What is what?

ABPO, ECTS, FSR, SWS. You have no idea what these abbreviations stand for? Well, these are just a few of the abbreviations you will come across during your studies. So, it's best to look at the list of abbreviations right away to shed some light on the subject.

BigBlueButton is an open-source videoconferencing tool provided by the h_da Computer Science department and adapted to the h_da's needs in cooperation with the IT department.

BigBlueButton is suitable for different purposes:

• for events where only the moderator and his or her presentation are visible and the participants can only listen or ask questions, if necessary,
• for joint chats,
• as a virtual learning space.

The offer is supplemented by a notes page and so-called "screen sharing". When you enter the conference or learning room, you can configure various parameters. You can reach BigBlueButton at rooms.h-da.de.

Credit points are the central "currency" in your studies. They are points that you collect in your degree programme for the achievements you make. The number of credits says something about the average amount of work - the so-called workload. This is usually made up of attendance time and time for self-study. One credit point corresponds to 30 working hours. To achieve your bachelor’s degree, you must collect a certain number of CPs. You can find the exact number in the examination regulations for your degree programme on thewebsite of your department.

An excursion is simply a study trip. Excursions serve to deepen the learning material and vary in duration - from one to several days. They can take place in Germany or abroad. In some degree programmes, participation in one or more excursions is compulsory.

If you want to share files with other students, your lecturers or external students, or work on documents together, you can use the Hessenbox. This cloud solution was specially designed for Hessen's universities and implemented with data protection in mind.

With Hessenbox you can:

• Automatically exchange and synchronise data between different end devices,
• Make data available to external third parties via an Internet link,
• Give people access to the system by invitation and assign read or read and write permissions for folders,
• Edit documents online in OnlyOffice in a web browser.
• Your storage space is up to 100 GB.

To use Hessenbox, go to the Hessenbox-Webseite and select Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences from the drop-down list. You need an h_da account to register.

In natural science and engineering degree programmes, you often must take laboratory courses. These are exercises in which you conduct and document your own experiments.

When you enrol, you will receive a personal matriculation number, which will help you to identify yourself in your everyday studies. During your studies, you will have to give this number again and again, for example in assignments or exams.

A module is a self-contained unit of study. A module is often made up of different courses. As a rule, a module is concluded with a module-comprehensive examination. For example, a module could consist of a lecture and an exercise and be completed with a written exam and a term paper. In the module handbook of your degree programme, you will find detailed information on the individual modules and how they are composed. You will find the link to the module handbook for each programme in the programme profiles on the h_da website.

The module handbook describes all the modules in your degree programme in detail. In addition to information on the duration and scope of the module (how many semesters and how many semester hours per week) and the forms of teaching (e.g. lecture and tutorial), you will also find the learning content of the module, the required workload (how many hours of attendance, how much self-study, how many assignments, etc.), the type of examination and whether it is a compulsory or elective module. You can find the module handbook for your degree programme on your department's website.

Moodle is a Learning Management System (LMS) that is used at many schools and universities around the world, including the h_da. The platform provides virtual course rooms in which teachers make various learning materials available to students, as well as communication and collaboration tools such as wikis, forums and chats. You can access Moodle at lernen.h-da.de with your h_da user account. If you have any questions about Moodle, just send an email to e-learning@h-da.de.

You can use the my.h-da self-service portal to carry out various tasks yourself online with your h_da user account. For example, you can change your contact details or print out your study or BAföG certificates yourself. You can also find information about exams or your grades there. On my.h-da, many departments also offer you the opportunity to enrol directly in courses, put together an individual timetable or register for or deregister from exams. You can find instructions on how to use my.h-da on the h_da intranet.

A practical module basically serves to apply theoretical knowledge in practice outside the university.

The examination regulations - formally called "Besondere Bestimmungen der Prüfungsordnung", abbreviated to BBPO - of your degree programme regulate the content and structure as well as the examination requirements and the examination procedure. You can find the examination regulations for your degree programme on the website of your department. Be sure to take a look! We would also like to recommend the "Allgemeine Bestimmungen für Prüfungsordnungen der Hochschule Darmstadt" (ABPO). They are the basic framework for the examination regulations of your degree programme. You can find the current version of the ABPO on the university website.

You have to revalidate your CampusCard every semester. This means that you must extend its validity in one of the (re-)validation devices distributed throughout the university. During a regular semester, revalidation is possible as soon as the semester fee has been paid. The locations of the (re-)validation devices can be found on the Webseite of the Student Service Center.

The semester hours per week (SWS) provide information about the number of hours of weekly attendance during the lecture period.

In contrast to lectures, seminars are courses in which you discuss topics in depth with the other participants. The focus is therefore on active participation. The results of your independent work are often presented in papers and assignments.

Exercises are usually courses that accompany lectures and in which the theoretical knowledge from the lecture is applied.

Various digital formats are offered at the h_da for virtual lectures and seminars. Depending on the degree programme, BigBlueButton (BBB), Zoom, Jitsi or department-specific video conferencing tools are used. Your department will tell you in good time which digital service is used in your degree programme.

Some degree programmes require a preliminary or basic internship in the relevant professional field. The duration ranges from six to 16 weeks. In some degree programmes, the pre-study internship must be completed before the start of lectures in the first semester, in others it is possible up to the beginning of the third semester. You can find the exact regulations for your degree programme in the examination regulations for your degree programme. You can find the examination regulations for your degree programme on the website of your department.

A lecture is a course that is usually held face-to-face. In the lecture, you are taught the necessary subject knowledge - i.e., primarily the theory.

Zoom is also a video conferencing tool. If you want to use Zoom independently for exchanges in learning groups or for working together on projects, go to the h_da page on Zoom and click on "Sign In". This will take you to a login page at the h_da. Here you enter your user ID and your h_da password and are logged into Zoom. The so-called "Single Sign On" (SSO) is used here for the login. The university has licensed Zoom through a provider in Germany and students are thus managed as basic users. On the one hand, this means that you can invite up to 100 participants to video conferences and, on the other, that a data protection review has been carried out. Another advantage: The 40-minute limit for meetings has been waived by Zoom for educational institutions, so that students can also schedule and hold longer meetings.