Orientation to Online Learning
| Site: | Virtual Academy for Teaching and Learning |
| Course: | Multimedia VATL help |
| Book: | Orientation to Online Learning |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Saturday, 27 April 2024, 12:04 AM |
Description
This book is an example of how you can use "Available but not shown on course page" to build a seamless learning experience for your learners. It is a stripped-down version of a multi-chapter book of orientation materials for an online masters program at my university. New students must complete the orientation in order to be able to view other materials in the course. Here's how we introduce it:
As you proceed through this orientation, you will have the chance to practice making a discussion forum post, submitting a practice assignment, and taking a quiz to check your understanding. You must participate in all three of these activities in order to successfully complete this orientation and access the other materials and resources in this course.
Note: You do not have to complete all three activities at one time—feel free to return to this orientation and work through it at your convenience.
Orientation Overview
Welcome to Moodle!
This orientation:
- introduces you to Moodle and its navigation, and provides access to Moodle Student Resources.
- provides an overview of the qualities and characteristics of a successful online learner, and offers helpful tips and strategies to help you reach your highest learning potential in the online environment.
- features a review of academic writing, a critical component of your college career, including a focus on plagiarism and how to avoid it.
- describes communication and collaboration tools, including discussion forums and messages, and details conventions of online communication that will help you be successful in your coursework.
- details assessment tools — assignments, quizzes, exams, projects, surveys, and more — used to facilitate meaningful learning activities, and provides tips for test-taking.
As you proceed through this material, you will have the chance to practice making a discussion forum post, submit a practice assignment, and take a quiz to check your understanding. You must participate in all three of these activities in order to successfully complete this orientation and access the other materials and resources in this course.
A note about navigation
Click on the arrows at top or bottom to move between pages or use the table of contents at right to jump to a particular topic. To return to the course main page, click on course name in the navigation panel on the left or in the "breadcrumb trail" at the top of each page.
Discussion Forums
Much of the academic work you will do in this program will center around discussion forums. Generally, you will be expected to make an initial response to a discussion prompt by Thursday evening and reply to at least two other students by Sunday evening.
Besides large group discussions, you'll also use forums to work in small groups on class projects and case studies. To add formatting, links or images to your post, use the "advanced editing" option to display the text editing toolbar.
These screenshots describe how to work in a forum:
Practice Posting in a Forum
Follow the link below to participate in a sample discussion forum (ungraded, but required to complete this orientation).
Assessments
Online assessment tools can be utilized to facilitate meaningful learning activities. Assessments can take many forms (assignments, quizzes, exams, projects, surveys, and more). The purpose of an assessment can be to identify what concepts and skills you have learned (gather evidence of learning), provide practice exercises, determine individual performance in comparison to a standard or criterion, or gather feedback through opinion polls or course evaluations.
In this module, you will practice submitting an assignment. You will also learn about best practices for assignment submissions and discover some test-taking tips.
Assignments: Submitting Your Work
The assignment activity allows you to view and submit assignments, papers, and projects electronically to your instructor.
Assignments can be submitted in the following ways:
- Type text directly into the Submissions area of the assignment page
- Attach files from your computer
- Upload or record media
These screenshots show you how assignments work in Moodle:
Practice Submitting an Assignment
Follow the link below to complete a sample assignment (ungraded, but required to complete this orientation).
Quizzes and Questionnaires
Exams and Surveys
Moodle allows you to take exams ("Quizzes") or complete surveys ("Questionnaires") online. Your answers are submitted for grading, and the results are recorded in the grade book. Surveys can be used for polling purposes or evaluations, and are not graded (although you may receive points for a submission).
NOTE: Your instructor may choose to password protect an exam. You will need to type the valid password and click Submit to begin the exam. You will be prompted for a valid password until the correct one is provided.
Viewing Your Exam Results
Depending on the instructor’s preferences after you submit your exam, you will be able to review information that may or may not include:
- Score
- Submitted answers
- Correct answers
- Feedback
Some instructors activate this information after everyone has completed the exam. In this case, to view the information at a later time, simply access the exam as if you were going to take it again and open the Review link to see your results.
These screenshots illustrate what you can expect when you take a quiz in Moodle:
Check Your Understanding!
Congratulations! You've completed this orientation to online learning. Time to check your understanding.
You may attempt this quiz as many times as you wish. A score of at least 80% is required to complete this orientation.
Follow the link below to take a practice quiz over the content of this orientation.