Getting Started in My CHDV Courses

The Essentials

• All of my courses are fully online with weekly modules. 

• We have no regularly scheduled meeting times (we will not meet in Zoom). All of your work will be completed asynchronously (on your own time) in Canvas.

• This is NOT a self-paced course. You will learn in a community with your classmates and me. We are in this together. 

• All of the learning resources are linked in each module. There is no required textbook to buy for any of my courses. In some courses there may be an online text available free to students, it will be linked in the Canvas class site and within each module.

How to be Successful in My Online Courses

• A new module will be available every Monday morning. Plan to log in to our class site, even if just for a few minutes, every Monday. Go to the homepage, click on the new module, review the Module Start Here page, and take a glance at the week's assignments. This will give you an opportunity to reflect on what's ahead and plan your study time around the other important events and commitments you have on your plate that week. 

• All assignments for the week will be due on Sundays by midnight. Except for the last week of the course, when the assignments will be due by the last day of the class. While I don't generally accept late work, the assignments and learning logs are flexible. Just let me know if you need extra time. Only discussions cannot be submitted late. 

• During the first module you will complete a Participation Analysis Paper - this is where you will decide on your level and commitment to participating in the discussions throughout the course. You cannot change your commitment once the first module ends, so consider your time and commitments carefully before choosing your level of participation.

How to Get Started in the Course

• You will have access to the class site the Friday before the class starts. I recommend logging in before the first day of class to review the requirements and make sure you don't get dropped from the course. I am required to drop no show students by 8 pm on the first day of class (I usually wait until 10 pm to do the actual drop, but please, don't wait until the last minute to access the class for the first time). 

• Download the Canvas Student app and use it to check into our course frequently. 

• Read through the course Start Here page and look through Module 1 (you can get a preview here in the Liquid Syllabus for your specific course/s, just click on your course in the header under the Getting Started drop down menu). 

• Download and print up the Class Schedule.

• Read through the Syllabus (all of these resources in the Liquid Syllabus are also linked on the left side of the Canvas class site on the Syllabus link). 

• Read and consider the Participation Policies for the course. There are 2 levels of participation. The Required Participation means you will only be able to earn a B in the course but will be required to participate in the discussions at only a minimum level of 4 posts per module, one initial response to the discussion prompt and three responses to other students, posts must be recorded on 4 different days throughout the 2-week module to earn full points. The Additional Participation means you can earn an A grade in the course, but you will be required to post to the discussions at least 12 times, 1 initial response to the discussion prompt and 11 responses to other students, spread over at least 6 different days throughout the 2-week module. 

• As you work through this beginning information, I will be giving you many more tips to get started with the course!

• If you have any questions or concerns, be sure to contact me through Canvas Inbox, Pronto, or Cerro Coso Email (LFULLER@cerrocoso.edu). I am always just a message away and I want to support your success in the course and in the field of early education!

I have taught online for many years and I've also been an online student. The number 1 rule is:

If you are puzzled by something, ASK! 

Email

I prefer you contact me using the Canvas Inbox, linked in the menu on the left-hand global navigation bar of the class site. You'll find it is a wonderful tool for organizing your communications for our course and your other courses too. You can also email me directly at LFULLER@cerrocoso.edu.

I respond to email within 48 hours, Monday through Friday. I reserve the right to wait until Monday to reply to messages sent over the weekend. Please be sure to include specific information about the course you are taking as well as information about the assignment and/or grading rubric you have questions about. This helps me to answer more quickly and specifically since I am usually teaching several different classes in a semester.

If I have not responded within 48 hours, I recommend you message me again to ensure there hasn't been any technical glitches.

Office Hours

I do have scheduled office hours when I am available online. My office hours are Mondays 1:00pm-3:00pm and Thursdays 8:00am-11:00am. During office hours I am online and usually respond right away to emails. However, I do check email several times a day, so you don't have to wait until office hours to email me.

Pronto

I am now on Pronto, an instant messaging tool integrated into Canvas. While I encourage you to use Pronto to connect with your classmates and ask for help from each other, you can ping me on Pronto as well. Just be warned that I'm still figuring it out, so I apologize ahead of time if my response time is slow. My smart phone makes me feel dumb on a regular basis. 

Navigate - email and text messaging

Before the course started, you hopefully received an email and/or text message from me regarding the beginning of the semester and providing you with the link to this Liquid Syllabus. Navigate is an internal college messaging system that I will use for important information, like the start of the semester, or last-minute changes that I want to make sure you are aware of right away. I may also use Navigate email and/or text messaging to contact you if you seem to disappear from the course or miss a deadline without communicating with me and you don't respond to my emails.

Module Start Here Pages

Every module has a Start Here page that outlines the content and expectations for the module. These modules open every Monday morning at midnight and are available throughout the rest of the course. These start here pages provide a brief introduction to the content and objectives for the module as well as links to my lecture, the learning resources, the discussion forum, and any assignments due. I may also provide links to upcoming assignments in order to help you plan for any observations or interviews that you will need to coordinate. All assignments, including the discussions, are due at the end of the module they are assigned, on Sundays by 11:59 pm.

Email

If I need to get ahold of you this semester, I will contact you through the Canvas Inbox. Check your student email daily (not just the Canvas inbox - Cerro Coso and your instructors will communicate with you regularly through both methods).

Announcements

Important announcements will be linked at the top of the Canvas course page and an email will be sent to your student email. If I come across information I think will be valuable to you, I'll post it as an announcement. The latest 3 announcements are linked at the top of the Home Page of the class site. You can click on the Announcements link on the left-side of the class site to see previous announcements. Some of the announcements will relate to our course specifically, but some will feature useful resources that will help you as a student or as a professional in early education. If we need to make any changes to our semester schedule or upcoming modules, I'll also post these in the announcements. Announcements can be posted at any time during the course, so check for them every time to login to the class.

Module Discussions

Discussions are available first thing Monday morning and are open for 1 week during the assigned module. I monitor these discussions regularly to ensure students are staying on topic and are respectful to each other. Some discussion assignments are available so you can review each other's work and provide feedback and guidance to each other before submitting a final project or assignment.

Early Alerts

If you appear to be struggling, or if you let me know you are having an issue, I may submit an Early Alert. Early Alerts route through counseling, and someone will contact you via phone and email to help identify other resources that maya be useful to support your success in class. Take advantage of the resources and help available! There are a wide variety of resources available - check out the Student Resources page of this syllabus.

Gradebook Feedback

There is a grading rubric for every assignment and discussion throughout the course. The grading rubric provides specific feedback on your assignments. I may also provide additional comments if I feel there is a need for clarification or further instruction. I do my best to grade the discussions, learning logs, and practical applications within 3-5 days of submission. Larger assignments may take up to 2 weeks for me to grade.

The Grades link is available in the left-hand menu of the class site. You can link to the Grading Rubrics through the Grades link or through the assignment link. For discussions, the grading rubric is linked in the 3-point, drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner of the discussion.

Course Information in this Liquid Syllabus

From the Getting Started drop down menu at the top of this page, you can access course specific information for CHDV C281 Adult Supervision and Mentoring in Early Childhood Education this semester. 

Canvas Class Site

As a student of Kern Community College District (either via Cerro Coso (CC), Porterville (PC), or Bakersfield (BC) community college) you have been assigned an InsideCC account. Please use your account to access your classes. You can find information on accessing online classes on the Cerro Coso website for Current Students.