“How to Survive Your First Year” A small guide on

A small guide on
“How to Survive Your First Year”
in Laurea Business Ventures
For LBV Students
By LBV Students
Written & Produced by
Sanna Kesänen, Ekaterina Savolainen, & Neil Ghulam
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our mentors and teachers, and everyone else involved in educating and teaching
us during our first year. Without them our knowledge and skill by which we aim to be better at
everything we do would not be possible.
We would specially like to thank Anna Ikonen for all her help and support, and without whom this would
not be possible.
Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1
Your First Project ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Understanding You Curriculum ................................................................................................................ 2
The LBV Study Process ............................................................................................................................. 3
Reading Circles ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Examinations ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Time Management .................................................................................................................................. 4
Team Work.............................................................................................................................................. 4
Project management ............................................................................................................................... 5
Reports ................................................................................................................................................... 5
Other Projects ......................................................................................................................................... 6
Continuing Your Studies .......................................................................................................................... 7
Introduction
They say that starting something is always the hardest. Whether starting a project, or learning to play a
new instrument or starting a new school, the start is the confusing, hardest part of your new journey. It
is important to understand what you are going to start, what you will be doing, and how you will be
doing it all.
Starting a new set of studies and education is scary enough, especially in a school that does things a little
differently. What is “LBV”? What is “Learning by Development”? What is “Project Based Education”?
Like we said already starting something new is hard, and it is very important to understand and have
something to fall back on for guidance and knowledge.
That is why you have this guide to help you get through your first year of school at Laurea’s Business
Management programme. Written by LBV students for LBV students we hope this guide will make your
first year comfortable and a great experience, and create the necessary understanding to complete your
studies.
Your First Project
As a first year student, your first project will be a sales campaign project, this while serving as a start for
your studies will also provide a basis for leaning and gaining experience for all other projects and studies
during the next 3.5 years (if you study hard ) that you will spend Laurea.
In this sales project you will be forming a team, your will choose between two companies, that have
been used previously for the same purpose. You will then have to study the basic theory of sales,
strategy, marketing and running a sales campaign event while simultaneously planning the project.
Once this is done you and your team will actually implement the plans and run the sales campaign.
All this work will be done under the assumption that are working in professional business environment
this entails writing agendas, meeting minutes and the necessary and required project documents and
reports.
Some important roles and their responsibilities in the LBV process are the following:
Mentor: Your primary teacher/instructor, he or she will take a personal role in guiding and coaching you
as an individual and as a team. Your mentor will also be the one setting up the projects and liaising with
the client.
Client: The individual, company, or organization for whom you do the project.
Project Manager: The leader of the project and team. The project manager guides your progress, and
the project, and updates and liaises with the mentor and client.
Team Member: An individual who is part of a team working on a project or task.
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Understanding You Curriculum
This is how your studies look like in the form of an image. All of your studies will go into one of the six
competence areas that are: Planning & Implementing, Sales & Customers, Finance, Management &
Leadership, Communication and Language Skills.
For five of the six competencies you need a minimum of 6 ECTS while for Planning & Implementing
competency you need a minimum of 20 ECTS. After acquiring the minimum credits necessary it is
entirely up to you in which competencies you choose to get more or less credits up to a total of 210
credits. This choice defines in what you choose to major/minor in.
Fig. 1: LBV Curriculum
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The LBV Study Process
The LBV study process is what makes the Laurea Otaniemi’s branch of Business Management so
different. Laurea Business Ventures is a special study process that allows students to learn by doing
what they would be doing in real life after graduation, under the guidance of their mentors all who have
some sort of real life business experience.
Unlike in other schools, students learn by doing real life business projects. These are done with
guidance from already skilled project managers and mentors. The students’ knowledge, skill and
progress are monitored through exams, reading circles reports and essays.
Reading Circles
Reading circles are a method used by mentors in LBV for assessing the knowledge of their students. This
process consists of the teachers assigning a book to be read. Once the book has been studied and read,
the students are divided into two groups, one group makes a presentation of half of the book, while the
other group makes a presentation on the other half of the book. At the first reading circle the first
group presents their study of the book while the other group discusses and talks about the content.
And then at the second reading circle the roles are reversed.
It is important for everyone to take part in the discussion and to be able to answer any direct questions
asked by the mentor. Often if the mentor notes that a particular student has not studied the book
enough it is required that the students in question write an essay on the book. An essay is also required
if a student is absent for the reading circle.
Reading circles are an alternative to examinations; however they do not replace examinations.
Examinations
Everyone knows what an examination is, and in LBV this does not differ in any way to other schools, an
examination is exactly an examination.
Thought relatively few as a method of assessment by mentors, during your first year when you are
completing your compulsory “Doer” level credits you will have a few exams; however after that it will be
an occasional occurrence depending on your mentor’s choice for assessment.
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Time Management
As you have probably already noticed, our system is a bit different than what you had in your previous
schools. Your schedule is going to be very different and unusual and planning it ahead of time can save
you from lot of stress and confusion. At the start of your studies, you will concentrate on only one
project, that is the sales project and it will be relatively easy to do the work with the few compulsory
courses offered. However once that project ends and you start taking on more projects this becomes an
every increasingly complicated task. You will have multiple projects all that need time alone and with
your team in addition to other courses lectures and events.
Previously you probably had a fixed schedule for the week, going from one appointment to the other. In
LBV every week is different. Most days consists of meetings with your group, mentors or clients. You
might have the occasional lecture for Swedish, Finance, Communication or some other course that will
be scheduled in the school calamander, however most of the time you are responsible from your own
scheduling.
Since the LBV study process is so heavily based on group work, effective scheduling and time
management will prove to be very important. If you are not used to using a calendar, we assure you will
be after your first year in LBV. So if you’re a high tech person find a good effective program to assist
you, if your one of those who doesn’t get along with computers your little calendar book will work just
as well.
Team Work
An important aspect of the LBV studies is that most of the work is done in cohesion with other people as
a team. It is extremely important to understand and respect the differences between individuals, their
cultures, and their ideas. Only a good cooperative team can get the required results and at the same
time learn from the process.
While working in a team everyone is going to follow the same goals and objectives for the project. Tasks
will be divided equally among members of the team based on skills and knowledge guided by the project
manager. The responsibility for completing the project falls on all members of the team equally. The
project manager acts as a guide and team leader and part of the team in some cases. The person
responsible for monitoring and controlling the overall project and its progress is the mentor, who also
acts as a guide when needed.
Some of the important things that facilitate good team work are doing your own work on time,
communication between the team, sharing ideas with each other, being supportive and respectful of
each other. Good team work is a very important part of your studies and you should take an active role
in ensuring that you are a good team member. That being said meeting deadlines, checking emails,
answering messages etc. are all a very important part of good team work.
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Project management
During your LBV studies, almost every project that you will do will have a project manager. As a first
year student you will not be a project manager and most probably a senior student who has the skill and
experience will lead out, however after that you are welcome to take on the roles of project manager
for any given project.
The main duties of the project manager are to co-ordinate between the mentor, client and project team,
provide support and guidance for the team, and keep the team focused on the project objectives. The
project manager is also expected to deal with conflicts within the team and deal with matters related to
division of work. In some cases the project manager takes responsibility for ensuring the project is
completed on time with the required specifications.
Reports
A big part of your LBV studies will consist of reporting, these will be among your group as well as official
reports to your mentors and clients. Since you do not attend lectures or workshops and meet with your
mentors on an everyday basis, you need to write agendas, meeting memos and reports to keep your
team, mentors, and other related parties up to date on what’s happening with the project.
Learning Plans
This is one of the first documents you will create at the start of a project. This personal document helps
you state what you plan to learn during the project and how you plan to achieve this learning. It also
contains information as to the duration of the project, people involved and responsible for the project
and information for the credits of the project.
Agenda’s & Minutes
The team’s agendas will show everyone concerned what is going to be happening in the upcoming
meeting as well as what needs to be done. The meeting minutes will enable all concerned to know what
matters were discussed, what was decided and what is going to happen next.
Project Plan
After initiation the team will start writing the project plan. This is basically an action plan on what is
going to happen, what needs to be done and how it is going to be done for the successful completion of
the project. The project plan will work as a guide to keep the team in line with the objectives and
focused, therefore this will need to be updated if there are any changes to the project.
Relevant Reports
During the project it may be necessary to create and write up custom reports based on the type of
project. This could consist of proposals, research reports, general reports, financials, etc. Depending on
the type of project and its content, these reports will be created and will consist as part of the project
itself.
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Final Report
At the end of the project, the team will write out a final report. This report will tell you what the team
has done, how the goals of the project were reached, what problems arose, how they were dealt with,
what went well, what was learned, and the successfulness of the project. This report is a summary of
the project in whole, and concludes the project.
Evaluation/Feedback
The final part in ending the project consists of the evaluation. This is done among the team members
and a final meeting with the mentor. In this evaluation meeting everything regarding the actually
project its failures, successes, and learning is discussed and evaluated, after which the performance of
the individual team members are discussed and documented. In addition the project team and all
involved parties give their feedback on the project. All of this is wrapped up as the evaluation report,
and grades are given out by the mentor based on the project work, individual performance and the
overall project.
Other Projects
It is recommended that at the start of your studies, you only focus on the sales project this allows you to
study the theory and focus on the project and learn general project work and project guidelines. During
these 4 months not only will you understand projects but you will understand the study process and
other issues related to LBV. At the end of this project not only will you gain experience regarding
projects but you will also understand how projects work and how to run and manage a team and
project.
You then will be ready to take on new multiple projects. How many projects you take depends
individually on how much of a work load you can handle, the recommended is 2-3 projects at a time.
However this recommendation has its merits, as doing projects with supplementary lectures and
courses does prove to be challenging. These projects can be found on SharePoint and are offered by the
school, students, or external clients.
If you have a good business/project idea, you can always share your idea and get it approved as a
project, after which you can recruit a team, do the project and even start your own company.
SharePoint: A web application platform used for content management and document management.
Laurea uses this system as a means for managing and running projects.
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Continuing Your Studies
Students are free to choose and plan their curriculum, choosing in what areas they would like to major
or minor. It is also possible to take lectures and combine them with projects, these lectures also provide
a means for getting credits, and is suggested when basic theoretical knowledge is required. All projects
and lectures can be found from SharePoint and the Intra system available to students.
After the first sales project, students are able to use their own ideas or participate in projects posted on
SharePoint. A student is allowed to take as many projects as he or she able to manage effectively at a
time. Once having started a project it is possible to drop out, however there should be sufficiently good
reason for doing so, and it is not recommended.
To graduate a total of 210 ECTS is required. It is recommended that the majority of the credits should
be done as project work with a few supplementary lectures. From the total of 210 credits, 30 credits
consists of compulsory on the job learning experience (internship), while 15 credits consist of
compulsory thesis work.
We hope this guide is going to provide you with the necessary base and understanding you need to start
your studies with, and survive your first year successfully. In addition to this guide talking to your
mentors, tutors, and most of all other students will definitely get you through.
Happy Studying
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