Because we are a very big university, we cannot always give you information on a face-to-face basis. Email, moodle (or learn.ukzn.ac.za) and student central are the electronic means we use to communicate.
All students and staff have a UKZN email address. Even though you may have another email address, you must use your UKZN email for matters relating to UKZN. It is your responsibility to ensure that your UKZN email address is working and to check it often. Failure to do so could mean missing out on very important information.
You can find your Student Email by visiting this link.
A very important thing to remember is email etiquette – how to write emails to lecturers and other members of staff. Your UKZN email is your ‘professional’ email so avoid being too casual.
When communicating with a lecturer or member of staff by email, ensure that the email is written in a formal and concise manner:
- Start with ‘Dear X/Dr X’
- Then tell the person what module you are in
- This will be followed by what you want to ask
- Finally, sign off with ‘Regards [name and student number]’
You must also make sure that you check both the spelling and grammar before sending the email.
Click here to visit myUKZN then:
- To log in, use your student number and password/pin. Your password for the first time you use the system is your birthday in the form DDMM (eg. 1701 for 17 January).
- Once you have logged in, you will find lots of useful information about registration, fees, job opportunities and so on. You should check this site often to see that everything is going according to plan.
Technology is great and it will really help you keep on track at university. That said, technology can also be problematic, especially because it makes it easier to plagiarise and this is something YOU MUST NEVER EVER DO.
Plagiarism is seen as one of the worst things you can do at university. Why is that? Because using other people’s words or ideas without referencing to give them credit, is seen as stealing their work and pretending that it’s your own, which is academic dishonesty. So, if you plagiarise, your lecturer will see you as academically dishonest. It’s like the academic equivalent of stealing things from a shop you’re working in. That would get you fired from the job. Similarly, you can get expelled from university for plagiarism. Plagiarism is taken incredibly seriously. At best, you’ll get 0% for your essay or take-home exam. But you could land up failing your whole course or even getting thrown out of UKZN.
Probably the most important technological tool at UKZN is what we call Moodle. This is where lecturers post information, notes, quizzes, etc. If you don’t get into the habit of using Moodle regularly, you will fall behind very quickly.
- Go to http://learn.ukzn.ac.za
- Click on ‘Log in’ in the top right hand corner.
- Once you have logged in, you will see a list of the different Colleges. Click on the College of Humanities, which will then give you a list of Schools. Once you select the relevant School, you will then have to select the campus you are situated at. You then get a list of courses and you find the ones you are enrolled in.
As you register for a module, you are automatically registered on Moodle for that module. It may take a few days for all this to happen so don’t panic initially if you can’t find the relevant module. Keep checking with your lecturers to make sure you aren’t missing out on crucial information.
