Getting used to uni-related vocabulary

Today I realised that there are situations where it is not enough to know the German translation of English words. I supposed "Course work" and "Practical work" to be two equivalent terms describing one thing. They handed out one assignment-sheet during the lecture and I thought it was the "practical work" we had to do in order to pass the "course".

Today about two hours before deadline Jakob and I readlised that there was a second assignment - namely the "Course work" - we had to download via internet and hand in as well. Since we had only done the "Practical work" we were in some troubles. Other students told us that it took them several hours to fulfill the tasks. Since Jakob is quite fast at typing we managed to finish in time. (We were lucky that the lecturer did not complain about the hectical typing during her lesson ;-))