Course Orientation
Where to Start
[Change this list according to your course design.]
To begin this course, please complete the following steps:
- Read every page of the Course Orientation
- Read every page of the Syllabus.
- Review the Course Schedule so that you know when assignments and activities are due.
- Read the overview for Week 1.
- Read/view the Learning Materials for the first week of the course.
- Complete the Activities for the first week.
- Repeat steps 4-6 every week according to the course schedule.
If you have any course-specific questions, please ask them in the Course Q & A Forum. For any other questions (i.e. personal issues, grades), please email the instructor. Instructor contact information is on the course syllabus.
Course Structure
[Update based on your design and course language. Keep in mind the value of consistency between online courses for students.]
This course is broken into weekly modules. The modules start on Monday and end on the following Sunday. Every week is broken into three sections: Overview, Learning Materials, and Activities.
Overview and Expectations
Each week includes an overview and expectations page that should be read before reviewing the resources and completing the assigned activities. The overview will include an introduction to the week's topics, a list of the week's learning outcomes, a list of required learning materials, and activities.
Learning Materials
Learning Materials may include links to online articles, text listing offline reading assignments, PDFs, PowerPoints, videos, interactive presentations, or additional file types. Resources are required unless they are specifically marked as optional.
Activities
Activities may include written assignments, video assignments, forums, quizzes, exams, interactive simulations, wikis, presentations, or other participatory activities. Activities are required unless they are specifically marked as optional.
Optional
Take a deeper dive into the course Supplemental Materials. Supplemental resources are suggested, if you want to get additional information about a topic, but are not required.
Course Forums
All course announcements will be posted by the instructor to the News and Announcements Forum. Students are expected to check the News and Announcements Forum AND their LCC student email on a frequent basis. Any questions about any news and announcements should be asked in the Course Q & A Forum.
Questions about the course should be posted to the Course Q & A Forum. Questions of a more personal nature, such as grades or extensions, should be sent to your instructor via e-mail. E-mails to your instructor or e-mails to another department regarding support issues should include your course number and section. Instructor contact information is located in the course syllabus.
Basic Technology
To be successful in this course, you will need:
- A computer with a reliable high-speed internet connection
- An updated Web Browser
- Adobe Reader or a similar program for reading PDF files
- Word processing software such as MS Word, OpenOffice.org, or Google Suite for viewing and editing office documents
- Access to your LCC-provided Google account.
- [List any other specific software students will need for this course.]
Computer Skills
Basic digital literacy is necessary in order to be successful in this course. A digital literacy self-assessment test is available for students who are unsure of their level of computer skills. This assessment is not graded; it is to help you gauge if you are ready for this class, need to brush up on your skills, or need some tutoring to get up to speed.
Northstar Digital Literacy Test > choose Test Your Digital Literacy
Basic Internet and Software Skills
- Experience navigating the internet and using an internet browser.
- Experience with internet searches using an internet search engine such as Google.
- Comfort working with multiple browser windows open.
- Basic knowledge of formatting using a word processing program.
- Using your LCC student email for communication.
Basic Computer Skills
- Identify the visible (outside) components of a computer (e.g. monitor, computer, mouse, keyboard).
- Turn a computer system on and off correctly.
- Use a portable storage device, save files to different storage devices (e.g., thumb drive, hard drive, cloud storage).
- Manipulate a mouse, including selecting, double-clicking, and dragging items.
- Open, close, re-size and move windows.
- Access network resources such as printers.
- Determine the size of a file or folder.