Startup and Orientation to the Distance Course

You can do this as soon as you register:

If you have registered for the course, you should take a few minutes and complete Step 1 and Step 2 of the Orientation.  These steps will not be changed for the upcoming semester and may be done at any time after registration.

• Step 1 will lead you to your VCCS email address (which you might already have) and VCCS Help files. 
• Step 2 consists of a short and simple form to request an access code.

These steps can often be completed in less than 5 minutes, and normally require no more than a total of 15 minutes.

1/2/08:  Modifications are complete for Spring 08 Orientation.  You may proceed at any time.

Students in mathematics courses should click here for some information on the nature of your course.

Students in physics courses should click here for some information on the nature of your course.

Physics students should click here for information on Physics I and II lab kit status.

Supplemental sites:  Links to Supplemental Sites

Overview of Orientation and course sites:

This course is set up to allow a lot of back-and-forth communication between you and your instructor:

• Your course is set up to support extensive communication with and feedback from your instructor.
• The setup of the course is designed to allow you to communicate and receive feedback in the most efficient possible manner, and for the instructor to be able to provide as much feedback as possible. 

You will need guidance to understand the website for your course:

• The website for your course may contain a great deal of information and many options to accomodate your learning style. 
• You are not likely to understand the course website or the Assignments Page until you have completed the Orientation for this course.

The system is simple once you learn to use it.

• The system and the structure of the website is pretty simple once you have been guided through it.
• Most students require 2-4 hours to work through the Orientation and learn the system.

The system is simple so you can concentrate on the course work.

• Expect the course work to be appropriately challenging, consistent with the challenge of similar courses taught at other schools and universities.
• The system is designed to support you as you master the content of your course.

Once the Orientation for Spring 08 has been posted, you will be able to get started as soon as you have a VCCS email address.

• If you have registered before the first day of classes, your VCCS email address should be active soon after you have registered.  The VCCS tells us that it will be available within 24 hours of your registration.  If it is not available within 48 hours of your registration, please email the instructor with your name and EMPLID#, and the date of your registration.
• To check whether you have your email address, and whether it is active, see Step 1 below.

Most of the work you need to submit for your course is submitted through web forms.  Some of your work will be done directly on the forms, and some will be created on the hard drive of your computer by online programs.

• A typical webform is the Submit Work form.  It takes only a minute to see how this works:

Go ahead and click on the link Submit Work . 

The form asks for your name and access code.  Go ahead and type in your name, and just leave the 'access code' request blank.  This space is reserved for an access code, which you will receive later.  DO NOT provide any of your actual passwords.

The form includes instructions for sending something called 'SEND files'.  Don't worry about what that means right now--you will see it in Step 3 of the Orientation.  Just go to the box at the end of the form, type in a quick 'hello' message, and submit it.

• Any work you submit using a form should also be backed up on your hard drive, on a thumb drive, or on some other device.  You will be given suggestions in the Orientation on ways to do this.

• If you already have a VCCS email address you may if you wish do Step 2 of the Orientation at this time.  This and the next step are completely optional at this time.  You will be instructed to do these things later if you have not yet done them. 

• Also optional at this time:  Even if you don't have your VCCS email address you may if you wish go ahead and do Step 3 of the Orientation.  This takes about most students about 15 minutes.

Blackboard is used in this course but is not the main page for this course.

• The main page for your course will not be a Blackboard page and will not require a login--you can simply bookmark it on your computer and access it instantly.
• Blackboard has many features which are very useful in a distance course, and will be used to some extent in your course.
• Much of your course uses features which are not supported by Blackboard.  When using these features, Blackboard will simply be bypassed.  For example, Blackboard's support of communication is much less efficient than the procedures we will be using.  As another example, the web forms used in this course cannot be administered through Blackboard, but rather reside on the VHCC web server; while it would be possible to provide links to these forms through Blackboard, it is quicker and easier for students and instructor to access them directly.
• There will two Blackboard pages associated with your courses, so you can access important Blackboard features such as online surveys and practice quizzes.

You have the option to download the programs used in your course, use them online, or both:

• If you don't have a broadband connection, it will be quicker for you to download the programs.
• If you do have a broadband connection, the programs will run quickly online and you might choose to run them online.  However they run even more quickly if you have them on a USB memory device on on your hard drove, so if you prefer you may still choose to download them.
• The programs work identically whether you run them from your hard drive, a USB memory device or online.  In all cases they write files to your hard drive, and you then send the content via a web form (this is easy to do; you will be instructed in the Orientation on how to do this).

A quick reference to the main sites to which you will be introduced in this orientation:

• http://vhmthphy.vhcc.edu/ is the location of the 'real' homepage for your course and contains assignments and due dates.  After you have completed the orientation this will be the main site for your course.
• http://vhmthphy.vhcc.edu/ > General Information > Forms contains the Submit Work form and other forms used to submit your work.
• http://www.vhcc.edu/ is the VHCC homepage, which you may if you wish use to log in to Blackboard, and which also takes you to your registration information, etc.
• bb.vccs.edu is the Blackboard login address, and the 'course' entitled Supervised Study Current Semester is used to provide some information of interest to students in all of Mr. Smith's distance courses. 

Within the Supervised Study Current Semester (to which you will be directed in the Orientation) the following links are important:

• Announcements, where copies of all general messages will be posted.
• Course Information, with information on textbooks and CDs and more.

The orientation will provide you with the details you need. 

• The orientation is presented below in a series of web forms, which are always available for your reference.

Orientation Instructions

Most of the first week of your course will be allotted to the Orientation.  However you may wish to complete the Orientation before the beginning of the term.  Once the Orientation is modified for your term, you may submit it at any time.

The Orientation is broken into 8 steps.  The first 7 steps take most students between 15 minutes and 30 minutes, provided instructions are followed carefully, one step at a time.  If you skip or do not correctly follow instructions, it will probably take longer.

Step 8 of the Orientation consists of some preliminary content-related exercises.  Depending on your course, your working style, and other factors, this part can take between 2 hours and 6 hours.

Step 1.  Click on the link below to obtain your username, password, related instructions and other necessary information.  Note that if you have registered for the first time, your VCCS email account might take as long as 24 hours after registration to become active.  However it might well be active almost immediately; take a minute and check.  If you already have VCCS email and know how to access it and obtain help, you may skip this step; however you might also want to take a minute to refresh yourself on the latest information.

Accessing Login Information; Obtaining Help; VIVA; Accessing your Student Email

Step 2.  Using the link Request Access Code submit a request for your access code.  You should receive your code within 24 hours of submitting the form.  If you do not receive your code within 24 hours, email the instructor at dsmith@vhcc.edu , using your VCCS email account, and request the code.

Step 3.  Orientation Part 1 is a short exercise (estimated time 15 minutes) that shows you how to run question-answer-type programs and submit the results. A brief synopsis of the topics covered here, for future reference:

• Access Code
• qa prelim
• SEND files   
• submitting SEND file thru form http://www.vhcc.edu/dsmith/submit_work.htm

• 'Real' homepage
• Assignments and Due Dates
• Course Information, Syllabus

Step 5. Part II of the Orientation is broken into three separate forms:

• Orientation Part III demonstrates the use of the programs basic to your course
• Orientation Part IIIa instructs you to run a program with some content, and
• Orientation Part III b tells you how to run and check out your CDs / DVDs.

The first two steps require only Internet access. 

The third step requires the use of your CDs / DVDs.  If you do not yet have the CDs / DVDs then you may put off Part IIIb until you have them, and you may continue without loss of continuity to the remaining Orientation exercises.

• downloading programs
• running programs
• locating the SEND file
• submitting SEND files through form http://www.vhcc.edu/dsmith/submit_work.htm
• SEND files change at midnight
• checking out the CDs/DVDs for your course (may use either CD or DVD format)
• if a program doesn't work (this-thing-won't-work form)

Step 6. Orientation Part IV covers the details of communication in your course

• identify yourself but maintain your privacy
• copy and paste access information
• if access compromised request changed code but not often
• the forms page
• (almost) everything needs to be sent using forms (if privacy-protected submit thru form, back up by email, response will be to email)  (if it ain't on the form I might not notice it)
• keep the thread
• make it self-contained
• keep track of what you have sent
• avoid sending redundant work
• notify instructor if response isn't posted by the end of the next day
• questions are welcome; face-to-face is inefficient and rare
• formatted work must still be sent by form, backed up by email, in univeral word-processed format
• no ZIP

Step 7. Orientation Part V demonstrates the actions and habits that lead to success in your course.

• regular schedule
• allot sufficient time
• write it on paper, don't try to do mathematics or physics on your keyboard
• document the process in everything you do, especially on tests
• don't misrepresent your work
• use appropriate methods to solve problems
• calculator output is not documentation of process
• responsible for keeping track
• self critique
• describe graphs
• use correct typewriter notation
• use your hard drive, it's quicker than the web and won't cut you off

Step 8. 

Begin by completing the remaining preliminary qa's for your course.  The table below indicates which qa's you should run.  These qa's introduce you to some of the thinking relevant to your course.

• Pay very close attention to the self-critique process. 
• In all qa's you are evaluated mainly on your effort, documentation and self-critique.
• You may do all these qa's in one sitting.  However, unless you are certain you are doing everything right, it's better to get the instructor's feedback throughout the process.  For example you might want to do a couple of the exercises then wait until the instructor posts feedback to your access page (remember this will be not later than the day after you submit your work).

Note that you have already completed q a initial problems asst 1 in Step 5 of the Orientation.

Submit your SEND files using the Submit Work Form.

** The Understanding First Assignments form should be deferred until after you have finished Assignment 1, though you are encouraged to read over it before you do Assignment 1.

This form is designed to make sure sure you are doing everything correctly.

You may complete this form more than once if you feel the need to do so.

Links to supplemental sites:

• Additional Typewriter Notation examples and exercises are found at: typewriter notation examples.htm.
• Explanation of basic trapezoids as used in this course is at trapezoids.
• Synopsis of the rate-of-change scheme of uniformly accelerated motion and graphical interpretation at Unif Accel Motion Scheme
• Examples of algebra of units calculations