Each lesson in the course will have a list of "Steps to Complete." This checklist will always appear on the second page of each lesson.
To get started with the course, please follow the required steps below. The Course Orientation is one week in length. (See the Calendar in CanvasĀ for specific due dates.) You may find it useful to print this page out first 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 | Complete the "Initial Course Survey" to help us learn more about your expectations for this course. | A link to the survey is located in the Orientation & Resources module in Canvas. |
3 | Introduce yourself to your colleagues. | Go to the Personal Introductions Discussion Forum in the Orientation & Resources module in Canvas. |
4 | If you haven't already done so, carefully review the course syllabus to learn about the course and its requirements. | A link to the syllabus is located in the main menu. |
5 | Begin the course! | Click on the Lesson 1 link in the Course Outline to begin the course. |
This course website is presented in an open source content management system called Drupal (for more information, visit Drupal's [1] website. One advantage to presenting the text in Drupal is that we can enable registered students to comment and ask questions directly on text pages. Another advantage 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 applicable to certain courses in our program).
This brief "Course Text Navigation Demo" [2] video will orient you to the various sections of the course navigation. Further details about each section are listed below.
The video will play back in any standard web browser with Adobe Flash Player 6 or later installed. Get Flash Player 9 here [3].
Anyone with a Web browser and Internet access can view this text without logging into this Drupal site. Only registered students can log in. While logged in, registered students can post comments to text pages and subscribe to pages to be notified of future posts. To log in, click on the "Log In" link on the left sidebar. Log in with your Penn State Access ID and password.
Orientation - familiarizes registered students with the learning environments used to conduct Penn State courses.
If you understand what you've read in this orientation, and make every effort to follow these guidelines, then 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 to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there.
Use the Lesson tab in the main menu to begin.