Course Website (Course Text)

The course website is presented using an open source content management system called Drupal (for more information, visit the Drupal website). One advantage of presenting the text in Drupal is that Drupal allows us to publish the text openly, for the benefit of anyone who has access to the Internet, regardless of their ability to pay tuition or buy an expensive printed textbook (this is only applicable to certain courses in our program).

Each page is designed to help you quickly and easily navigate the course as follows:

HOME

• Links to Course Home page.

SYLLABUS

• Links to Syllabus page.
• Lists instructor information, course description, and what is expected of each student.

ORIENTATION (Suggest You Start Here!)

• Links to Orientation page.
• Familiarizes students with the learning environment used to deliver the course and how to communicate with the instructor and classmates.
• Provides reading material for students new to the field of geospatial thinking and technologies.

LESSONS

• Links to Lessons 1 to 10.
• When you click on a link for a specific lesson, links to the pages that make up the lesson are revealed.
• Navigate between pages using the links at the bottom of each page OR select a page from the Lessons menu.
• Each lesson includes an overview page that includes a checklist and content pages that include learning, activity, research, and discussion assignments.

Lesson Organization

Most of the lessons are organized into the structure below.

• Introduction: Quick summary of lesson. Table of required assignments. Specific goals for the lesson.
• Topic 1: Content/readings, activities, and discussion in text posts of VoiceThreads focused on the first topic of the lesson.
• Topic 2 (and 3 and so on): Content/readings, activities, and discussion in text posts focused on the second (and third and so on) topic of the lesson.
• Assessment or Reflection (in selected Lessons): Assignment to consider what you've learned in the lesson(s). Some weeks will have a small quiz or essay while other weeks will ask you to reflect upon your understanding.

CANVAS

• Links to the learning management system Canvas.
• Course readings, discussion forums, drop boxes, grades, email, etc. are available to registered students.

RESOURCES

• Instructor Information (contact and other information about your instructor).
• Program Home Page (links out to the Penn State Online Geospatial Education website for program information).
• Library Resources (links out to Penn State library resources specific to Geography).

GETTING HELP

• Information on how to get help with various aspects of the course.

LOGIN

• Only registered students can log in.
• To log in, click on the "LOGIN" link on the menu above.
• Log in with your Penn State Access ID and password.