New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you
to succeed
November 2016

Welcome to the University of Roehampton,

London Online
The University of Roehampton, London Online gives you the
opportunity to fit your masters studies around your life. It can be a
valuable and empowering experience, and well help you make the
most of it, starting from the moment you apply.
As a new student, you have access to a range of resources designed
to answer your questions and help you get ready to study. We want
you to feel comfortable in your online classroom so you can focus on
learning right away.
This guidebook introduces our interactive webinars, online videos and
planning tools for new students, and tells you what you need to do to
get off to a good start.
Prof. Clare Pickles
Vice President Academic Affairs

New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you to succeed

A bit of preparation now will save you time and effort later, and will
give you a better chance of succeeding in your first module and
beyond.

Table of contents
Preparation planner and checklist

Essential tasks

A suggested path

Webinars

Introducing Inspirenet 9
Centre for Student Success

10

What to expect in your first module 11

New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you to succeed

Technology check

12

Planning your study week

13

Need help?
Go to http://success.roehampton-online.com. Youll find
answers to frequently asked questions, and forms you can use
to contact us with specific queries.
If you cannot get online, you can contact us by phone Monday
to Friday between 9am and 6pm Central European Time (CET)
General student support
+31 (0)20 719 2555 (extension 2)
Financial services support
+31 (0)20 719 2555 (extension 4)
The initial support from the student
support team is very high quality. It
helped me understand the procedures,
how to use the classroom and how to
interact with different students. The
further support during each course is
also highly appreciated.
The support students receive
is immense.
Parthiban Devanathan
Master of Business Administration (MBA) student

Welcome to the first step on your

exciting journey to complete
your masters degree.
From this first step until your graduation,
student support will be here to help you
navigate your modules and programme
and help you reach your goals. If you
have any questions or concerns, you can
contact us and speak with one of our
experienced student support specialists.
We wish you all the best
in your studies!
Anupama Menon
Student support specialist

New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you to succeed

Technical support is available 24/7

+31 (0)20 719 2555 (extension 3)

Student support
Your enrolment advisor will help you with all aspects of
applying to study at Roehampton Online, and will check that
you are OK as you get started in your first module. After that,
your point of contact with the University will be a student
support specialist.
A student support specialist will call you or send you an email
to say hello soon after you enrol. Theyll be able to help you if
you have any difficulties academic or personal throughout
your studies.

Preparation checklist
Before your programme begins
1

COMPLETE PREPARATION TASKS

Create your profile in Inspirenet, the student portal

Check you can access your student email account
Check you can access your student financial portal
through Inspirenet
Review new student section of Centre for Student
Success website

ATTEND WEBINARS

A guide to studying online

Understanding your tuition fees
Skills for academic success

ACCESS YOUR MODULE 1 CLASS VIA INSPIRENET

ATTEND THE WELCOME TO ROEHAMPTON ONLINE WEBINAR

In the first two weeks of your programme (unit 1)

1
2
3
4
5
6

Watch classroom videos, complete reading

Attend a live session with the Academic Services team
Complete Unit 1 Test Your Knowledge Quiz
Make an initial post in the Shared Activity forum
Continue discussion in Shared Activity forum
Submit your Individual Assignment to Turnitin

New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you to succeed

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

27 Nov.

28 Nov.

29 Nov.

30 Nov.

1 Dec.

2 Dec.

3 Dec.

9 Dec.

10 Dec.

4pm GMT
Webinar
A guide to studying
online

4pm GMT
Webinar
Understanding your
tuition fees

Complete preparation tasks

4 Dec.

5 Dec.

6 Dec.

7 Dec.

MODULE 1 STARTS

4pm GMT
Webinar
Skills for academic
success

4pm GMT
Webinar
Welcome to
Roehampton Online

Complete preparation tasks

11 Dec.

18 Dec.

12 Dec.

19 Dec.

13 Dec.

20 Dec.

8 Dec.

14 Dec.

15 Dec.

Make a post in the

Shared Activity forum

Complete Unit 1 quiz

21 Dec.

22 Dec.

Submit Individual
Assignment to
Turnitin

UNIT 2 STARTS

Watch Unit 1 videos. Complete required readings. Participate in Shared Activity forum.

Watch Unit 1 videos

16 Dec.

17 Dec.

23 Dec.

24 Dec.

Complete required activities for Unit 2

Essential tasks

01

Planning

To succeed as an online student,

you need to get used to planning
ahead! Download your syllabus
as soon as you log into your
online classroom and note
important dates in your calendar.
Use the preparation planner on
page 5 to keep track of what you
need to do for the next
few weeks.

New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you to succeed

02

Tech check

Check out the tech tips on

page 12 to make sure your
computer and other devices are
set up for online study. Make
sure you can log in to Inspirenet
(our study portal) and your study
email. Contact student support
if you have any issues or concerns.

03

Preparation
webinars

Attend or watch recordings

of our preparation webinars.
They are a fun and easy way
to find out what you need
to know as a new student,
including classroom requirements
and structure, tips on time
management and technical
information. Well show you a
classroom demo, and answer
your questions live.

04

Support

Bookmark the Centre for Student

Success website. Its where youll
find a wealth of information
and links to specialist support
resources.

Your New Student Preparation Programme - A suggested path

Download the Preparation

Planner here and take note
of the most important dates

Access your class

via Inspirenet
and download your syllabus

If an e-book is required
for your module,
download required software

New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you to succeed

Access Inspirenet, your

student portal, and create
your profile

Attend webinar:
Welcome to Roehampton Online
for advice from faculty members and
current students

Agree to your Academic

Integrity Declaration

Check you can access your

student email account via
Inspirenet

Review New Student section

of Centre for Student Success
website

Attend webinar:
Skills for academic success
for answers to your questions about time
management and academic skills

Start on Unit 1 tasks

and plan for the rest
of the module

Make an initial post

in the Shared Activity forum
by day 7

Attend webinar:
A guide to studying online
to find out about the programme
structure and technology
requirements

Attend webinar:
Understanding your tuition fees
to learn more about payment plans and
options

Complete all required activities

for Unit 1 by day 14

Look out for

links to the live
webinars
in your inbox.

Webinars
Get a good understanding of different aspects of online study by
attending these optional webinars for new students.
Add them to your Google calendar so you dont miss them! Youll find
the times and dates of the webinars in the Preparation Planner on p. 5.
Recordings are available on our website, but youll get the best
experience by attending live so you can ask your own questions and
receive immediate answers.

What students say about our

preparation webinars:
The webinars were fantastic.
Great help in preparing for my first course.
It was interesting to hear from the faculty member
and the current student.
Overall experience was great and really helpful
to settle little anxieties.

List of webinars
A guide to studying online
Understanding the course structure and technology requirements
Skills for academic success
A guide to time management and academic writing
Understanding your tuition fees
Learn about your payment plans and options
Welcome to Roehampton Online
Meet our faculty and students as they welcome you to the Roehampton
Online Community

New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you to succeed

Introducing Inspirenet
The Roehampton Online student portal, Inspirenet, is a bit like
a virtual university campus.
From Inspirenet youll be able to:
get in touch with other students
access your classroom
log in to your student email
keep track of your payments through your financial portal
At the heart of Inspirenet is the Roehampton Online student
community where you can interact informally with other students,
like you would over a coffee in a real-life student cafeteria.
You can ask a question, start a discussion, or comment on someone
elses post, and there are programme and country-specific groups you
can join to connect with people with similar interests.
As a new student, you can access the student community to ask
existing students for tips and advice most people are happy to share
their experiences.
I hope to meet you soon on Inspirenet!
Cristina Salzillo
Community Manager

New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you to succeed

Centre for Student Success

At the Centre for Student Success website youll find information, tools and advice for every stage
of your journey to graduation.

New Students Section

Skill Units

Go here for detailed information about what you

need to do to get ready to study online with us.
Youll find links to all the resources you need.

Skill Units are short, non-credit-bearing courses

that can supplement your academic programme.
Examples include maths and statistics for research,
critical thinking, and library skills for research.

Quick Answers
The Writing Centre is an incredibly valuable
resource for you whilst you are studying with us,
as my team provide personalised feedback on
written work and also offer advice and tips for
improvement.
The Writing Centre is available from start to
finish during your programme, and we look
forward to working with you.
Hayley Hughes
Academic Skills Team

New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you to succeed

Try this handy search function to find the

information you need quickly and easily. Simply
enter a search term or a question in the box
provided.

ASK Video Series

The Academic Skills and Knowledge (ASK) series is
a collection of short videos to help you with time
management, referencing, evaluating secondary
sources, reading effectively and more. You can
watch the videos at any time.

Grammarly
Grammarly is an automated tool that checks your
writing for grammatical accuracy and makes
suggestions to help you improve your work.
Find out how to access the service on the Centre
for Student Success.

Writing Centre
If you need help with your academic writing,
the Writing Centre is the place to go. Youll be able
to submit your written work to a specialist writing
tutor who will make suggestions for how to improve
the grammar, referencing, and overall structure.
They wont rewrite your assignment, or comment
on the content of your work, but they will give you
advice to help you improve as a writer.
10

What to expect in your first module

1. The online classroom

A sample module

Types of assignments:

Individual Assignment
Does not count towards your module grade
Your tutor will give you feedback

Shared Activity
Contributes to your overall module grade
Students learn together in online discussions
Students share perspectives and experiences

Final Project
Contributes to your overall module grade
Can be an essay, project or project plan
Builds on Individual Assignments

Your masters is made up of seven 10-week modules and a dissertation. Each module is
structured differently see your syllabus for details of the requirements and assessment
criteria.

Unit 1 (weeks 1 & 2)

Shared Activity (5% of module grade)

3. Academic support

Unit 2 (weeks 3 & 4)

Shared Activity (5% of module grade)

Unit 3 (weeks 5 & 6)

Final Project first part (30% of module grade)

Unit 4 (weeks 7 & 8)

Shared Activity (10% of module grade)

Unit 5 (weeks 9 & 10)

Final Project second part (50% of module grade)

Your learning will take place in an online classroom that you can access through
Inspirenet. Get familiar with your online classroom by watching this video.
Your tutor will be happy to help you if you have trouble using the classroom. You can also
ask other classmates for help, or post a question to other students on Inspirenet.

2. Tasks and assignments

Youll be busy with your masters from day one your first task is due at the end of Week 1.
Make sure you actively participate in the classroom straight away, or youll risk being
removed from the class.

An instructor will introduce the curriculum content in the online classroom and help you
develop your understanding of subject-specific knowledge.
Specialist writing tutors can support you with more general academic assistance.
Youll be invited to join them in live online presentations and drop-in sessions for
information and advice as you write your first assignments for your masters.

New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you to succeed

11

Technology check

What devices are best

for online study?

In order to study online you need to have the following:

Desktop or laptop computer

Reliable DSL/Broadband internet connection

For reading and checking the

discussion board:

If your computer runs either a Microsoft Windows or an Apple OS X

operating system and is less than five years old, it will normally be
fast enough and have sufficient memory to use our online learning
platform.

We recommend that you have an internet connection at home.

It is best if you do not have to rely on internet access at work
or in internet cafes.

Computer / Laptop
Tablet / iPad
Smartphone

The minimum hardware requirements are:

Processor - Intel 1Ghz +
RAM (Random Access Memory) - 512Mb +
HDD (Hard disk drive)-5 Gb +

Required software
You will need the ability and permissions to install and update
software (Admin Access) on any computer you intend to use for your
studies in case that the software on the computer needs updating, or
you need to install software to complete assignments.
You should have software to:
read and save Microsoft Office format documents
read Adobe Acrobat documents (PDFs)
Recommended web browsers:
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox

New Student Preparation Guidebook

Empowering you to succeed

Upload speed is crucial for submitting work successfully.There are

various websites where you can test the quality of your connection,
such as www.speedtest.net

Personal email address

This should ideally be a WebMail service (like Gmail or Yahoo!) rather
than a work email address, as you may be unable to access your work
email when you are outside of the office. We will use this email address
to contact you in case you do not respond to emails sent to the
student email address (@online.roehampton.ac.uk) that we will create
for you. You can access your student email through Inspirenet.
Youll findmore information about technical requirements on the
Centre for Student Success website.

For submitting assigments

Computer / Laptop
For posting replies to the
discussion board
Computer / Laptop

Download the mobile

app!
Access required reading
materials and get
notifications about classroom
announcements on your phone
with Blackboard Mobile Learn
for Android and iOS, free to
download from Google Play or
the App Store.

12

Planning your study week

Heres an example of how you could fit your studies into your life each week. This is just a guide as different modules will have different
requirements. Its based on someone who studies 20 hours per week, spread out over seven days.
Dont forget:
The academic week begins on a Thursday (Day 1) and ends the following Wednesday (Day 7)
Each module lasts 10 weeks and consists of five 2-week units
Your final module grade is based on Final Project and your contributions to Shared Activities
Your Final Project for each module will be due on the last day of the module

Week

Day

Action

Tips

Wednesday

Look at the workload for the coming unit, and read through the
Shared Activity Question wording to understand what the instructor is
expecting from you for the two weeks.

Tips on Time Management

Week 1

Download and print all the required reading material Classroom

Navigator > select unit > Readings

Thursday

If you can, try to start with the reading material and compose a first
draft of your Shared Activity response ideas, external material you find
interesting.

Tips on how to read more

effectively

Keep a notepad and a pen close to you when reading so you can make
note of interesting ideas and where you found them so you can easily
find the information for Harvard-style & APA references.

Friday

Continue researching those external resources needed to support your

argument.

Tips on how to conduct research

If you havent already, start posting your responses

to Shared Activities.

Saturday

Continue participating in the Shared Activity Forum.

Sunday

Continue participating in the Shared Activity Forum.

Find more Academic Resources

Start looking at the Individual Assignment that should

be submitted by the end of the unit.

Tips on Academic Writing

Monday or
Tuesday

Continue participating in the Shared Activity Forum.

Thursday - Tuesday

Continue researching those external resources needed to support your

argument.

Tips on Harvard-style & APA

Citing and Referencing

Continue participating in Shared Activities.

Harvard-style & APA

Ensure you hand in your assignment which is due on this day

by midnight your local time.

Tips on Using the Writing Centre

Keep a notepad and a pen close to you when reading so you can make
note of interesting ideas and where you found them so you can easily
find the information for Harvard- style references.

Week 2

Final day of Unit

Wednesday

* Please note all of the above should take around 20 hours a week. You are also not expected to take part in class every day, so you can combine some activities.

Your weekly schedule

Heres a blank schedule you can use to plan your
studies. Make sure you note down assignment due
dates, travel plans and important appointments
you cannot miss.

Consider:
Usual sleeping pattern, work hours, commuting
time, family/social commitment, travel plans

Typical Study Schedule:

Class material reading, videos, extra research,
Shared Activity submission (due day 7), continued
discussion (due day 10)

Module name:

Week number:
Day 1
Thu

Date
00:00
01:00
02:00
03:00
04:00
05:00
06:00
07:00
08:00
09:00
10:00
11:00
12:00
13:00
14:00
15:00
16:00
17:00
18:00
19:00
20:00
21:00
22:00
23:00
Study tasks

Commitments

Travel

Day 2
Fri

Day 3
Sat

Day 4
Sun

Day 5
Mon

Day 6
Tue

Day 7
Wed