How do you use our online courses?

The course outline (list of links) 

Once you join a course the first thing you see is the course outline. This is often arranged by topics, although not always. This is a list of links to the course materials. Like a college course tutor we  create a range of resources for learners to use. These are added to the course outline so that the learners can find them.
The course outline is like the index of a text book. It is divided up into sections and most sectons have at least two if not more links in them. Each link has a name that is supposed to help you work out what the link is about. At the left hand side of that item there is a symbol that tells you what kind of resource it is. Here are some examples.

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

What resources do these links lead to?

Most of the links will take you to web pages created as part of the course. These web pages are the equivalent of the teacher talking to the class. Some contain images just like a class teacher uses diagrams or pictures to explain things to the learners. In addition there are links that go to other things.
These include:

Web links e.g. to Social bookmarking pages – A social bookmarking site is a place where students can access bookmarks set up with that course in mind. They can make suggestions for additional pages to add to the list. We have been using del.icio.us to collect links that relate to different parts of the course. These have been classified with different tags and the links for each tag can be seen on a separate web page. Links to those web pages have been included in the course materials.

Links to files created using standard office software – This includes word-processed documents, spreadsheets and presentations. However in case of problems it is more common to find documents saved as rtf files and spreadsheets saved as csv files. If there is no interaction needed with these files they are more likely to be pdf files.  

Exercises created in educational programs – We use the same software that schools and colleges use to create exercises that can be viewed  on computer screens. These include crosswords, matching exercises, fill in the gap exercises, quizzes  jumbled sentence exercises even action mazes (a bit like active flow charts).

Wiki – This is a web page that students on a course can use for their own notes which they write themselves and then then edit. Sometimes it is just learner and teacher other times it is a group of learners. 

Discussion forum – This is used to leave messages that can be answered by other learners or the tutor. A tutor can set a question and invite comments from learners.

Glossary – Useful for developing a list of definitions.

Chat room – This is just for the students on a course as the access is controlled by the teacher. It can be used as a way of holding a typewritten conversation or even counselling.

Links to videos – If tutor finds a video that suits the content of the course they can include a link to You Tube (or other similar video streaming service).  

Links to audio files – Audio files may also be included in some courses. This helps make the course more accessible as well.

What do you do with all these things?

Any teacher will tell you that they can provide all the resources in the world but if a learner is not will to use them then their work is wasted. They can shout and cajol and demand that learners use those resources but in the end it is the learner that is responsible for using the resources to learn. The same is true for an online course.

Any learner will tell you that the best courses are those where they can engage with other learners and interact with them. This is relatively easy when everyone turns up to a class at the same time. This is not so easy when you are doing an online course. Often people start courses at different times and progress at different rates. You can still have discussions but if people are not online at the same time they have to be carried out using a discussion board. Sometimes a tutor can invite everyone on a course to join a chat room and discuss a topic.

If you cannot engage with other learners you can still read the web pages and follow the links on del.icio.us and learn from these resources. It is best to sit and consider what you have read and let it sink in. In order to help you digest the materials provided some courses include exercises. For some courses it is better to have some kind of practical task that can be applied to your home or organisation therefore materials are provided to help you do this. Of course, this takes some determination and persistence but of course those are qualities that are needed by historymakers.