Getting started

One of the things that people get concerned about is what on earth they are letting themselves in for when they sign up for an online course. The aim of this page is to demystify what is involved in taking an online course.

Entering Lily the Pink's Online Learning Place

When you click on the Lily the Pink's Online Learning Place link you will go to the front page of the Online Learning Place. This is set up to show a list of the available courses. Hopefully this will be the same as what is on the current courses page. Look carefully at the list of courses and you will see a little button that you can click on to find extra information about the courses. It looks like this

Choosing a course

Click on the name of the course and if you are logged on you will go to the course outline. If you are not logged on then you will be taken to the log on page. 

Logging into the Online Learning Place

The log on page gives you two options. 

On the right hand side you can sign up with a new account. All you need to do is to follow the instructions. 

On the left hand side you can enter the user name and password that you made a note of when you signed up for your account. If you have forgotten them and can read the email sent to the address you used when you enrolled then you need click on the button that will start the process that will help you log on. Remember though that if you think you have used the correct user name and password that they are case-sensitive. In other words if you used a capital letter when you first logged on then you will need to use it every time you log on.

One of the reasons for forcing people to log on is to help the teachers. Teachers need to keep track of who has done what and how well they have done. They cannot do this unless they can tell one student from another.  

Making a start with the course outline

The course outline is like the index of a text book. It is divided up into topics and most topics have at least two if not more parts to them. Each part is listed in the outline and at the left hand side of that item there is a symbol. Here are some examples of these symbols.

	discussion forum
	assignment
	text page (like a web page)
	wiki
	word-processed file
	web link

For more information about the types of resources that may be found on the topic outline go to the Getting Started page (see drop down list of pages about online couses at the side).  Each item in the topic outline is a link. So you can open it as a page. When you get going on the topics you may find it easier if you open the Wiki for that topic in a new window or a new tab. This means that you can keep two pages open at once and swap between them quite easily. The Wikis on this course have been set up so that only you and your tutor can see what you have written. You can keep on going back to them and checking your notes as long as you are enrolled on the course. 

To open a link in a new window or tab in Internet Explorer

To do this you will need to find the shortcut menu. You can do this by clicking on the right hand mouse button or pressing the shortcut menu key on the keyboard. (The shortcut menu key is normally one of only two keys on a keyboard that just has a picture on it. It is the one with the rectangle on it i.e. the one that does not have the Windows symbol on it.) The shortcut menu changes depending on where the cursor is when the shortcut menu is activated. If the cursor is over a link then you will see at least "open in a new window" if not "open in a new tab" as well. What actually appears in the menu depends on what version of Internet Explorer you are using. If you chose to open a page in a new window then you will see a block of text appear in the bar along the bottom of the screen. If you choose to open a page in a new tab then you will see a new block of text just under the menu bar. To move from one page to another all you need to do is click on the block of text for the page that you want to move to. 

Returning to the course outline

If you want to go back to the course outline at any time then click on the short name of the course near the top of the screen. So for Surviving a Household Emergency click on SAHE101 and you will go back to the topic outline. 

Any further queries

You can contact Lily the Pink at susan at  lilythepinkonline dot co dot uk and you will get an answer as soon as reasonably possible.