Learning Diary Essay

All students from IBS, IT and tourism sat together in the conference room. We were introduced to many friendly tutors and teachers. I was very interested in the speech of Mr Juola- Head of the Rantaviitikka campus. We were also introduced a very useful book called study guide. After finished the class, I decided to created my own library card with my friend’s help. * 4th September 2012: The first look about IBS programme. At 10. 00 am, IBS coordinator-Mrs Anzelika Krastina introduced to IBS12 group of 40 international students. I was satisfied with this introduction because I knew about: study methods, course contents and project work and practical training issues. After lunch, we were introduced to IT & ICT course by Mrs Tuijja Kuisma. We also met IBS11 and IBS10 groups. I had many useful advices from Mrs Tuijja Kuisma. * 5th September 2012: Planning International evening project. From 8. 30-10. 00, we got together with friends from IT and Tourism. They makes me feel like there are no distance between different degree programmes. After that, we continued to discuss about the International evening project. Because we have 40 international students from about 8 different countries so our coordinator decided to divide the class into 4 groups. As a result, we will 4 performances from IBS12 group. After lunch, we came to room c117 to learn about education principles and policies. We were also presented a new study method called: problems based learning. this was a completely new experience for me and I was really excited to start with this study method. * 6th September 2012: A memorable day. We started later than the other days. At 11. 30 am, we gathered at Borealis auditorium to listen to Ms Ritva Ala-Louko, Head of language center talk about the topic called â€Å" Adapting to a new culture †. all the information given was very worthwhile for me because I knew how to adapt to new life, new culture without the help of family. At 13. 00 pm, the new students walked together to the University of Lapland for the information session â€Å"Getting to know Rovaniemi†. The session began with a video about Rovaniemi. It was so funny because I had seen this video when I searched information about Rovaniemi. After that, the presentation was about Finnish Law and Regulations; Permits and Licenses for Foreigners; Rovaniemi Congregation; sport services at RAMK and ULapland. The information provided me a general look about Rovaniemi. * 7th September 2012: Opening ceremony. That day, I got up early to prepare for the opening ceremony. Exactly, all first-year student officially entered the school gates and we were welcome by Mr Martti Lampela-the principal of Rovaniemi University of Applied Sciences. We listened his speech and also received some cute gifts from Ramk’s tutors. When the speech finished, the new academic year officially began. After lunch, the student tutors leaded students to the river bank by Pohjanhovi, the venue of traditional Rovaniemi UAS vs University of Lapland rowing test. Although, the RAMK’s team won easily but we had happy moments together. The day culminated in a party at night club Doris. Unfortunately, I was under 18 years old at that time so I could not participate in the party. * 10th september 2012: the first day of academic year 2012-2013. The first class was introduction to IT. Mrs Tuija Kuisma taught us to use the basic computer system in school and some useful tools like: optima, win-hawille as well. I had to keep them in mind because they would related to my future study. After lunch, i continued with †Cross-cultural Man† class. I was confused because Krastina’s voice was quite small. Unfortunately, i sat at the back of class. but i could understand the main point of the lesson. Mrs Krastina also so gave us the information about the Problem Based Learning method. At the end of the day, we did not have to have an English test because it was cancelled. * 11th september 2012: The orientation course and Cross-cultural Man class. The orientation course was about information literacy. We learned to use the e-library to search books, information, ect. We were given a form to fill in to create a library card but i already had this card. The important of the class was to provide students with the knowledge of e-library. After lunch, we studied about teamwork and PBL method in Cross-cultural Man class. in my group, we had to solve a real problem in teamwork. After discusing, we came up with the best solution and we had to write an essay about the importance of teamwork in school for the learning task. In my country, i did not have enough opportunities to work in a team so when i worked in a group i was not confident. I will improve myself in the near future. * 12th september 2012: Knowledge about reference and academic writing. Mrs Johanna made me feel very comfortable because of her enthusiam. She was always ready to help students to finish the reference. In the future, i will write many essays so i have to remind myself to study hard all the time. Pham Xuan Tung.