Cloud and Server GIS form the keystones to the next generation of GIS.
In addition to introducing the basic concepts covered in this course, this orientation also serves as your guide to the structure of the course and to our online learning environment. Course communications and software use are different than in other classes in our programs, so please read the orientation materials carefully.
At the successful completion of the Course Orientation, students should be able to:
The next page in this lesson outlines the steps you need to perform to successfully complete this orientation.
If you have any questions now or at any point during this week, please feel free to post them on the "Technical Discussion Forum" in Canvas located under the Course Introduction Module. You can also contact the instructor through course e-mail, although forums are preferred when the question might be applicable to others in the class.
To get started with the course, please follow the required steps below. Please refer to Canvas for specific time frames and due dates. You may find it useful to print this page so that you can follow along with the directions.
Step | Activity | Access/Directions |
---|---|---|
1 | Read through Course Orientation. | You are in the Course Orientation online content now. Click on the "Next Page" link to continue reading. |
2 | Introduce yourself to your colleagues. | Go to our communications page for instructions. Participate in the Welcome Introduction Discussion in Canvas. |
3 | If you haven't already done so, carefully review the course syllabus to learn about the course and its requirements. | The Official Course Syllabus is located in the menu. They Syllabus Page in Canvas will also show an assignment Due date Summary. |
4 | Begin the rest of the course! | Visit the Lesson 1 module in Canvas. |
Meaningful interactions among students and instructors are the hallmark of a successful online class. Canvas supports several types of communication, as described below.
In addition, registered students have Penn State e-mail accounts (<Access Account ID>@psu.edu) that they need to monitor for any official communications that come from the University or from the Penn State World Campus.
Please note that this is a comprehensive list of communication tools available in Canvas. This course may or may not utilize all of the options below.
These are messages from your instructor that contain important information. Current announcements can be accessed through the Announcements link in Canvas. Announcements may highlight assignment due dates (also published in the course Calendar), lesson recaps, a preview of an upcoming lesson and other essential course information.
The Inbox is the equivalent of e-mail in Canvas. It's great to use for a quick e-mail 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 the Canvas Inbox only for private messages to instructors or fellow students.
Discussions allow students to interact with the instructor and other classmates. Threaded discussions allow multiple posts and replies. New posts appear in the Course Activity Stream page, so you will know when something has been posted.
Conferences allow instructors or student Groups to host synchronous meetings online. Canvas integrates with BigBlueButton, a conferencing tool similar to Adobe Connect. Recordings made in BigBlueButton are available for a period of only two weeks after creation.
Whenever you post a message in a forum or send course mail, please title every message with a descriptive subject line. Subject lines that include the gist of a question or comment increase the chances that students and instructors can retrieve the messages we're looking for. Poor subject lines, such as "Question" or "Lesson 1," are not very useful as search keywords. When replying to a prior message, consider whether or not the subject line should be altered to indicate the content of your reply!
In this course, we will be making heavy use of Amazon Web Services, or AWS for short. AWS is currently the premier cloud computing vendor, both in terms of the breadth of the cloud computing services offered, and in terms of ease of use. Learning to use AWS is one of the skills you will be acquiring in this course.
Amazon recently changed the way in which they administer educational grants (previously they were $100 credits issued to instructors for sharing with students). Now students need to register for these grants individually and the amount has been reduced to $35. We've conducted surveys of previous classes and $35 should be sufficient for you to complete the class without paying anything extra yourself and Penn State is negotiating with Amazon to become an institutional member of the Educate program but this is ongoing. You need to immediately sign up for AWS, and then go to Apply for AWS Educate [6] and apply.
Go to Amazon.com [7] and click on "Sign Up." There are currently four steps to signing up for AWS, none of them takes long but you do have to entrust Amazon with a great deal of personal information.
First, you need to create your account. You can either use your existing Amazon account if you have ever bought something from Amazon, or use a new account. Please make careful note of the password you select when setting up your account, you will be needing it. It is characteristic of Amazon Web Services that things work the way they are supposed to, but you don't get a lot of hand-holding. So, if you lose your password, I'm not sure it would be easy to recover it, and you will need to fill out a form with personal information.
Second, you will need to provide payment information, including a credit card number. Please note that after you sign up, and apply for the Educate grant you should (on a timeline Amazon will advise you of) receive $35 of AWS usage thanks to the Educate program mentioned above. This should be enough for you to complete the course and avoid any credit card charges if you are careful and follow the course instructions about explicitly stopping your instances (virtual machines) when you are not using them. You are responsible for any of the fees incurred if your usage exceeds the grant amount. The current step of signing up is free, but you should be aware that your credit card will be charged immediately upon going over your credit amount when you do start to use AWS services. As part of this step, you'll be asked to select a support plan. The Basic (Free) support is all you need for this class.
Third, there is an identity confirmation step during which you will receive a phone call and enter a code. This ensures you are a human. Amazon does not use the phone number provided here for other purposes.
Finally, you will confirm that all is well. Please make a note of your AWS account number by going back to amazon web services [7] and then clicking on the Account name in the top right corner and choosing "My Account" from the dropdown list. Your account ID number should appear close to the top of the page that comes up. Use the ID on the Educate apply link above and complete the form, and you will, in turn, receive a code that you can redeem for $35 of credit. You redeem this code by logging into AWS, clicking on your username in the top right hand corner, selecting Billing and Cost Management, then Credits from the column on the left. Enter the code in the appropriate location, complete the Captcha verification and click Redeem.
If any of these directions is confusing or inaccurate, please post a question or comment to the Technical Discussion Forum in Canvas.
To be sure you are able to access reserve readings and other library resources in this course, visit the library’s Online Student's Use of the Library [8] site. This guide outlines all that Penn State libraries offer you as an online student. It is strongly recommended that you visit the Services for Students [9] page.
If you have questions, just ASK! [10] 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.
If you understand what you've read in this orientation, and make every effort to follow these guidelines, you'll be well on your way to having a successful experience this term. I look forward to interacting with you throughout the term, and hope you'll take every opportunity possible to get the most out of the learning experiences you encounter in this class.
You have reached the end of the Course Orientation. Double-check the lesson to-do list on the Course Orientation Checklist page (the third page of this lesson) to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there.
Links
[1] https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/tkb-p/student#Announcements
[2] https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1293
[3] https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/tkb-p/student#Inbox
[4] https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/tkb-p/student#Discussions
[5] https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/tkb-p/student#Conferences
[6] https://aws.amazon.com/education/awseducate/apply/
[7] http://aws.amazon.com/
[8] http://guides.libraries.psu.edu/onlinestudentlibraryguide
[9] http://guides.libraries.psu.edu/c.php?g=516093&p=3540332
[10] http://ask.libraries.psu.edu/?stream=8
[11] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog865/checklist