2012 FICT Getting Started Booklet - Swinburne University · 2012-08-06 · New Faculty of ICT students 2012 ... Friday 1 June Examinations Higher Education Semester 1 examination
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Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies
Higher Education Division
GETTING STARTED
QUICK START GUIDE TO YOUR FIRST SEMESTER
2012
www.swinburne.edu.au/ict
Swinburne University of Technology
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SWINBURNE CAMPUS MAP AND FACULTY OFFICE LOCATION:
ABBREVIATIONS OF BUILDINGS:
EN = ENGINEERING
EN101 = ENGINEERING BUILDING, FIRST FLOOR, ROOM 1
BA = BUSINESS & ARTS
BA212 = BUSINESS AND ARTS BUILDING, SECOND FLOOR, ROOM 12
Swinburne University of Technology
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INTRODUCTION
This Quick Start Guide aims to help you feel confident about starting university. We
hope that by making you more familiar with what to expect as well as our expectations
of you that you will progress successfully through your course.
Starting at a new institution can be confusing. You may not know what to expect and
what is expected of you. You may make assumptions about things and sometimes you
are right and sometimes you are wrong. While this guide doesn’t claim to address all
questions or issues we do hope that it will start you off “on the right foot”.
We also strongly encourage you to ‘friend’ us on our Facebook Page:
New Faculty of ICT students 2012
There are two other faculty social networking groups you may benefit from joining:
Friends of Swinburne Faculty of Information and Communication Technology
Women in ICT ‐ Swinburne
Associate Dean (Student Engagement)
A/Prof Catherine Lang
clang@swin.edu.au
Swinburne University of Technology
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Contents:
1. Know your Faculty ............................................................................................................................ 5
2. Organise your time ........................................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Study hours ................................................................................................................................. 6
2.2. Time management ..................................................................................................................... 7
3. The learning experience and teaching methods .............................................................................. 8
4. Expectations ..................................................................................................................................... 9
5. Electronic and other resources ....................................................................................................... 12
5.1. My.Swinburne portal ............................................................................................................... 12
5.2 Blackboard‐iLearn .................................................................................................................... 12
5.3 Student e‐mail ‐ Webmail ......................................................................................................... 13
6. Strategies to try if you start having any problems .......................................................................... 15
7. Other resources .............................................................................................................................. 16
7.1 The Library .................................................................................................................................... 16
7.2 Programming Help Desk Location: ATC620 ................................................................................. 17
8. More support available to you ........................................................................................................... 19
8.1 Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies Network ............................................ 19
8.2 Student Services Guide ................................................................................................................. 19
8.3 Working in groups ........................................................................................................................ 22
Swinburne University of Technology
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1. KNOW YOUR FACULTY
Welcome to Swinburne. You have made an excellent decision to continue your
academic journey with us. This guide is aimed to introduce you to our Faculty, the
University and the people who are here to assist you achieve the best results possible.
Firstly, get to know your Faculty. The faculty is structured into four academic groups, led
by:
The Dean Professor Leon Sterling
The Deputy Dean Professor Chris Pilgrim
The four Academic groups each have a Professor or Head, they are:
Professor Judy McKay (Information Systems)
Professor John Grundy (Computer Science)
Professor Grenville Armitage ( Telecommunications)
Professor Warrick Couch (Astrophysics)
You will belong to one of these Academic Groups in the faculty.
Your degree, or program is managed by a Program Coordinator. You will have a chance
to meet your program coordinator during Orientation, and this person may even lecture
you at some stage of your degree.
A list of current Program Coordinators can be found at:
http://www.ict.swin.edu.au/ictstaff/program_coordinators
Two other very important people are the Coordinators for Students and Programs
located in the Faculty Office (EN building Level 1). They are:
Ms Debbie CHURCHWARD Coordinator, Students and Programs (Undergraduate)
dchurchward@swin.edu.au +61 3 9214 8763
Ms Courtney IRVINE Coordinator, Students and Programs (Postgraduate)
cirvine@swin.edu.au +61 3 9214 5054
Make yourself familiar with your Faculty by taking the time to browse the
Faculty Web Page: http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ict/index.html
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2. ORGANISE YOUR TIME
Help yourself get off to a good start by identifying key dates each semester, then
planning your time for study, recreation and other demands. The following dates are
important and a good place to start:
Semester 1
Monday 20th February ORIENTATON Higher Education Orientation activities commence.
Monday 27th February Start date Higher Education Semester 1 classes start
Friday 2nd March Payment due Date
/ adding units
Also last date to add units of study to your program
for Semester 1.
Saturday 31st March Withdrawal Last day to withdraw from Higher Education units of
study without financial penalty
Friday 1 June Examinations Higher Education Semester 1 examination period
commences.
Semester 2
Monday 30th July ORIENTATON Higher Education Orientation activities commence.
Monday 6th August Start date Higher Education Semester 2 classes start
Friday 10 August Payment due Date
/ adding units
Also last date to add units of study to your program
for Semester 2.
Friday 31 August Withdrawal Last day to withdraw from Higher Education units of
study without financial penalty
Friday 9th November Examinations Higher Education Semester 2 examination period
commences.
More dates:
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/studentoperations/calendar/
2.1 STUDY HOURS
A typical unit at Swinburne University of Technology is equal to 12.5 credit points. This
is commonly associated as a unit requiring 12.5 hours worth of study. This could be in
the form of progressing the assignments, group work, outside class group discussions,
researching the literature, reading the textbook. Most units will have allocated 3 to 4
contact hours per week (lecture, tutorial, lab session), this means you have to find
another 8 or 9 hours for each unit in your weekly schedule.
It is important to remember that in the first two to four weeks of the semester the
workload seem relatively light, but you need to understand that it will become harder as
the semester progresses, so you need to get a head start and get into the routine of
spending enough time for your study since the first week of the semester.
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2.2. TIME MANAGEMENT
At University we have an expectation that our students display maturity and
responsibility in managing their academic life. However we know that our students are
from diverse backgrounds have many different claims on their time.
In most cases YOU need to take the initiative to get help if needed.
At a minimum we expect you to know when the lectures and tutorials are going to be
held and attend them. You need to know when your assignments are due in each of
your units and devise a study plan to complete the assignments and submit them. It is
recommended that you create a timetable that could be used as a reference for all of
your academic activities. The Student Engagement Officer is available to help you devise
a study plan (located at FICT office).
On track workshops:
The Faculty and the University run several programs to get you on track to manage and
to make best use of your time. They are run by our Student Engagement Officer who is
located in the Faculty office.
Workshop 1 – Being a successful FICT student.
Workshop 2 – Staying on track.
Workshop 3 ‐ Exam preparation.
Dates and times will be advertised on iLearn and Faculty Facebook sites.
We also expect you to know the names of your lecturers and your tutors. These are
clearly displayed on unit iLearn (Blackboard) sites.
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3. THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE AND TEACHING METHODS
You will normally be enrolled in several units (the usual load for full‐time students is 4
units each semester). You may be familiar with the structure of your program and you
should always check that you are progressing through the units as recommended in
your program planner.
Program planners are available on‐line. Follow the Current Students link from the
Faculty of ICT home page, scroll down to Program and Unit of Study, and you will see
the link Program Planners at: http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ict/students/index.html
WHO WILL BE TEACHING YOU?
There are often several people who are responsible for delivering a unit of study at
University. In smaller classes the one academic may hold all three of these roles,
however in units with larger numbers of enrolments, it is the responsibility of a team.
They are:
THE UNIT CONVENOR
This is the person in charge of a unit. The unit convenor takes ultimate responsibility to
make sure that everything works correctly and effectively in the unit. In the Faculty of
ICT, the convenor is required to be a full time staff academic member. Sometimes,
someone is contracted from industry or research to do some of the convenor’s duties
but this will be under the supervision of the full time academic convenor. This person
can also be a Lecturer (i.e. deliver the lectures for the unit), and often is also one of the
tutors (the smaller scale classes).
THE LECTURER
Lecturers are academics who deliver lectures. Lectures are often the primary teaching
event in a unit. They may sometimes be one way forms of communication (from lecturer
to the student) however many lecturers expect students to get involved through open
discussion and other forms of interaction.
THE TUTOR
Tutorials are small group classes. Your tutors will deliver material provided by the unit
convenor. Tutors may be lecturers in the faculty, PhD students or professional experts.
Tutor contact details can be found on Blackboard. In many units a classlist of attendance
is kept at tutorials, you should keep that in mind.
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4. EXPECTATIONS
Here at Swinburne, we are proud of our academic achievements and standards. As part
of our Swinburne community, we would like you to excel in your academic life. In order
to maintain good academic standard, there are certain expectations that our students
need to fulfil.
4.1 ATTEND LECTURES
Lectures set the pace for your study. If you miss a lecture or want to hear it again and
there is another one later in the week, please feel free to attend. Some lecturers also
record their lectures and upload this onto Blackboard. If neither of this is possible then
please ensure that you follow up with another student, do the required reading, and fill
in gaps in your learning.
NOTE: It is expected that you read Lecture Slides PRIOR to attending a lecture. This will
ensure that you have an idea of the content being introduced. These are uploaded on the
Unit’s Blackboard site.
4.2 ATTEND TUTORIALS
Tutorials are occasions for student interaction and engagement with the unit material,
consequently numbers are limited to between 20 and 25. Your tutor is there to help you
understand the content, prepare for major assignments and facilitate class discussions.
4.3 ACADEMIC WORK
There may be different expectations for each assessment in various units of study. It is
your responsibility to check what the expectations and requirements are for each of
them. The lecturer will include them on the Assignment requirement and also put them
on Blackboard.
If you are in doubt, discuss the expectations and requirements of each assignment with
your tutor and/or lecturer. However, there are baseline requirements and expectations
for every academic work submitted. These are:
The academic work must be free of spelling and grammatical error, so it is
important to proof read your work prior to submission
A clear relevance to the tasks and/or requirements set in the assignment
guidelines.
Your work should be correctly formatted and referenced. The library has several
resources that will help you to improve your referencing skills. See:
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/lib/researchhelp/harvard_style.html
The academic work should be your own. Avoid Plagiarism.
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4.4 PLAGIARISM EXPLAINED
Plagiarism is the action or practice of taking and submitting or presenting the thoughts,
writings or other work of someone else as though it is your own work. Plagiarism
includes any of the following, without full and appropriate acknowledgment to the
original source(s):
(a) the use of the whole or part of a computer program written by another
person;
(b) the use, in essays or other assessable work, of the whole or part of a written
work from any source including but not limited to a book, journal, newspaper
article, set of lecture notes, current or past student’s work, any other person’s
work, a website or database;
(c) the paraphrasing of another’s work;
(d) the use of musical composition, audio, visual, graphic and photographic
models;
(e) the use of realia, that is objects, artefacts, costumes, models and the like.
Plagiarism also includes the preparation or production and submission or presentation
of assignments or other work in conjunction with another person or other people when
that work should be your own independent work. This remains plagiarism
whether or not it is with the knowledge or consent of the other person or people. It
should be noted that Swinburne encourages its students to talk to staff, fellow students
and other people who may be able to contribute to a student’s academic work but that
where independent assignment is required, submitted or presented work must be the
student’s own.
Enabling plagiarism contributes to plagiarism and therefore will be treated as a form of
plagiarism by the University. Enabling plagiarism means allowing or otherwise assisting
another student to copy or otherwise plagiarise work by, for example, allowing access to
a draft or completed assignment or other work.
More information:
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ltas/plagiarism/plagiarism_guide.html
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4.5 THE UNIT OUTLINE
Every unit of study is required to have a Unit of Study Outline at the start of the
semester. A copy must be provided on Blackboard and some lecturers also hand out a
paper copy in the first lecture (but this is not mandatory). The document is very
important and contains information about unit pre‐requisites. It is important that you
know your program structure, program planners are available at:
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ict/students/program‐planners/index.html
The unit outline provides a schedule with topics for each week in lectures, tutorials and
labs, as well as the names of the academics who will be teaching you in the unit and
how to contact them.
ASSESSMENT
You are entitled to know how you are going to be assessed during the semester, when
it’s due and how you submit it... Plan ahead.
Each unit has different minimum requirements. Some have minimum scores on tests,
assignments and the exam e.g. 40% on a test or assignment as well as pass the exam.
Your unit guide will also give details about assignment submission and late penalties.
Make sure you read it and refer to it if in doubt.
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5. ELECTRONIC AND OTHER RESOURCES
5.1. MY.SWINBURNE PORTAL
The My.Swinburne system gives you the opportunity to access information from
commonly used Swinburne University applications using a single username and
password. From My.Swinburne you can access information from:
WebMail ‐ Receive and send email
Blackboard iLearn ‐ Access subjects and announcements
Allocate Plus ‐ View subject timetable information
Library ‐ View information on loans, holds, fines, etc.
Ask George ‐ Search FAQs and get information relevant to all current students
View provisional and final exam timetables
View your results at the end of semester.
Online demonstration available: https://sso.swinburne.edu.au/sso/pages/swin_login.jsp
VERY IMPORTANT – Before leaving your computer, it is important that you ALWAYS log
out.
5.2 BLACKBOARD‐ILEARN
Blackboard is a web‐based course management system designed to enable flexible
learning where you could access the relevant materials of all the units you are enrolled
in anytime of the day from home, work or university.
After you have completed enrolment and receive your student ID, you can start using
Blackboard. All units at Swinburne will have a link through Blackboard that you can
access. Make sure you check the Blackboard website frequently each week. This is
where your lecturers will communicate with the class and put up lecture slides.
Your Blackboard username is your student ID number and your initial password will be
your birthdate in ddmmyy format.
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5.3 STUDENT E‐MAIL ‐ WEBMAIL
Swinburne student e‐mail is now provided by Live@edu to give students an improved e‐
mail and calendaring service. To login navigate to http://outlook.com and use the
following login details:
Login: <studentID>@student.swin.edu.au Default Password: Date of birth (DDMMYY) Email Address: <studentID>@student.swin.edu.au
For example if your details are as follows:
Name: Paul Smyth Student Number: 3228781 Date of Birth: 9th August, 1971.
Then your login information is:
Login: 3228781@student.swin.edu.au Default Password: 090871 Your e‐mail address: 3228781@student.swin.edu.au
As a Faculty of ICT student you are expected to check your university mail and
Blackboard sites daily.
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(BLANK FOR YOUR NOTES)
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6. STRATEGIES TO TRY IF YOU START HAVING ANY PROBLEMS
Everyone at some time when learning new materials can hit a snag, or a learning block.
If this happens to you here are some suggested strategies:
Make good use of the tutorial as the place to ask your questions. Tutors really
appreciate students who are involved and communicate. Often your questions
will be the ones other students were too scared to ask or didn’t even think to
ask.
Some lecturers encourage students to ask questions during lectures. Speaking up
in a large group may be difficult, but rather than sit in silence and confusion, give
it a try.
The Blackboard site for the unit, if it has a Discussion Board is also a good place
to look for advice. See if someone else has already asked (and answered) your
questions.
Your lecturer or unit convenor will have consultation hours, often posted on
Blackboard. Go and knock on their door during this time. Keep in mind that in
units with large enrolments (sometimes hundreds of students), the unit
convenor can easily become swamped, that is why the tutorials and Blackboard
Discussion Boards are a great resource to start with.
If you are having problems with your program such as choosing units to do or you feel
that you are not happy with your program of study and so on then you should speak to
your Program Coordinator (see http://www.ict.swin.edu.au/ictstaff)
If you are having non‐academic issues such as financial, emotional, housing then there
are people at Swinburne who specialise in helping in each of these areas. The Faculty of
ICT has a Student Engagement Officer to help you in these matters too.
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7. OTHER RESOURCES
7.1THE LIBRARY
Your Student ID card is your Library card; you need this to borrow from the Library.
Read below about the Library services and facilities available to you.
BORROWING BOOKS & EQUIPMENT
Borrow books and other items at the Service Desk (ground level). You can borrow most
books for 2 weeks; others are available for 7Day, 2Day or 2Hour loan.
Laptops are also available, most are 4Hour loans. MacBooks and selected PC laptops
may be borrowed for 48Hours. Laptops can’t be renewed.
You can renew your loans if they are not overdue, and if no‐one else wants them.
Ensure you return or renew your loans when they are due; there are fines for late items.
ACCESSING ONLINE BOOKS, JOURNALS AND MAGAZINES ON CAMPUS AND FROM HOME
eBooks, online journals, newspapers and magazines are accessible via links on the
Library website. Use your SIMS login and password to link to these from home. Ask at
the Consultation Desk (ground level) if you need help finding online information.
LIBRARY TRAINING WORKSHOPS
During the first weeks of each semester the Library runs workshops for any interested
students, check the Library website for dates and times. You don’t need to book, just
choose a convenient date and time, wait in the Library foyer (ground level), and listen
for the announcement.
We highly recommend that you attend one of the basic introduction sessions.
The Library website contains information on the services, how to use Library databases
and how to find quality information for your assignments, or practice referencing.
Take the time to look at it:
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/lib/researchhelp/trainingclasses.html
PRINTING, PHOTOCOPYING AND SCANNING
Black and white and colour photocopying and printing are available at the Library. Buy a
CopyCard from the vending machine in the Library. A new card costs $2.00 and includes
77cents credit; when the credit is used up, you don’t need to buy another card, simply
recharge it. Check the Library website for printing and copying costs.
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PC LATELAB 24/7
The PC LateLab is open after the main Library is closed. To access the LateLab after
hours, take your Student ID card (Library card) to the Service Desk and ask the staff
there to activate it.
SWINBURNE WIRELESS NETWORK
To connect to Swinburne WiFi, you need to download and install the Swinburne WiFi
software. The software is available for loan at the Library Service Desk (ground level).
7.2 PROGRAMMING HELP DESK LOCATION: ATC620
The Programming Help Desk supports mainly 1st & 2nd year students who have
programming problems such as:
understanding tutorial / lab questions
approaches to design solutions for assignments
debugging of code
Programming Help Desk is useful for a range of students including:
Raw beginners who are stuck on a problem. Do not be embarrassed about how
trivial your problem is.
More competent programmers who need help with a new concept
Programming Help Desk staff has a good mix of experience with a number of different
programming languages.
Hours of operation will be announced as soon as arrangements have been made and
should run from Weeks 3 to 12
7.3 SALNA (SWINBURNE ACADEMIC LITERACY NEEDS ASSESSMENT)
SALNA is a resource developed at Swinburne that allows new undergraduate students to get early feedback on their language skills. The main aim of SALNA is to put students who would benefit from additional language support in touch with relevant services. Information available at: http://www.swinburne.edu.au/spl/salna/ Student participation is voluntary, but encouraged. Students complete the assessment on Blackboard.
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(BLANK FOR YOUR NOTES)
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8. MORE SUPPORT AVAILABLE TO YOU
The Faculty administration office is situated at EN153, on the ground floor of the
Engineering Building. Current students will discover on the web page listed below
numerous resources and opportunities for support, and collaboration with your peers.
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ict/students/index.html
Student Services provides a range of support and services to help students gain as much
as possible from their time at Swinburne. Information can be found at
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/stuserv
Every semester Student Development & Counselling run a series of free workshops and
programs to help you with study and personal concerns. Information is available at
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/stuserv/counselling/group.html
On‐line Academic Success Program Materials are available at
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/stuserv/workshops/form/index.php
8.1 FACULTY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES NETWORK
You have been provided with access to the computer systems in EN305, EN310 and the
labs in the Advanced Technologies Centre (ATC) building on Burwood Road. These PCs
are Intel Core 2 Duo or Core i5 based systems and are connected to a 1000Mbps high
speed network. These computers all run the Windows XP Professional operating
system; however, there may be some labs with computers running Linux (CentOS)
operating system and Apple iMacs.
Once your enrolment has been processed your username will be your 7 digit student id‐
number and your initial password will be your birthdate in the ddmmyy format.
8.2 STUDENT SERVICES GUIDE
ITS Student Services site is at: http://www.its.swin.edu.au/students/
Explore this site, there is quite a lot of information on there for you. If you are using
your own computer or laptop it would be a good idea to add it to your favourite sites.
Ignorance is NEVER an excuse if you are caught in some unauthorised site.
Swinburne's computer network links Hawthorn, Prahran and Lilydale campuses through
combinations of optical fibres and microwave links. This Wide Area Network (WAN)
allows the combined campus resources to be fully utilised. The WAN connects the
thousands of networked computer systems in the Local Area Networks (LANs) at each of
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the campuses. These systems include PCs, Macintoshes, PC‐Servers, mini‐systems, UNIX
desktops, X‐terminals and network devices.
The Swinburne network provides the following services for all students:
The Library Open Access Lab Computer facility for general access
Supervised computer laboratories for timetabled classes
ITS Service Desk (9214 5000 or servicedesk@swin.edu.au)
OPAX account for Swinburne and Internet access
E‐mail access
Library Open Access Computer Facility
The Library Open Access Computer Facility (downstairs as you walk in) is accessible to all
students and is open 24 hours 7 days. For afterhours access please speak to the library
staff at the Library Service Desk to arrange for a late access card. You can get a Late Lab
access card from any Library Service Desk during library opening hours.
Supervised Computer Laboratories
There are a number of computer laboratories at Swinburne which are used during
supervised lab sessions. Students are permitted in AS405, AS407, AS409, BA404, BA405,
BA407, BA411, BA513, BA606/7, BA608, BA611, EN401 and EN402 outside of timetabled
classes as long as there are no other classes running.
Faculty of ICT Computer Laboratories
The Faculty of ICT runs a number of specialised computer laboratories which Faculty of
Information and Communication Technologies students have exclusive access to:
2 General‐purpose on the 3rd floor of the EN Building
ATC Building – General purpose PC labs (ATC009, ATC626, ATC627)
1 Mac (Mac OSX) lab (ATC621)
Access to the ATC labs will be controlled via a swipe card system. Students requiring
access when the laboratory doors are closed will require a registered swipe card.
Students can register a swipe card for entry to these labs by presenting their student
card and their swipe card to the Computer Systems Officers in EN306.
N.B. A swipe card can be almost any card with a magnetic stripe: this includes a
Swinburne Library Photocopy card, Medicare card, Fly Buys card, ATM card, etc.
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Swinburne ITS Help Desk
Swinburne Information Technology Services (ITS) operates a help desk for staff and
students and can be contacted via phone on (03) 9214 5000 or e‐mail at
servicedesk@swin.edu.au
IMPORTANT:
There are rules for use of Swinburne computer facilities and the Internet relating to
illegal use of computers, hacking, loading viruses and improper use of e‐mail. Breach of
some of these rules could lead to criminal convictions or other disciplinary actions.
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8.3 ADVICE FOR WORKING IN GROUPS
SO YOU’VE GOT A GROUP ASSIGNMENT…
Most units have at least one group assignment. You are required to complete the
assignment working in a group, usually of 4 students. Group assignments are set
because in most jobs you will often have to work in groups on various projects. Practice
and experience at Uni in working in small self managed groups can really help.
FORMING GROUPS:
Groups are formed in a variety of ways.
Some Lecturers carefully plan groups beforehand and then advise you which
group you are in and with whom in your first tutorial.
Some Lecturers create groups in the first tutorial, dividing the people who have
attended up in some way.
Some lecturers leave it entirely to the students, saying to form into groups of 4
by the next tutorial, and anyone who hasn’t got a group to advise the Convenor
who will then assign a group.
A motivated group with a wide variety of people, cultures, and ideas will usually come
up with better assignments than a group of friends who in the end are all really pretty
similar.
GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER
Introduce yourselves; get to know a bit about each other. Share contact details.
PLANNING AND MANAGING GROUP MEETINGS
To do effective work study groups need to meet at least once a week. But when and
where? Everyone seems so busy. Remember that everyone else is just as busy as you.
It’s not fair to say, “Well I work full time and therefore you all have to fit in around me”.
Everyone is busy so treat your group members with respect. They’ll help you get a good
mark, but you have to help them too.
Make the most of your group meetings:
Plan ahead; what needs to be discussed?
What preparation should each person do?
How long will it go for? What outcomes must you have from it?
Who is going to lead the discussion?
Who is going to take notes (at least on what was decided and who is going to do
what next, and when and where the next meeting is going to be,
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and what the next meeting is going to be about).
TAKING ON ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE GROUP
Most group assignments have a number of different parts and it can be a good idea to
divide these up amongst the study group. It often really helps to discuss each part as
well, so the person who is going to look after it has a fair idea of what the rest of the
group thinks it is about, how they might go about it, and what sort of standard is
expected. Sometimes one member of the group agrees to edit all the parts, bringing
together each member’s contribution into a smooth final document that hangs together
well and has a professional consistency to it. This can work well, but not if group
members don’t submit their contribution until midnight before the day it is due or if
their contribution requires substantial editing, referencing or any other form of major
work. Editors receiving such contributions are entitled to place them in the document as
received and state clearly, ‘Section X, is as received from student y shortly before
submission was due”. The marker will probably allocate marks accordingly.
MANAGING DIFFICULT GROUP MEMBERS
“They don’t reply to emails, they don’t answer phone calls or messages, they don’t
come to meetings” is unfortunately not an uncommon complaint from a group with an
often absent member. If you have a group member like this, keep careful records of
emails and messages sent, calls made, and non‐attended meetings, work requested and
not done. Inform your Lecturer as soon as you start to get worried, with your records of
involvement.
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