cultural aspects are merely one factor that help explain how or why the disease spreads.”

In what way do you think social distancing measures will impact on people’s behaviour?

Hannu: “I think Finnish tradition with long social distances and tendency of social isolation and silence might strengthen, and probably shaking hands and other contact-based greeting gestures might become a bit tensioned and reserved only for close relatives and closer small groups. But I don’t dare to say if this pandemic will have long-term impact on cultures with stronger traditions of close social contact, such as hugging and cheek kissing.

Anyhow, already global discourses do have a tendency to have local impacts in general, from Me too campaigns to pandemics and climate change, in addition to the effects of direct physical impacts. Probably some even longer-term impacts for preferred social distances and social isolation might be expected. At least it has been an already visible trend in China for years that people have increasingly used face masks even without acute pandemics.

One aftermath of the corona pandemic might be that the “pandemic of loneliness” and lack of human contact will increase a lot among people of various ages, but especially with elderly people.”

Roger: “Humans are also creatures of habits. It is our nature to keep our way of doing things. When bars and restaurants reopened both in Oulu and Brooklyn, many residents almost immediately embraced their pre-corona modes of sociality. At Prisma now you can see some people behaving in a circumspect manner, and others acting as though there has never been a virus to speak of. My feeling is that most of us will remember somewhere in the back of our minds that there was this period of lockdown during which pretty much everyone isolated, but that this will not lead to any real change in behavior.

Take the anxieties surrounding environmental change, for example. There has been evidence of the negative effects humans are having on the climate since around the 1960s, but still most people have not changed their everyday practices – give or take buying some recycling bins for their kitchens.”

So, do you think the decrease in pollution rates in different cities will not affect people’s perception of our impact on environment?

Roger: “Sadly, not really. Early on in the pandemic we had some interesting infographics and satellite images about pollution-free skies, and some spectacular images of the air in Delhi and Shanghai looking like it did 40 years ago. But scientific data and public knowledge about the deleterious effects of factories, power plants and commercial air travel on the environment have been available for decades.

In actuality, the majority of people continue to see what they want to see, or what is convenient to see. In principle we – citizens, scientists, politicians, CEOs – might express more climatic anxiety or be more anthropocentically conscious , but in practice, most of us will continue in our self-satisfied consumerist comforts. I mean, I’d love to own a Tesla, but at the moment in Finland it’s unfortunately just vastly easier and cheaper to buy Diesel.”

Focusing on specific areas, what traces will the pandemic leave on the use of technology?

Roger: “Our relationship to technology has changed a lot over the past 20 years with the advent of the Internet, the explosion of Internet and virtual technologies, and the progression of mobile computing. We can now lead completely remote lives and still have nearly all the services and products we could ever need or want.

Indeed, the prevalence of digital platforms such as Facebook, Zoom and Amazon might be the primary reason the world didn’t completely fall apart during lockdown. It’s already clear that COVID-19 is pushing forward innovation in mobile computing and remote learning technologies, and in services related to data transfer, communication and e-health. Online pedagogy and electronic diagnoses of medical conditions have been available for some time now, but the pandemic has shown how developing these further is essential to our hypermobile lives.”

Hannu: “Working from distance will increase, and in some cases even continue as it already is after this rapid change due to the corona outburst, but only in certain fields that don’t necessitate physical contact and physical presence. Instead, and hopefully, for example caring professions will not turn any further towards caring from distance, because it might have other devastating impacts on human well-being and the functioning of society in general.”

Do you think the concept of well-being will be changed after this pandemic?

Hannu: “Not really, we have already two main discourses which are partially working in their own realms, but partially overlapping, and these discourse-practice realms are a) more holistic medical and medicine health focus, and b) sociocultural and mental well-being focus. So, this divide will probably just stay as it is, but issues and topics do overlap in certain approaches as it does already today.”

Finally, do you think COVID-19 will affect our conception of diseases?

Roger:  “While though I do think that our experiences of the pandemic will absolutely increase our appreciation for healthcare services and staff, and that we are likely to remain more aware about contagions and the transmissibility of diseases, I am hesitant to say that there are going to be long-term changes in this regard. That said, I’m not a doctor – or at least not the right kind.”

Read the previous parts of the series: Part I: Economy, Part II: Education, Part III: Health. Part IV: Environment and living

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Pablo Santur

Learning specialist in thesis writing mode. Former TV scriptwriter. Foodie. Anime lover. Twitter: @pablodsantur

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Pablo Santur

Trouble with studies, social matters or finances? – Here’s where to find help during this summer

Are you an international student currently facing study, social or financial problems as a result of the pandemic? You're not alone. This spring has been exceptional for all of us. But some international students might have to face even more challenges due to financial instability, lack of support networks, language barrier, being stuck in a foreign country away from their loved ones and pressure regarding study fees and resistance permits. That's why we've compiled a little guide on who to contact and where to find more information.

In English

TEKSTI Anca M. Catana

Do you need help regarding study matters?

Explain your problems to the teacher responsible for the course. Your first stop in solving problems related to completing the courses should be the teacher that is responsible for the course. Be open and honest! They know what the reality of the current situation is, but they might not be able to guess your specific challenges so bring everything on the table and express clearly what kind of help or arrangements you need.

Contact the Student Union of the University of Oulu’s (OYY) academic affairs specialist Aino Rossi (). Although the specialist is not responsible for making any decision regarding exemptions for your study situation, you can receive guidance on how to proceed. Again, explain openly and clearly what your struggles are and what solutions you are searching for, from the beginning.

Contact University’s Academic Affairs Service Teams for more general matters (), and for matters related strictly to a certain program/faculty, you can find the contact person(s) in the list at the bottom of this page.

If you are struggling with the tuition fees or study credit requirements (Migri’s requirement is 45 credits / academic year and University’s is 60 credits / academic year) contact OYY’s specialists () and University of Oulu () because all cases are handled on a case by case basis.

Accessibility refers to the ways in which physical, psychological, and social environments are designed to ensure that everyone can interact with others on an equal basis despite their individual characteristics. University’s website has a section where you can find advice and resources regarding accessibility matters.

Do you need help regarding legal matters?

In legal matters, you can receive advice paid for by the Student Union from Law office Ahola & Seppänen which can be contacted by phone (+358 45 1846 979) or by sending an email ().

The legal service is open for OYY’s members once a month between 2.30 pm and 4 pm. For Autumn 2020, the dates are: July 15th, August 12th, September 9th, October 14th, November 11th and December 9th.  

For example, if you have applied for an extension of residence permit which is not approved, you have the right to appeal against the decision to an Administrative Court and while the appeal is being handled you have the right to stay in Finland.

Do you need help regarding social matters?

Contact your tutor teacher (in case you have one) for more general guidance and advice.

Contact the Social Affairs specialist of OYY Sanna Kangasniemi () for guidance and advice on social affairs matters.

The Study Psychologists offer special guidance and counselling in questions related to learning, studying, life management and well-being. You can find information regarding the Study Psychologist on the University’s website.

For acute help you can contact Oulun kriisikeskus (Oulu Crisis Center) which offers short term counselling and guidance in crises for anyone living or staying in Finland. Some of the staff at the Crisis Centre are able to have discussions in English. To book an appointment, call +358 44 3690 500 (Monday to Friday, 9.00 – 14.00).

In serious and acute cases call +358 44 703 5940 (Mon to Thur, 8.00 – 16.00, and Friday 8.00 – 15.00). Outside of the office hours you can call the Psychiatric clinic at +358 8 315 6707 (Mon-Fri 8.00 – 18.00) or at +358 8 315 2655 (on weekdays after 18.00 and on weekends).

You can as well contact The National Crisis Hotline where you can discuss your thoughts, feelings and situation in life with a worker or a trained volunteer over the phone. For helpline in Arabic and English, call 09 2525 0113 (Mon, Tue at 11.00 – 15.00, Wed at 13.00 – 16.00 and 17.00 – 21.00, Thu at 10.00 – 15.00) and for helpline in Swedish and English call 09 2525 0112 (Mon, Wed at 16.00 – 20.00, Tue, Thu and Fri at 9.00 – 13.00).

Contact the University’s Chaplain Ari Savuoja by phone +358 40 524 5919 or by email () for support. You can discuss in private about any problem you may have, for example, problems with your social relationships. In addition to professional secrecy, he is also bound by the seal of the confessional. University Chaplain is specialised in questions related to religions, different world views and philosophies of life.

Contact your religious community. You can find a list of churches and religious organisations on the bottom of this page.

More general information and tips regarding student well-being and everyday life can be found on University’s website, as well as on Student Union’s website.

Do you need help with financial matters?

Apply for University’s rental support. In case you missed the email sent on June 12 by Saija Kortet, University of Oulu is going to offer rental support for five international students in need who live in PSOAS apartments. According to the info on the email, beneficiaries are selected on the basis of academic success and social reasons. The support is intended to the international students who are at risk of dropping the studies due to the financial problems. The deadline for applying is the 24th of June, so check out the email for more info, hurry up and apply!

Look for a (summer) job. I know, finding a job is very difficult. Finding a job without Finnish language skills is nearly impossible. But this doesn’t mean you should stop looking, it’s more a matter of perseverance and a lot of luck, so make a habit of regularly (maybe once a week) checking the job openings. Here are some useful websites: te-palvelut.fi or duunitori.fi.

Review the Kela benefits. Generally international students living temporarily in Finland are not qualified for Kela benefits, but it is better to double-check the requirements on their webpage according to your own situation. For example, social assistance in the coronavirus situation.

Emergency OYY loan. As a member of the Student Union of the University of Oulu, you can apply for an easy loan from the OYY. The maximum amount is 200 euros, no interest, only a handling fee of 8.40 euros and you have four months to pay it back. The only thing you have to do is find two guarantors and fill in some forms. You can find all the information here, under the “Membership benefits and services” section.

Sell stuff. If you find yourself with some free time in your hands, you can very well start decluttering! Clean up your wardrobe and house and get rid of all the clothes and stuff that doesn’t fit your taste or body anymore. You can use the marketplace or the buy and sell groups on Facebook. Other platforms for selling second-hand goods are tori.fi or netflea.com. If you are brave enough and pair up with some friends, you can rent a table in a physical second-hand shop. 

Sublease. If you live in a PSOAS apartment, you have the right to sublease your apartment during times when you are temporarily out of town (for example summer holidays). Note that a tenant is not allowed to make profit through subleasing, so the rent must be the same as the one PSOAS is charging. If you are renting a private apartment or from another company on the other hand, you better discuss with the owner before subletting!

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Anca M. Catana

Education student, theater enthusiast, nature lover. Curious, spontaneous and ambitious, open for new challenges.

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Anca M. Catana

What kind of world to expect after this pandemic? – Part IV: Environment and living

The current coronavirus pandemic has made a significant change on our daily lives across the world. On this series, researchers of the University of Oulu share their views on how of the pandemic has impacted economy, education, health, environment, and culture. On the third part of the series we focus on the effects the pandemic has caused on environment and living.

In English

TEKSTI Pablo Santur

KUVAT Anni Hyypiö

Given the possibility of contagion, different cities around the world adopted measures to limit the mobility of citizens, and thus, limiting the infection rate. This in turn produced new situations and challenges. For example, immobility reduced pollution levels in cities like New Delhi, Wuhan, London, or Lima.

On the other side, these measures also had collateral effects, such as the increase in waste, or the use of plastic for gloves or food delivery. On the other hand, fear also generated waves of mass consumption for products such as toilet paper, masks, or anti-bacterial gel.

Likewise, the challenges faced by large and populated cities such as New York or Milan in the number of infections, together with forcing people to work or study remotely, opened new possibilities for the design of public spaces.

To explore the future scenario regarding these topics, I talked with Eva Pongracz, Nønne Prisle, and Tarja Outila, all professors at our University. Eva Pongcraz and Nønne Prisle combine teaching with their roles as the Heads of Research Groups in Energy and Environmental Engineering, and Atmospheric Research, respectively. Tarja Outila is Professor of Urban Design and Planning at the Oulu School of Architecture, after several years as a City Planner for the city of Rovaniemi.

During this pandemic, pollution rates in various cities around the world have decreased. Has this affected the global warming process? If so, how much?

Nønne: “It is very important to distinguish between different effects of air pollution. What we typically think of as air pollution are substances which are harmful to human health, for example city smog. This kind of pollution has a relatively short lifetime in the atmosphere. So, as soon as we reduce emissions, the pollution levels in the air start to go down, and the air becomes cleaner. That is what has been observed all around the world. Sadly, the pollution levels will also increase just as quick as activity levels increase again.

Then, there are the greenhouse gasses which cause global warming. The greenhouse gasses are, of course, also pollution, in the sense that they are disturbing the natural environment, but they are typically not directly toxic to humans. Instead, they are often very long-lived in the atmosphere. Once a greenhouse gas molecule is released to the atmosphere, it can remain there for years, or even centuries, all the time trapping heat in the atmosphere. The greenhouse gasses which are currently causing global warming and melting the ice caps have been piling up in the atmosphere for several hundred years. So, decreasing emissions for a few months will unfortunately not make much of a difference.

Some of my colleagues have estimated that emissions of greenhouse gasses, mainly CO2, will decrease by 5-6% during the year 2020 due to the corona pandemic. If you compare that to the emissions reductions pledged in the Paris Agreement, it is not even that much. And if everything goes back to normal when the pandemic is over, the reduction will not be visible in the following years.”

Do you think the environmental changes caused by this pandemic will affect people’s perception of humankind’s impact on the environment?

Eva: “I would dearly like to believe that seeing how nature is repairing itself now that we took ourselves out of it, people would awaken and realize that, yes, it is really us that is causing all this damage. But I am afraid we will go back to our old habits as soon as the lockdown is over. We may even go overboard for a while and then perhaps take back a notch.

Nevertheless, I am always hoping that people will learn to appreciate and start actively protecting the environment.

All in all, this lockdown did not make us green. But I hope it made us think. I also hope that some of the frugal innovations and creative solutions, and the sense of community and solidarity that the state of emergency brought out of us will be here to stay. Ultimately, I hope a newfound determination will carry us after the pandemic to a better future.”

Do you think this situation will affect public policies on waste management in different countries? If so, how?

Eva: “Regarding wastage, I personally have the observation that the current situation does nothing positive to waste management, quite the opposite.

Firstly, people were hoarding food and goods which they will not use, and they will go bad and get thrown away. Second, since safety is first, many good habits aiming at saving resources are abandoned. We use more single use items than before. In many countries, reusable packaging such as reusable take-away food containers or reusable bags for fruit and vegetables in shops were banned due to the risk of cross-contamination. Plastics and throw-away packaging are back with a vengeance. I also suspect we use more water and more electricity when we stay at home.

Of course, I am always hoping countries would do better in waste management and people be less wasteful and dispose of their waste responsibly. In terms of policies, I think this situation taught countries they will need to strengthen the resilience of their critical infrastructure and preparedness for extreme events. This includes waste management, but also water and sanitation, food delivery, hospitals, emergency services, information technology, etc.”

Do you think the impact of this pandemic will promote that people abandon dense big cities, migrating to smaller places? Why?

Tarja: “Partly yes. Pandemic has been a great leap for digitalization and remote working. We have learnt that working remotely is possible for quite many people and working remotely may open new possibilities in our work. Pandemic has also forced us to innovate new businesses and ways of collaboration. Shopping online is more common now and different parts of our life have become services: we can buy food online and the groceries will be delivered to your home or you may get them from a pick-up point.

We have realised that we are free to choose the community where we can enjoy our way of life, and yet we do not need to change our work. Multi-locality will be an interesting and a real choice in the future. Multi-local living and domestic migration to smaller cities and rural areas may be alluring for those who want to decrease their housing costs and live in more spacious apartments closer to nature. Because of remote working and multi-locality, we may consider living or housing as a service, just like MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service).

Majority of the people will stay in bigger cities even after the pandemic, since they do not want or cannot change their urban way of life.”

After the mandatory lockdown in many cities/countries, do you think people’s perception of urban spaces will change? If so, how?

Tarja: “Urban design is based on history and the existing city structure. Changes in our living environment take time since the processes are quite demanding and long. Even before the pandemic, the diversity of urban spaces has been a central target in city planning. The objective of the Finnish Land Use and Building Act, which directs urban planning, is to create preconditions for favourable, safe, and healthy living conditions. I assume that these objectives will gain a new meaning since we also need to be able to create resilient living environments. Our living environment should promote resilience towards climate change and future epidemics.  And since we design cities and communities for people, it is possible that people will strongly demand for an even safer and healthier living environment.”

Do you foresee in the near future a change in the guidelines for urban design regarding similar events?

Tarja: “Yes, I do. The ongoing Finnish Land Use and Building Act reform will pay attention to future needs, but the impacts of the pandemic have not been implemented in the process yet. I assume that guidelines need to be assessed and revised and the impacts of the plans need to be assessed in the beginning of the process or at least in the very early stage.

We need to have even more proactive guidelines. We may need to create new criteria for a healthy and safe urban environment as well.”

Read the other parts of the series: Part I: Economy, Part II: Education, Part III: Health, Part V: Culture.

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Pablo Santur

Learning specialist in thesis writing mode. Former TV scriptwriter. Foodie. Anime lover. Twitter: @pablodsantur

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Pablo Santur

Autumn starts with remote teaching, orientation for new students will be held in small groups on campus

There is no return to normal during the autumn for students at the University of Oulu, as online teaching will continue for the first period. Contact teaching will be organised only if it cannot be arranged remotely. This means, for example, laboratory teaching.

In English

TEKSTI Anni Hyypiö

KUVAT Anni Hyypiö

In Finnish

The University of Oulu has decided on guidelines regarding teaching for the start of autumn. According to the bulletin released on the staff intranet Patio and on the website of the University on Tuesday 9 June, remote teaching will continue due to the coronavirus pandemic.

During the first teaching period (August 1 ­– October 25) contact teaching will be organised on the campus only if the teaching cannot be held online. This means mainly teaching and learning in laboratories or other experimental teaching.

The orientation for new students will be organised in small groups on campus. According to the University, this should support the formation of groups of new students and to ensure that the new students starting their studies will be attached to the University.

Lecture-type events will also be organised for all new students via remote connections. The guidelines issued by the University also state that the orientation period must also take into account students who cannot come to the campus.

The electronic Exam will be the main tool for assessing learning during the first period, but other alternative methods for completing courses can also be implemented, such as essays, home exams, or learning diaries. Traditional exams at campus are not recommended to be held on the general exam days but organised by the course teachers individually. However, general exams can still be arranged with the safety distance of 2 metres between the students. This in turn requires more supervisors for the exams.

These guidelines and principles apply to the first teaching period, from 1 August to 25 October. Decisions regarding teaching after week number 44 will be made in August.

Before this announcement from the University of Oulu, the University of Eastern Finland and the Tampere University had already notified that online studying would continue in the autumn.

The University of Oulu moved to online teaching in March. While some of the restrictions have already been lifted, teaching has continued remotely. From the beginning of June, students have been able to enter the campuses with the 24/7 access card on weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm. At the Linnanmaa campus, entry is possible through the main door 2T and door A3, and at Kontinkangas through door 7A.

The effects of the coronavirus to students have been analysed in a survey by the Student Union of the University of Oulu. According to the survey, the exceptional spring has caused extra workload and stress, and has caused problems in advancing studies. Students have been mainly happy with online teaching, though there are some differences between the faculties. The students at the Oulu Business School were highly critical of remote teaching in the survey.

According to a survey done by the University of Helsinki, students have been more exhausted than normal during this spring. The survey was answered by 2,500 students of the University of Helsinki from various fields. Out of all the respondents, 29 % said they were highly motivated and committed to their studies and felt no exhaustion. Another 29 % deemed their wellbeing fine and found their studies quite interesting. However, 18 % of the respondents were exhausted by online studying and 24 % were at a risk of burning out.

According to the guidelines by the University of Oulu, teacher tutors will follow and monitor their students’ progress closely, and be in touch with their students if the studies are not advancing as planned.

Translation: Kalle Parviainen

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Anni Hyypiö

Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen päätoimittaja. Twitter: @AnniHyypio

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What kind of world to expect after this pandemic? – Part III: Health

The current coronavirus pandemic has made a significant change on our daily lives across the world. On this series, researchers of the University of Oulu share their views on how of the pandemic has impacted economy, education, health, environment, and culture. On the third part of the series we focus on the effects the pandemic has caused on health.

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TEKSTI Pablo Santur

KUVAT Anni Hyypiö

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is not the first time the world has faced a global health issue. For example, we remember the outbreak of HIV and AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s, the Black Death of the 14th century, and the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918. The consequences of them include the improvement in dietary and hygienic conditions after the black plague, or the increased use of condoms since the onset of the HIV epidemic.

Unlike the previous events, technology played a significant role in this pandemic, both on individual and government level. For example, people have joined the effort to use 3D printers to produce masks or ventilators, or governments are using technology to monitor the spread of the disease, diagnose cases, or prevent contagion.

To explore these topics, I talked with Dr. Guido Giunti, adjunct Professor of Digital Health Design and Development at the University of Oulu, and medical doctor specialized in mHealth solutions for patients with chronic conditions.

How long do you think the consequences of this pandemic will last?

“I honestly think that the consequences of this period are going to echo for a very long time. Even if we don’t pay attention to the actual number of deaths, the sheer scale of this situation is comparable to a world war.

Of course, at some point we will regain some level of normalcy, but it is very clear to me that we will be talking of a pre-COVID19 and post-COVID19 era. It’s true that some countries are or were more developed than others, but this situation is forcing lots of changes to happen in a very little time.”

Is it reasonable to expect a similar event in the near future?

“If you mean a pandemic of this scale, it will depend entirely on what the world looks like once we finish this transition process. I think that the cultural and societal changes that this will bring are very difficult to envision at this point. I certainly think that governments and health authorities will likely implement new measures regarding travel and safety protocols to reduce the chances of this kind of thing happening again. Probably a more careful look on biological agents and controls like that for points of entry. Maybe the healthcare system will have better alarms thanks to digital technologies and AI.

However, it is impossible to have something that it is completely future-proof. You are only always 100 % ready to defeat the last attack you got.”

How do you think the pandemic will affect public health policies?

“It’s very likely that healthcare systems will face some level of restructuring. Situations like this show you that healthcare, welfare, and wellbeing are tied very closely together.

Declaring a lockdown in a region impacts the economy and if your population can’t be reassured that they will have a job or be able to pay rent when the dust settles, at some point people are going to disagree with your health policy, even if you are saving thousands of lives.”

Switching to the use of technology, there have been some events related to using it to overcome the pandemic. Do you think this situation will promote similar events in the future?

“Absolutely. What we are seeing is something unique in the sense that here we have a cause that is tangible, concrete, and unifying. And more importantly, there aren’t that many things we can do about it directly. I think that this plays a vital part because we are not used to feeling so vulnerable and that triggers the willingness to act. So, you start thinking, what can I do to help, what can I do to regain control, what can I do to survive. Whether you want it or not, you are thinking about your own health or the health of your loved ones. This is a huge motivator and has sparked amazing things like 3D printing projects, hackathons, donations, distributed teams, etc.”

What do you think about how governments use technology to fight COVID-19? Did something in particular catch your attention?

“We are seeing very interesting developments in this regard. In the early phases of the pandemic, governments were using technology mostly to get a sense of where cases were appearing and providing basic information. In Taiwan, they integrated national health insurance databases with immigration and customs data to generate real-time alerts during clinic visits to help identify cases. There are whole areas regarding privacy and even the ownership of user-generated data that we don’t know much about from policy and regulatory perspectives which are brought into light because of COVID-19.

Health systems have quickly developed conversational agents (chatbots) to speed up triage lines, re-schedule appointments, and generally, provide information to keep people away from hospitals. There is a downside to these things though, because chatbots are still limited in their ability to recognize safety-critical prompts. Just labeling a chatbot as “COVID-19 specific” won’t stop people from asking about other health things or try to get help. Imagine what happens if someone types “I want to kill myself” and the bot simply tells them “I’m sorry, can you rephrase that?” over and over again.

Now, as far the situation has evolved, the focus is more and more on contact tracing through apps with the idea of tracking people and segmenting the population.”

Based on the use of technology by countries like the Czech Republic, Singapore or South Korea, do you think that in the future technological safety protocols will be used to monitor the health of individuals?

“Definitively. The specifics will change and vary according to how each country and culture has “survived” this global ordeal. COVID-19 is a world changing event, it will ripple through in many ways. There are steps that we took, and are still taking right now, to control this thing that we will certainly end up discovering new uses for. That is, when we get a chance to look back at them with a different perspective.

We have the chance to stop talking and start acting on the vision of the future of healthcare. Healthcare systems that are enhanced by technology which can, hopefully, be more humane. Every step makes a footprint, let’s make our steps into this new world count.”

Read the other parts of the series: Part I: Economy, Part II: Education, Part IV: Environment and living, Part V: Culture.

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Pablo Santur

Learning specialist in thesis writing mode. Former TV scriptwriter. Foodie. Anime lover. Twitter: @pablodsantur

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Pablo Santur