General advice for first years (from a second year).

paul9mm

Hi to all new AIT students.

-I'm about to start year 2 of Computer Network Management this week (Sept. 03), first years start a week later.
I have just finished my PASS (Peer Assisted Student Support) training specifically, as we did not have last year and had to do a lot of digging to find answers to obvious questions.
It seems that each class will have their own PASS leader, our goal is to help fellow students from first year get up to speed academically.

EDIT: To be clear about PASS leader, during your induction when you are being led around campus or giving a friendly pep talk by a tutor, ask about if your class has a PASS leader assigned. At the moment, it looks like the week after you start is when the PASS program kicks in. A lot of the questions you will have on day one may be answered in a lot more depth by the PASS leader.

In the hope that this may help anyone about to start AIT and wondering what happens and why, here are some tips.
Please note, some of the specifics here may not refer to your course, if I can time permitting, I can find out answers to any questions you post and post a reply.

-Induction:
spread usually over 2 days, you will get a chance to meet your class, talk with a tutor and be given a guided tour of the campus.
It's not intense, more a "Hi! Welcome to third level" talk.
What should happen is that you will be given a brief run down on where your classes will be (rooms numbers, directions and timetables). You will also be able to register (basically, go to the large Count John McCormack hall -aka "MPH", queue up in your allocated line, present your registration documents, sign an acceptance form and have your photo taken for the laminated ID card. Never lose this card, for exams, you need to be able to present this as proof of your ID.
NB: On the card, as on your registration documents is your College ID, something like a00201234 -remember this, as you will use this to logon to computers, get exam results and pretty much all interactions with College.
You will then be directed to the communal computer room (beside the glass fronted mature student's office) Here one of the volunteers will help you sign in for the first time.
NB: your username is your ID: a0021234, your default password until you change is your birthday. The problem is that the first time you tell someone your birthday, you have also broadcast your password. Not a huge problem now as your account is empty of data, but make a point to change when you can via Moodal (College's internal version of Boards.ie)

-Timetables:
Get used to insane changes to the timetables for the first two weeks. Seriously, if you have an android or iphone, get the AIT timetable app and check it almost hourly for the first week. This is the also time that if you have a class that could be moved, ask very nicely to your tutor if possible?
(Android) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ie.ait.app

-Gaps in your timetable.
Why are there huge gaps (2+ hours) between classes? It's a mix of tutors being spread thin, different module requirements (lab. use) and who knows what else! For year 1, expect 23-25 hours of classes. Try when possible to attend all, as the main problem some students have is losing momentum by hanging out and not using the time to study.

-Exams.
Relax! As a first year, a lot of the courses are structured to have only May finals exams. The reality is you will have some assignments for pretty much all modules/subjects during both semesters (semester 1 is Sept. to Dec., semester 2 is Jan to April.) and main exams then in May. The goal is to ease the students into College by a small amount of work spread out during semesters, rather than a massive, make-or-break exam in May.

NB: and this is a big one. Be 100% certain about your modules/subjects CA and scores.

Translation: CA = continuous assessment. For Maths, of the possible 100% possible, 30% is for CAs. So, do well in your CAs before the May exams and you are looking at just getting an extra 10% to pass! Bring realistic however, getting the full 30% for CAs is almost impossible, but even with 15% (50% of averaged CAs score) , all you need to pass (40%) is another 25%. Some of the CAs will be lab. based (ex: set up this experiment, write it up and explain to your tutor how you did this), so ask in advance how they are grading their CAs and what you need to get max. marks.

-Class Rep.
Usually by the end of the first month, someone from Student Union will call to your class and ask if anyone is interested in becoming a class rep. Your class does not have to wait, you can easily ask if anyone wants to volunteer, have a private discussion among yourselves and . The point of the rep. is to allow the class to deal directly with tutors/college quickly and efficiently on the classes behalf. This may sound obvious but some classes last year would/could not elect a rep. The result was for any class timetable changes, problems or dealings with other classes, they lost out.

-Useful addresses:
Main College site:
http://www.ait.ie/

The College timetables
http://timetable.ait.ie/students.htm

AIT's Moodal page:
https://elearning.ait.ie/login/index.php

Bus schedules:
http://getthere.ie/

-BTW, small tip for anyone using Citilink, they have 10-journey student-only which some students were not aware of. On a five day, 10 journey schedule, savings of about Euro15/week.
http://www.citylink.ie/index.php/savings/10-journey-commuter-tickets

-Other things:
Get a USB thumb drive asap. All of the College PC's you'll use have USB slots, great for backing up in-class work and allows you to store ebooks to use in labs. NB: label your USB with your name and contact phone number (I simply renamed the USB under file explorer. Instead of: SANDISK, it reads: PAUL, 087_1234567)
You'll find within days of College starting, people frantically emailing student union asking if anyone found a USB on campus with their entire final year thesis. Avoid this by simply renaming your USB with some easy to read details.

-Printers:
Pretty much each floor will have two full-scale mono printers, colour printers are usually on ground floors. B&W pages are .5c/page, colour .10c/page. However, print a double-sided colour print and it still costs .10c/page.

Will post more as I think of any tips.
Paul

rosepetal_irl

Thanks for the tips.

As a mature student new to all this, it helps to know what to expect the first couple of days. Do you know if I would be missing alot from lectures in the first 2 weeks (realise its a different course and all but in general) I have a wedding abroad (only found out last month that they've paid for tickets for me) and then the shock of getting my place on the course.

I don't want to ruin my chances by having bad attendance the first two weeks. The good thing is I can register and hopefully meet some lecturers and find out what work I could be missing. Then play extreme catch up!!

You don't have any tips on the best place to park do you?

I'm doing Spa & Wellness Management...the nerves are starting to kick in already

wesf

Just to add about parking, you need a permit from Oct 1st onwards, they can be purchased from here https://www.apcoaonline.com/payments/beginpermitpayment.html and make sure to choose student.

Do NOT park in a silly spot when the clamper appears from Oct 1st because you will get done, don't park on a curb, don't park on a yellow box, basically if you're not in a parking spot you will be done.
Also park in the student designated areas.

rosepetal_irl

Just got my registration pack. I didn't think I needed a photo but apparently a photo needs to be attached to the form..ah well...more money....:-D

wesf

thats for your student card

paul9mm

Hi, sorry for delay in replying.
Re Parking, I deliberately do not drive to or park at AIT, mainly because all that we seemed to hear last year was just how bad parking was, how strict the clampers are and having to be here at least an hour before classes start to get a spot. Sorry I can't be more helpful but what another post said about don't park on silly spots, last March, the clampers seemed to have gone nuts and clamped at least 50-60 cars that were parked on hard shoulders and double-yellow lines.

paul9mm

Re Student card, a digital photo is taken of you during the registration morning which is then printed directly onto the card (so no cost). In case you are interested, as this is the ID you will have for the next year, smile and make sure your hair is neat!
For the College form, yes, you need to submit a photo for their files. Regular chemist photo/photo booth is fine (was for me.)

paul9mm

Re missing few days, I honestly don't know as each course is different. My advice is as soon as you can, talk to your tutors and ask exactly what you will be missing. get as much done is advance and you'll find the trip back less stressful.

rosepetal_irl

I found a passport photo i had left over from July, I look like someone from a Wanted poster, wouldn't want that on my ID card:D if its just for the college, then ok. Don't want to go get new ones unless I have to.

thanks for the inside tips!

paul9mm

Quick heads up re parking.
The wave of first years starts next week during induction and their have already been a few complaints about parking and lack of spaces! What I saw today is that the car park behind the engineering block had a row of cars with warning stickers on their side windows from Apoca (clamping company). The cars, about 15 in total, were parked within the car park but against it's hard shoulders. No "no parking" signs were visible and no double lines were on the ground.
It looks like the clampers (€80 fine) are marking their property and letting people know that the parking is going to be even more tightly monitored than last year.
Bewarned.

wesf

paul9mm wrote: »

Quick heads up re parking.
The wave of first years starts next week during induction and their have already been a few complaints about parking and lack of spaces! What I saw today is that the car park behind the engineering block had a row of cars with warning stickers on their side windows from Apoca (clamping company). The cars, about 15 in total, were parked within the car park but against it's hard shoulders. No "no parking" signs were visible and no double lines were on the ground.
It looks like the clampers (€80 fine) are marking their property and letting people know that the parking is going to be even more tightly monitored than last year.
Bewarned.

Parking is an absolute joke in there. What genius thought to block the area beside scribes and not provide more elsewhere. Next week will not be fun.

paul9mm

Another point re ID Cards and photo.
Just got my new year 2 ID card. The photo used is the >same< used for year one and the same card will now be valid for 2 years (the expiry date for my news card is Oct. 2015).
Translation: got my ID card in about 30 seconds (already pre-printed) but, will now have the same photo on it taken on the first day of College! If you are image conscious, ask if after they take digital photo but before they hit print, if you can check and approve the photo first.

wesf

My card is good until November 2016!

veryangryman

wesf wrote: »

Parking is an absolute joke in there. What genius thought to block the area beside scribes and not provide more elsewhere. Next week will not be fun.

Supply and demand. Park at willow londis smyths or even the east campus. Some of their spaces are closer than many of the on campus ones.

If your worried about clamping there then just move the car between spots every few hours.

Uberbeamerman

Just be wary of parking in private car parks, I know the likes of Charlie Browns and Croi Oige have their own clamping...

vinamax

Officially speaking, clamping is not meant to begin until October. Last Wednesday I saw two cars side by side at the P&D car park with clamps... Keep an eye out, folks!

But honestly, if you live in Willow, Cypress Gardens, Glenn Abhainn, etc. you REALLY don't need to drive to college unless you're lugging heavy gear around. If you live in town, Flagline busses start at 8.30am from the bus stop at Golden Island and are roughly 10-15 minutes apart, €1 each way (but packed with Ericssons employees until about 9.30am).