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How to Use This Course
Course NavigationAt the top of your course pages, there are six navigation tabs: home, lessons, inbox, grades, exam, and help. Some of these pages open in separate windows. These windows are not resizable, and you may need to scroll vertically in order to access all of the page contents.
The home tab returns you to the home page of the course. The home page provides information that is essential to your success as a distance learner. We advise you to read it in its entirety. The lessons tab contains the table of contents for the course materials. The table of contents has links to the course introduction, the course materials or lessons, and [for high school courses] the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills correlation. The course introduction explains how the course is organized, what course materials are required, and how your grade is calculated. The inbox tab takes you to your course inbox, and this page opens in a new window. You need to be connected to the Internet to access this page. The inbox contains all of the feedback that will be provided for graded assignments submitted online. This includes feedback from computer-graded assignments and any comments or responses from your instructor. You should check your inbox frequently so that you can receive any messages that your instructor may have sent you. Note that not all of the graded assignments are submitted online; some will be submitted via U.S. mail. The grades tab displays your grades, and this page opens in a new window. After your assignment is graded, the grade is posted. You may use this tab to check the dates that your assignments are received by DEC and the grade that is recorded for each assignment. Again, you need to be connected to the Internet to access this page. The exam tab contains information about the exams in the course. This includes information on how to prepare for the exam, policies regarding testing sites, and a link to the application for taking the exam. All students must complete an application before taking an exam. All exams are proctored. The help tab provides a Web page with frequently asked questions (FAQs) and contact information in case you have administrative questions or other questions related to your distance education experience. Other Course Features
The Notes link can be found on all of the course content pages,
and this link opens in a new window. (Use the lesson tab to navigate
to the course content pages.) If you follow this link, you will see fields
where you can enter notes for each lesson, as well as notes for the course
as a whole. After you enter your notes, you can save them and return to
them anytime to review or add to them. Click on the Save Notes
button to save your notes. This button is located at the top of the field
in which you enter your notes. After you have entered your notes, you
can close the window by clicking on the Close Window button. See
the example below.
The Contact Instructor link is for contacting your instructor. For example, you may have questions about a lesson or assignment. The instructor's responses to your inquiries can be found in your course inbox twenty-four to forty-eight hours later. Use the inbox tab to access your inbox. You may use the Contact DEC link to contact DEC at any time. This e-mail will be directed to Student Services. Lesson PagesAt the top of each lesson page, there is a navigation bar with links to the Main and Assignments pages for each lesson. (See the example below.) Many courses also have an Activities or Practice page for each lesson. You may use the Back and Forward buttons on your browser to navigate between these pages. Make sure that you navigate through each page for each lesson.
Sometimes you will access Web sites outside DEC's course site. All Web pages outside of the course site open in new windows. Make sure that you close new windows after you have read them. If you open a link and the window does not appear, look behind the current window by minimizing or moving it. Sometimes, if a window is left open, it can open a new link behind others. This course also has interactive components and online activities. The interactive components also open in a new window. You will probably find them more engaging and fun than reading plain-text files. These activities use the Shockwave player. If you do not have access to the Shockwave player, then you may instead view the text-only files provided alongside each interactive exercise. Note that your final exam will not be taken on the computer but in a paper format. Therefore, you may want to practice with some text-only files to better prepare yourself for the format of the final exam. | ||||||||||||
