But of course we still welcome new first semester students at the HWR Berlin. In order to make it easier for the new students to start their studies, the student assistants of the e-learning department have been working hard on a new Moodle course: the introductory course for first-year students.

Introductory course for first-year students

In addition to the classic introduction given by the University, we wanted to create a course that would (hopefully) answer any questions that arise as a first-time student. Besides a short introduction to the hybrid semester and the blended classroom, we will also introduce you to the different campus management systems of the different  departments, how and where students are gonna get their campus card, what “OpenXchange” is and many other relevant topics and problems.

With the help of videos and explanations we will try to make your everyday life as easy as possible. In addition to all this information, we have also set up a forum for students where you can ask your questions about the online semester or studying in general. There is the possibility that students can answer questions among themselves, but otherwise the student assistants of the ELZ will be happy to help you out. Of course we don’t always have an answer to everything, but we will do our best and forward the appropriate contacts to you.

Of course the course is not exclusively for first semester students, but students of higher semesters are also welcome to have a look around. Thematically, however, we will primarily address topics that are relevant for the start of your studies, such as Campus4u, Campuscard etc.

For students and lecturers who are generally interested in the topic “Online Semester” or “Online Teaching”, we also have the course “Online-Survival Course for Students“, which was a success last semester with over 1000 participants.

Enrollment/Registration for the course

Enrollment in the course is very simple, there are 2 different ways to do so:

1. You have already received all your access data from the HWR? If so, you can enroll in the course via Moodle. To do so, go to the Moodle homepage and log in with your details. Afterwards you can choose English (en) as your language setting at the top bar instead of Deutsch (de). Select “Search courses” from the top bar and search for “Introduction to First Time”, select “Self-enrollment” and you are already in the course. (Otherwise you can also follow this link directly)

2. You don’t have or have not yet received your login details, but don’t know how to log in to Moodle? Then visit the Moodle homepage and select “Anmelden als Gast” (login as guest). Afterwards you can choose English (en) as your language setting at the top bar instead of Deutsch (de). Then search for “Introductory course for students” in the top bar and select “Guest access”. The guest key is ELZ2020.
The guest key will only give you access to the course for as long as you are logged in. As soon as the browser is closed, you are out. You can still join the course as often as you want via the guest access. Once you have all your login details, we would still recommend that you enrol in the course as in step 1, as this will be permanently displayed on your Moodle home page and you will not have to log into the course as a guest each time.

Office hours for students

In addition to this course, we will of course continue to offer our consultation hours for students in order to answer as many of your questions live as possible. Our current times are:

Monday, 02.11. from 9-10 o’clock and 14-15 o’clock and
Thursday, 05.11. from 9-10 and 14-15 o’clock.

You can find the link to the office hours here. PIN: 2020
You are welcome to just drop by, registration is not necessary.

We hope that we can make your start into your studies a little easier with all these offers and are of course happy about any kind of feedback.
If you have any questions or problems, e.g. because you can’t get into the course, please send us an email to elearning[at]hwr-berlin.de so that we can help you as soon as possible!