Initial Activities

This is the Initial Activities page for your course.   The initial activities provide you a with step-by-step introduction to the course, its homepage, the learning style of the course, and the communication standards that make it possible for the instructor to provide you with continuous feedback and assistance throughout the course.

You are hereby instructed to complete Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the Initial Activities during the first week of your semester, which begins with the first official day of class.  You might also need to complete Part 4 during the first week (read on). 

You may begin work on the Initial Activities before the official first day of class.  You are in fact encouraged to get a head start, if your schedule permits.

To navigate and understand the course homepage and other aspects of the course you simply must complete the Initial Activities.  You will be provided with a link to the course homepage fairly early in Part 3, in the menu below.  By the time you complete Part 3 you will have all the information you need to navigate the course.

You may if you wish scroll down about half a page to the menu and simply do as instructed.  If you want a little more of an overview of the process, read on.

Brief overview of Initial Activities:

Your Initial Activities are divided into four parts, as indicated below.  These three parts are

• Part 1:  Establishing communication.
• Part 2:  General Information.
• Part 3:  Communication, Learning Process, Course Homepage.
• Part 4:  Review, Assessment and First Assignments.

The course schedule typically allots about 1.5 weeks during a regular Fall or Spring term, and 1 week during the shorter Summer term, to the Initial Activities.  The course schedule, to which you will be introduced, will give you the specifics.

The time required to complete these activities varies widely from student to student.  However most students get to Item A3 of Part 3 within the first couple of hours, by which time they have a pretty good overall picture of the course, including the course homepage.

A more detailed overview of the Initial Activities:

• Part 1 is very short, requiring approximately 15-30 minutes, plus whatever time you choose to spend composing your introduction to the instructor and/or the rest of your class.
• Part 2 consists of information to which you will want to refer from time to time.  An initial read-through can be completed in less than an hour.
• Part 3 consists of Steps A1 - A8, which introduce the learning and communication process for the course, and provide a tour of the course homepage (which is introduced in Step A3) including the course schedule, syllabus and assignments.  Students typically complete Part 3 in 1-3 hours.

You are expected to complete Parts 1, 2 and 3 during the first week of the Fall or Spring semester (during the shorter Summer semester you will be expected to complete Part 4 as well during the first week).  Having completed these assignments you will have seen the schedule for the remainder of the course, including Part 4, and will know how to complete assignments.  You will be expected to follow the schedule beginning in Week 2 of the semester.

• Part 4 consists of Steps B1 - B5.  In Part 4 you will apply the learning and communication process, first to some review exercises, then to actual course material.  The time required for Part 4 can range from 2 hours to 12 hours or more, depending on your knowledge of stated course prerequisites, your working style and numerous other factors.

The menu for the Initial Activities phase of your course follows.  For later reference, a copy of this menu is also easily found in the menu frame of your course homepage, to which you will be introduced during these activities.