Problem based learning and intro UM/SBE facilities
Assignment 0.1 My evening of meetings
Read this task before the tutorial meeting.
Prepare the post-discussion of this task before the next tutorial meeting.
Yesterday evening turned out to be a very interesting one. You went to two meetings. The
first one was with house mates at the student house you are living in with 14 students with 4
different nationalities (6 Germans, 4 Dutch, 3 French speaking Belgian and 1 Lithuanian).
The second one was a meeting of a committee of the students' association of which you are a
member. Two members of this committee are Dutch, 1 member is German, and 1 member is
from the UK.
The meeting of the student house seemed to be very straight-forward. There was only one
item on the agenda, "Rules and the way of living in our house". This subject had already been
discussed several times during the previous two days. Everyone had agreed that things had to
change. The meeting started late and only eight out of the fourteen house mates showed up.
Moreover, the meeting developed into a real pandemonium. Several times people used their
native language. After several hours, there was still no agreement on how to continue, and all
the participants left upset and frustrated.
You had to hurry to be in time for the second meeting. Fortunately, you had prepared yourself
the evening before. Three "hot items" were on the agenda, a ballot of new members, domestic
rules, and co-operation with other students' associations. The meeting was a relief, partly due
to the way Annemiek, the new chairperson, presided over it. The other members of the
committee were also well-prepared and within two hours all three topics had been discussed
and clear decisions had been taken. Satisfied with this result, the committee members decided
that they earned a beer in the pub of the association.
In the first week (preferably before the post-discussion in tutorial meeting 2), you need to
watch several videos regarding the PBL system. On the course page, check the Module for
task 1 for all information.
Assignment 0.2: Student Portal and MySBE Intranet
Complete this task in your first week, preferably before tutorial meeting 1.
All information you will need during your studies can be found on the Student Portal. The
Student Portal is your one-stop location for accessing and managing your personal university
information. It has been designed to work on all devices, so that you can access the
information you need, whenever you need it. You can log in on
studentportal.maastrichtuniversity.nl using your student ID and the password you received.
As you have to be able to navigate through and find your information in the Portal from the
very beginning of your SBE life onwards, you received already a short introduction to the
Portal during the faculty introduction days. However, learning and retention rates differ
between seeing something and experiencing it yourself.
Now it is your task to find the following information on your own device (laptop, pc, tablet):
 Information about the QIB course and in specific the slides of the opening lecture.
 Information about your tutorial group and in specific the minutes of your first tutorial
session.
 Access to your student mail account and your timetable.
Via the heading “UM launchpad” you can enter the SBE intranet, called MySBE intranet. On
this intranet you find information you will need during your studies (e.g., information on
exam regulations, the academic calendar, internship possibilities, etc.). You may wonder
“why do I need to know all this” but imagine the following situation.
Yesterday one of your best friends called you, asking whether you would like to come to
Barcelona during the first or second week of January. You decided to check out some cheap
flights as you want to book as soon as possible. Even though you are already halfway in the
Barcelona mood, the syllabus of QIB reminds you of your SBE obligations… Amongst
others, you wonder when classes will start again. Moreover, between today and January there
is still some work to be done, including writing exams. Of course, you hope to pass QIB,
Orientation, Linear Algebra and Analysis in period 1, but what if you have to take the resit?
When are resits for Period 1 planned? And just in case, do you have to register again for the
course or only for the resit? And what if you fail the resit? Pff, booking a flight is easier than
solving all these questions.
Fortunately, all information is to be found on the MySBE intranet. Now it is your task to find
out:
 When classes will start again in January.
 When resits of Period 1 courses are planned.
 Whether and if so when you have to register for a resit.
Tip: there is a calendar which may offer some help to answer some of these questions.
And if you can’t find it, there is a search function (to be found at the top right of the page). If
you are still not able to find it or are not sure about the answer you have found on the intranet
there is a link to SurfYourSelf. Here you can post your question and you will receive an
answer in 48 hours on your student webmail account.
 Find the search engine on the MySBE intranet and the link to SurfYourSelf.
Second last but not least, some wise advice and words of caution. Please make sure to check
your student mail account on a regular (daily) basis. University staff sends mails to this
account and they accept only mails sent via this account.
Next to all official SBE information, there are many external parties, often indirectly related
to SBE, who offer their services and provide (study related) information, too. Even though
some of them provide good trainings and offer extra study materials for the exams, please be
aware that the material they provide is not always checked by the course coordinators of
SBE. The material is often based on books used in previous years or on other additional
information. They could serve as an add-on service to the main materials linked to the course,
but are of no means a substitute.
Finally, this task is not meant as a nice to read/nice to know exercise. It is of crucial
importance that you are able to find your way in the world of the Student Portal and the
MySBE intranet. Hence during tutorial meeting 2, time is devoted to answer questions you
and your fellow students may have and to solve unclarities. Hence make sure you are
prepared to help your fellow students and to show them how and where you found the
information asked for in this task.
 Can you also find everything that you need to find on the course page of QIB?
Assignment 0.3: Library
Complete this task in your first week, preferably before tutorial meeting 1.
Again, you are asked to find out several things online. Similar to the Portal you will need this
knowledge during your studies. This task is about the library as you will have to be able to
find books and find, download and print articles during your studies. This is not something
you will need to know in some months, no, you need it straight away as for this course you
have to read, next to literature to be found in the books, several articles too.
In order to help you to find your way in this labyrinth, we provide you with an online library
tutorial. You can access this tutorial via the Course page – Assignments – Online Library
Tutorial. Here is a direct link: https://maastrichtuniversity.libwizard.com/f/basic-search.
You have to work through this by yourself at home (you can also do it together with a friend
or team mate so you can help each other, as long as each of you works through the online
tutorial him-/herself on his/her own device!). You get a personal certificate when you
complete the tutorial.
After having worked through this online tutorial we ask you to:
 Find the book of Stevenson:
William J. Stevenson (2021), Operations Management, edition 14e, McGraw-Hill.
ISBN10: 126023889X | ISBN13: 9781260238891.
 If not done yet, install student desktop anywhere on your laptop/ computer (see
http://library.maastrichtuniversity.nl/services-and-facilities/remote-access/#sda).
 Store the article on your I-drive. In order to store the article on your I-drive (when
working off campus; from home or elsewhere), you first have to make sure you
installed student desktop (rich client version) on your computer/ laptop via this link:
https://www.vmware.com/go/viewclients. Here is an instruction video.
 Visit the library and find your way around (are you able to find the main textbook for
this course, are you able to print the articles? Note: when you would like to print
them, make sure you have your UM card with you). See the following links:
http://library.maastrichtuniversity.nl/service/printing/ and
http://library.maastrichtuniversity.nl/service/access-library-card-membership/.
By the way, this UM card is like an ID card. Make sure you have it with you all the time. You
need it in the Mensa, during exams, in the Library and, last but not least, it entitles you to
some interesting discounts at several restaurants and other places).
Now you have got acquainted with the PBL system, international classroom skills, basic
competencies, and are able to find you way in the digital as well as real life world of Student
Portal and the Library, it is time to start with the Business part of the course. In this part we
aim to provide insights on how marketers can understand, anticipate and respond to
customers’ values and needs.