Introduction
Welcome to the second lesson of the Introduction course. Hopefully you’ve had a nice start, and started to familiarise yourself with your learning environment. Remember, if you have questions to use Discord or the forums and we will be there to help. Be sure to go through everything in the lesson, and then complete the lesson assignment at the end.
Moodle
Moodle is our web-based portal for learning. Here you’ll find all the information and resources you need as a student. It will serve as your digital classroom. Below is a basic overview of what you will find on Moodle.
Forum
In our digital classroom, an important area for learning is the forums. You’ll find dedicated forums for each subject in the digital classroom.
Our forums are basically like a regular classroom filled with students and teachers, with a few minor differences (except the obvious physical ones!).
When you have a question in a regular classroom, you’ll first get the teachers attention by reaching your hand in the air, and then ask your question. If you have a question in our digital classroom, you’ll first do a search (both internal on the forums, and if relevant - also Google/Yahoo!/Bing), and then ask your question in the appropriate forum.
Unlike in a regular classroom where both the question and answer will disappear in thin air as soon as they are given, your questions with all their answers will be saved for you and your fellow students to review at a later stage. Also, the forums are always open to students, so you can ask questions at any time. Fellow students might be able to answer you even at night (if you are lucky), however tutors follow their normal contact hours listed previously in lesson 1.
The forum is to be used for all academic and study related contact. E-mail can be used if:
• You encounter a problem that hinders you in continuing the course or the delivery of an assignment/project (sickness, etc.)
• You feel like the course is not at the level you would expect.
• You lack the motivation to plan your days.
• You have questions of a sensitive matter, or not appropriate for our dedicated forums.
• New modules and lessons (Access to new modules and lessons will normally be available every Monday before 10:00. You can check your progression plan to get more information on which week you are supposed to gain access to a certain module.)
Teams
The front-end development programme uses Teams as a way for students to chat between students, but also to message tutors for assistance. It’s a really useful tool to get quick feedback and direction.
Classes that are active on Teams tend to produce the best results, and staying active and chatting with fellow students and asking tutors for help is an important part of your studies.
Delivery
When you gain access to a new subject you will receive access to the course assignment.
Refer to your progression plan for the deadlines. Normally, all assignments and projects are to be delivered before Sundays at 23:59, unless stated otherwise.
Reflective journal
We recommend that students create their own reflective journal which they maintain throughout the course. It is important to be aware that the reflective journal is not for the tutors, but for you as a student and learner.
What is it (and not?)
A reflective journal is not just a log where you list or summarise what you’ve done or gone through. In a reflective journal, you should focus more on your reactions, thoughts and feelings and reflect upon your work. Don’t only include your success, but be sure to reflect upon your failures and mistakes too. What have you actually learned?
What should it include?
• Points that you found especially interesting in your reading, and would like to follow up in more detail.
• Questions that came up in your mind, because of points made in material you read on this topic.
• Notes from other material you read as a result of the course - whether this was publications cited, or relevant material that you happened to read (such as newspaper articles).
• A record of everything you read in this subject area, while you’re doing the course, with a sentence or two on the main points an article was making and how useful you found it.
• Your reflections on this course, and how well it is meeting your needs.
• How your learning in this course is related to what you’re learning in other ways.
• Thoughts that aren’t yet fully formed, but that you want to refine later. This could include your feelings about the course and your progress in it, and theories that are developing in your mind.
Each time you submit your reflective journal, think back over everything you’ve done since the last time. Which sources did you learn most from? Which did you learn least from, and why was that? (Did you know the material already?) Write a paragraph or two about the sources of your new learning.
Maintain it
Maintain your journal. Get used to writing every day, for instance after you’ve completed the lesson assignments. Reflect both on the lessons you’ve read, the videos you’ve watched, and the assignments you’ve done. Whenever you come across something interesting and relevant to your current module - or the course as a whole - get it in your journal.
What tools to use?
We recommend that you use one of the many free blogging tools out there, for instance Wordpress, or a similar CMS.
LinkedIn Learning
All students get free access to the entire training library at LinkedIn Learning featuring Lynda videos. From time to time, we will refer to videos that you must watch from this library.
You can only access LinkedIn Learning via student.noroff.no. Before watching a video please ensure you are logged into student.noroff.no, and click the “LinkedIn Learning” box.
Progression plans
You’ll always find an updated progression plan on the main page of this introduction course.
There is one progression plan for full-time students and one for part-time students. Be sure to read the correct one. This will give you an overview of your current lessons, module assignments, course assignments and projects dates. The modules are divided up in weeks so you can easily know how much time you should spend on each of them.
Note that all the full-time groups will be listed in the same full-time progression plan (and similar for part-time). You can find your class on the tab at the bottom of the spreadsheets, and the dates are listed below your group-name.
Please note that the progression plan dates might change slightly, especially for dates that are more than 6 months from the published version. Published dates are always included in the progression plan name. Keep an eye on Discord and the Announcements board on Moodle for any changes in the progression plan.
Lesson task
Extracting from progression plan
• Download your progression plan, and open it.
• Find the deadlines for all Course Assignments and Projects.
• Make a note of the deadlines. If you use a calendar such as Google Calendar or the Exchange Calendar, we recommend that you add all the deadlines there.