OWA Course Website Overview

The purpose of this page is to provide the students of the Ohio Watershed Academy with instructions on how to access and use the resources and activities available on the OWA course website.

Course Information

The Course Information topic area of the OWA website includes an About OWA section, a section with General Communication tools for interacting with students, alumni, instructors, and the general public, and a section on News & Updates. Each section is fairly self-explanatory. It is recommended that you read each resource in the About OWA section. Using the forum in the General Communication section is not mandatory but it is certainly encouraged. Feel free to ask any Watershed-related questions or share any Watershed-related experiences in this forum. The General Chat is somewhat experimental. You can attempt to use this to communicate with other participants in real-time. The News & Updates section includes the News Forum. The News Forum is there for instructors to post news items or any alerts that the students need to know. All participants are subscribed to the News Forum, so when there is a new posting, you should receive an email. Any other important news or update related information will be found in this section as well.

Profile

Your Profile is accessible in many ways. One way to reach your Profile page is to click the Profile link from the Administration Menu in the left site navigation. Click the Change Password button to change your password. Click the Edit Profile tab to update your Profile details.

Edit Profile

When you confirmed your registration for the course, you should have received an email requesting that you update your profile. It is highly recommended that you change your password, you should be forced to do so upon logging in, but if you are not please do so anyway. We would also like you to upload a picture, update your name and location information, and enter your Watershed Affiliation in the description field. Feel free to share any other information here.

Email Settings

Your Email Settings can be edited once you click on the Edit Profile tab of your profile page. If the Email Settings are not showing up from the Edit Profile tab, click the Show Advanced button in the upper-right. The most important email setting is Email Format. It is common for HTML emails to not be received properly because of email client settings or mail server spam settings. If you are experiencing problems receiving or viewing emails from the Ohio Watershed Academy, you should change your Email Format to plain text format. The Email Digest Type only controls how you receive messages from forums that you are subscribed to. If you are receiving a lot of email from forums and you would like to receive less, you could set your digest type to Complete or Subject to receive one email with either the complete posts or only the subjects daily.

Lesson Modules

The Lesson Modules are main component of the OWA. For each due date you must complete an Assignment from one of the Lesson modules. There are two due dates for which everyone completes the same Assignment, otherwise you are free to choose the Assignments you wish to complete. The Lesson Modules are grouped into an Organizing Framework of four topic areas: Human Dimensions: Collaborating (HDC), Human Dimensions: Understanding and Influencing the Social Environment (HDSE), Ecological Dimensions: Monitoring and Assessment (EDMA), and Putting It All Together: Watershed Planning and Implementation (PT). Use this framework to guide your choices when selecting Lessons to focus on for completing the Assignments.

Introduction and Readings

Each Lesson Module includes a web page that contains an Introduction to the lesson topic, Learning Objectives, and Background Readings.

Assignments

Each Lesson Module contains one or more assignments. For non-Forum assignments, the is a box at the bottom of the assignment where you can upload your completed assignment as a file. Please upload your assignments in Microsoft Word (.doc) format or Microsoft Excel (.xls) format. Please name your document as your last name followed by the assignment number.

Evaluation

There is a link to an anonymous evaluation form at the bottom of each assignment. Please take the time to complete the evaluation for each assignment once you are finished. Your feedback is useful for improving the course.

Flash Presentations

Some lessons also contain flash presentations which are basically a slideslow with audio. You will need Adobe Flash Player to view these presentations. Also, your web browser or operating system security settings may prevent these from opening because the are set to open in a new browser window. Please contact us if you have trouble viewing them and we will provide assistance.

Forums

There are many forums that are intended to provide a means of interacting with instructors, students, and in the case of the General Discussion forum, OWA alumni and people involved with watersheds in any capacity. As mentioned before, the News Forum is mainly for instructors to send News & Updates to the entire class. The General Discussion Forum is exactly that, a forum for you to ask any Watershed-related questions or share any Watershed-related experiences or ideas.

Module Forums

Each Lesson Module contains a Forum titled: Questions & Comments About This Module. The purpose of this module is for you to interact with other students and instructors when completing the module. Topics can include questions and comments about the module. It is recommended that you subscribe to the forums for the modules you are thinking about completing.

Forum Assignments

Some modules include assignments that require you to participate in a Forum. These forums work like the others, but they require you to answer a question before the other students' posts are revealed.

Subscribing to a Forum

The easiest way to subscribe to a forum is by clicking the Forums link from the Activities menu in the left navigation. Click the button in the Subscribed column to toggle your subscription from no to yes in order to subscribe to the corresponding forum.

Grades

You will receive an email from the instructor when a Assignment that you submit has been graded. A response file containing the instructors comments will be included. You can view your grades from the Grades link in the Administration menu on the left. Each Assignment is graded as complete or incomplete. A one in the gradebook represents a completed Assignment. Assignments are marked complete by the instructors; if they decide an Assignment is incomplete, you will receive a message that includes comments on how to complete the Assignment. You must complete ten Assignments to complete the Ohio Watershed Academy.

Calendar

There is an Upcoming Events area in the right site navigation. The titles for a few upcoming events will be listed here. Clicking the Go to Calendar link will take you to the Calendar where you can see all events.

Tutorials from the Previous Academy

Below you will find some tutorials that were made for a previous Ohio Watershed Academy. They are intended to demonstrate how to use the Moodle course website. Some things have changed but they should still be useful.

Using Modules and Assignments

The course lessons are presented in the Topic Outline on the course homepage. Each topic includes links to the lesson module and assignments. The Lesson module includes an introduction to the topic, a list of required readings, additional resources, and a link to the assignments. The assignments include directions on how they should be completed, a list of products to turn in for review, and a file submission box.

Demonstration: Using Modules and Assignments

Using Forums

Some assignments will require you to participate in an online discussion using a forum. There may also be other forums available to discuss topics throughout the course.

Demonstration: Using Forums

Using the Calendar

The course calendar has information about upcoming course events and assignment due dates. Students may also enter user events for their own benefit.

Demonstration: Using the Calendar

Profiles

Students can view information about other students and teachers by accessing their profiles. It is recommended that each student update their profile information to include contact information and watershed information, if available.

Demonstration: Profiles

Assignment Submission

Assignment files are submitted using a form at the bottom of the assignment page.

Demonstration: Assignment Submission

Checking Grades and Feedback

Your assignments will be graded with either a 0 or 1, 0 for incomplete, 1 for complete. When assignments are reviewed, the teacher reviewing your assignment will also submit a review file with comments on your submission.

Demonstration: Checking Grades and Feedback