 Welcome, everybody. Welcome to Carleton and welcome to the Faculty of Public Affairs, which we here call FPA. My name is Dr. Brenda O'Neill, and I'm the Dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs. And I wanna just take a brief moment to explain to you what that means. The faculty itself is composed of about a dozen institutes, schools and departments. And I know that people are joining us today who are going to be starting with the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice, the Department of Law and Legal Studies and the Department of Economics. And so basically my role is overseeing all of those various departments, institutes and schools. So we're thrilled, you're gonna be joining us today. One of the first things, and then one of the most important things I think I wanna do this morning is to actually give the territorial acknowledgement. So before we begin, I'd like to just take a moment to acknowledge that Carleton University is located on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Nation. I think it's important that we acknowledge that. Some of us are logging in from different locations, but nevertheless, Carleton happens to be on that territory. And I always say it's important that we acknowledge that and that we do so with intention, that it's an important thing to bear in mind. So while you're gonna be very busy over the next years getting your degrees, I also want you to know that you're part of a larger community. I think one of the best parts of Carleton is that sense of community has a particularly strong community. And our professors, staff, students, everybody has been trying working really hard over the summer to try and ensure that that sense of community is maintained even in the face of what are very difficult circumstances under COVID, things are changing. And so it has been difficult, but it hasn't been impossible. I think we're doing our best to try and ensure that we maintain that sense of community. And some of the things that I wanna sort of encourage you to do as students of that part of that community is not only to worry about your courses, but also to take part in the number of the events that will be happening over the years when you're part of Carleton, there are lectures, workshops, all kinds of things that you might wanna participate in. And as I said, one thing that I've learned over the years that you will always be busy, but you will have time to, you should try as much as possible to take in some of those activities. Your work will get done in the end. There's also, I think, plenty of opportunities for you to take part as individuals. And we have ambassadors on today. That's something that you might wanna think about doing in the future. There's also opportunities like CURUP, which is a Carleton University research opportunity program that actually pays you to do research over the summer with a faculty member. So these are the sorts of opportunities that we want you to think about and consider participating in. And one of the key ways of learning about them is reading your emails. I know it's not, but we do communicate largely through email here. And so it's important, particularly now that we're online. So it is important that you keep an eye on those notices that come through. So again, I'm just excited, thrilled that you decided to come to Carleton. We're very happy. I wanna encourage you to participate, become part of that community. And I think what I'm gonna do now is hand you back to Stephanie and you can get on with the session. Thank you, Dino Neal. And as Dino Neal said, welcome everybody, really happy to have you here. We are here with three ambassadors. We will probably have a fourth joining us later on. So I'll just introduce them as well. So as you can see, we've got Abby with us, Aishani and Busola. And we'll also have Yasien. Apologize if I did pronounce that wrong. So Busola and Aishani are from Carinology. Abby is from Law and Legal Studies. And Yasien who will be joining us shortly is from Economics. So feel free. They'll be saying a few words, talking about why they chose the program, what they wish they knew coming into first year and the position you are in right now. And from there, feel free at the end. I'll open up the question and answer session. And then you can ask any questions. You can either unmute your mic, you can turn on your video if you want as well. Or you can just write in the chat. Do you want to remind everybody that this session is being recorded? So if you do wish to stay anonymous, you don't have to turn your video on. You can just use the chat if you wish. I will then read any questions that come through the chat to our ambassadors. And they'll answer the best of their bellies. So thank you again all for joining us. And I'm going to pass it off to Abby. Thanks, Stephanie. Hi everyone. Like she said, I'm Abby. I'm in the Law and Legal Studies program but I'm actually doing a combined honors of law and human rights. I chose it just because all throughout high school, I always excelled much more in my English law and any social science courses. Science and math was never really my thing. I left that for my sister. I love it just because especially right now, the world we live in, there's so many social issues that I feel that we all should be educated on to be able to stand up and voice our opinion and back it up properly. Career opportunities, I went into it thinking I'm going to be a lawyer. I have to do law school. That's my only option. But that's why university was actually such a good thing for me because I got in, I took classes with professors who are lawyers. I took classes with professors who stepped back from law because they didn't enjoy it. And it really made me realize my passion is more in the human rights sector of working with international organizations. So hopefully after this year, because I graduate, that's what I'll be doing but we'll see. My first year experience is some of like the most exciting and most stressful times of your entire life, all at once. And I don't say that to scare you, but high school, I love my high school teachers, they try to tell you, they prepare you. But unfortunately, high school is just nowhere near the same. Like it's a big wake up call. It's a big life lesson of learning how to be independent and do everything on your own. Because you no longer have that your high school teachers are crutch. They really did so much for us and in university, it's kind of, here's what you have to do. You're gonna have to guide yourself and we'll be here to just kind of tell you what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong. And I wish I knew that more going into first year. But the biggest thing I wish I knew was the weight of assignments. In high school, I found we had so many little assignments. So if you kind of did, you didn't do well on one, it was no worries, like you can make that up. In university, it's really different. Depending on the course, I have some where it's your midterm and your final and that's it. So you kind of have to give it your all. You have to figure out the time to study because there's so much weight on your assignments. And that was probably the biggest wake up call for me was realizing, oh my gosh, I need to give a hundred percent and hope that I can get as much back as I can. So yeah, hopefully that helps you guys out. I'll wait for questions to see if anyone has any. Thank you, Abby. Boussola, would you like to go next? Hi, my name is Boussola David. I'm like she mentioned, I'm in my third year of criminology and criminal justice with the concentration in law. And first things, I tried to choose criminology. At first I was going to go into law when I was coming to Caughton. But then when I applied, law wasn't available. So like criminology was like my second option. So, and then I figured maybe I would transfer to law after like my first few semesters. But then when I started the program, I was like, okay, I think I actually want to stay here because it was so interesting. Like, I mean, from watching all these like crime shows, like you think, oh wow, this is so cool. That's so interesting. But then I'm actually going to see like how more into it, like reasons, like different things that you actually don't see on TV. Like, I mean, TV just shows you all the interesting parts, the action, but like you get to see and study and see like, oh wait, there are actually other factors involved that would actually make a person commit crime. Why they commit a particular crime? Like in France, you know, different things that you would actually be so, like it's actually interesting. Like you're actually watching like a show play out over four years type of thing. Like I said, that means I really love the program to be honest, it was so interesting. I was like, nah, I'm definitely not going to transfer. And for career opportunities, at first I think I was going to go to law school after like criminology and just applied to law school. But then after like the past few years, I was like, maybe I actually want to explore criminology and actually, you know, have an influence and just try to help the society and cause crime rates could be going up and still so like, you know, just to put my own parts and just help. My first experience, I don't know, it was not the best I guess for my first few semesters because I came in winter semester and I was a very shy person. So like, I literally didn't have any friends. My first few days in CAF in semesters, I was eating alone and I was just so, like I was like, you know what, this is very sad, but and then later I met someone that introduced me to have roommates that introduced me to someone and from there it was just like, I kept meeting people and making friends and now I'll say I have a couple of friends but then it was that first few days where you feel like every year you're alone and you have no one until you meet someone, I feel sometimes it just takes meeting one person that and then you have this whole network of friendships that really, really helps. Academically, I didn't know, I just felt, okay, I mean, investing, okay, yes. And then it didn't really like occur to me, I'm actually investing, I should actually face very serious and I should be doing like mass silence in time and actually doing some of these things like early. So I was still kind of chill my first few weeks, you know, just go to class tired for my 8.45 until like after my midterms I was like, okay, I am here, I should actually be more serious in my life and take more of these things seriously. Something I wish going into my first day was how important office hours are and how much they would help because being, me being shy, I would definitely, I don't think I can ever raise my head up in class to ask a question. So like office hours are like this where you get to like meet the prof and most of the times the profs in their offices are like more chill and like more, it's like a different kind of person you meet and then you'll be more comfortable asking questions and like talking to them and just, you know, there are sometimes I'll just go for office hours, just gonna ask about questions I see online about like law cases and just to get someone else's opinion on it and you know that you're actually getting like, you know, good things that you would remember and be like, well, you know, like, you can't even use it for like conversations when you meet people like, okay, I know about this thing, I know about this type of thing. So yeah, can we just do a very interesting program as it's like from watching everything, you will just know that, okay, this is something that I actually want to study more about. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Musola. Ashani, do you want to connect? Yeah. Hi, my name is Ashani. I am currently in my third year and I'm taking criminal justice with a concentration in law. Before I was with psychology, but then I switched over to law. So I chose to do criminal justice for a lot of reasons. My first one being that I really loved like how many career opportunities I would have. Like I don't have to decide like right now what I want to do. And my cousin as well, he was in criminal justice and he really loved the program. So I was like why not? And then there's a lot of different career opportunities such as security and like information technology, consulting. You're not just limited to like lawyer or like police officer. There's like many other career opportunities that you can do. And my first year experience was kind of rough, I'll be honest. It was a very big change from high school to university. And I feel like I wasn't ready for it. And so by the time like I would talk to professors and like I would get on the right path eventually. So I would say like by the end of the year, I got everything together and I did really well. But I guess that's something I would tell you guys and the recommend is that, you know, enjoy your parties, enjoy whatever you can, but make sure you actually study and do your readings and not just party. Cause I know freshman orientation, it was a great party and like, you know, a lot of great events. And I would also, I don't know if we're doing it virtually this year. Yeah, so I would say attend that and, you know, make some friends and, you know, these friendships like last like forever, honestly. And my, one of my best friends, I met her actually on a bus stop to Carlton. We literally met on a bus stop. It was so much fun. And she's honestly like my best friend. And I would say something, another like recommendation would be like, talk to the professors, you know, talk to the TAs like they're there to help you out. So talk to them. Something that I wish going into first year was is that the professors are there to help you. So don't be scared to ask them questions or like email them. Because I know like as a first year, it is kind of scary like talking like in a lecture hall or like, you know, maybe they're not going to listen to me, but it's honestly the opposite. So yeah, that's about it. Completely agree. Thank you. And our last ambassador, Yasin, I apologize if I pronounced that wrong, but you can go now. Hey guys, my name is Yasin. I'm a third year e-con major with a concentration in economic data science. A few things about my program. I really like it. The reason why I like the e-con program is that there's so many different options you can choose from. There's so many different concentrations. So there's like the one that I'm in, the economic data science one. There's a computational analysis one. There's like a math one. So you have like a bunch of different options to choose from. So that's something that I really like. So you can always specialize in something that you really enjoy. And that opens like a lot of different career, career doors for you. For you. The second thing I was supposed to talk about, I think is my first year experience. So like the social aspect and the academic aspect. And personally, I really liked it, even though half of it was almost all online. But socially, it's pretty fun. It's super easy to make friends. So you really shouldn't stress about that. And academically, I really found it easy. It was easy to kind of keep track with like my classes and stuff like that. Just make sure you have a good system going into first year. And I think finally, the last question was something that I knew, I wish I knew when going into first year. And I just want to let you guys know that there's like a bunch of different resources that you guys can take advantage of. There's like a website where you can watch TV shows and movies. There's also a bunch of different free softwares you can download. So if you guys want to maybe download SPSS or R and stuff like that, you don't really have to pay for them. They're all free on the Carlton website. So that's kind of my input. And I think that is it. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. So before we start the Q&A, I will open the chat in a moment for Q&A. So get thinking about your questions and feel free to type them in. We do have our associate dean of student and enrollment with us, Paul Wilson. And I really would like to say a few words. Oh, well thanks, Stephanie. You know, I always want to say a few words. So my name's Paul Wilson. I'm a new associate dean. So I'm just learning the job and this, thank you for letting me sit in and learn about the different programs here. So it's very exciting to hear from ambassadors who've been there and I'm excited for you, you know, incoming students about what you've got in front of you. I work for Dean O'Neill basically, a teacher friend said, oh, you're like the vice principal. It's like, yeah, I guess I am. So I get to deal with students on positive things. I get to deal with students on negative things like academic discipline. If you get in trouble with that, hope we never meet in that context. There's a couple of things that I just wanted to maybe highlight or maybe even ask the ambassadors about. A few people have mentioned professors and office hours. Professors are there to be approachable. Sometimes they maybe don't look approachable, but it's part of their job. They do have office hours. So, you know, don't hesitate to send them an email or to drop in however they set it up. By all means do that. If you've got questions, they're there to answer them. And most of the time, most of them are really happy to meet you. You know, they're people, sometimes people have a bad day, but don't be afraid to do that because building those relationships can give you more confidence. And yeah, it always helps to have a relationship. The high school to university transition is a big one. And people are saying on the one hand, get out and experience university life and do stuff. And you're studying in Ottawa. So there's lots of sort of national capital opportunities, but on the other hand, you know, there are heavy responsibilities for work. So you've got to balance those. Maybe I can ask the ambassadors to talk about the importance of course outlines. Sometimes people say course outlines. Somebody, sometimes they say syllabus. They're the same thing and what that means. And Yassine said that it's important to have a good system. And I'd love to know what that means and what his system is because maybe that would be helpful. Anyway, so thanks for letting me join. And yeah, I'm excited for what your year is going to be. Thank you, Paul. Very good advice. So I guess we'll start with Yassine as that was directed to him. So Yassine, what system do you have in place to keep yourself organized? Yeah, sure. So what I usually do before the beginning of every year is that there's an app you can download that kind of keeps track of all your assignments, all their due dates, all your assignments, midterm and stuff like that. So I just input all my assignment due dates and all my assignment midterm due dates and stuff like that on the app. So it kind of keeps track. So I never forget when I have an assignment or whenever I have a midterm. So that's kind of one thing that I kind of use that to help me not miss any assignment due dates or any midterm due dates, especially now with our transition to bright space. I don't think that there's a website that has that that the website has that or at least not for every single assignment or midterm. So that's kind of one way I kind of one system that I used. Let me see if I can think of something else. Just being able to like, I bought like this app where you can like keep track of all your notes. So instead of like carrying papers and stuff like that all over the place, maybe download something on your laptop or on your iPad and just write all your notes digitally. So you can access them wherever you are. I think that should be it. That's great. Thank you. Yeah, so keeping organized is definitely really important. And you mentioned bright space. So it used to be called see you learn. It might have had a back-end mean as well. So that's a learning platform that you'll all, not already, you will have access to and it just has all your course information in it. The professor will put up the course in general. So we are transitioning to the whole bright space this year. So it's definitely good to continue to look at your bright space, look at updates and move it over to your agenda, whether it be physical or an app or your calendar and your phone, just to make sure you can keep up with all the dates because you'll have several courses popping up in bright space. So I'd like to pose a question to all the ambassadors about the course outline and syllabus. Why are they important? When do you get them and what's in them? I guess I'll take a shot this first. So your course outline or syllabus is pretty much you get one for every single class and they are all important. Do not ignore them because if you do and you try to go to your professor and say, I didn't see it, they will call you on it. They will say it was in my syllabus. If it was there, it's not my problem. So pretty much it tells you what the class is about, the goals of what you should be learning from the class. It tells you all of the due dates and kind of a brief description of all the assignments you'll have. On every syllabus, you'll see the academic integrity policy which talks about plagiarism and stuff like that, all sorts of resources available. The biggest thing for me, for my course syllabus is just the outlines of when all of our projects will be due. And this kind of goes towards like the school life balance question in the chat. I find what helps for me is on my computer, I have the stickies app. So at the start of the semester, as soon as I get my course syllabus, I create a sticky on my desktop with all the assignments, when they're due and the weight that they have. So for example, if I have a class that my research essay is due at the end of the semester, it's worth 35% of my grade. I like that just on my desktop. So every time I open it for school, I will see, okay, this is coming up. I need to keep an eye on that. And always just to remember the weight because I know I probably shouldn't say this, but there are assignments that are more that you might realize, okay, I'm gonna put all my effort into that because I know that I slacked off on this 20% assignment. Like most likely will happen for you, especially in your first year. That's the year you realize your ups and downs, your mistakes, what works for you. Thankfully, I'm finally in my fourth year and I hope mastered what works for me. But the biggest thing that I find helps too is I keep a whiteboard in my bedroom, like a big one on my wall. And every month I'll plan it out, not just school events. I also work part-time. So every single shift I have for work, any sort of social engagements that I know that's one I shouldn't miss or I really need to take time for myself. So it's gonna be a lot of work, but you unfortunately do have to plan everything. Even scheduling out time to shut the computer and go read a book, you do honestly have to schedule in the time of when you're gonna take care of yourself. And that's something I wish I learned better in first year is I really, I threw everything into school and realized that's not the way to balance it. That's not the way to go even for those straight A's. If you have to accept the B, just accept the B and acknowledge this is your first year of university. It's not going to be straight A's. If it is, you are obviously very, very intelligent and you have very special skills that not a lot of us have in university. But yeah, that's everything I gotta say. That's awesome, thank you. So as Abby did mention, there is a question for Sarah. How do you manage school life balance? And Sarah, or sorry, Abby mentioned that write it down, schedule down, put it somewhere where you're constantly looking so that you remember and that you keep that schedule in your head. So Ursula Ashani, do you have any suggestions about course outlines or work life balance? So for course outline, it was exactly like what Abby said. Mostly what I do is like, I analyze like the first day, I just go through everything and I'll either write it down or I keep like a reminder on my phone that, hey, like I have an assignment due or like I have a midterm coming up, like I should start studying and like a week or two before, three weeks before or like little, little parts of like my day where I could give to like my midterm or like my final. And for work life balance first year, I did do part time and it was okay. Like they still have to balance it. Like I have a huge calendar that I just bring everywhere from Toronto to Ottawa whenever I still had to meet my parents. So I used to bring it everywhere and it was literally like my life on a board. And I used to write everything like my midterms, my class, when my class starts, like everything was on that calendar. So I would recommend do that because otherwise you'll forget and then you'll be like, oh no, like a day before I have an assignment and then you'll be stuck and trust me it's not pleasant. Thank you. Ursula, did you want to go? Oh yeah. So like basically what everyone said, for me, I just, I like writing things down and I like like sticking it on the wall. So basically, because I feel it's satisfying and it makes me feel like time is going and the semester is almost ending. So like I just write it down and then after I just assignment, I just like take it off my wall because I sit down on my table to do my work. So I put everything, when I get my course outline, write everything down on like sticky notes and I just take it off as I'm going to like, if it's still there, I know that I've not done this assignment and if it's gone, then I best believe I've done it because I'm also a very forgetful person. So like it also helps me just remember that, okay, I've done this. So I don't have to like worry or stress like panic oh, I've not done this assignment and stuff like that. And for work-life balance, I just started working on like my second third year, my second year. So I was able to just maybe like schedule my shifts on days that I probably don't have classes and luckily for me, when I was working in school, I was able to work and also do my school work at the same time. Like it was that chill, I would say. So I did have to maybe like say, oh, I'm at work, I'm at work or I'm just coming to school. Like you'll be able to concentrate 100% but then you could still get like a few things done while working. So that was lucky for me. But then I feel it's just, you have to just know what she wants, like what she wants, like your priorities and just like from there, just this is your priority, this is second and this is third. When like you should also put yourself first and your mental health because school gets very draining sometimes, especially on like maybe the end of the semester or during like midterms and stuff. So like planning everything and just knowing okay, I'm going to do this for myself this week or this week I'm going to focus on this particular thing. So like you don't lack in every other area of your life just because, oh, I'm in school. Yeah. Thank you. And Sarah who asked our first question says, thank you very much. It was very helpful. So I'm glad that we're helpful today. We have another question in the chat. It says, hello, I'm an international student and waiting for my study permit. So I'll begin my studies online until I receive it. It is delayed due to COVID, like everything. Just wanted to know if classes are recorded because some of my classes are on times like midnight as they're in Dubai. So there's quite the time difference. Would also like to know how attendance for classes works in this context. So I can start off just a little bit for recordings. It's more up to the professors on whether they record it and release it. And for attendance, again, that's up to the professors if it counts as a grade. I'll let the investors chime in as well on their experiences that they've had online. I'll go for this one again too. Online was definitely a very difficult experience for me just because I knew that sitting in front of the computer in your house, it's easy to get distracted. It's easy to a lot of people. I know a lot of my friends. I did it at the start of the year too. You think, oh, online, I'll do class in my bedroom. Like that's such a good idea. And then next thing, you know, you fell asleep in class. So that's one thing I would definitely say. Don't bring schoolwork into your bedroom if you can avoid that. Obviously I know some circumstances, your bedroom is the only place you can use school. But for me, I knew, okay, I need to set up a school area outside of my room either at the living room table or at a desk somewhere knowing that this is for school. I need to stay focused. Unfortunately, for that question about the international student, like Stephanie says, it is mostly up to discretion of the professor. I never had any experience with that because I live in Ottawa. So I was always in the same time zone. So I never struggled with that issue. But I would like to hope that professors would be very understanding with that and be able to work around with that with you individually. So that's why it's so important to reach out to your professors. They seem scary and unapproachable when they're these like out of world human beings, but they're really not. They're normal people who enjoy what they teach. Just reach out to them. Don't be afraid. And you really, it looks good for you. I know any professors I reached out to right away, I noticed they were very more engaged with questions I had to ask. They were more helpful. And so you kind of just have to get over that fear and just put yourself out there with your professors. Thank you, Abby. That's very helpful. Paul's got something. Can I make a suggestion from a professor's point of view? So I taught online all last year. I'd never done it before. Didn't really like the technology. It's really, so I taught grad classes. So they were a bit smaller, but it's really weird just looking at your own face on the screen and a bunch of like blank little boxes. Very few students, some students turned their cameras on. Some didn't, but if you turn your camera on, at least some of the time, your professor actually gets to see your face. And okay, you may not be comfortable and there's no require, at least I don't think, there's ever a requirement to turn your camera on. But if you do, you'll have a little bit of a, more of a relationship if I can put it that way, because your prof will actually know who you are. Like I've been writing reference letters for students that I've never met in person. And some of them were just a name on a screen. I didn't even see their face very often. So that makes it tricky. So if you're comfortable, and if you've got a kind of professional looking, not professional looking, but just a background that doesn't have dirty underwear lying on the bed or something, then turn it on. It'll build a little bit of a relationship. And then if you ask, if you email with a question, the prof kind of has an idea who you are. Again, there's no obligation, but from a prof's point of view, that makes you a real person rather than just kind of some bits and bytes out there. Thank you, Paul, that's great. And what was mentioned before is contact your prof if you would like to ask for recordings. I'm sure that you can contact a professor. There are information at the top of that syllabus we were talking about. Definitely talk to them, either set up a meeting or email them, whatever you feel more comfortable with and see if they're willing to record. I know a couple of professors, they had a couple of students that were in that situation and they held a separate office hour to go over briefly what the lesson was. It wasn't as in depth, but anybody who just wanted a reminder or if they missed something in the lesson or their internet went down because of a storm, they were able to go to that separate office hour and hear the repetition of the lesson in summary and be able to just like ask questions about something they might have missed. So definitely reach out to your professors. They are people too. So we do have another question in the chat. Good morning. I just had a question about the online classes. How does it work? Are students being sent a link or to a call or like are the tasks posted on Brightspace? How did you balance the online learning in-person lessons? Thank you. For me, my classes were unfortunately and unfortunately for me, they were like prerecorded. So like I just, anytime of the day, just go watch your classes and for some people, some people really helped. For me, it was a good thing and a bad thing because then it made me procrastinate so much more. At the point, things piled up. And on the other hand, it also helped with my schedule and just planning myself better, like saying I would watch this class at this time and not necessarily at 8, 13 in the morning when the class would have been scheduled. So sometimes at the beginning of the semester, if it's a live class, I'd leave the proof with like send a link. Like, okay, this is the link we're going to be using for the class, just log in every morning at this particular time and then the class would go on. Like that was how it was for me. Like anytime I had the live class and balancing online lessons and impressing, I don't know. I think, okay, class, when everything was still normal, I had an online class with an in-person class and it was okay. It wasn't really, like maybe that class lagged more because it was online and also it was not recorded. It was recorded. So it was just, oh yeah, watch this at the end of the week or watch this after I go for my in-person classes. So it's also just, I feel like you have to also treat it like you are there and maybe try, though it is very annoying to wake up by 8, 13 in the morning for a class, just try to just treat it like a normal class. Like you are going in person, like in your schedule or your planner, just plan 8.30 a.m. I have this class and just like watch it. And to really help over time instead of maybe having to watch five long, one hour videos at the end of the week, that would, you would actually, most of the time I find you don't learn anything when you watch them together at the same time. It's not like watching a series where you're just binge watching. You have to take notes, you have to write and you actually have to assimilate. So spreading it out and just taking, watching the videos when they come out would actually really help. That is excellent advice. So I'll go next. So for me, like most of my classes for during COVID they were just all pre-recorded. So I could, anytime I could just go and watch, but in person and online, there's like, there's kind of a difference because you kind of procrastinate with like online, online learning in person cause you know, you actually have to like take notes and like listen and all that. But during online, like I'll be honest, like I've fell asleep watching one of my lectures. There's, they're very, like Abby said, like if you're in your bed and you're studying or like even in your bedroom, you'll just feel that tiredness and you'll just like, okay, maybe like I'll take a nap and like don't do it, it's not, it's not helpful. And yeah, there is some professors also do a Zoom link. They'll send you an email and they'll be like, this is like our office hours or like these are, like maybe we'll have like one online, like synchronous like learning experience for one day. And then the rest are just like a pre-recorded. So yeah, those would be sent from your Zoom like email. Perfect. So yeah, definitely don't procrastinate as much as you want to. It's not like binging a show. You don't want to burn yourself out. You'll definitely feel better at the end of the day if you space it out and do the classes when you're supposed to. At times that can be difficult, but definitely a good thing to push yourself in that way instead of procrastination. I am a huge procrastinator, so I totally feel that. Another thing I want to mention about the course outline is usually at the end of the course outline, there is a schedule for the semester and it tells you what subject is being taught in that class. And sometimes the professors will also put the link within that table at the end. So you'll know, oh, my Zoom link for class one is here and two, three, all the way through usually around 12. So that's something good to keep in mind. We got another thank you. You guys are being very helpful. I totally agree. There's another question to chat as well for our law professors. So how are law students being examined during the semester? Can't do this one really quick. So again, it kind of depends on the professor. For some, I know some of my law professors, it was mostly just, I'll teach, you listen, we'll have exams and that's all there is. For a lot of your classes, showing up to class is part of participation, but another part is actually speaking and commenting. I find that was more in my upper year courses where they kind of said, if you're not going to talk in my class, you're not going to get your full participation. But there's, I don't know if I may not understand the question properly. I don't feel like there's a specific way that law students in particular are examined. It just depends on the structure of the class that you get. Totally agree. In my experience as well, they list out whether you're going to have a quiz or a midterm or exam. And usually those at the beginning as well as beforehand, maybe a week or two, what the exam will consist of. Like so many multiple choice, so many short answer, so many long answer. On so-and-so number of chapters, et cetera, et cetera. So definitely pay attention to those classes. Don't fall asleep in those ones. Another question here from Sarah. For the law students, are you often cold called? Is there a lot of class participation? Now I don't quite understand the cold called part, but I'm hoping Abby might. I'm thinking you mean like if we're called out, kind of saying Abby answers this question now. If that's it, I personally have never experienced it. Most of my professors will put out a question to the class, then nobody answers. Some of them will just move on and they'll say fine, I'll just answer it. Others will honestly just sit there with their arms crossed saying, I'm gonna wait until one of you guys answers. Which honestly, that's fair. Like the professor is checking in to make sure that you understand what they're teaching you. And I find any class that I participated more in, my grade was so much better. Not only because I was actually learning more because I realized, okay, I'm gonna reply to their questions. I really need to think about the question. Also, I think Paul can maybe answer this for us. I also felt that the more I participated, the more the professor liked me. And they definitely were willing to kind of work with you for your grades. Same with the TAs for your first year. TAs, like honestly, you have got to suck up to them. Like they are the ones who are grading you. They are the ones really dealing with your participation. So you've just got to do whatever they ask. You've got to be nice to them. Even when you get there, ask how they are, ask how their day's been going. Just they should become your best friends because they are really your main focus. In my opinion, first year, the professors are there to kind of guide the class but the TAs are who grade your assignments. They're who evaluate your participation. So definitely focus on your TAs a lot just like your professors. I might not have said sucking up, but I definitely do not slip cash donations in an envelope under the door like that's right out. But yeah, if you're showing that you're making an effort and you're showing that you're engaged, then of course the professor or the TA is going to see that. And just it's a human nature. You might get the benefit of the doubt if there's a close mark. Is this a B plus or is it an A minus? Somebody might say, yeah, I know that they're participating. They've done the work. You might get the benefit of the doubt. So building those relationships when you can is important. Not going out of your way and being over the top about it. But yeah, that matters. Professors all have different styles. They all do it differently. Maybe you're used to high school teachers. High school teachers actually got training and teaching. You have to be a teacher. Professors don't actually get any training to be teachers. You'd think maybe we did, but we don't. So we all develop different styles. Some professors do like to call on students. I'm not sure how common that is nowadays. But they're allowed to, it's their class. They can do whatever they want, but you should get an indication in the course outline of how the class participation is going to be graded. Is it just you show up, you're gonna get the full grades? Do you have to participate in little quizzes? Do you have to, is it a combination of showing up plus making a contribution? You should know what you're going to be graded on. And that should be clear in the course outline. If it's not, then you should ask and you can adjust accordingly. And participating, just showing that you try, like Paul said, can be, give someone a benefit of doubt, showing that you try. And Abby said, you get better grades for participation. Another reason for that is that when you participate, you could almost sitting in your exams or assignments to remember that class and be like, oh, I said this and the prof is really proud because I was right or I was wrong and the prof corrected me and then you'll remember that right answer. It makes the classes more memorable and you just end up more intrigued with the topic and you just remember more. So I find anyways, and in my four years of university, I was never cold cold, no one was. So I would take a deep breath on that, can still happen, but I wouldn't worry about that specifically. Our most common question for these sessions is about textbooks and I was gonna touch on this by the end of the session. If nobody asked, luckily someone has. So we have a message from Charmaine. I apologize again if I found that wrong. I'm an international student and because of COVID, my visa will most probably come out after the fall term begins. So I'll be doing online lessons at home for textbooks. What will I do if I need to use a particular textbook? Do I just look for it on the internet and download it? And my usual question is, do I need the textbook? When should I buy the textbook? And I'll leave that to the ambassadors with their experience. So I found because of COVID and the online experience, the textbook situation changed a lot at least from what I observed. I noticed a lot of professors provided the textbook online or there actually wasn't a textbook at all. There was just weekly readings and they would attach the attachment or a PDF document. I know if you do have any in-person classes, that's where you may get the situation where they tell you, this is a specific textbook. Either you can only get it in the Carleton bookstore or I know Octopus Books is another popular one that I've had to go to for classes. But I would say because for first years, most of your classes will be online. Most of the textbooks should be an online resource. And again, because you are an international student, that's a special circumstance that the professor should be willing to work with you on. Like I said before, I am not an international student so I can't exactly give you the proper answer just cause I never experienced that circumstance. But again, reach out to the professor, always ask them if they're willing to work with you and figure out a different situation or something that'll help you be able to still get the same information in the class. Thank you. Yes, I definitely agree with everything Abby said. We for that first class, the professor will tell you what readings are absolutely mandatory, which ones are free download. My first semester, I bought every book brand new. Books are expensive. I spent thousands of dollars, no joke. Get to the class and the profs like here's a free PDF and then there's also Octopus Books or Hayden Books. They have used books which are perfectly fine. They always say there might be highlighting in notes but I've never had highlighting your notes in my books and even if I did, I feel like they would have been helpful. So definitely wait for that first class. Don't stress yourself out, save some money. Everybody needs to save money where they can. So a question from Ashlyn, should we buy the textbooks before the first class? No, definitely not. You might also meet people in the first couple of weeks that are like, oh, I have that textbook. Do you want it for like $10 and you save so much money? So I think the investors would agree, do not buy the book until at least after your first or second class, perfect. So we're gonna wait, see if any more questions come in the chat or if anybody would like to speak up. But another thing I did wanna touch on that is very, very important for first year students is to talk to your academic advisors. So these are people who are specially trained in your program to know what courses you need to take, what requirements you have to graduate and how you're doing. So you should see them at least once a year. I saw mine every semester, just to make sure you're on the right track, get help where you can. And they can also help you if you maybe took an elective and you're like, wow, I really liked my American Sign Language class. I wanna do a minor in it. They can help you with all the requirements for a minor and for anything to do with co-op. If you're in the co-op program, that means you can have a placement and what's great about co-op university placements apart from high school is that you get paid. So definitely talk to your academic advisors. Did the ambassadors wanna say anything about academic advisors or your experiences? Yeah, I would just say like definitely reach out to them. Even for me, I'm in my fourth year, just created my schedule. I thought I read my audit perfectly that I had all the classes I needed. Then once I was registered in my courses, went back to review my audit and it still told me I was missing half a credit. So right away, I was like emailing my academic advisor just saying, okay, what the heck happened? I thought I took all the right courses and they're very quick to respond and help you out and move things around for you. So any sort of questions you have to make sure you graduate on time, like they're just like a professor in the sense that reach out to them and might seem scary at first because you've never had to do that. But they're there to help. That's, and my mom, she actually works at Carleton in the health and counseling department. She knows other people in other departments. She said they're sitting there. They want to help you, but nobody reaches out as much as they wish. So they are honestly sitting at their desk waiting for you guys to reach out. That is their job. They enjoy it. They want to be there to help. So don't be afraid to go and ask them. 100%. And just for anybody to know, I've wanted to mention TA is teaching assistant. They're an upper year student that helps the professor. They'll do different labs with you or something called a discussion or tutorial. And that's when it's a smaller group and you can bounce ideas around with each other and work on things that were discussed in the class. An audit is like a really intense report card. It shows what you're taking and what you have taken. So what you have taken, it will show your grades and whether they work as requirement or it was a failed grade. Hopefully that won't happen to anybody. And then what you will need to take versus what you are taking. So that's what an audit is. We do have a really good question here. How can we get in touch with the academic advisors or are we automatically connected to them? To get in touch with them, go to Carleton.ca slash FPA and under that you'll be able to find various units. So click on your unit, whether that be economics, technology, law or whoever else is joining us today. And then from there, you'll be able to see who is in that department and under academic advisors, they'll have your advisors sitting there with their emails and phone numbers and you can contact them how you like. The phone numbers listed might be their office number because we're working from home doing virtual meetings as we are today. Email them because if you call, you might not be able to reach them. So that is an answer to that question. And sorry, I talked quickly. So if anybody missed anything I said, just let me know. Paula Wilson, our associate dean with us today also mentioned something very important. If you buy a used book, just make sure it's the right edition. Additions often change and the pages, numbers, content, questions and answers may not match what the professor assigns. So another thing is that the professor might mention that you can do use several editions. And then in the topics and the course outline, it will say, if you're using edition one, it's pages this to this. If you're using edition two, it's pages this to this. So yes, pay attention to editions. It's very important and it will help you a lot. Okay, we have, oh, we have a thank you very much. So we got to thank you very much in the chat. Are there other ways that our ambassadors have connected with our academic advisors? Or did I cover it? Okay, okay. So again, what Abby said, my first job at Carleton, I was the assistant for the academic advisors for the department that I was in. And 100% true. They love helping students. They are passionate about helping students. They want to see you. So any contact with them will be a positive experience. I promise you that. And it will help you a lot. So Sarita, hi again. How can we get in touch with our professors before the class begins? So this, I guess it depends. I think to get their contact information, it's usually on the course syllabus. So you kind of have to wait until they provide that on Brightspace. I know from some of my online classes last year, once I got their email, I just kind of sent a quick email of, you know, hi, this is who I am. I'm excited for your course. Just a little bit of an introduction just because you aren't able to do that in person. And I know any professor that did receive my emails, they responded back, just really excited of, thank you for introducing yourself. I know some of my professors required that, that they released the course syllabus and then they opened up an online discussion room of just everyone giving everyone an opportunity to introduce themselves, why they took the course, what they're excited to learn. So I would assume just like last year, there will be a lot of opportunities online to be able to introduce yourself to your professors and your classmates. Thank you, Abby. So Sarita says, thanks Abby. That's exactly what I wanted to do. Very helpful, with a smile and thanks. So we are approaching the end of our session. So if you have one last question, throw it in there. But if you have a question or think of something after, I have now put my email into the chat, feel free to email me with any questions you have. I can either answer them if I know the answer or go ahead and link you up with one of our ambassadors that are here today. And we can get that question answered and reply. If you miss my email in the chat or happen to not be able to get to the chat, the person that sent you the Zoom information yesterday for this, that was me. So just hit reply, might be the easiest way to do it. So the Zoom information you got yesterday, hit reply, ask me any questions you might have missed today. So our last question for today is from Jacep. Apologize again, I'm terrible at things. One question, I tried looking for my course books so that I could already order them. However, on some of them, there was not a book provided and it was saying like no course found. How could I sort it out and should I just wait? I think we kind of touched on this before, but I personally would recommend just wait. Definitely just wait. The professor will provide a lot of information. Sometimes they even say there's gonna be a textbook and then within the first week, they realized, nevermind, I don't wanna use a textbook and moving all of the course readings online. So definitely wait. You don't wanna spend all this money on textbooks and realize you didn't need to buy any of those. And the first week of classes, they are never really assigning any readings from the textbook right away. They give students the opportunity to get the proper book and then you're all set to go for the rest of the semester. Perfect, thank you. And for youth books as well, pre-COVID is when I bought youth books before. So if you can't go in person or don't feel safe meeting up with someone from like Gigi, Amazon is your best friend. There are used books also posted on Amazon new and used. So you can also see the comparison of what prices are posted. So if you're being socially distanced or unfortunately end up in quarantine or anything like that, Amazon is your best friend. So Giuseppe says, that's good. Thank you to Abby. So that is actually the end of our session now. I'll say a few words and if Paul, if you wanna jump in to close it out or if you have anything to add, I just wanted to say to everybody, thank you so much for joining us today. You've already taken the right step in being successful in your degree. It's gonna be a heck of a time when you're gonna have a lot of fun. Definitely, we've talked a lot about academic but be good to yourself, go to social events, get something that you never thought you would. If you always wanted to learn that language or always wanted to learn about Greek mythology or anything like that, definitely take advantage of the time you have now because there is no better time. Go to, maybe not party, but go to those events, join that club, meet new people. I do have one comment. So there's lots of balancing of work and school work and paid work and life and activities. There's something called the Carlton Center for Student Academic Support. As an associate dean, I'm starting to learn about these things I've never seen before. They've got workshops on time management. They've got workshops on academic integrity. If you've got any questions or you feel like you're falling behind and you need some help, there are always people to ask, right? That Center for Academic Support would be one. You've got professors, you've got people in departments, you've got student ambassadors. Don't be afraid to help. And some of these resources are excellent. There's also something like the University Ombuds person. If you've got questions about process and maybe you're not sure something's fair, the University Ombuds person is a great resource. I've been really impressed working with her again for the first time. Anyway, so if you've got questions, there are always people to help. Don't be shy about asking. 100% in that center that Paul was talking about also helps with writing and grammar. I'm very much a math person. I was asked to write my first essay. Oh, that was intimidating. But they helped a lot. The classes are free. They're posted online and you can also have a one-on-one meeting if you book it ahead of time. So it's incredible. And there are resources at Carleton you couldn't even imagine. Another resource is PMC. This is Paul Menton Center. So they help anybody with disabilities or any kind of learning disability. Or when I was in fourth year, I broke my arm. My right arm. I couldn't write my exams. And so they took me in and they sat with me and I was able to verbally do my exam because I literally couldn't physically write my exam. So it's amazing what they can help you with and what resources are available to us at Carleton. So by all means, if you have any further questions, you have my email and I can link you up with someone. Oh, one last question we'll answer quickly. Are there jobs on campus for first years? Who wants to take that? I can also answer this one. Thanks, guys. I don't know of any jobs that are like specific for first years, but there are lots of campus like student jobs. I'm almost positive that the Raven Center, which is like the athletic center are hiring right now for lots of different positions. I have seen postings on social media for that. So if you are interested on working on campus, I would look into that. I know that like, so like the athletic center or Raven Center, I would just look that up on Instagram or just on Google. And there are job opportunities there. Yeah, and there's a variety of jobs. So they're being sports, be at the different shops on campus. There's food shops and various things like that. So definitely follow Carlton on social media in any way, shape, or form to keep up with any of that. All right, again, thank you everyone for joining us today. Feel free to reach out to me if your question wasn't answered or if you think of something more later on. And thank you so much to my ambassadors. I really appreciate you helping us make these first year connections. I hope everybody has a wonderful day.