FAQs

1. Where do I go to find out what to do? The first place to go is the course Moodle – this will give you all the administrative details for the course: the course outline, timetable, goals, requirements, and so on. The other important place is here – the course blog. This is where the communication for the course takes place, and where the instructor and students will be able to comment on the class activities.
2. What happens if I miss an exam? You may be given a make-up exam if you missed the exam because of illness. In this case, a doctor’s note is required. If you miss the exam for some other reason, you will get a zero unless there are extraordinary circumstances and you have made arrangements before the exam with the instructor.
3. I don’t have a computer at home so it’s really hard for me to get online. What should I do? There are many computers on campus you can use. Public libraries and many coffee shops also provide free or nearly free online access.
4. My computer/printer broke down/crashed/ate my homework. See number 3.
5. How often do I need to be online? That depends on what you are working on. You will see in the course Moodle, WHEN everything in the course is due, and WHAT to do. The discussion activities require you to communicate with other students so whenever you have one due, you will probably need to be online at least once a day for several days in a row. This is not a course in which you can go online once a week and expect to do well.

What other questions do you have?

Welcome – START HERE!

Welcome to the blog for Psyc100 section 06, Fall 2009. We’ll use this space to communicate, share and collaborate. Hopefully you have all enrolled yourselves in the course Moodle. That’s the other important place on the web. Moodle is where all the administration of the course takes place, and that’s where you’ll find all the details about assignments, exams, the course outline and so on. So for course admin – check Moodle. For commentary from the instructor, communicating, and discussing – come to the blog.

If you have any questions about the course or anything you see on Moodle, please check out the FAQs. If you can’t find an answer, please post your question on the blog. And if you have the answer to someone else’s question – you know what to do!

Some of you may be completely new to e-learning, and are wondering what you’re letting yourself in for. Well, e-learning IS different from traditional F2F (face-to-face) learning – there are a lot more acronyms for a start. However, there are some similarities. This course is equivalent in credit to the F2F versions, so it transfers to other institutions the same way and is a prerequisite for most upper-level Psyc courses. The big difference lies in the respective roles of student and instructor. In F2F university learning, the instructor often takes the role of the “sage on the stage”, and delivers content that the student is meant to absorb, and hopefully reflect upon and evaluate.

the sage on the stage

 In e-learning, this model doesn’t work very well. Translating an F2F course into the online environment necessitates a new way of looking at learning. In e-learning, the instructor steps back from the content somewhat, and adopts the role of a “guide on the side”. Rather than giving students a pile of content such as a document to read (boring!) or a set of PowerPoint slides to watch by themselves (even more boring!), e-learning requires students to uncover the content for themselves. As well, students collaborate with their peers to create knowledge – a powerful tool for taking ownership of a topic and really learning what it’s all about. The instructor’s role is to provide a narrative that connects the dots – the big picture in other words. The course blog will be used for this purpose and you will see the blog feed on our course Moodle so you can check it out there or here.

You may feel apprehensive about this different way of learning, and that’s normal. But don’t worry – you’re in the same boat as about 35 other students in the class. This is my second time teaching a fully-online course (I’ve taught lots of mixed-mode classes) and the learning curve is steep and fast. Just take it one week at a time, and if you feel bogged down there is lots of help available.

What about e-learning will be a challenge for you?