The Learning Environment

This course will be conducted entirely on the World Wide Web. There are no set class meeting times, but you will be required to complete weekly assignments. Registered students in this course will need to navigate between several environments in the World Wide Web. These include:

• This site - The instructional materials in this site include 12 lessons, plus this course orientation. Each lesson contains material such as reading assignments, course content, discussion prompts, and learning activities.

• Canvas [1] - Canvas is the learning management system currently being used by Penn State University. In Canvas, registered students may consult course calendars; communicate with instructors, teaching assistants, and fellow students; submit assignments; receive feedback from the instructor and teaching assistant; take online quizzes and surveys; and check assignment scores and course grades. A link to Canvas appears on every page.

Students who register for this Penn State course gain access to assignments and instructor feedback, and earn academic credit. Learn more about our program and how to register here [2].

Topics of study

The content of this course is divided into 12 lessons. Each lesson will be completed in approximately 1 week.

• Lesson 1, The Historical Context of Solar Energy Valued in Society
• Lesson 2, Tools for Time and Space Relationships
• Lesson 3,  Meteorology: the Many Facets of the Sky
• Lesson 4, Measurement and Estimations of the Solar Resource
• Lesson 5, Solar Economic Analysis
• Lesson 6, Maximizing the Solar Utility for the Client in a Locale
• Lesson 7, Solar Finance
• Lesson 8, Methods of Prediction
• Lesson 9, Analysis for Policy Development
• Lesson 10, Ecosystems Impact from Solar Land Use
• Lesson 11, Solar Project Proposal Development
• Lesson 12, Solar Design Project Proposal

Course assignments

Evaluation of student performance will be based on the following assignments:

1. Quizzes (10%). Students’ understanding of the book, lesson notes, videos and assigned readings will be assessed through electronically administered and automatically graded quizzes.
2. Learning Activities (35%). Learning activities are distinct from quizzes; this is where we try to apply our learned content in a scenario that will both help to internalize one or two learning objectives and develop our skills that may be useful later in the final project activities for Lessons 11 and 12 (project design proposal).
3. Class Discussion (15%). There will be regular online class discussions. This is where I can assess your background knowledge, or address gaps in understanding that might not have come through in the main content. This is a graduate course, and your participation in the discussions is crucial to a strong course. The quality of your responses will be assessed in addition to the accuracy of the content.
4. Lesson 11: Solar Project Proposal Development (10 %) - After developing our knowledge base and project proposal skills in the first 10 lessons, I will asses your developing concepts for a unique solar project design proposal which, in addition to considering broader impacts of policy and ecosystems services, assesses the solar resource and economic criteria of a locale and client base of your choice.
5. Lesson 12 Solar Design Project Proposal (30 %) - This is your culminating work for the course, a solar project design proposal formed as a fully documented final technical report/proposal. You will assess the solar resource and economic criteria of a locale and client base of your choice in addition to considering broader impacts of policy and ecosystems services.

Refer to the course syllabus for assignment weighting and final grade calculation.

This site includes the majority of the instructional materials for this class. There are a few things you should know about this website.

How the Website is Organized

This site uses a "tab" interface to organize content. The tabs are used as follows:

• Syllabus - The Syllabus is a complete outline of the course. Read it carefully, as it will serve as our course "contract."
• Orientation - You are currently in the Orientation. It provides an introduction to the instructor, the learning environments, the technical requirements, and information on how to succeed in an online class.
• Lessons - The Lessons tab is where the bulk of the course learning material can be found. Each lesson contains an introduction, reading assignments, links, assessments, etc.
• Canvas - The Canvas tab takes you directly to your Canvas home page.
• Resources - The Resources tab includes a list of a variety of resources which may be of use to you while taking this course, including whom to contact for assistance.

How to Print a Lesson or Page

• To print an entire lesson, you must be on the top level page for that lesson and then select the "Print" link.
• To print a single page, go to the page you want to print and select the printer-friendly version link.
• WARNING: many pages contain required videos, animations, and links that will not work in print mode, so please do not rely on the printed lessons for all of your learning.

We can all appreciate that experience as an undergrad when we had that really great connection with an instructor and our classmates. The hallmark of a successful online class similarly holds meaningful interactions among students and instructors. The two web-based learning environments that we use for this course—Canvas and Drupal —support several kinds of communication, as described below.

Communications in Canvas

The Canvas course management system supports several modes of communication, including course e-mail, and announcements.

• Conversations is the equivalent of email in Canvas. It's great to use for a quick email to another student, instructor, or a whole team. Keep in mind that the text editor is very minimal, and does not have much formatting capability.
  • Please use Conversations for private messages to me (your instructor) or fellow students. I prefer that you use the course mail within Canvas (rather than emailing me directly), except in case of emergencies.
  • Whenever you post a message in a forum or send a conversation, use a descriptive subject line. Subject lines that include the gist of a question or comment increase the chances that recipients can retrieve the messages we're looking for. Poor subject lines, such as "Question" or "Lesson 1," are useless as search keywords.
  • For more information, see the Canvas Guide on Conversations [3].
• Announcements are occasional messages from me that appear each time you enter the course and under the Announcements tab. Announcements highlight assignment due dates (also published in the course Calendar) and include benchmarks by which you can tell if you are on track in the course.

Communications via Canvas Discussions

Many of the pages in this website will require registered students to post comments, questions, and responses on Canvas discussions: there will be many of them: at least one for each Lesson Discussion, and one general forum for "Questions" at the very bottom of the long list. You should request to be notified of subsequent posts by "subscribing" to these forums and having your Canvas email forwarded to your preferred address. You might want to make a specific folder for EME 810 messages to be diverted from your main email inbox too. You must log into Canvas before you can do this.

Printing an entire Lesson into a PDF file

OK, so this is less of a communication to others, and more of a useful tip for you. Sometimes you will not be near the web (you went to the lake, your internet is down because you just moved, you are in a café that asks you to pay [gasp] for WiFi). How can you be prepared to still make use of your time?

1. Prior to departing from the web, go to the first page of your very important Lesson.
2. Look in the upper right for "Printer-friendly version" with an icon of a little printer to the left of the text.
3. Right-click on the link and select "Open Link in New Tab" (just so that you don't lose the other page).
4. Go to that new tab and print the page to a PDF file (don't waste paper, it will be long).
5. The entire Lesson will now be available to you (as a static document, yes) for later reading or for doing a text search on a key word.
6. Save the PDF to a space on your local computer and you're off!

Like I said, this is more about having the most resources at your fingertips (maybe you commute by train or subway and want to read while you ride) to make more use of your free time for the course. Good luck!

Have questions? Need help?

There are many ways to get the help you need. See the "Help!" link in the Resources menu to learn more about the people and resources available to you.

Your Canvas Profile and User Settings let you control your personal information in Canvas. Take a few minutes to personalize your Canvas profile and set your Notification Preferences, by following the instructions below.

Video Tutorial: Canvas Notification Preferences (4:28)

Using the Penn State Library

To be sure you are able to access reserve readings and other library resources in this course, visit the library’s Online Students Use of the Library [26] site. This guide outlines all that Penn State libraries offer you as an online student. It is strongly recommended that you watch the Library Orientation Videos [27] and visit the Services for Students [28] page.

If you have questions, just ASK! [29] a librarian! The ASK! page will connect you to librarians in a manner that meets your needs; e-mail, phone, or chat for a quick response.

The three habits of successful learners

We recommend the following three study habits that will maximize your chances for success in your online class:

1. Devote sufficient time and effort. Time-on-task is a necessary--if insufficient--condition for learning (Gibbs 1999; Chickering and Gamson 1987; Bransford et al. 2000). We recommend that you plan out several blocks of time each week to study the initial reading content, to work on project assignments, and to read and contribute to discussions. Don't wait for that last day to work on the entire lesson! Break it up into workable chunks.
2. Communicate effectively. Really, we live off of good communications! Post succinct, specific questions and comments with informative subject lines. Make the effort to engage with your classroom community as well as your instructor. So whenever appropriate, share your questions and comments with the entire class (through the Canvas Forums) rather than using private e-mail. In turn, please take time to read others’ questions and comments and participate with replies. This is so crucial as a developing solar professional, we need strong communication skills. Compose project reports with the same care and skill that you’d hope your instructor or employer would devote to a letter of recommendation on your behalf. Be civil and respectful. If frustrated or angry, weigh your words carefully or wait until the next day to post a message if the timeline allows.
3. Approach learning reflectively. Be aware of your strengths and weakness as a learner. Students who develop strong “metacognitive” skills tend to be the most effective learners. Also, those who are able to relate what they learned to situations outside the classroom (real or virtual) are most likely to retain that knowledge (Bransford, J.D. et al. 2000).

Time Management

One of the best practices you can employ as a student is that of good time management. For many of you, you're just now returning to school after some time away from the classroom. Chances are also good that life is busier and more complicated now than the last time you were a student - with family and work commitments competing for your time. As you embark on your journey through the RESS degree program or a Solar Certificate, we want to make sure we're helping to prepare you for the greatest success possible, and time management skills are a great place to start!

This is a three credit course, and as a general rule, you can expect that three credit courses will call for an average of approximately 9-12 hours of commitment each week. This time commitment will include reading and written assignments, exams, quizzes, reviewing course content on the web (like this site!), and any discussion activities or other participation requirements.

Some Lessons may hold distinctly unfamilar content for you, or will just be challenging to internalize because we are training you in new ways to think about a common solar problem. Those lessons may require more time than the average requirement. Whenever possible, I have tried to place warnings at the beginning of lessons that certain content arcs will likely be intense (like "Math Warning!"). So, when planning your schedule each semester, keep this metric in mind so that you're not overloading yourself.

Online classes are great, especially if you're also working and managing family commitments, because they afford you the flexibility to complete the work on your own time. However, that flexibility can also be a bit of a curse! With no requirement to show up for class at a specified time each week, it can be challenging to make yourself carve out specific time to devote specifically to your coursework. Suddenly, you find yourself frantically trying to complete a week's worth of work late at night as the clock races toward the deadline. We'd like to help you avoid those last minute crunches!

Managing your time in an online learning environment:

• Know your time limitations and plan accordingly when scheduling your classes. You bet, we understand that you're eager to complete your degree and have it behind you as you embark on a new career or transition to a new position in your current career. Keep in mind that you want to get a worthy experience out of the courses you're taking and paying for, and you want to be prepared for whatever job you take when you graduate. That means alloting some good time every week to participate and really dig in to the class.
• Know your other limitations as well. It's not enough to devote your time to complete the work for the class, you also need to put in your focus and brain power. Consider, if you work in a particularly intellectually challenging job, where coming home in the evening means that you might not be mentally fresh enough to handle two 3-cr graduate courses in a semester and still have the presence of mind to help your kids with their homework, then don't tempt fate - schedule accordingly! Your academic adviser will be happy to help you plan for your RESS degree or Solar certificate requirements in a way that won't also overextend your ability to apply yourself in this course while living your very important life right at home.
• Set realistic expectations of yourself--and of your instructors. Your instructors recognize and appreciate that you're doing this work likely at odd hours throughout the week and may have limited pockets of time to complete assignments. We will do our best to respond to inquiries quickly. But, nobody is completely tethered to their e-mail, so it's a good idea even if you don't have the time to work on an assignment near the beginning of a week, that you at least look it over and anticipate any questions you might have as you begin the material.
  As an example: I have a great family here, with little kids of my own. So that means I need to delegate time to my family as well. So I will answer questions posted up until NOON on the day before a Lesson Activity (or similar deadline) is due. There will be no guarantees that anything posted later than noon will be addressed, and the answer may take a few hours if the question is posted over the weekend. Likely, I will answer a pre-noon question by that evening unless I am otherwise incapacitated (vomitting kids, WiFi outage, severe storm, etc.).
• Give yourself (and your family) a schedule. Let's say you decide to take two 3-credit classes next semester in addition to working full time and having family obligations. Pick a time that you can devote to your coursework and try to stick with it. Maybe it's Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays after your kids are in bed, from 8-11 pm, and then finish up remaining commitments on the weekend. This will help you set expectations with your family about the time you'll need to work on your classes. And remember to align those times with our class deadlines for each lesson, and my own noon posting limits.
• The last minute can be pretty short. We've seen this happen multiple times in many different classes. Students wait until the very last second to turn something in before the deadline. I strongly discourage you from racing the clock to submit an assignment or exam via Canvas. You're almost certainly guaranteeing that your computer will freeze, your Internet connection will fizzle, or that some other technological glitch will prevent you from submitting on time. You may find your instructors rather unforgiving and unwilling to waive point deductions for assignments that are submitted late - even if only by a few minutes. If it's due Sunday night at 11:55 pm, give yourself at least an hour's wiggle room, if not more, to ensure that your assignment reaches its destination before the deadline.
• Seeing is believing. The Canvas Calendar has some nice features, and there is a way to view all the due dates for all of your courses on one calendar. This will alert you early on to any bottlenecks you might face with multiple assignments in multiple classes being due near each other.
• Ask for help! If you have a question about an assignment, don't wait until the night it is due. Email the instructor immediately! If you find yourself becoming overwhelmed or falling behind - don't just slip into the abyss and ignore deadlines. Communicate with your instructor(s) and talk to your advisor to find out what you can do to stay on top of your work. We're all here to help you succeed, but we can only help when we know there's a problem!
  Again, I will answer questions posted up until NOON on the day before a Lesson Activity (or similar deadline) is due. There will be no guarantees that anything posted later than noon will be addressed, and the answer may take a few hours if the question is posted over the weekend. Likely, I will answer a pre-noon question by that evening unless I am otherwise incapacitated (vomitting kids, WiFi outage, severe storm, etc.).

References

Reminder - Complete all of the Course Orientation tasks!

You have reached the end of the Course Orientation! Double-check the to-do list on the Course Orientation Overview page to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there before you begin Lesson 1. (To access Lesson 1, use the link in the "Lessons" .)