Online Orientation

Spring 2013 Online Orientation

PSYC 300 -General Principles of Psychology
American River College, 4700 College Oak Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95841

This class meets entirely online! For more information, keep reading...

Professor Hokerson with her 2 daughters in Germany Lori Hokerson, Assistant Professor
Psychology Department

Web: https://sites.google.com/site/professorhokerson3/
email: hokersl@arc.losrios.edu
voicemail: (916) 484-8162
Office: Davies Hall, 374

Welcome to the Online Orientation for my Psychology 300 - General Principles class at American River College. The Online Orientation is intended for registered students as well as students that are interested in adding this class. The online environment can be more demanding than a face-to-face class so it is important that all students complete this orientation before the start of class to determine if it is the right fit.

Registered students will have full access to the class website at the start of the semester (Desire2Learn). If you decide that this class is not a "good fit" for you then please officially drop the class with eServices so that another student can be moved onto the roster.

Interested students (this includes students that are on the wait list and those that are not) should complete this tutorial prior to the start of the semester but will not have access to the class website until 24 hours after officially registered with eServices.

Do you have what it takes to be a successful online student? Use the links below to complete each of the steps for this online tutorial.

Step 1 - The Online Experience

Step 2 - Information Technology Requirements

Step 3 - Course Design

Step 4 - Evaluating the Internet

Step 5 - Avoiding Plagiarism

Step 6 - APA Format

Step 1 - The Online Experience

Have you ever completed an online class before? For some of you the answer might be yes, but for many of you this might be the first time you have ever enrolled (or attempted to enroll) in an online class. What all students should know up front is that THIS IS NOT AN EASY THING TO DO! Not all students will be successful in the online classroom. In fact, the student retention rate for this online class is about 55%. The good news is that I always over-enroll my class because of this; the bad news is that if you don't take the time to thoroughly evaluate your ability to be successful in this class now, you may end up dropping it by midterm.

Again I ask, do you have what it takes to be a successful online student? Click on the link below to read about the essential characteristics of a successful online student.

What makes a successful online student?http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/StudentProfile.asp

During the first week of class you will be expected to introduce yourself to the class and you will be asked to identify the characteristics that will be your strength, the ones that will be your weakness and how you will overcome them.

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Step 2 - Information Technology Requirements

In addition to the personal characteristics, a successful online student also has access to a computer with the technical capabilities to complete the course. Based on my curriculum, here is a list of those essential technical needs:

Internet Access (Required) - Students will access the class website through Desire2Learn. Firefox and Mozilla are the recommended browsers however D2L is also functional using Internet Explorer (IE)and Google Chrome. However it is strongly recommended that you NOT use IE8, which still has some compatibility issues.

Word Processing Program (Required) - Students will at times be required to submit assignments and are therefore expected to have access to a word processing program to complete the assignment. It doesn't matter what program is used, but I do require that students submit written work as a Rich Text File (.rtf), Portable Document File (.pdf), or Microsoft Word File (.doc or .docx). Any other format may be unreadable and any unreadable format will be given an automatic zero score.

Other Recommended IT - Many of the weekly activities will access other websites, which may require flash and streaming media capabilities, or it may require students to access Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt) and Excel (.xls) files, or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files. I recommend that students access the class materials using a computer with the following software downloads:

Streaming Video (Windows Media Player or RealPlayer or Quicktime)
Interactive Media (JAVA and Shockwave).
The Adobe Acrobat Reader (Mandatory)

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Step 3 - Course Design

Great! If you've come this far, you must think that you have what it takes (personally and technically) to be a successful online student. Then I'm sure that you'd like to learn more about the content and workload of this class, as well as my expectations. This step is just as important as Step 1 because every Professor has the expectation of developing an academic curriculum that meets the standards established by the college. Thus the online classroom can look very different from class to class, teacher to teacher, and subject to subject.

Class Website: Desire2Learn

This class is delivered through Desire2Learn (D2L). In D2L students have access to a Help page, which includes detailed information on how to use D2L, as well as contact information for a a 24/7 Live Chat or by telephone. Here are some quick links below to get you started:

D2L Website: http://d2l.losrios.edu

D2L Resources: http://d2lresources.losrios.edu/

D2L System Check: http://d2lresources.losrios.edu/welcome/system-check

D2L Video Tutorials: http://d2lresources.losrios.edu/welcome/video-tutorials

D2L HelpDesk: http://d2lresources.losrios.edu/welcome/help-desk

Once logged in to D2L you should be sure to complete the System Check ASAP.

Class Design: Important Documents

Class Syllabus: Spring 2013 Class Syllabus

Class Calendar: Spring 2013 Class Calendar

Be sure to thoroughly read through the class Syllabus which outlines my expectations and anything else you would need to know about this class. Also the class calendar gives you an idea of when things are due.

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Step 4 - Evaluating the Internet

Students will complete a variety of assignments this semester which might require that information be sought out on the Internet. Thus it is important that all students know how to effectively access information on the Internet, but most importantly students must be able to evaluate the credibility of information that is available on the Internet. The following 2 links provide a good overview of the skills that students will need to be successful in this class.

Searching the Internet

If you have never completed a tutorial on how to search the Internet, I strongly recommend completing the tutorial published by the University of South Carolina. It provides a thorough comparison of web directories, search engines, and meta-search engines and if you didn't understand what was just said you probably should complete this tutorial.

http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/bones.shtml

Evaluating Websites

Anytime that you decide to look for information on the information super highway (i.e. the Internet) it is imperative that you evaluate the credibility of the information. American River College has posted a link which details some criteria you should examine when evaluating a website to be used as a source in your writing. Regardless of comfort on the Internet, it is important that all students familiarize themselves with these criteria.

http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

DO NOT use Wikipedia! Although it may be a valuable place to start your research it is not a reliable source to cite in your work. Want to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of using Wikipedia? Click here.

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Step 5 - Avoiding Plagiarism

Since you are still working through this orientation I will assume that you have all or most of the characteristics of a successful online student (from Step 1) and that you understand and accept the requirements of my class design (from Step 3). So do you think you have what it takes to be a successful online student in MY class? Not unless you complete Step 5 which provides students with some friendly reminders about how to avoid plagiarism.

There are 2 basic types of plagiarism - intentional and unintentional. I DO NOT tolerate either type of plagiarism in my class! Nor do I accept responsibility for teaching you what it is and how to avoid it - that's your job. So I am providing you with this valuable link to an online tutorial about plagiarism.

Plagiarism Tutorial: Click here.

Read the instructions on the homepage and then use the "Jump to..." drop-down box near the top of the page and be sure to complete the following 2 sections:

What is plagiarism?
Basic Rules for Avoiding Plagiarism.

There are additional links that you may find helpful on this link, so I encourage you to bookmark it as a resource when you are completing assignments for this class.

Alternate Resource on Plagiarism

There are many resources on the Internet to help students avoid the mistakes of plagiarism and the link I've provided above is just one. Here is another plagiarism link posted by the University of Indiana, which provides examples of plagiarism that may be helpful for students.

Turnitin.Com

Student work will be submitted to Turnitin.com to deter incidence of plagiarism. Essentially Turnitin.com will compare student work against a database filled with other student essays, journal articles, magazines, newspapers, etc., as well as compares it to the Internet. Turnitin.com then generates an "Originality Report" which highlights specific plagiarized text and identifies the source from which it was plagiarized. This tool enables me to verify that each submitted student work meets my academic integrity policy, hence it is imperative that students understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it (which includes Step 6 of the Online Orientation).

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Step 6 - APA Format

I am so pleased that you have come this far and I assure you that this tutorial is almost done. Last, but certainly not least, students are expected to appropriately cite the sources that are used in all assignments using American Psychological Association (APA) format citations. This is the standard format required for most behavioral science courses, so many of you may already be familiar with it and how to use it correctly. However I understand that for many of you this will be your first time with APA, so here are a few general guidelines:

What is referred to as "common knowledge" does not require an appropriate citation.
Anytime a direct quotation is used, it requires a citation.
When reporting the findings of a research study, a citation is required.
Any ideas or comments from another person are considered "theirs" and thus requires an appropriate citation.

If you haven't figure it out yet, anything (other than common knowledge) that is not your own idea, comment, or finding should be referenced with an appropriate citation in text.

Here are a few online resources about how to use APA format, however the ARC Library also provides a printed summary of APA format available on-campus.

APA Format Crib Sheet (American River College)
APA Style for Electronic Sources (Trinity University)
APA Research Style Crib Sheet (The College at Wooster)
The Owl at Purdue (Purdue University)

Congratulations you have completed the online tutorial for my psychology 300 class! Click the back arrow on your browser or click the link below to return to the top of this page.

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Professor Lori Hokerson
Psychology Department, American River College
Voicemail: (916) 484-8162
Office: Davies Hall, 374
email: hokersl@arc.losrios.edu
Web: https://sites.google.com/site/professorhokerson3/

ARC

ARC Library

Desire2Learn

eServices

Psych Dept.