Getting+Started

In this section, you will learn how this course is organized, how to complete and submit assignments, and how to interact online with other educators. You will also review and acknowledge important academic policies that outline the requirements for successfully completing and being awarded credit for this course. Please use the scroll bar on the right-hand side; this will enable you to see all of the information. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the section. Your course is organized by section. Please note the menu bar on the left side of your screen—this is the main navigational menu. It contains titles for each section of your course. Each title is hyperlinked and will take you to that section of the course. Also note that the left-hand menu has its own scroll bar; use that scroll bar to see the complete menu and all links. First is Course Home, which includes Getting Started and About This Course. Next is the Introduction, which provides you with the Course Introduction and the Theoretical Foundations. After that, you will see that there are 14 sections. Each numbered section may contain an introduction, learning objectives, readings, media, and assignments that will help you make connections between the content and your teaching practice. For your convenience, we have organized each section so that the Resources and Assignments for each section are located in the left-hand menu, making it simple for you to revisit those areas as needed. As you move through the numbered sections, you will notice that there are one or more quiz questions at the conclusion of each section. Each quiz reviews concepts from the resources in that section. **Note:** Quizzes can be taken only once, so please do not open a quiz until you have finished reading and viewing all of the resources in that section and are ready to complete the quiz. Once you have completed a quiz, your score will be saved in the Gradebook. To see your score(s), look for Tools in the menu on the left. Underneath it, you will see Course Tools. Click on **Course Tools** and then on **My Grades**. After Section 14, you will find directions for completing the Final Reflection paper. This is a culminating assignment that provides you with an opportunity to synthesize your learning experience in this course. When you have worked your way through all of the sections, taken all of the quizzes, and completed all of the assignments, including the Course Project and Final Reflection, you will need to indicate to the university that you are ready to have your coursework evaluated. The final section, Course Completion, provides instructions on how to take the final steps of your course. You will be asked to perform two final actions: acknowledge the academic policies that govern this course (via the **Complete Your Course** link) and submit your coursework (via the final link, **Submit Your Assignment Organizer**). **Important**: You are able to read the instructions in Course Completion at any time; however //please do not click on// any of the links within that section until you are absolutely finished with the course and ready to submit your coursework for evaluation. As with quizzes, these actions can be taken only once. **Submitting the Assignment Organizer** Throughout the course, you will work on different assignments that help you to make connections between course concepts and your teaching practice. To help you complete your coursework, we have provided an Assignment Organizer. The Assignment Organizer, which is a Microsoft® Word 2003® document, contains directions for all of the course assignments. Most importantly, it is the document that you will use to create and submit every one of your required assignments.

The Assignment Organizer has been designed so that you will use just this one electronic file to create, store, and later submit all of your required assignments all at once, at the very end of your course. Because you will be working in this single document throughout the course, it is important that you do the following: Please read through and then follow these steps to save your Assignment Organizer onto your computer: For those using Windows® and Internet Explorer®: (**Note**: Depending upon your browser setting, the file might launch in a new window without showing you the File Download message box. If the file launches automatically, simply use the “File” menu in the new window to save the Assignment Organizer to your computer.) If you are using Firefox®, your Assignment Organizer will automatically download to your computer when you click on the link to download the file. If you are not certain to which folder Firefox® automatically downloads, please follow these steps: <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For those using Macintosh® computers: <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once you have saved the Assignment Organizer to your computer, you will be able to open it up and take a look at it. A table of contents has been included in the beginning of the document. It allows you to quickly move to any assignment in the document. As you progress through the course and complete activities, you will open up the Assignment Organizer and type your work into the document. Save the document often as you complete your work. Like all important documents stored on your computer, it is important that you back up your work frequently onto a flash drive or other external storage device. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once you have completed all of your assignments, you will be given specific instructions within the Course Completion section on how to submit your Assignment Organizer. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(**Note**: If, for some reason, you are having trouble downloading and saving the Assignment Organizer, please be sure and contact the Student Support Team. Their contact information is available in About This Course (click on the title in the left-hand menu). <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">Trademark Information: <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Submitting the Course Project** <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In addition to submitting the Assignment Organizer, you will submit your Course Project. You will submit your Course Project in the same way you submit the other assignments in this course. At the end of the Assignment Organizer you will find a section called Course Project Assignment. You will use this document to create, store, and submit your Course Project. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Discussions** allow you to interact with other educators and expand your thinking about specific concepts or topics presented in the course. You will be asked to react to the ideas presented in the media and readings and post your response. You will have the opportunity to view the responses of other educators, allowing you to gain valuable insight and broaden your perspective on the topic. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To participate in any of the discussions, you will enter an online discussion board. To use the discussion board, please follow these directions (these directions are repeated in the description of the first Discussion): <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To return to the course content, click on any title in the left-hand menu.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Save the Assignment Organizer onto your computer in a location that you can easily find.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Remember to save your work frequently.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Back up the Assignment Organizer often onto a flash drive or other external storage device.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Before you download the Assignment Organizer, create a new folder on your computer for this course in “My Documents” (Windows®) / “Documents” (Windows Vista®). **Hint:** You may want to use the course title for the name of your new folder.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Click here to access the Assignment Organizer.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A new browser window will open, and you will see a File Download message box giving you two choices: “Open” or “Save” the file.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Click on **Save**; the next message box will allow you to name the file and select where you want to save it.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Add your full name to the file name (e.g., “Jane Smith Assignment Organizer”). Make sure that you have selected to save it into the folder that you created for this course, and then click on **OK**.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Go back to the folder that you created, and make sure that you see the Assignment Organizer and can open it.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Firefox®, click on the **Tools** menu
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Click on **Downloads**.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Download window will open, showing you the files that have been downloaded to your computer.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Locate the Assignment Organizer and right-click on it.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Select **Open**. You can now rename the file and save it to the new folder that you created for this course.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Before you download the Assignment Organizer, create a new folder on your computer for this course in “Documents.” **Hint:** You may want to use the course title for the name of your new folder.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Click here to access the Assignment Organizer.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Assignment Organizer will open in Word®. To save to your computer, please go to the “File” menu and click on **Save**.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Add your full name to the file name (e.g., “Jane Smith Assignment Organizer”). Make sure you have selected to save it into the folder you created for this course, and then click on **Save**.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Go back to the folder you created, and make sure that you see the Assignment Organizer and can open it.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">Microsoft, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Internet Explorer, and Word are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">Firefox is a registered trademark of the Mozilla Foundation.
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">Mac OS and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
 * 1) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After reading the discussion description, you will see a link to enter the discussion board.
 * 2) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After entering the discussion board, locate the discussion title and click on it to open the prompt.
 * 3) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Read the prompt carefully. When you are ready to respond, locate the Reply button (towards the right side of the box containing the prompt).
 * 4) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You will see a Message box. Begin typing your response to the prompt in this box. (**Note**: You may need to wait a moment or two for the message page to load.) It looks very similar to how you compose an e-mail; there is a subject line, a message area to type in, and even a toolbar, including spell check, to help you format your response.
 * 5) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the Subject field, please change the text to read “[Your last name]’s response” (e.g., “Smith’s response”). This will help other teachers distinguish between the initial discussion prompt and the various individual responses.
 * 6) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When you are satisfied with your response, click on **Submit**. Your response will be posted and added to the discussion board.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">**Tips for the Discussion Summaries**
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Part of your formal assessment will be to view other educators’ responses to the prompts and summarize what you learned through the discussion. To do this, you will need to read and respond to a minimum of **two** postings from other educators, but you may find it useful to view more. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When you are in the discussion board, click on the main discussion title to view the prompt, and then use the **Previous Post/Next Post** links in the upper-right corner to move through the posts from other educators. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You can also use the Collect feature to gather posts into one page for easier viewing. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Teacher’s Lounge is a message board within the online classroom. Just like the teacher’s lounge at your school site, it serves as an **optional** place to meet other professionals in an informal setting. You may use the Teacher’s Lounge to find someone with whom to collaborate on Professional Interaction assignments or post questions about coursework.
 * 1) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Notice that each post has a small box all the way to the left of the post.
 * 2) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Click on a box to select that post.
 * 3) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once you have selected the posts, look in the upper-left area of the discussion board for **Collect** and click on it (next to an icon that looks like an open box).
 * 4) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The posts that you have selected will be gathered into one page. Use the scroll bar to navigate down the page if needed.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**NOTE:** The Teacher’s Lounge message board is **NOT** monitored by the university, an instructor, or any staff. It is designed to be a message board for students’ convenience in communicating with other students enrolled in the same course. Responses to assignments should NOT be submitted on the Teacher’s Lounge message board.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Post a request on the message board and check back frequently for replies. If you locate someone with whom you wish to work on a course assignment, exchange contact information. To protect your privacy, it is suggested that you create a free e-mail account (through Yahoo mail or Google mail, for example) specifically for this type of communication.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When you post a request on the Teacher’s Lounge message board, be sure to refer to the assignment on which you are working in the subject line of the message, a date by which you need a reply, the grade level you teach, and details about the type of interaction you desire. See the sample request below:

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: Section 5 Professional Interaction Assignment; please reply by March 7

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hello, Colleagues!

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I am a high-school math teacher searching for a fellow educator who is willing to work with me on the Professional Interaction assignment in Section 5. I would like to begin working on the assignment by March 7, so if you are interested, please contact me at jane.jones@yahoo.com or reply to this post with your contact information. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Best regards,

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jane Jones <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Check the Teacher’s Lounge frequently to see if anyone has responded to your request. Once someone has responded, you should communicate about the assignment outside of the online classroom. Communication about the content of assignments should not occur on the message board. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To enter the Teacher's Lounge, go to the navigation bar on the left of the page. Click "Teacher's Lounge" under Course Home. You will be taken to a message board where you can communicate with other students in an informal setting. Please follow these guidelines: > > Click here to access the Teacher's Lounge. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There are important academic policies and expectations for graduate-level work in this course. All of your academic policies are found within the My Institution page (click the **My Institution** tab at the top of this page), within the Academic Policies block. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At the end of the course and prior to submitting your Assignment Organizer, you will be asked to acknowledge and accept certain Course Policies to receive academic credit for this course. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Please take a few minutes to review the policies by clicking on the **Course Policies**link below. If you answer “no” to any of the statements, please call your university administrator for further information (contact details are located in the Academic Policies block on the My Institution page).
 * 1) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Enter the message board, read the titles of your colleagues’ posts, select one you would like to reply to.
 * 2) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Click on the message to open the it. Read your colleague’s post. When you are ready to respond, locate the Reply button (towards the right side of the box containing the prompt).
 * 3) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You will see a Message box. Begin typing your response in this box. (**Note**: You may need to wait a moment or two for the message page to load.) It looks very similar to how you compose an e-mail; there is a subject line, a message area to type in, and even a toolbar, including spell check, to help you format your response.
 * 4) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When you are satisfied with your response, click on **Submit**. Your response will be posted and added to the message board.
 * 5) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To return to the course content, click on any title in the left-hand menu.