Your first task is to make sure you understand how everything on the the course works. Read through the following, and if something is unclear, ask on the first lecture!


This course uses several different teaching and learning methods, and at first glance it may seem confusing. There is a clear structure, however, that keeps repeating over the whole course. Here are the main principles:

  1. Each week is their own "unit".
  2. Most of the learning happens outside the lectures.
  3. There is no exam, but learning is assessed continuously throughout the course.

Put together, this is arranged as follows:AVotW week cycle.

  • Every week has a specific theme and related learning outcomes that we expect the students to achieve. The themes are listed in the Course timeline.
  • Each lecture has preliminary work that is specific to that week. This usually involves reading online material, watching videos, using online software, or thinking about a specific topic, before coming to the lecture.
  • Lectures on Tuesdays deal with selected topics and learning outcomes, and often involve discussions and other activities that benefit from hearing other people's perspectives. Often these activities are related to or directly based on the preliminary work.
  • All weeks also have assignments to be done after the lecture. Think of this as traditional homework. The assignments often require more studying at home, and they are graded by course assistant. The assignments need to be completed before the next lecture. Their grading begins right after the deadline; if you miss the deadline, you may still return the assignment and get points, but only at the end of the course.
  • The students also write their learning diary throughout the course. Updating your learning diary should be part of your weekly coursework, although it is submitted for grading only four times (more details below).
On the MyCourses page there will be a separate sub-page for every lecture week. This page contains the learning outcomes of the week, the preliminary tasks as well as the assignments (published after the lecture). Also the lecture slides will be uploaded here after the lecture. The pages will be published typically one week before the lecture; in other words, you should only see the next week's lecture page, in addition to all past lectures.

Workload graph
Learning diaries

Read, with thought, the section Learning Diaries about the use and grading of learning diaries on this course. Remember, that your learning diary entries strongly affect your grade (learning diaries and peer assessment make 50 % of the final grade), so it is very important that you understand how they are written and assessed.

On the first lecture we will discuss how learning diaries are used on this course, and start using reflective writing right away, and we will assume everyone has read the instructions as we are not spending too much time going over the basic information given on the website.


Viimeksi muutettu: keskiviikkona 3. tammikuuta 2024, 11.35