GUELPH-HUMBER ONLINE LEARNING HANDBOOK

ABOUT THIS BOOK
ONLINE LEARNING AT GUELPH-HUMBER
ACCESSING YOUR ONLINE COURSES
MY HOME PAGE
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
COURSE WEBSITE
COURSE MATERIALS
TEXTBOOKS AND COURSE READERS
CONFERENCES
ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSIONS
ONLINE QUIZZES OR TESTS
FINAL EXAMINATIONS

ABOUT THIS BOOK
This Online Learning Handbook is your guide to online learning at the University of Guelph-Humber. It contains important information about how your distance education course works. It is recommended reading for any student enrolled in a course with an online component.

ONLINE LEARNING AT GUELPH-HUMBER
Online learning at Guelph-Humber provides you with opportunities to access course information and participate with others in an online environment while you are attending on-campus classes. In many cases, your course(s) may be delivered entirely online. In courses with an in-class or face-to-face component, please check with your instructor to verify how the website is being used and your responsibility for online learning. For example, the course website may contain lecture notes; it may also contain key information related to course assignments, quizzes you must take at specified intervals, and discussions in which you must participate. Courses that are entirely online are likely to provide all of the resources and information described above in online format.

To be a successful online learner, it is important for you to take responsibility for your learning. It is recommended that you begin your studies the first week of classes, pace yourself each week, and participate regularly throughout the semester. It is also important that you access your course websites regularly and become familiar with the content.

You are expected to have an understanding of internet and email basics. You will be navigating and searching the internet and corresponding with others in your class using web-based conferencing and email.

ACCESSING YOUR ONLINE COURSES

Online Guelph-Humber – http://www.onlineguelphhumber.ca – is your gateway to online learning at the University of Guelph-Humber. From Online Guelph-Humber, you log in to your online courses with a unique username and password.

New Users
If this is your first online course, click New User on the Online Guelph-Humber site. You need your student number and email address to complete this process. If you do not have your student number or email address, please contact Registrarial Services. Students enrolled in a degree program at the University of Guelph-Humber are encouraged to use their guelphhumber.ca email account. This email address is the official means of contact between you and the university.

A username will be generated and you will be prompted to create a password. You can access your course immediately and you will receive an email message confirming your new user information.

Previous Users
If you have taken an online course with us before, you will use the same username and password. Forgotten your username or password? Click on Forgot Password? on the Online Guelph-Humber site.

Want to change your password? Log in with your old password and see the My Preferences section on My Home page.

MY HOME PAGE
My Home page is the first page you will see after logging in. It contains links to:

• Learner services and resources (library services, computer lab, academic and program counselling links).
• Course tour and information about online learning

In the My Preferences section at the bottom of the page, you can change your email, password, and system settings.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Some courses may carry additional system requirements. If you require additional information, contact the Technical Support - help@open.uoguelph.ca.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Online help can be accessed by clicking Help on the course website. If you have any questions regarding the technical requirements or access to the course website please contact:
Technical Support
Email: help@open.uoguelph.ca
Phone: (519) 824-4120 ext. 56939
Toll Free Phone Number for Canada & USA only:
1-866-275-1478
Fax: (519) 824-1112

When contacting Technical Support concerning your login and password, have your student number handy.

• Remember that your course login username will be different from that used to log in to your onlineguelphhumber email account and WebAdvisor account.
• Not all Guelph-Humber courses have course websites
• If you add or drop a course, it may take up to 48 hours for the change to be reflected on your My Home page.

COURSE WEBSITE
Each online course has its own website where you receive specific course information, access content, and connect with other students and the course instructors.

Class List
The Class List provides names and email links for course instructors and students. Participants can also complete an optional profile or provide a link to their personal homepage. The names of users who are currently logged on are highlighted in yellow. Some courses organize students into groups for online discussions and projects. In such cases, the group number appears in the Class List.

Help
Help is a link to information and technical assistance. Further instructions regarding the various course tool options are also provided.

Contact Us
Contact Us provides you with a custom list of email recipients: the course instructor, teaching assistant, and help desk (technical support).

Logout
This option logs you out of the course websites. It is important that you log out in order to restrict access to course websites and keep your personal information safe from non-authorized users.

My Home
From within a particular course website, this option returns you to your My Home page where you can select another of your online courses (if applicable), or other resources.

Updates
The Updates page is the first thing you see each time you enter a course website. It is where news messages are posted to course participants. The instructor may write a welcome message, post course announcements, and offer class-wide guidance, support, or reminders.

Messages are listed in date order (most recent at top). All previous messages can be viewed by clicking the Show All button. You should check for new messages each time you visit a course website.

The Updates page also features an Events listing which might include: course discussion periods, assignment due dates, quiz dates, and holidays or other events. Below this, you can open My Calendar to see events listed in calendar format and add personal events or reminders. For many students this serves as a useful planning tool. Note: Only you will be able to view events that you add to your calendar.

Outline
The Outline offers course syllabus information such as: course overview, learning objectives, descriptions of activities and resources, assessment details (online participation, assignment and exam requirements), and support contact information.

Coursework
The Coursework option presents a timeline of the semester’s work. It lists, or links to, content units, learning activities, assignments, and resources. This option is useful for keeping track of course requirements and planning ahead.

Grades
If your instructor elects to use the Grades option, you can use it throughout the course to view your marks for unofficial grades for submitted assignments. Your final course grade will be available to you on WebAdvisor.

Conferences
Conferences are online, text-based discussions where you can interact with classmates, instructors, and support staff. Communication is asynchronous in that users can conveniently participate at different times. Online conferences are a means of exchanging information, resources and files, posing questions, sharing and debating ideas, and doing online groupwork.

In addition to the course-specific conferences, there are two conferences shared by all online courses within a particular semester. The Technical Help conference is moderated by support staff and is a place for you to post technical questions. The Test conference allows you to practise using the conference tool.

Quizzes
Some courses have online quizzes or tests usually scheduled for a particular point in the course timeline. Further instructions and details are provided on the course website.

Resources
The Resources option links users to specific course-related resources, online library resources, and additional online learning resources.

Submit
The Submit option is an electronic dropbox to submit and retrieve your course assignments online.
Note: Some courses require print-based assignment submission. Details are included on each course website.

COURSE MATERIALS
Some online courses provide all content through the course website. Others provide additional course materials such as manuals or workbooks, videos or DVDs, audiotapes, CDs, assignment packs, experiment kits, or maps. All materials, unless specifically marked, are yours to keep upon completion of the course. Please note: Course print materials are subject to change each term. Changes may be small, but can affect your course work (e.g. assignment details or due dates).

Obtaining Your Course Materials
If your course includes additional course materials, you will be sent an email from the Admissions and Programs Advisors advising you of this fact and providing location details. If course materials are to be purchased, they will be available at the Humber College Bookstore.

TEXTBOOKS AND COURSE READERS
To obtain information regarding the textbook(s) for your courses and how to purchase them, please contact the Humber College Bookstore at (416) 675-5066.

CONFERENCES
Conferences offer you a way to communicate and work with classmates in online courses. They are the best place to share information and documents, and to participate in discussions.

Unlike chat rooms, conferences let you participate without having to be online at the same time. The Thread feature helps you follow multiple discussions. Attachments let you share files with group members. While you can attach files to email messages, the private nature of email makes it more difficult to organize group work. Conferences keep your discussions and attachments conveniently organized in one place. All attachments are scanned regularly for viruses, however, please ensure that you have up-to-date anti-virus software installed on your computer.

Conferences also allow your instructor to participate in discussions, monitor your groupwork, and offer feedback. Your instructor or TA cannot do this if you are privately emailing each other. Each course has a custom conferencing structure designed for its discussion topics and activities. If your course has study-group activities, you will be assigned to a group within 24 hours of your initial login and then be able to join the appropriate group conferences. To find out which group you are in, go to the Class List option.

ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSIONS
The Submit option may be used for you to submit assignments online rather than in the classroom. If the Submit option does not appear on the website for your course(s) you should ask your instructor to clarify how you will be submitting your assignments. Entirely online courses will frequently use this option.

Submitting Assignments Online

1. Please include a cover page with the document you will be submitting. Including your name, student ID number, course name, course code, date and number of pages. If you do not include a cover page with your document your instructor may have difficulty identifying your paper.
   
2. Unless instructed to submit in another file format, save the final version of the assignment as a .rtf (rich-text format) file. This allows file compatibility between different word processing software. To save in .rtf format: In your word processor, select “file/save as” and then in the “save as type” list, select Rich Text Format (*.rtf).
   
3. On the course website, click Submit (top of navigation window), and follow the instructions for using the assignment submission dropbox. When you submit to the online dropbox, your assignment is automatically date-stamped. A copy of your assignment is then placed in an electronic folder, where your instructor can retrieve it.
   
   Detailed instructions for submitting your assignments online are provided on the course website. If you have any questions or difficulties with the electronic Submit option, contact Technical Support.

ONLINE QUIZZES OR TESTS
To Access the Quizzes or Tests, click on the Quiz link from your Coursework page (on some course websites, this link will be on the top menu bar). This will take you to an instructions page, and then the Quiz Homepage for your course. From here, click on the link to the quiz you want to complete.

Taking a Quiz
After you answer a question, save it by clicking Save. (Answers can still be changed; simply make your change and click Save again.) When you are satisfied with your answers, click Go to Submit Quiz. You will be asked to confirm that you wish to submit your quiz for grading. If you’ve missed any questions, a warning listing the questions you haven’t answered will appear, and you will be asked if you want to continue. Once you have selected “Submit Quiz”, your quiz will be submitted and you cannot change your answers. A message window will appear telling you that your quiz has been submitted.

Timed Quizzes
Some quizzes are timed and some are not. If yours is a timed quiz, time remaining will be displayed at the top of the quiz. If you run over the allotted time, your quiz will be marked as late. To keep the clock current, we recommend that you click Save after each question.

Receiving Your Results
For self-test quizzes that are not graded, you will immediately be able to see your results. For graded quizzes, you can return to the quiz screen to view your results once the quiz period is over.

FINAL EXAMINATIONS
The final examination schedule for students will be emailed to you by Registrarial Services at Guelph-Humber. For more information, please contact the appropriate Admissions and Programs Advisor.