Online Orientation for English 415
The online orientation is a mandatory part of English 415 and includes a pretest for the class. Plan to spend at least two hours going through the orientation. Students who do not complete the orientation will lose their access rights to the class.
Step 1: The Syllabus
Go to my personal website at the following address:
http://www.csub.edu/~rcarlisle/
Once at the site select the link to your class and read the entire syllabus carefully. Note that all online exercises and exams must be completed by specific dates.
Once you have read the syllabus carefully, you may log into WebCT.
Step 2: Printing out the Instructions
Print out this page. You will have a much easier time working on the computer if you do not have to change screens between these instructions and WebCT, where your class is located.
Step 3: Getting into WebCT
To log into WebCT, go to the following address:
Log in to your WebCT course by clicking on �log in to� in blue letters in the upper left hand corner of the page; the log in page now appears with two small textboxes on it. The first asks for your WebCT ID and the second for your password.
Your WebCT ID is the first portion of your RunnerMail e-mail address (i.e. jdoe6@runner.csub.edu has a WebCT ID of jdoe6).
Your password is consists of the last five digits of your CSUB ID.
First time WebCT users are required to change passwords when logging in for the first time. This is mandatory. Your new password should be four or more characters in length, consist of letters and/or numbers only, and can not be the same as your old password (that is, the last five digits of your CSUB ID).
If you have used WebCT before, your password is the one that you used previously. If you cannot remember it, you will need to contact The Student Technology Helpdesk at 654-6677. The staff there will have to look up your password. You must do this quickly because your pretest is inside of WebCT, and if you do not finish it by the deadline as stated on your syllabus, you must drop the class.
Once you have typed in your WebCT ID and password. Select the gray �log in� button. You are now inside of WebCT. Select English 415.
Step 4: Communications
You have now reached the Homepage of English 415. You can see two icons on the screen. One says �Communications�; the other says �Course Content.� Select �Communications,� and you will learn how to communicate with the instructor and the other students in the class.
Select �Calendar.� Once in the Calendar, you can see that the current date is highlighted in yellow. To see what is written in the Calendar, click on the date, which is in blue. The Calendar contains all the deadlines for completing online exercises, taking exams, and submiting the term paper. Practice looking through the Calendar for a few moments. Students are responsible for knowing all the information in the Calendar.
Right above the Calendar, you will see a line with the following links:
Homepage>Communications>Calendar
Click on Communications, and we will see how to use other communication tools in the class. You should now be on the Communications page, and you can see three icons, one of which says �Discussion.� Click on it. You are now in Discussion, and you can see a list of folders to the left of the screen with the following titles:
�
� Notes
� Introductions
The instructor and students can open any of these folders and leave a message inside. An important point to remember is that all the messages are public, and I encourage students to put questions to which other students may like to see the answer in the Main folder.
Here is how to put a entry in a folder. You are going to write a short introduction about yourself so that everyone can see who their fellow students are. Also, once you write your introduction I can see who is successfully navigating through the WebCT. Click on the folder entitled �Introductions.� A new window will open, and you can see a box in the upper left that says Compose message. Click on it, and another window opens that contains a textbox. In the Subject line write your name, and in the textbox entitled Message, write a brief introduction of yourself. Once you have finished, select the post button in the lower left hand corner. You have now posted your first message, and everyone in the class can read it even the person who sent it.
You can read your own message by going back to the �Introductions� folder. If you cannot see your introduction, click the update listing button to the right of the Compose message button. You will now see a list of all the introductions in the �Introductions� folder.
How can you respond to a message in Discussion? Click on any name in blue in your list of students who have sent an introduction. You will see the student�s introduction; read it. Now select the reply button below the introduction. A familiar looking textbox now opens. Write your reply to the student�s introduction, and select the post button again. You have now responded to another person in the class.
So, to send, read, and reply to messages in Discussion, all you do is open the appropriate folder. The rest is easy.
You will now learn how to send mail. Using the Mail tool is quite similar to using the Discussion Topics tool. One difference is that whereas messages in Discussion are public, messages in Mail are private.
Now go back to the Communications page, and we will look at the Mail tool. Select the icon that says �Mail.� To send an email message, click on Compose Message. A textbox again opens. You write the topic of your message in the Subject line, and the content in the textbox entitled Message. Now, you must select the person to whom you wish to send the message. Just above the Subject line, you will see a browse button. When you click on it, a list of all people in the class appears. Select the person that you wish to receive your message, and then click on the send button. As a test, now send a message to your instructor, who is always at the top of the list when you select the browse button.
You answer email messages by opening them up and then selecting the reply button. Once you have written the reply, remember to select the send button.
Step 5: Course Content
Return to the Homepage for English 415, and you will find another icon named course content. Open it, and you will find seven more icons. I discuss all seven briefly below; their titles are bolded.
� Syllabus: The syllabus in WebCT is essentially the same as the one that you already read on my website at the beginning of this orientation. You may open it up and browse if you wish.
� Deadlines: This is a link to the page displaying the deadlines in the class. It contains the same information found in the syllabus and in the Calendar for the class.
� Order of Course Content: The page entitled �Order of Course Content� is also identical to the one found linked to my home webpage. Students can never get lost in the class if they just follow the order of course content. Students should print out a copy of this page and follow it precisely.
� Brief Lectures: The seven �Brief Lectures� are mini-lectures in outline form. Students will find them very useful when they reach that part of the class.
� Term paper: This page supplies the topic of the term paper and the requirements for writing and submiting it.
� My Grades: The �My Grades� tool is very important to students. Once students complete quizzes (they are really just exercises) and exams in WebCT, students can open �My Grades� and see the scores for everything that they have finished. Students can even see the overall scores for all exams, but first they must open each separate section of the exam to initiate the scoring process. This procedure is explained in the Calendar under the dates when the exams must be scored.
� Exercises and Examinations: This is the heart of English 415. It all the exercises, the pretest, and the two examinations. Please select Exercises at this time. The first item that you will see is the �Pretest,� which we will open shortly. Below the Pretest, you will see the other 14 major sections of the class, and each will have a green arrow to the left. To see all the exercises under a major part of the class, simply click on the green arrow until it points down. If you do that with Pretest, you will find 25 sub-sections. Students must do all 25 sub-sections of the pretest.
Step 7: Practice Exercise
You are now ready to take the first exercise in English 415. By taking this exercise you will learn how to work through most of the online exercises. You will also learn how to submit an exercise and read the score.
If you are not already there, go back to Exercises and Examinations. We are going to do the third exercise in Defining Language. Open that section; if it is not open, click on the green arrow to the left until it points down. You should now find an exercise entitled General Questions on Language. Click on the title, and the exercise will open. Some instructions will appear, the same instructions that appear before every exercise; read them and click on Begin quiz.
You now have before you all the items in the exercise, and you answer them one by one. I know that you have not yet learned anything about the subject yet, but this is just practice on how to do an exercise. Do not worry about getting the correct answers. Choose an answer for the first item by selecting the box next to the 'True' or 'False' response. Now, to save the answer, you must also click on Save answer at the bottom of the item. Look at the upper left portion of the screen; you will see a box with the numbers one through twenty in it. Underneath each is a yellow circle. The circle under number one should now have a check mark it, meaning that you have selected and saved an answer for that item. Now finish all twenty items. When you have finished, all the yellow circles should have check marks in them. To save the entire exercise and submit it for scoring, scroll to the bottom of the page and select the button entitled Finish. You have now completed the exercise; now you want to see the score.
Once you select Finish, a new window appears. Select the View results button. You can now see, your response to every item in the exercise. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will find your overall score. Now go back to the top of the page and you will see the following line.
Homepage
> Course Content > Exercises >
General Questions on Language > Scores
> View Results
Select Exercises, and you will go back to the original page of exercises where you can now take the pretest.
Step 8: Pretest
Please remember that the pretest is not part of your grade. It is a diagnostic tool used to determine the gains of the students and the effectiveness of the online course. However, even though it does not count as part of your grade, it is a mandatory part of the class, and you must complete it by the deadline to remain in the class.
If you cannot see the 25 subsections of the pretest, click on the green arrow to the left of Pretest. Now complete all 25 sections, just as you completed the practice exercise. Note that sometimes you may actually have to write a short response, match, or choose a an answer in multiple choice format.
You have now finished the online orientation welcome to English 415. I hope you have an enjoyable and successful quarter.