PrintRegistered Students
As a registered student, your role is to read lessons, complete activities and quizzes, produce and submit original project reports, respond to surveys, and complete a final exam on schedule. The schedule of assignment due dates is published under the Calendar tab in your Canvas section. In addition, you should read and participate in discussions that take place in Canvas discussion forums as well as on particular pages of the course text. Students who contribute to discussions and help other students are the ones who gain the most from the class experience. The amount of time you invest in your class will vary depending on the number of academic credits you will earn. At Penn State, one academic credit is equivalent to approximately 40 hours of student activity. Thus, a student in a 3-credit, 10-week class should plan to invest about twelve hours of study each week. Although there are weekly assignment deadlines, you are typically free to study at places and times that are most convenient to you.
Instructors
Instructors may include a lead instructor and one or more teaching assistants. Lead instructors follow all course communications, including course mail and discussion forums in Canvas and comments posted to pages of the course text. Lead instructors reply to most within 24 hours. Some questions are purposefully left for responses by fellow students. Also, instructor responses may be delayed during announced absences. Instructors correct and revise courseware as needed. Instructors assess student attitudes at the beginning, middle, and end of the course and share interpretations of those assessments with students. Most important, lead instructors oversee teaching assistants' evaluation of student work, check and upload project scores to the Canvas grade book, calculate final course grades, and submit grades to the University registrar.
Assistant instructors evaluate student project reports. They prepare detailed critiques and itemized scores in response to every individual report. Assistant instructors may also propose revisions to the scoring rubrics, which guide evaluation of each project assignment.
Others
Others are involved as well, depending on whether you are registered through the World Campus or some other Penn State campus. World Campus students can get technical support from the Outreach Help Desk and other assistance from World Campus Adult Learner Enrollment Services. Students registered at University Park and other Penn State campus locations can get Canvas-related technical support from the Canvas Help Desk. Links to these helpful services are available to registered students via links in your Canvas sections.