SUMMER 2018 HOW TO GET STARTED RIGHT

Transcription

1 SUMMER 2018 HOW TO GET STARTED RIGHT

2 A NOTE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DEAN... Western Seminary has pioneered the use of innovative technologies to provide premier-quality ministry training for the church and parachurch. Today s online degree programs deploy advanced learning systems to serve men and women across the nation and around the world who are committed to effective, enduring Christian ministry and who seek to anchor their service in the rich teachings of the Scriptures. This semester we will introduce a new development in our online program. For several years we have deployed the Integr@te desktop application as our program's primary content delivery system. As you will learn, if you have not already, Integr@te allows students to access online media, download them to their computer desktop for both online or offline study, and to retain them for future use in ministry. It remains, we believe, an enormous asset to our students for its rich feature set and for its ability to be untethered from the Internet. We recognize, however, that more of us rely upon mobile computing platforms to manage much of our life's activities. And unlike notebook or laptop computers, these mobile devices go with us everywhere. Now, with the new Integr@te Mobile app, you can toss your classroom into your pocket or purse and study whenever and wherever you have a few available moments. You are able to live-stream your course media or download selected content to your phone or tablet. Whether you prefer Apple, Android or Amazon Fire operating systems, we have a mobile app for you. We trust Integr@te Mobile will bring even greater flexibility to your online program as you seek to "integrate" your online program into your everyday life and ministry. James E. Stewart Executive Dean - Online Campus A NEW LEARNING RESOURCE! LIFELONG LEARNING. LIFELONG IMPACT. When serving is your way of life, you need time-saving, available-anywhere tools to enrich your ministry. Logos Bible Software provides just the resources you need by coupling powerful study tools with a tremendous theological library. Western Seminary knows that understanding the Scriptures is the key to proclaiming and living the gospel, so we ve partnered with Faithlife: the makers of Logos. This means that as long as you re a Western student, you get access to Logos as well as exclusive features like Logos Now and Mobile Ed. And when you graduate from Western you keep the software forever. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT 2 Getting Started Right Online - Summer 2018

3 WHAT S INSIDE 1 WHAT S NEW ON THE ONLINE CAMPUS? Online Learning Center... 4 New Federal Guidelines... 5 Sessions Replace Start Dates... 5 Classroom Attendance... 5 Whom to Contact for What POLICY REMINDERS Course Duration... 7 Course Refunds... 7 Course Extensions... 7 Financial Aid WELCOME TO INTEGR@TE! What is Integr@te?... 8 Why Integr@te?... 8 Why Now?... 9 Download Integr@te... 9 Offline Login... 9 Download Your Course... 9 How to Restart the Download Manager Loading Your Course from DVD ROM Option Importing Your Course Schedule Downloading Your Course on Campus Relinking an Integr@te Course Computer System Requirements Getting Started Right Online - Summer

4 What Now? 1 ONLINE LEARNING CENTER In the First Week: 1. Login to the OLC within the first week of the session or semester. 2. Download your course syllabus and submit any required course assignments. 3. Contact your course instructor. SO I HAVE ENROLLED WITH THE ONLINE CAMPUS...WHAT NOW? This may be the first time you have enrolled for an online distance learning course. Or perhaps this will simply be the continuation of our relationship. Whatever the situation, we want you to be familiar with developments that are in place for the Summer 2018 semester, and to remind you of some important student policy matters. So please take just a few minutes and review this material. It will help you Get Started Right in the new semester. When you enroll for an online course, you will be notified that you have also been enrolled in our Online Learning Center at: Online Learning Centers provide a home room for groups, or clusters, of students who are going through the same course at approximately the same time. Our desire is not to limit the significant flexibility that has become the signature of Western Seminary s distance education program. Rather, this is an opportunity to provide meaningful interaction with other students, to have one location for all non-media course materials, and to make your learning experience as enjoyable and profitable as possible. TO LOGIN TO YOUR COURSE (TYPICAL): Username: Password: Student ID Number Provided Separately CHANGING YOUR PASSWORD Passwords must include: At least 8 characters At least one capital At least one number At least one special character (ie.!*%) You will then be required to change your password to ensure privacy. Please choose a password that you can remember or write it down in a secure location; Our personnel have no access to your password, but, if necessary, will be able to reset it upon request. When you have successfully logged into your learning center, take a look around and become familiar where your resources are. Download your syllabus and review your recommended completion schedule. Make sure you know what your course expectations are as early in the semester as possible. If you have problems, please give us a call. 4 Getting Started Right Online - Summer 2018

5 NEW FEDERAL GUIDELINES Session Explanation First Week Affirmations Last Week Evaluations Summer 2018 Dates The federal government has instituted financial aid guidelines that impact almost every school and program in America. These guidelines apply to all Western Seminary students, not simply those who receive financial aid. SESSIONS REPLACE START DATES Distance education courses must be scheduled within the regular semester dates. To provide optimal flexibility, however, our program offers three session choices each semester. As illustrated below, Session A is 14 weeks in length. Sessions B and C are 7 weeks in length and are offered sequentially. Students who miss the regular semester start date, or those who have enrolled in either Session A or Session B and who have made satisfactory academic progress, may enroll for Session C... effectively providing either a late registration or an early semester option depending on your perspective. SESSION A - 14 WEEKS SESSION B - 7 WEEKS SESSION C - 7 WEEKS SUMMER 2018 SESSION DATES Sess. Dates Start Week End Week A 4/28-8/0 4/28-5/5 7/31-8/6 B 4/28-6/18 4/28-5/5 6/11-6/18 C 6/16-8/10 6/6-6/23 7/31-8/6 ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS IMPORTANT! 1. If you are registered for either the Session A or Session B, your online learning center ( edu/olc) will open no later than January 6th at 12:01 A.M. Within the first week of your session you must upload your course affirmation file to register your attendance within that week. This is our way of taking attendance in the course; failure to submit the affirmation file within that first week may result in your being dropped from the course. 2. You must also attend class during the last week of your session. Even if you finish your other course assignments earlier in the session, you still must complete and return your course evaluation in your last week. At the beginning of that week, you will receive a link by to the evaluation page. Completing and submitting the online form during your last week will constitute a record of your attendance. We have found that students learn best within a well defined, though hugely flexible, structure. Most courses are now organized into one or two week units to help you Getting Started Right Online - Summer

6 Getting Online Help CLASS STRUCTURE AND INTERACTION make and monitor your progress more easily. Activities and assignments also have scheduled completion dates to guide you in your scheduling and work load balancing. Students are able to mark when activities have been completed, and a progress tracking tool in the Learning Center ensures that you know exactly where you are in completing course requirements. Moreover, you can expect to interact regularly with your course instructor and other students in your class. The purpose of this faculty-to-student and student-to-student interaction is not to add another performance obligation, nor is it to make online study more rigid in its scheduling, but rather to provide you with the most relational learning experience possible, regardless of your location or mode of study. Note: Affirmation files or course evaluations received by 8:00 a.m. on the Monday following the end of your course start week or end week will be considered to have been received within the required one-week time window. WHOM TO CONTACT FOR WHAT Western Seminary Main PH Distance Learning PH Online Campus Toll Free ext YOUR INSTRUCTOR JON RAIBLEY X JAMES STEWART X MARK BAKER X Assignments / Assessment Course Content & Interaction Event Scheduling Online Learning Center Problems Integr@te / DVD ROM Content jraibley@westernseminary.edu Online Learning Center jstewart@westernseminary.edu Enrollment / Registration Administration & Learning Systems Support mbaker@westernseminary.edu KEANE COLLINS X DREW HOLMES X ADRIAN TIJERINA X ONLINE HELP Academic Advising Director of Online Student Services kcollins@westernseminary.edu Academic Advising dholmes@westernseminary.edu Academic Advising atijerina@westernseminary.edu 6 Getting Started Right Online - Summer 2018

7 Online Campus Policy Reminders 2 COURSE DURATION COURSE REFUNDS ONLINE CAMPUS POLICIES Individuals enrolled in a distance learning course are Western Seminary students and are expected to comply with seminary policies as outlined in the catalog. In specific instances, the practices of online learning require that online policies be adapted to meet the specialized needs and circumstances of our students. Our extended policy manual is available for viewing or download online at westernseminary.edu. To help you get started right in your online course what follows is a brief summary of several of the mostfrequently-asked policy areas. Students across the seminary system now have either 7 or 14 weeks, depending upon your session, to complete an Online Campus course. With your course materials we have included the specific start and end dates for your current course. SUMMER 2018 REFUND SCHEDULE SESS 100 % 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% ENDS A 4/28-5/13 5/14-5/20 5/21-5/27 5/28-6/3 6/4-6/10 6/11-6/16 8/6 B 4/28-5/3 5/4-5/6 5/7-5/10 5/11-5/13 5/14-5/17 5/18-5/20 6/18 C 6/16-6/21 6/22-6/24 6/25-6/28 6/29-7/1 7/2-7/5 7/6-7/8 8/6 After the refund period, students must petition the registrar for permission to withdraw from the course. If approved, the student will receive a W on their transcript and no refund will be issued. COURSE EXTENSIONS FINANCIAL AID In accord with seminary catalog polices, students may receive one four-week course extension upon request and approval by the Online Campus. Continuing progress in the course must be demonstrated before a request for an extension will be considered. An extension may result in a delay of your next course registration and impact your eligibility for financial aid. Online students may be eligible for financial aid; please contact Shelle Riehl in the Financial Aid office for more information. Getting Started Right Online - Summer

8 WELCOME TO 3 WELCOME TO WHAT IS WHY Integr@te (simply pronounced Integrate) is a course delivery and integrated learning system developed by Western Seminary to support students in the distance education program. Integr@te provides for rapid access to course materials and offers immediate access to a suite of bible study, communications and course calendaring options. Western Seminary is committed to serving student interests anywhere in the world. Integr@te allows a student in Taiwan to access learning resources as quickly and as effectively as a student in Portland, San Jose or Sacramento. Integrate also allows students to have ready access to all distance courses taken, to study within a resource-rich learning system, and to backup online courses to disk for a lifelong learning resource archive. WHY NOW? High speed broadband access and high-capacity hard drive storage have become the user standard rather than the exception. Even limited systems today ship from the factory with more than 1 TB of hard drive storage and terabyte drives can be purchased for $75 or less. If, after installing Integr@te, you experience difficulties downloading course resources, please contact the Online Campus offices for assistance. 8 Getting Started Right Online - Summer 2018

9 Welcome to UNDERSTANDING THE DOWNLOAD MANAGER Download Manager Updates On rare occasions we have heard that individual elements of a course did not download successfully, yet they were identified as complete. The Download Manager is always available, and permits you to download individual elements of your course at any time to ensure your course is complete and up-to-date. Progress Reporting Not only are you able to determine the percentage of all course media components you have viewed, you can see how much of any lesson s media components have been viewed. To be sure, this is a work in progress and we welcome your feedback to make it the most useful resource possible. The progress report works best when the course is engaged on a single computer. DOWNLOAD INTEGR@TE To download a course, you will need to install our desktop application Integr@te which will enable you to download the course content from our site. Integr@te uses the Adobe Air platform and is compatible with both Macintosh and Windows operating systems. To do so: 1. Visit Integrate Control a. Download and install Adobe Air b. Download and install the Integr@te application. 2. Start the application by: a. Double-clicking the red Western Seminary logo icon on your desktop, or... b. Choose Integr@te from your list of programs. 3. When the application opens, you will see a login screen. A drop-down menu allows you to choose either to login for an online course or a campus classroom. Choose the OLC option and login using your Moodle OLC (Online Learning Center) username and password. Note: If you have to close Integr@te, or shut down your computer, the Download Manager will remember the last component completed. Getting Started Right Online - Summer

10 Welcome to OFFLINE LOGIN DOWNLOAD YOUR COURSE Note: If you choose the offline option, the various functions that access the internet will be disabled. This is a useful option when you have downloaded your course and wish to access media where you do not have access to an internet connection. Once you have entered the application, click on Add Course to access the course installation options. 1. Click on Download from Website. 2. Click on your course. The page will change to the Download Manager screen and your course download will begin. When your first video has finished downloading, you may click on the Welcome opton. Your course will now be listed in the Courses Installed window. You may click on the desired course link to access your course s home screen; the download manager will continue to download course components while you view your first video. HOW TO RESTART THE DOWNLOAD MANAGER LOADING YOUR COURSE FROM DVD ROM OR JUMP (FLASH) DISK SOME USEFUL INTEGR@TE FEATURES To return to the Download Manger and restart the download: 1. Click on your course from the Welcome screen. 2. Click on the Download Manager button (upper left side of the course screen). 3. At the Download Manager, click on the Start button to continue your download. If you would like to load your course from a Jump / Flash drive or DVD ROM disk or rather than by Internet download simply: 1. Insert your Flash drive or DVD ROM disk in your computer. 2. From within Integr@te, click on Add Course and then on Copy from DVD/USB Drive. Integr@te will search for your course and provide a download button. Simply click on the button link. 1. Once you have installed your course(s), you may click on the course title to go to the course home page, or, if you click on the green arrow beside the name, you will be returned to the last place you left off...even in the middle of a video! 2. Western s Important Dates links directly to the seminary s calendaring system and provides helpful information on events and deadlines. 3. Bookmarks allow you to set points within course media for you to return to with a single click of the mouse, but it also allows you to create - and later print out - notes that accompany the media. It is a great way to keep notes for your courses that allow you to immediately visit the place within the course to which the note applies! 10 Getting Started Right Online - Summer 2018

11 IMPORTING YOUR COURSE SCHEDULE The OLC for your course provides the option to download an ical course schedule file that you can import into Outlook, Google Calendar or many other calendar applications. 1. Save the ical schedule file to your computer (where you will be able to find it again.) 2. Login to the application and click on Calendar, then click on Import. 3. Locate the schedule file and click Open in the dialog box. The calendar will now show your course schedule. You can roll over any date for detail, or you can click on the file for editing. To learn how to install the ical file in Outlook, please visit www. westernseminary.edu/help. DOWNLOADING YOUR COURSE ON CAMPUS While students may desire to download courses to while on campus, we would ask that you not do so. The impact of several students downloading courses simultaneously on shared bandwidth could easily interfere with regular administrative, faculty and student use of the Internet. If you are on the Portland campus, you may stop by the Online Campus offices and load your course into directly from the Online Campus Flash drive. GETTING HELP WITH You have access to extensive help from within by clicking on the HELP tab. For additional help, please visit the Online Campus student website westernseminary.edu/students/online and click on the Online Campus Help link. RELINKING YOUR COURSES On occasion an anti-virus software program, update, or other issue may cause your downloaded course to apparently "disappear" in To solve the problem, you can: 1. Download the course again, OR If you downloaded the course into the application storage folder... Open Press the Ctrl + ~ buttons at the same time. This should open a folder to the configuration files for Integr@te. Inside that folder should be another named Western Seminary Courses where you will find all the folders and files for all your courses. Open the folder for your course and look for a folder named xml. Inside will be a file that starts with cdata. Just drag and drop that file onto the welcome screen in Integr@te to relink the course. Getting Started Right Online - Summer

12 COMPUTER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS SOFTWARE: HARDWARE: Windows or Apple Macintosh Operating System Internet Browser with Internet access (highspeed broadband connection required for course download) PowerPoint 2003 recommended but not required. Word processor able to write to.doc or.docx formats program able to send and receive attachments Acrobat Reader (free download) Sound card and speakers Adequate free disk space on your hard drive to allow for efficient operation of programs (Please allow 3-5 GB of free space per online course. ) If you have questions, please call the Online Campus prior to enrollment in a distance learning course. COMPATIBILITY: Integr@te is designed to function effectively under both the Windows and Apple Macintosh operating systems.* If you have problems downloading your course materials, please contact the Online Campus offices for assistance. * Notes: Older versions of Macintosh, prior to , are no longer supported in the newer version of Adobe Air, so you may need to download an older version. Attention Mac users: Adobe Air will not install on this version of the OS. Please update your Mac to version prior to installation. westernseminary.edu/students/online WESTERN SEMINARY ONLINE CAMPUS 5511 SE HAWTHORNE BLVD., PORTLAND, OR X ONLINECAMPUS@WESTERNSEMINARY.EDU