4. Course Management System

How ANGEL Organizes Content

Penn State uses an online course management system called ANGEL to deliver most of its online courses to registered students. (For more information about ANGEL, visit http://angellearning.com/). ANGEL uses a "tab" interface to organize content. Here is how we use it for the Penn State courses that use this course text. (Registered students might want to open ANGEL in a second tab or browser window while studying this page.)

• Calendar tab - This is the official record of assignment due dates. By default, the calendar displays one month at a time. "Page forward" using the "Next" link to see the rest of the semester. Hover your mouse pointer over an entry to see the details.
• Lessons tab - Here you'll find folders corresponding to each chapter of the course text, for each project assignment, and (in some classes) for a final exam. Contents of these folders include:
  • Chapter folders: Practice quizzes, graded quiz (not chapter 0 or 1), and a discussion forum.
  • Project folders: Assignment instructions, drop boxes to submit project reports, and a discussion forum.
    
• Resources tab - Links to the roster of registered students and to useful sites and services, such as the Penn State Libraries, Department of Geography, and Online GIS Education gateway.
• Communicate tab - A variety of tools are available here, including
  • Course Mail: A tool for sending private e-mail to one or more instructors or registered students
  • Discussion Forums: A kind of "public e-mail" that everyone in the class can view and reply to. You'll find several topical forums under the Communicate tab, including "Lounge" and "Conference Room," as well as chapter- and project- specific forums (which can also be found under the Lessons tab).
  • Course RSS Feeds: You will see a listing for "GEOG 482" and beneath it a list of the ten most recent Comments posted to our Course Text pages. Clicking on an entry will take you to that section of the Course Text so you may read the entire Comment posting.
• Report tab - Tools to help students and instructors keep track on students' progress in the course. The handiest tools include:
  • Milestones: Keep track of which of the assignments posted in the calendar you have completed
  • Gradebook: Quiz scores are automatically posted here. Project scores are manually uploaded by instructors.

For a more complete introduction to ANGEL  please see the ANGEL Quick Guide for Students at http://kb.its.psu.edu/cms/article/446

Configure Your ANGEL Account

To get the most out of ANGEL, registered students should configure their ANGEL profiles as follows:

1. Update your "Personal Information Settings" for ANGEL to make sure that the rest of us have current information about you.
   • Visit the ANGEL Help Guide: Personal Information Page at http://kb.its.psu.edu/cms/article/144 for guidance on how to do this. Fill in the boxes on the resulting page with your current information. In the About Me section, include information about yourself, your interests, etc. that you want to share with others in the class. Include the URL for your personal web page or blog if you have one.
2. Set up your course e-mail preferences. It is VERY important that you at least specify a personal e-mail address in your ANGEL account. This is essential in the case that a problem arises with ANGEL course mail, your instructors will be able to "push" e-mail to a personal account.
   
   • If you want your course mail forwarded, visit the ANGEL Help Guide: Forward ANGEL Mail at http://kb.its.psu.edu/cms/article/137 for guidance on how to do this.
   • NOTE to registered students: All official communications from the Penn State World Campus are sent to students' Penn State e-mail accounts (your @psu.edu e-mail account), not ANGEL course e-mail. Be sure to check your Penn State account regularly, or forward your Penn State e-mail to your preferred e-mail account, so you do not miss any important information. You can control the forwarding (recommended, easy) of your @psu.edu e-mail account by going to https://www.work.psu.edu
     There is more information concerning this in the "Communication" section of the Orientation.
3. Turn on the alerts for new "Mail", discussion forum "Posts", and "Tasks". On your My Profile page you have the option of being alerted to any new items that have been added to your courses, including discussion forum postings, and e-mail messages. We strongly recommend that you turn on the "Mail" and "Posts" and "Tasks" alerts so you do not miss anything!
   • Visit the ANGEL Help Guide: Course/Group Settings at http://kb.its.psu.edu/cms/article/182 for guidance on how to do this.
     
     With alerts for mail and forum posts turned on, the image below shows you what you will see when you have unread documnets in both categories. Clicking on either of the "Tasks:" icons will take you to the course content, with the ANGEL Guide pane open to the Tasks listing.
     
   • If you have navigated into the course content pages and the ANGEL Guide pane is not expanded to the Tasks list, you can do the following in order to check for new mail or new posts:
     (1) expose the ANGEL Guide via the button on the upper-left that appears as a gray, narrow column of four triangles,
                                                                                                                                             
     (2) then click the "Tasks" button at the bottom of the Guide pane.

Need Help with ANGEL?

The Help link in the Resources menu at left provides links to help for registered ANGEL users at Penn State.