Compulsory reading: College rules and guidelines NATIONAL N CERTIFICATE AND NATIONAL N DIPLOMA STUDENTS ENGINEERING STUDIES 2016 D10061855 Edition 2 *D10061855-E2* D10061855-E2
NATIONAL N CERTIFICATE AND NATIONAL N DIPLOMA STUDENTS ENGINEERING STUDIES 2016 COLLEGE RULES AND GUIDELINES CONTENTS PAGE Welcome to Damelin Correspondence College (DCC) 1 Free Email, Storage, and Communication Services Offered to All DCC Students 2 Live@Edu Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 3 How to Set up Your damelin.me Email Account 5 National N Certificates and National N Diplomas Engineering Studies 6 Exam Dates and Assignment Submission Closing Dates for 2016 10 Example of an Examination Entry Form 11 Notification of National Certificate Exam Registration Form 13 Important Contact Details 14 National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016
Welcome to Damelin Correspondence College (DCC) Dear student Welcome to Damelin Correspondence College! Congratulations on taking an important step towards realising your dreams. The College has been providing education and training since 1955, so you can rest assured that your future is in good hands. In these College rules and guidelines, we'll give you some important information that you should read before you start your studies. National N Certificates and National N Diplomas Engineering Studies Please carefully read the section called National N Certificates and National N Diplomas Engineering Studies. This section highlights essential information about the qualification that you have chosen to study. Examination information Please note that some examination information, such as the specific examination dates, may change. So follow instructions to access the latest examination information, which is available on the DCC website. College contact details The section called Important Contact Details contains important contact information for Damelin Correspondence College. Please ensure that you use the specified contact details when you contact the College. This will ensure that your query can be dealt with quickly and efficiently. Your damelin.me email address At Damelin Correspondence College, we want to ensure that we can contact you whenever we need to inform you of something important. We realise that your address details, your cell phone number and even your email address may change during the course of your studies. This is why we have assigned to you a College email address that is guaranteed not to change. Please carefully read the section called How to set up your damelin.me email address, and then activate your email address as soon as possible. We will be sending important information to this address, so please ensure that your email is activated. If you need any help, please don't hesitate to contact us. We wish you all the best, and success with your studies. Regards Ajanth Choudhree General Manager, Damelin Correspondence College National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 1
Summary FREE EMAIL, STORAGE, AND COMMUNICATION SERVICES OFFERED TO ALL DCC STUDENTS In partnership with Microsoft Live@edu and Windows Live, Damelin Correspondence College offers all students the following FREE services: 1. A free damelin.me email account, for life! This means that even after you have finished studying with DCC, you will still be able to use your damelin.me email address. 2. Access your email from anywhere in the world, via the Web. 3. Free Microsoft Outlook Live, with the ability to manage your calendar, contacts and much of the functionality of Microsoft Outlook (10 GB of space). 4. 25 GB of online storage space via your own personal SkyDrive. You can share files with others, or store your personal documents, photos, and music safely and privately on your SkyDrive. It also means that you don't have to carry a hard drive or flash disk with you anymore. 5. Free Microsoft Office Live Workspace, where you can share and edit your Microsoft Office documents. 6. Free Windows Live Messenger, to chat live. 7. Free Windows Live Writer, to compose compelling blog posts using Windows Live Spaces or your current blog service. Why do I need a College email address? As a modern student, you are highly mobile and usually at the start of your professional career. This means that you may change your email provider, your employer, your home address, or your cell phone number while you are studying with us. It is difficult for us to fulfil our service obligations to you if there isn't at least one way of contacting you that is guaranteed to remain constant while you are studying with us. Your College email address ensures that you are guaranteed to receive all official communication from us. And of course it provides you with a unique address that indicates that you are a student of Damelin Correspondence College. How must I use my College email address? Damelin Correspondence College will send all official communication (such as examination information, assignments, and tutorial answers) to your damelin.me email address. And we require that you use your damelin.me email address for all correspondence with us. What does this mean for you? It means that you have to visit your damelin.me email address regularly to ensure that you don't miss any correspondence from us. It also means that you will have a single place where all communication to and from the College will be kept. For more details, please see the Live@edu Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the next page. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 2
1. What is Live@edu? LIVE@EDU FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS) Live@edu is a free email, document management, and file storage solution available to all Damelin Correspondence College students. This means that you will get a free damelin.me email address when you enrol, plus all the other services linked to Live@edu. 2. What services are linked to my free damelin.me email address? Because your damelin.me email address is created via Live@edu, which is a service offered by Windows Live, you have free access to the following services: Outlook Live: Outlook Live gives you a professional email experience, similar to what you may use in the workplace. It also provides enterprise-class management tools, like archiving and distribution lists, as well as an address book and a calendar. Office Live Workspace: This enables you to create your own site to store, access, and share documents and files. With room for more than 1 000 files, Office Live Workspace enhances your ability to keep your work on track and collaborate with others on projects. Windows Live SkyDrive: You can use Windows Live SkyDrive a password-protected 25 GB of free online storage space to share documents among devices and with friends. You can set up personal and shared folders within your SkyDrive, and turn shared access on or off. Because SkyDrive is accessible from anywhere online, the days of transferring files on flash drives may be at an end. Windows Live Messenger: You can enjoy real-time chat, full-screen video calling, and computer-tocomputer calls with friends and family using Windows Live Messenger. Windows Live Spaces: This enables you to create personal websites in minutes, including blogs, forums, music lists, and photo albums to share with friends. You can also display SkyDrive content to share files easily. When it's time to put your education to work, you can set up e-profiles for prospective employers. Windows Live for Mobile Devices: Even when you can't get to a computer, you can access your email account or Windows Live Messenger from web-enabled mobile devices. 3. Do I have to give back my damelin.me email address when I complete my course? No. You will have your damelin.me email address for life. 4. Do I need a regular Microsoft Office licence to use Office Live Workspace? No, you do not need an Office licence to use Office Live Workspace. You can create and save Office documents, and share or edit them, without installing Office. You can also create and store documents that are not Office documents, and can create web-based documents, called 'notes', without installing Office. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 3
5. Why is Live@edu important for Damelin Correspondence College? The workplace is changing, and the desktop applications that employers use today will evolve to desktop applications combined with web services tomorrow. Educators preparing tomorrow's workforce want to partner with companies that can give them affordable access to those tools today. In addition, we find that our highly mobile students may change their address, telephone, cell number or email address while they are studying with us. We have to ensure that we are able to service all our students, and therefore a dedicated damelin.me email address ensures that we can meet our service commitments to you. 6. Why is Live@edu important for me? Live@edu is important for you because you expect your learning environment to have rich, high-quality communications capabilities like those available to you in non-academic settings. Live@edu gives you a free, yet familiar, email and document management and sharing service at your fingertips, allowing you to communicate easily with us, and seamlessly incorporate your digital lifestyle with your academic work style. And it also shows off your link to DCC. 7. How do I know that my information is safe? Live@edu provides excellent spam-fighting, safety bar, and personal 'safe list' and 'blocklist' capabilities. You can also have password-protected spaces where you can collaborate with others. Live@edu also does third-party penetration testing to help ensure there are no holes for hackers to exploit, and only authorised personnel are allowed access to the servers. Additionally, Live@edu has implemented industry best practices in their data centres to improve security of the servers and prevent unauthorised network access. 8. What will my damelin.me email address look like? We will use your student number as the prefix to your email address. In other words, if your student number is, say, 401234, then your email address will be 401234@damelin.me. 9. How do I set up my damelin.me email address? Please see the instructions that follow in the next section. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 4
HOW TO SET UP YOUR DAMELIN.ME EMAIL ACCOUNT Please note: Damelin Correspondence College will communicate with you by means of your damelin.me email account. Please ensure that you set-up your account according to the instructions provided below: 1. Damelin Correspondence College will sms you your password, which you need in order to access your damelin.me account. 2. Once you have received your password, go to http://mail.office365.com/. The page should look like this: 3. You will need to sign into your account using the password provided. 4. Please personalise your password. When you have set up your damelin.me mailbox, take the time to explore functions such as how to manage your contacts and how to link to your Facebook profile. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 5
NATIONAL N CERTIFICATES AND NATIONAL N DIPLOMAS ENGINEERING STUDIES About the Qualification that You Are Studying for NATED programmes refer to the Formal Technical College instructional programmes in the Republic of South Africa. The NATED programmes cover a wide range of National Certificate Qualifications on the N1 N3 Level, as well as on the N4 N6 Level. These qualifications are, by nature, technical / vocational orientated, and the N1 N3 qualifications in the engineering field of study have a strong focus on artisan training. Admission requirements Course level N1 N2 N3 N4 N5 N6 Entrance requirements Grade 9 (Std. 7) with Mathematics and Physical Sciences, or the equivalent of the N1 National Certificate, or an equivalent qualification N1 National Certificate N2 National Certificate N3 National Certificate N4 National Certificate N5 National Certificate Registration details and procedures / assessments You have registered with the College for the Teaching, Learning, and Internal Assessment of Learning components of your studies. The Internal Continuous Assessment component results in your ICASS mark (your ICASS Trimester marks for Trimester Engineering Studies (N1 N6)). Why do you need an Internal Continuous Assessment (ICASS) mark? Internal Continuous Assessments (ICASS) prepare students for external examinations through formal assessment activities that support teaching and learning, and that build up ICASS marks that count towards the calculation of final examination results. In Internal Continuous Assessments under The National Policy on the Conduct, Administration, and Management of the Examination of Formal Technical College Instructional Programmes (FTCIP), these marks are subject to quality assurance mechanisms, to ensure that uniformity of standards is maintained. The quality assurance (moderation, monitoring and verification) mechanisms inherent in the assessment process serve to strengthen its credibility, and thereby the credibility of the qualification. Internal Continuous Assessment tasks constitute the semester / trimester mark component. Internal assessment consists of tasks (tests, assignments, and (in some qualifications) internal examinations) which lead to the compilation of the trimester marks, and it is valid for one year from the date of achievement. You must obtain the pass percentage as indicated and applicable to your specific course and subject. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 6
The relevant instructional programme uses a combination of the ICASS mark and the examination mark in a prescribed ratio. Note that the pass percentages and ratios vary for different instructional programmes. But in general, the ratio of pass percentage for formative assessments to pass percentage for summative assessments is 40:60. Each student must complete the stipulated number of assessment tasks for each subject in a specified academic period. Only the marks achieved in these tasks will count toward an ICASS mark for each subject. Guidelines are applicable to students enrolled in trimester Engineering Studies (N1 N6), referred to as a Trimester ICASS mark, and semester Business and Utilities Studies (N4 N6), referred to as a Semester ICASS mark, in full time, part-time and distance learning modes. In order to qualify to register and write the National Certificate Examination, you must have a valid ICASS mark. Achieving an ICASS mark In order to get an ICASS mark, you have to submit at least two assignments to the College for marking. The marks for these two assignments are used to generate your ICASS mark. The two assignments have to reach us before the College's assignment submission closing date. The closing dates for 2016 assignments are 05 February, 13 May and 16 September. This will allow us enough time to grade your assignments and submit your ICASS mark to the Department of Higher Education and Training. After the ICASS mark closing date we can no longer submit your ICASS mark for the forthcoming examination sitting. Notification of National Certificate Exam Registration You are advised to complete the Notification of National Certificate Exam Registration Form and return it to the College as soon as you have registered with an exam venue / centre. The College will assist you to fill in the Exam Registration Form and assign you to a particular venue / centre close to your area. This way you can ensure that the Department of Higher Education and Training will receive your ICASS mark. External Exam Registration National Examinations are administered by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). The exam registration closing dates for 2016 are 29 January for the April session, 25 April for the July / August session, and 14 September for the November session. Please note the following: These dates are DHET deadlines. All FET exam centres have their own closing / cut-off dates. Please note that late entries will not be accepted. Please see the table below for closing / cut-off dates and external exam dates for 2016. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 7
CLOSING / CUT-OFF DATES AND EXTERNAL EXAM DATES FOR 2016 External exam registration closing / cut-off dates Assignment submission closing / cut-off dates External exam dates 29 January 2016 05 February 2016 30 March 12 April 2016 25 April 2016 13 May 2016 28 July 22 August 2016 14 September 2016 16 September 2016 17 November 30 November 2016 You can contact the Student Services Department for a list of the exam venue / centres. Contact details of Damelin Correspondence College Phone Email 0860 41 41 41 (call centre) dccsupport@damelin.edu.za Note that most FET Colleges have their own cut-off dates, so we recommend that you register well in advance to obtain the necessary forms, details about the fees, and, if possible, the timetable. The College will assist you to register at your nearest exam centre / venue for the DHET external examinations. Exam Registration Fees Fees paid to Damelin Correspondence College are for tuition only. In addition to these tuition fees, it is necessary for you to pay examination fees directly to the Further Education and Training College where you will be assigned to register. The cost of exam registration is determined by the relevant Further Education and Training College. Exam Entry Form You will receive an Examination Entry Form at the exam centre / venue where you will write your exam. The Department of Higher Education and Training uses this entry form to identify you, the College, and the subjects you have registered for. When completing this entry form, please note the following: Write your DCC student number next to your surname (for example, Smith DCC Student No. 401234). In Section A, use the Exam Centre Number 1199995007 to identify you as a Damelin Correspondence College student. In Section C on the Instructions page, DCC is identified as number 9 (nine). It is important to fill this in under column 1 on the exam form, next to the subject code, so that the Department of Higher Education and Training can identify you as a Damelin Correspondence College student and not as a student of another correspondence college. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 8
We have included an example of a completed Examination Entry Form and explicit instructions please see the section called 'Example of an Examination Entry Form'. To ensure that you receive your results quickly, you should read through this example of a completed form carefully, and fill your entry form in correctly when the time comes. REMEMBER In Section C on your exam entry form, you should fill in the number 9 (nine). This number indicates that you are a DCC student. Without this correct number, you will not be able to get your final mark. Preparing for the exam Before you attempt the exam, make sure that you are fully prepared. We recommend that you complete all of your self-assessment questions and assignments / test papers. These form an integral part of your studies. To ensure that you are well prepared for the examinations, we recommend that you achieve at least a 50% pass mark for the assignments / test papers in each subject. Your study material will include an exam pack with past exam papers. Prepare yourself by working through these exam papers. If you struggle with a specific question, contact your tutor. Your tutor is there to support you. NB: Only original assignments will be accepted. No assignments sent by fax or email will be accepted. Please post your assignments, preferably by registered mail. Keep a copy of your assignments for your own records. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 9
EXAM DATES AND ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION CLOSING DATES FOR 2016 The assignment submission closing / cut-off dates for 2016 are 05 February for the April session, 13 May for the July / August session, and 16 September for the November session. Please note that all FET Exam Centres have their own closing / cut-off dates and you need to register in advance. Please note: Up until the assignment submission closing date we can still accept assignments / test papers for calculating the ICASS mark needed for exam acceptance. Students should ensure that their second assignment / test paper reaches the College before the assignment submission closing date. The timetable will be issued by DHET to the relevant FET Colleges who are authorised to manage the exams. Please note that you may request the 2016 exam timetable dates from Damelin Correspondence College. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 10
EXAMPLE OF AN EXAMINATION ENTRY FORM National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 11
INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE PRINT, ONE CAPITAL LETTER PER BLOCK USE THE CORRECT ENTRY FORM FOR THE PARTICULAR COURSE SECTION A (MUST BE COMPLETED BY THE RECTOR / PRINCIPAL) 1. MUST BE COMPLETED AIDED BY THE LATEST EXAMINATION CENTRE DICTIONARY. 2. USE THE FORMAT: YYYYMM SECTION B (MUST BE COMPLETED BY THE CANDIDATE) 1. SURNAME MUST BE PRINTED, ONE CAPITAL LETTER PER BLOCK. 2. FIRST NAMES OR CHRISTIAN NAMES MUST BE PRINTED, ONE NAME PER LINE WITH A MAXIMUM OF THREE NAMES. 3. IN THE EVENT THAT THERE IS NO POSTAL ADDRESS AVAILABLE, THIS MUST BE LEFT BLANK AND ANY CORRESPONDENCE WILL BE DIRECTED TO THE EXAMINATION CENTRE. 4. POSTAL CODE: THE OFFICIAL POSTAL CODE OF THE POST OFFICE. 5. NB. ENTER 'Y' IF YOU ARE AN APPRENTICE. ENTER 'N' IF YOU ARE NOT AN APPRENTICE. 6. THE LANGUAGE MEDIUM OF CORRESPONDENCE A = AFRIKAANS, E = ENGLISH 7. CANDIDATES WRITING EXAMINATIONS MUST ENSURE THAT THEY ARE IN POSSESSION OF A VALID IDENTITY DOCUMENT AT THE TIME OF REGISTRATION. THE IDENTITY NUMBER WILL BECOME THEIR EXAMINATION NUMBER. 8. DATE OF BIRTH MUST BE ENTERED AS YEAR, MONTH AND DAY. FORMAT IS YYYYMMDD. 9. ANY PREVIOUS, PREFERABLY THE LAST, EXAMINATION NUMBER MUST BE ENTERED. 10. ENTER A 'M' FOR MALE OF 'F' FOR FEMALE. 11. ENTER A 4 IF A 4-SUBJECT CERTIFICATE MUST BE ISSUED. ENTER A 3 IF A 3-SUBJECT CERTIFICATE MUST BE ISSUED. SECTION C (MUST BE COMPLETED BY THE CANDIDATE AND THE RECTOR) 1. THE INSTRUCTIONAL OFFERING/S ENTERED MUST BE MARKED WITH ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: 1 = RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE (FULL TIME + PART TIME) 4 = TECHNISA 6 = SAPPI 9 = DCC 2. THE LANGUAGE MEDIUM IN WHICH THE QUESTION PAPER MUST BE PRINTED: A = AFRIKAANS, E = ENGLISH THE RECTOR MUST ENSURE THAT THE INSTRUCTIONAL OFFERING/S HAVE BEEN MARKED CORRECTLY. SECTION D (MUST BE SIGNED BY THE CANDIDATE AND THE RECTOR / PRINCIPAL) BEFORE SECTION D OF THE FORM IS COMPLETED, CARE SHOULD BE TAKEN THAT ALL PARTICULARS ARE CORRECT, ESPECIALLY THE COURSE NUMBER AND THE SUBJECT ENTERED. THE CANDIDATE, AND NOT THE DEPARTMENT, WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY MISTAKES MADE ON THE ENTRY FORM. NOTE: IF A CANDIDATE REGISTERS FOR A SUBJECT/S IN ANOTHER COURSE, A SEPARATE ENTRY FORM MUST BE COMPLETED. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 12
NOTIFICATION OF NATIONAL CERTIFICATE EXAM REGISTRATION FORM 1. Remember that it is essential that your contact details are correct (including your cell phone number and email address), as we will be sending you important examination information via email and sms. 2. If you have not received an examination entry form one month before the closing / cut-off date for the exams, then please request the form from Damelin Correspondence College. 3. Please complete your examination entry form before the examination closing / cut-off dates. Please refer to page 8 for the examination registration closing / cut-off dates. 4. It is your responsibility to register your damelin.me email address. Failure to do so may result in your not receiving examination information, and the College will not take responsibility for this. 5. On the days on which you will be writing examinations, please bring along your examination confirmation letter and your ID book. 6. Please be at the venue at least 30 minutes before the examination is due to start. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 13
IMPORTANT CONTACT DETAILS Contact via Email Damelin Correspondence College has created support email addresses to improve our service to you. In order to ensure that we process your request or query as quickly as possible, please use the specific email addresses below for your queries. For all transfer queries, please email dccsupport@damelin.edu.za For exam registrations, please email dccexamshelpdesk@icg.edu.za For examination-related queries, please email dccexamshelpdesk@icg.edu.za For all study material queries, please email dccsupport@damelin.edu.za For all account queries, please email dccaccounts@icg.edu.za For all certification queries, please email dccsupport@damelin.edu.za For all assignments queries, please email dccassignments@damelin.edu.za For all tutor queries, please email dccsupport@damelin.edu.za For all complaints, please email dcccomplaints@damelin.edu.za For all general queries, please email dccsupport@damelin.edu.za For counselling support, please email atrisk@icg.edu.za Look at the benefits of using the specific email addresses above: 1. An email sent to the appropriate email address can be dealt with speedily. 2. An email is a written record of your query. 3. Your email and our response can be used to build Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that may help other students with similar queries. 4. If you have more than one query, you can use more than one email address, which means your queries can be resolved at the same time by different departments. Please use your student number in the subject field and/or message header of your email. This will help us to service you as quickly as possible. Contact via Telephone If you need to speak to us, please call our national call centre on 0860 41 41 41. Our call centre is open during office hours only, from 08:00 to 16:30 from Monday to Thursday, and from 08:00 to 16:00 on Friday. Our offices are closed over the weekends and on public holidays. Please note that our branches are not equipped to deal with study-related queries, so please contact our call centre if you have any study-related queries. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 14
Contact via Fax Sending a fax is not a completely reliable way of sending information. While the sender may receive confirmation from his or her fax machine that a fax has been sent, for various reasons it may not arrive at the receiver's fax machine. For instance, the paper may jam in the receiver's fax machine or the machine may run out of toner ink, so that the fax arrives only partially or not at all. Damelin Correspondence College has experienced many problems related to faxes sent by students. So when you send us a fax, please contact the relevant department via email to confirm that we have received your fax. Please use the following fax number when sending documentation to us: Department Fax number Purpose of fax Notes Exams Registrations 086 676 9154 Exam registration Accounts 086 754 6021 Account queries Please fax your completed exam entry form to this number If you don t have access to email, please fax account queries to this number, as well as any accountrelated evidence(such as deposit slips) Please note: PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY ASSIGNMENTS TO THE COLLEGE VIA FAX. PLEASE POST YOUR ASSIGNMENTS TO THE COLLEGE INSTEAD. National N Certificate and National N Diploma Students Engineering Studies 2016 Page 15