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If you are new to Canvas, it is strongly recommended that you complete the PSU: Canvas Student Orientation.
You may also want to review the Canvas Student Getting Started Guide to acclimate yourself further! This guide includes help for getting started with Canvas, customizing Canvas for you, and participating in your courses via Canvas.
The Canvas Help Center provides extensive, up-to-date documentation on making sure your computer is configured properly for Canvas. Failure to follow these recommendations may result in significant issues while viewing materials, taking assessments, and using dropboxes. Use unsupported browsers at your own risk.
Canvas uses a dashboard interface to organize content. Once you are logged into Canvas, you will see a Global Navigation menu that lists the following headings:
Once you are logged into a course, you will also see a Course Navigation Menu on the left side of the page. The links in the menu allow you to navigate within a course. Not all faculty use all of the links, so what you see may vary by course. However, some common course elements include Syllabus, Announcements, Discussions, Files, and Grades.
Canvas supports several modes of communication, including discussions, conversations, and announcements. This course may use a combination of the options below.
If you experience any problems with Canvas, especially those occurring during graded assignments, please report them to Technical Support, preferably immediately after they occur. If you are a University Park or Commonwealth Campus student, please contact Canvas Support at the IT Service Desk. If you are a World Campus student, please contact the Outreach Helpdesk for assistance with Canvas.
It is in your own best interest to be as specific as you possibly can. Vague descriptions of a problem delay assistance. Try to include information such as:
A member of Canvas Support will be in contact with you to assist with the problem.
To get the most out of Canvas, registered students should configure their Canvas profiles as follows.
You have the option to select how, when, and what information you would like to receive notifications for. This can be very helpful when keeping track of items such as discussion posts, assignment due dates, and exams. Visit the Canvas Notification Preference Support page and follow the instructions for setting up your notification preferences.
It is VERY IMPORTANT that you forward your Canvas Conversation messages (course mail) and Announcements to an external Internet e-mail address.
NOTE to registered students: All official communications from the Penn State World Campus are sent to students' Penn State e-mail accounts (yourusername@psu.edu), not to Canvas Conversations (course e-mail). Be sure to check your Penn State account regularly, or forward yourusername@psu.edu to your preferred e-mail account, so you do not miss any important information. You can control the forwarding of yourusername@psu.edu by going to your Penn State access account.
Subscribe to all course discussion forums. The Canvas Guide provides instructions for how to do this within your Notification Preferences.
If you have any questions now or at any point during this week, please feel free to post them to the appropriate Discussion Forum in Canvas.
Here are some quick tips to keep in mind when preparing to be successful in an online course:
You should plan to devote at least the same amount of time to your online courses as you would to attending lectures on campus and completing assignments. Other good study habits, such as attending class (logging on) regularly and taking notes, are just as important in an online course as they are in a lecture hall!
You should plan to devote 10-12 hours per week to completing lesson readings and assignments. Your learning will be most effective when you spread this participation out and engage with the course on a daily basis, if possible.
Take every opportunity to interact with the content, the instructor, and your classmates by completing assignments and participating in discussion forums and group activities!
Keep in sync with what's going on in the course and stay on top of deadlines and upcoming assignments.
Ask for guidance when you are in need of clarification. You can also use the Discussion Forum to ask general questions about the course set-up or content.
The links below will connect you with other resources to help support your successful online learning experience:
This website provides links to many resources on everything from taking notes online to managing your time effectively. Please note that you must be a World Campus student to receive some of the support services mentioned on this website.
As a student, you have access to several resources to help you improve your understanding of the course material, or better use technology needed for your courses. This website provides instructions and links for accessing online tutoring, writing help, and assistance with learning technology.
This blog features posts by Penn State staff and students on a wide variety of topics relevant to online learning. Learn from online students and alumni, as well as staff members dedicated to student success, how you can get the most out of your online course experience.
The iStudy online learning tutorials are free and available to all Penn State students. They cover a broad range of topics including online learning readiness, time management, stress management, and statistics - among many others. Check out the extensive list of topics for yourself to see what topics may be of most use to you!
This website provides access to an extensive free online training library, with tutorials on everything from creating presentations to using mobile apps for education. There is a wealth of information here - all provided free of charge to Penn State faculty, staff, and currently enrolled students.
VoiceThread may be used in your remote sensing course for collaboration and sharing of final projects. Your instructor will let you know in the first week of class if he/she intends to use VoiceThread, Adobe Connect, or a Canvas Discussion Forum for these activities. If your cohort is going to use VoiceThread, continue reading this page for instructions on how to get started.
A VoiceThread is a collaborative, interactive, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos. It allows people to navigate through the slides and leave comments in 5 ways: using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file (for VoiceThread Pro users), or video (via a webcam). A VoiceThread can be shared with instructors, peers, and colleagues so that they can review a presentation asynchronously and provide feedback. A VoiceThread can even be embedded to play and receive comments on other websites, and can be exported and saved as a file on your computer, a CD or flash drive so that you can send it in an email or play it as an archival movie on a digital device.
In the remote sensing curriculum, VoiceThread is used for instructor lectures and for students to share introductions and individual project work. Instructions and tutorials for using VoiceThread are provided in the VoiceThread application.
Access VoiceThread at any time using the link found under Resources menu above.
View the following tutorials to get a basic overview of VoiceThread and how to use it in this course:
Your instructor will provide instructions for submitting and sharing your VoiceThread with your class group
To create and share your VoiceThread with the class group.
For this course, we will be holding weekly webinars using the Zoom online meeting platform. We will use the same Zoom room for each week's webinar. Connection information, including the meeting URL and phone number (if needed), will be provided each week.
Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing tool that will allow us to connect remotely online. Visit the Zoom Help Center if you have questions about how to connect. Our first online meeting will give you an opportunity to test out the platform.
If you have any questions now or at any point during this week, please feel free to post them to the General Questions and Comments Discussion Forum in Canvas.