Pamoja Student Orientation Student Orientation

Welcome to Pamoja

Student Orientation has been designed to give you the best start to your online learning, we recommend all students to complete before the Academic Year begins. As a resource, you will be able to refer to the Orientation course for the duration of your studies with Pamoja.

We give students the opportunity to own their learning experience in a space that is no longer confined just to the classroom; your learning can take place anywhere. This orientation course is designed to familiarise you with your online account, so you know where to find your lessons, assignments and teacher feedback.

So what can you expect from your Pamoja course? Let's hear from Maria, a recent Pamoja graduate:

Testimonial - María, Pamoja Taught Mathematic HL alumna 

Orientation Course Outcomes

We know that transitioning to an online learning environment can be new to many students. This orientation course is the first step in introducing you to the essential skills you will need to succeed in your course.

Take your time, and by the end of the orientation course you'll be ready to start your online learning experience with Pamoja.

Introduction to Student Orientation

The Student Orientation Course has been created for you to complete before being enrolled into your subject course. It is important you follow the Orientation Course right through to the end so that you have the skills you need to complete your subject course.

Success in Your Course

Success in an online course can be achieved with only a few essential skills:

• Self and time-management
• Communication and collaboration skills
• Critical thinking and research

Your Student Profile

Before you get started in your course, please check if your student profile information is up to-date. Let's take a look at that now.

Update your details: We encourage you to keep your student profile information updated.

Contact us if your student profile requires any changes. Lastly, change your password.

Choose something memorable, but secure.

How to do this: To change your password, on the login page, click on the 'Forgot your password?' link and follow the instructions.

If you are already logged in, you can also change your password by clicking on your "profile" icon in the top right-hand corner of the platform page.

Once on your Profile page, select the "Change password" button. 

You may also personalise your user interface with a number of pre-set colour themes, to do so simply select 'themes', your colour preference and finally click "save changes" to apply.

Important Note: If the information displayed on your profile page is incorrect, please contact your School's Site-Based Coordinator (SBC) or Pamoja School Services via course@pamojaeducation.com to correct accordingly.

Google User Accounts

Over the course of your Pamoja studies you may be asked to contribute to group Wikis. In order to complete, your registered School email account will need to be Google enabled.

To setup your email account with Google, please enter this portal.

You will be presented with a number of fields, to sync your account first select 'Use my current email address instead' and then populate each field.

Once all steps have been completed, access to group Wikis in the platform will automatically open. Activating Google access will also enable upload via Google drive for requisite assignments.

Online Safety

Before we continue, it's important you spend some time considering your safety in an online environment. Listen to one of our Course Advisors speak about staying safe in our global campus:

Student Safety Audio

Recommendations for a safe global campus

Communication Tools

Within the Pamoja online learning platform, there are lots of communication tools that allow you to communicate at any time with your teachers and classmates. These communication tools are:

• Messages
• Announcements
• Discussions

It is important to establish effective ways of communicating with your teacher and classmates in an online environment.

Notifications & Messages

Whenever you receive a message or announcement from a peer or teacher, you will receive a notification.

Where can I find my notifications of upcoming events and deadlines?

You will see your notifications on your home screen when you log in. You can also see how many notifications you have on the menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

What can I access from the navigational panel displayed to the left of the screen?

What is the difference between messages and notifications?

Your messages are direct communications between yourself, peers and teacher(s). They will show up in your inbox. Your teacher will message you throughout the course; you should check these regularly.

Discussion Forums

As well as messages and announcements, you will also be expected to contribute to Discussion Forums.

Each unit of your course will have a discussion forum, also called a 'general discussion'. This is a space for you and your classmates to ask questions and comment on the unit topic. When you have a question, consider asking it on the unit discussions so your peers can both help you and benefit from your question as well.

Communication Tools

Information on translators and conversation sessions for students of IB Group 2 Languages.

For 'IB Live lessons' Pamoja teachers and students use a communication tool called Zoom.

Please make sure you have this installed and working before your Live Lesson.

Learning Spaces

Learning in an online environment is not separated by 'walls' like it is in school. Therefore at Pamoja, we organise our classes a little differently. At Pamoja, you are part of both a section and a learning space. Your section is like your class in school, with up to 35 students in it. Each section is assigned a teacher.

However, unlike in school, each section is also part of a larger learning space. A learning space is your course area that contains 125 students on average and is managed by up to five Pamoja teachers. This way, you get to learn from and meet even more people studying your subject, whilst still having one teacher who is directly supporting your learning.

The Pamoja Learning Space

You will be expected to log in to your account at least three times per week. Scroll down to look at the screenshot of the 'Week View'. This is where you will find your tasks for the week.

Classes Page

Once you have logged in, on the left-hand side navigation panel you may select "classes" to view all active enrolments. The "classes" tab will allow quick access to weekly assignments, the class calendar, peer group and messaging.

Class Navigation:

The 'Classes' section for each individual subject can be navigated through the following tabs:

• Overview: Includes recent course announcements, a snapshot of the current week calendar, upcoming events & deadlines and the latest activity.

• Orals (Languages only): View upcoming Oral practice(s) and Internal Oral Assessment.
• Tasks & Units: View upcoming tasks (assignments), categorised by production type. Tasks will also display date set, deadline, task title, course week and link to the task in the course. The Unit Calendar clearly displays all upcoming units and the months in which they will be delivered; desired units may be accessed via the calendar.

Finally, all units are listed at the bottom of the page, including a breakdown of the unit, total lessons set and the number of tasks.

• Calendar: View the entire Academic Year Calendar, all deadlines and Key dates are clearly indicated. Each listed Task can be selected to redirect to that area of the course. Month and Week views are available.

• Messages: View and comment on messages from your class teachers and fellow students, or post messages of your own. Messages are visible to all students and teachers in the class unless marked as a Private Message. Visible by message author & teachers only. Private Messages are only visible to you and class teachers. All replies will be private as well. It is not possible to convert a public message to private, or private message to public once posted.
• Files: View documents uploaded by Course Teachers to the learning space.
• Students: View all active student enrolled in your course section.

Dashboard Page

The dashboard is the landing page for all students, providing a course calendar for the "next two weeks", upcoming activities, course enrolments, overall task completion, upcoming tasks and completed tasks.

The 'overall task completion' grid is a drop down available under "tasks" in the 'classes' section of the dashboard. The grid presents a colour coded breakdown of all work set to date. A solid green square indicates that the task has been 'submitted', a sold orange square indicates a 'late' submission, a solid blue square indicates a 'no submission', and finally a solid grey square 'pending' submission. If there is no coloured square, the task has not been set.

The "Classes" section will also present all units covered in the course, including an overview of all lessons, tasks and materials. This area of the dashboard is a useful navigational tool for the platform.

Tasks and Deadlines page

Located in the left navigational panel:

The tasks and deadlines page lists all upcoming assignments, detailing the following key points of reference:

• Assignment title
• Date set (including Academic week)
• Deadline of submission
• Course
• Production type

Completed assignments will present awarded scores, access to Teacher feedback and the assignment rubric (if applicable).

To access Teacher feedback simply click the 'speech bubble' situated below the assignment score.

Latest engagement rating

This is the score you have received for your latest engagement rating. The engagement rating score will be presented by the following:

• E = Engaged
• IE = Insufficiently engaged
• NE = Not engaged
• L = Late/ Transfer/ Drop

About Lessons

Lessons normally have between two and four parts. The standard lesson tabs are shown below, but you will find that the lesson structure may vary from time to time.

Introduction This is where the lesson concept is introduced. It is usually introductory text to establish the concept being taught.

Understanding This is the main part of the lesson where the new concepts and content is introduced through readings, videos and additional resources.

Practice This is where you put into practice what you've learnt, with formative exercises such as questions, self-assessed worksheets or extension activities. Any quizzes or interactive activities on this tab are not graded and you can try them as many times as you like.

Task This is where you get to demonstrate what you have learnt, through a variety of quizzes, activities and assignments.

Some assignments are reviewed or marked by your teacher. If an assignment has criteria and points with it, this normally means it will be graded by your teacher and feedback provided. If an assignment has no points assigned to it, this normally means it will be reviewed by your teacher, assigned a "complete/incomplete" status, and brief or class-wide feedback provided.

Tasks are tracked by the learning management system and your teacher will see your progress in these activities in the grade book. It is important that you complete all set Tasks. If you are struggling with an assignment, make sure you let your teacher know. Note the due date and the points which indicate that this activity is a teacher-graded activity.

Navigating Lessons

To access the current course unit and complete weekly tasks, you may use the course calendar provided in "Tasks & Units":

Important note Completed units will appear "green", in progress "orange", and upcoming units "grey".

In the "Lesson Experiences" section you may use the drop-down box to quickly navigate each course week available in the unit. You must pay close attention to course announcements for direction on what to complete each week.

"Launch Study Mode" is a useful feature available for all weekly tasks.

Entering study mode will present all lesson materials and tasks for the selected unit in a separate browser tab. You may find this useful for focused study and clarity on what to complete each week.

A "Study Mode" icon will also appear alongside all lessons presented in each Academic week, simply click the icon to enter.

Live Lessons and Teacher Conferences will appear as a lesson in your weekly schedule, to enter select the 'join' icon at the correct time highlighted in the lesson description.

Activity Example: A Journal Entry

One type of activity you may be required to complete is a journal entry. Review the below information on journal entries.

Journal activities are located under the Activity tab in the relevant lesson.

To submit simply read the instructions and then add a title for your entry and write your journal text in the box provided. You can add simple formatting, weblinks and tables.

Once you are finished and ready to submit, click the Add to Portfolio button at the bottom of the text entry box.

Your teacher can now review your journal entry (if this is required). Journal entries are not usually graded but your teacher may provide feedback.

Journal entries are 'once only', meaning they are not editable once submitted, but you can add your own supplementary notes using the Assessment Feedback comments box under the journal entry.

Managing Your Time Effectively

Being able to manage your time is an important skill in your Pamoja Online Course, and in life. By being organised and aware of your deadlines, you take responsibility for submitting assignments on time and to the best of your ability. It also means you are in charge of the time you commit to your studies - we want you to work hard but have time to enjoy yourself. It's really important that you plan, monitor and manage your time effectively to balance your studies and social life.

Let's hear from Chloe to find out what she got out of studying independently:

Why Chloe feels empowered by Pamoja

What are you looking forward to?

Before you start your Pamoja Online Course, it's worth thinking about what you hope to get out of it.

What are you most excited about? Independent study? Working anywhere? Studying with people from all over the world? Is there anything you are unsure about?

Remember, there are thousands of other Pamoja students in the same position as you, you are not alone.

Staying Organised

The Pamoja Academic Week

The Pamoja Education academic week begins and ends on Tuesdays at 11:59pm GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). With weekends falling 'midweek,' those students with full academic schedules can take advantage of some catch-up time over the traditional weekend to meet assignment deadlines on Tuesday.

The start and end time of 11:59 pm GMT is designed to create a schedule that can accommodate school-day timetables around the world. While an online course week ends for a Pamoja Education student situated in Los Angeles, a new week is just beginning for their online classmate in Tokyo.

Time zones and local time

Having a global classroom means students and teachers from various time zones will be in the same learning space. Your teacher may refer to due dates in Greenwich Mean Time or GMT. As a result, converting your time to GMT or vice versa is an important skill to perfect.

There are many online tools you can use to convert your local time to other time zones.

Two recommended tools are Time and Date Converter and World Time Buddy.

The Pamoja Academic Calendar

May and June exam session courses run from September to May each year. Pamoja also runs November exam session courses from February to October each year. For exact dates, please refer to the calendars on the Calendars & Resources page of the Pamoja Education Website.

Tips for Self-Management

The person who supports your Pamoja studies in your school is called a Site-Based

Coordinator (SBC). Pamoja has worked with numerous SBCs and they have gained a

wealth of experience guiding students through their learner journey. They tell us the biggest skill to master when completing an online course is self-management. Review the tips on self-management from our SBCs.

Expectations and Responsibilities

To meet Pamoja Online Course expectations, make sure you do the basics well. These are:

• Know your deadlines: the Pamoja week will be different in your time zone. Make sure you get used to your deadlines
• Log on regularly: at least three days per week per course
• Let your teacher(s) know in advance of any absence
• Do all assignments each week: you will jeopardise your learning if you get behind Be proactive: ask for help and support when you need it.

If you follow these simple guidelines, you are much more likely to succeed in, and enjoy, your Pamoja course.

This means you have the following key responsibilities as a student:

Completing all tasks each week and maintaining your progress

Pamoja courses have been designed to provide you with flexibility, however, they are not self-paced, 'independent study' courses. These courses require you to attend and take part in a number of activities. Each week you will have tasks that you will be required to complete.

Your Pamoja teacher and your Site-Based Coordinator (SBC) will monitor your progress, looking to see which lessons and activities have been fully completed and which have not.

Behaving appropriately in your Global campus

•  Think before posting - when reading another student’s comment reflect before posting a reply. If the comment sounds abrasive or offensive, assume that this was not the author’s intention and ask for clarification.
•  Avoid sarcasm and subtleties - be clear and straightforward when you post a comment.
• Consider using emoticons to convey the impression you want to make.
•  Do not post comments in capital letters as this equates to shouting online. Use an asterisk or underscore around the text to emphasise the point you are making.
•  Be positive - when getting to know another student, aim to keep interactions with them friendly. If there are disagreements, ensure that you maintain a friendly tone and do not take it personally.

Maintaining Academic Honesty

Academic honesty is being truthful about how and where you sourced your work from, and providing acknowledgement. If you are not being academically honest, serious consequences can apply. These consequences can range from receiving no credit for work to receiving no grade for a subject.

There are four types of academic malpractice, they are:

1. Plagiarism – presenting another person’s work or intellectual property as your own, without crediting the original source. This can include both direct quotations of other people’s work and rewording an idea/concept that was developed by somebody else, as well as using materials (photographs, tables etc.) without properly referencing their source.
2. Collusion - supporting malpractice by another student, by deliberately allowing your own work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another student. This includes letting people copy your work, and putting your name on group work to which you have not contributed.
3. Duplication of work – presenting the same work for different assessments in the course when it is contrary to the regulations of either the school or the external body assessing the work. This could include handing in an old project done by you or somebody else, or handing in the same piece of work for two assignments.
4. Unfair practice – is defined as any other behaviour that is deemed unfair, inappropriate or has the potential to affect the assessment results of any student in the course. Examples may include taking unauthorised materials into an exam room, obtaining unauthorised access to assessment materials, the inclusion of offensive material in your work or disruptive behaviour.

You will revisit the topic of academic malpractice at the start of your Pamoja courses.

Assessment and Teacher Feedback

In this lesson we will look at assessments and teacher feedback. As you work through the course you will want to know:

• How well you are doing
• How and when you will get feedback
• What do to do when you get feedback

Understanding what you can expect from Pamoja teachers is an important part of understanding your responsibilities.

Tasks and Assessments

During your course you will take part in a range of tasks and assessments, such as quizzes, journals, essays and exams.

Some of these will help to monitor your progress during the course and some of them will measure your achievement.

Feedback From Your Teacher

It is important that you receive feedback to promote your learning. At Pamoja, feedback comes in lots of different ways. You can view your feedback and grades in the 'Grades' tab at the top of the page in your online account.

The guide below explains what kind of feedback you can expect.

Self Assessment - Throughout your Pamoja course, you will be asked to review and improve your own work. Your teacher will support you, but the responsibility is with you to self-improve.

Peer Assessment - Your peers are a valuable source of support and feedback throughout your course. Many lessons will contain peer assessment activities, where you will be asked to give feedback on your peer's work and they will help you to improve your own.

Automated - Some assignments, like quizzes, will be automatically graded in the online platform. Your teacher can see the scores you get on course quizzes and may follow up if there are areas that the class, or individuals, need extra help with.

Teacher-reviewed - Some submitted assignments, such as journal entries, will be marked as 'complete' or 'incomplete' and reviewed by your teacher but not given a formal grade. Your teacher might share general feedback via an announcement, and use the work to understand areas of the course where groups of students or specific students require a little extra help.

Teacher-graded - Assignments, such as essays and unit tests, are marked, normally against criteria, and a grade is put in the grade book. Specific feedback is also given.

Reporting - There are two main types of reports throughout the two years – Engagement Rating Reports and Semester Reports. Your teacher will provide a rating based on your engagement (or effort) in the course, as well as grade based on your work for the semester.

If during your course you feel your feedback is too general, you are more than welcome to reach out to your teacher for more detailed and personalised feedback. They will be happy to help.

Reporting

Your teacher will regularly report on your engagement and attainment by providing:

• Engagement Ratings
• Term Grades

The best advice that we can give you is to attend your course regularly each week and submit assigned work on time. Ideally, you should log in daily; however, you are expected to log in and demonstrate substantial course activity on at least three days each week. Late work will not be graded and this will affect your grades, so be sure to communicate with your teacher in advance regarding any delay anticipated.

Engagement Ratings and Term Grades

Engagement Ratings (ERs) Pamoja Education teachers will report on your performance in formative activities by providing an Engagement Rating. You will receive an ER on average every five weeks. Engagement Rating categories:

• 'Engaged or E'
• 'Insufficiently Engaged or IE'  
• 'Not Engaged or NE'.

These relate to specific descriptors regarding your completion of course activities and engagement with course content and classmates’ contributions. 

The primary source of data when teachers need to decide Engagement Ratings will be your attendance, submitted activities and assessments, and interactions. Optimum engagement can be defined as a situation where you show a level of engagement that allows you to make the most of the online learning opportunities available to you, enabling you to achieve your maximum potential.

Term Grades You will receive an Attainment Level, which we call a Term Grade, at 6 points over your 2-year course. Your Term Grade will be on one of the following scales:

• Level 7-1 for IB students 
• Grade A*-E for CAIE A Level students (Please note that there is no A* grade at AS Level)
• Grade A*-G for CAIE IGCSE students

Each course will have specific major assessments that will be taken into account when your teacher decides on your Term Grade. 

Semester Reports

Semester Reports are published four times during the two years of your course and they consist of three key elements: 

• Your latest Term Grade
• Your latest Engagement Rating (E - Engaged, IE - Insufficiently Engaged, NE - Not Engaged)
•  A narrative comment written by your teacher

Semester Reports will be formally published accessible in 'Reports' and shared with your School's Site-Based Coordinator (SBC).

Reports

Available in the left side navigational panel:

The 'reports' page will enable you to access all published semester reports for your Pamoja enrolment. Each Semester report will provide detailed written feedback from your Pamoja Teacher, a Term Grade and finally an Engagement Rating.

Simply select the pdf. file to download a copy of the chosen Semester Report.

Trial Examinations and Predicted Grades

Pamoja Education courses require all students to take trial examinations (mock exams) that are similar to the external exams. The trial examinations allow you to practise before the actual exams. They also provide indicators to help teachers assign predicted grades.

Where to find help

Even though you are studying online, there is lots of support available to you. Any questions you have about your course, the content or assignments can be directed either towards your peers or your teacher.

You also have a dedicated Site-Based Coordinator (SBC) in your face to face school. This could be any member of staff at school, who is responsible for supporting and monitoring all the Pamoja students in your school. We strongly recommend you find out who your SBC is early in the course, if you don't know already.

Lastly, Pamoja has a dedicated School Services Team based at our office in Oxford, UK. The School Services Team is on hand to help you with any issues you have. Whether you're having trouble logging in or can't get in touch with your teacher, they will always be there to support you. You can email them at: courses@pamojaeducation.com.

And if that isn't enough, our online Help Centre is packed full of useful articles that will help you resolve lots of issues you may have yourself.

Accessing the Help Centre

The Pamoja Help Centre is one of the best ways to find answers, as it is online and available 24 hours a day, every day.

To access, select the 'Help & Support' tab located in the top right hand corner of the page:

From the drop down menu select 'Help & Support', this will redirect you to our tutorials page here.

 For Pamoja specific queries please select 'Pamoja' under the 'Products' dropdown:

By selecting the Pamoja product you will be able to navigate through all our Help Centre articles for Pamoja Online Courses, you may enter here to view the Help Centre. It is recommended you bookmark the Help Centre in your internet browser for ease of access.

Using the Help Centre

When you first arrive in the Help Centre, you will need to 'Sign in' in the top right corner. You should then see the following:

You can now find, either by using the search bar or clicking on the green boxes, lots of useful articles to support any issues you might have.

If you still require assistance, you can ‘Submit a request’ (top of the screen). This will send a ticket through to our School Services Team where someone will look into the problem for you.

When submitting in a request, make sure you include as much information as possible and screenshots as this helps our staff support you faster with your query.

Alternatively, you can email School Services Team directly: courses@pamojaeducation.com 

Common Issues

Sometimes it is difficult to decide who to contact to get the help you need. The information below provides some examples of common issues you may encounter.

Academic issues

• Questions about parts of the course you don't understand
• Questions or clarification on feedback
• Advice relating to your end of year or trial exam
• Questions on predicted grade
• Questions on university applications
• Questions on other courses
• Advice or support when changing schools

For academic issues, you normally want to contact your teacher or SBC.

Technical issues 

• Inability to log in
• A video or sound file in your course which doesn't work
• Inability to submit an assignment

For technical issues, you normally want to submit a support ticket through the help centre or contact School Services Team.

Browser Recommendation

We have tested our platform extensively, and whilst it will work across many browsers, we recommend using Google Chrome. This should ensure all course content works as it was designed to.

You should also ensure you have a good internet connection when working on your Pamoja course.

Academic Honesty

It is important from here, at the beginning of your Pamoja course, that you understand the significance of Academic Honesty. Academic Honesty is all about making sure that you and your peers' experience of the Pamoja course is fair, and no one gains an unfair advantage by cheating throughout the course.

Whenever you submit work, the question you should ask yourself is, am I being completely honest both with myself and with the person reading my work?

If you think the reader might believe that a particular idea or theory was created by you when it wasn’t, or that the work you are submitting is not truly reflective of your own ability, then you may be in danger of committing Academic Malpractice.

Academic Malpractice

Academic malpractice is generally defined as using the work of others when there is a clear expectation that the work should be original, or creating a false impression that someone else’s work is your own. It is expected that Pamoja students will demonstrate academic honesty at all times.

Academic malpractice is a serious matter that can, in extreme cases, result in a student’s removal from the course; it is however, something that with a little learning you can easily understand and ensure your work is compliant with.

Read the below descriptions of the types of academic malpractice, and then complete the exercise to check your understanding.

There are four types of academic malpractice, they are:

1. Plagiarism – presenting another person’s work or intellectual property as your own, without crediting the original source. This can include both direct quotations of other people’s work and rewording an idea/concept that was developed by somebody else, as well as using materials (photographs, tables etc.) without properly referencing their source.
2. Collusion - supporting malpractice by another student, by deliberately allowing your own work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another student. This includes letting people copy your work, and putting your name on group work to which you have not contributed.
3. Duplication of work – presenting the same work for different assessments in the course when it is contrary to the regulations of either the school or the external body assessing the work. This could include handing in an old project done by you or somebody else, or handing in the same piece of work for two assignments.
4. Unfair practice – is defined as any other behaviour that is deemed unfair, inappropriate or has the potential to affect the assessment results of any student in the course. Examples may include taking unauthorised materials into an exam room, obtaining unauthorised access to assessment materials, the inclusion of offensive material in your work or disruptive behaviour.

Congratulations

You have completed the Pamoja Student Orientation and are now ready to start your subject course.

Before you go, remember:

Independent and Organised In an online learning environment, there is no one to remind you about your work every day. You should take ownership of your studies, making sure to give yourself enough time to complete assignments to the best of your ability before the deadline.

Collaboration Being independent is different from being individual. The peers you will meet through your Pamoja course are a great source of support - interact with them and learn from them.

Be proactive Not being in close proximity to your peers and teachers means you have to work a little harder to communicate with people. The best way to get the most out of your Pamoja course is to reach out to people when you need to - if you are struggling with a unit, why not ask your teacher for clarification? Or ask your peers to direct you towards some extra resources? Reaching out will make your learning experience much more enjoyable.

Know when to ask for help We’re always mindful that our students should enjoy studying with Pamoja and are not too worried or stressed. If there is something troubling you, big or small, share it with your teacher or with School Services and someone will help you.

Accessing your course

All that you need to do now is log in. We'd recommend you bookmark this website in your browser: https://poc-may.managebac.com/login

Then select 'For Students' and the log in option under 'Pamoja Online Courses' and enter your login details.

You're in. Good luck, we wish you all the best with your studies. The Student Orientation will always be here if you need to revisit any of the information.