VHS ORIENTATION
Each of you will be invited to watch a
welcome video – this is very important
for you to look at before your class
starts.
After you view the Welcome Video,
make sure you view the screencast
Screencast Orientation
• http://www.govhs.org/shared/D2L_Screencas
ts/course_nav_in_D2L/course_nav_in_D2L.ht
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• Before you leave today try out your username
and password to make sure you can get into
Virtual High School. You should have received
an invitation from VHS. If not, just go to the
webpage: http://courses.govhs.org
• Your username is your First name.Last name
• Your Password is UhssestudentIDnumber
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Student Orientation
Course Home
Lessons
Discussions
Dropbox
Classlist
Quizzes
Grades
Blogs & Wikis
Surveys
Help
• Course Home
• This link brings you back to the front page of
your course. The News Items area on the
home page contains announcements from
your teacher regarding the course. You will
find other important information on the home
page such as your teacher's profile and team
assignments for group work.
• Lessons
• This link sends you to the table of contents for
your weekly assignments. Each week you
should always begin from the first lesson and
then work your way down. Be sure to carefully
read the overview document - it will provide a
list of all of the required activities for the
week.
• For details on the Lessons area, check out this
short video: Lessons.
• Discussions
• Here you will find the discussions for the class where
you will post thoughts and responses and read and
reply to responses from your classmates and teacher.
You will use the Discussions area to share thoughts
about your course material, ask questions, share files,
or work together with your peers on assignments.
• The main Discussions page lists the topics available to
you, organized into forums. Click a topic name to enter
the topic and join in the discussion. The Discussions
area of your course also contains your Private
Topic (which you will learn about when you enter your
course). The Private Topic discussion allows you to have
a private conversation with your teacher. For details on
how to navigate the Discussions area, check out this
short video: Discussions.
• Dropbox
• The Dropbox is used to submit work to your
teacher for grading. The Dropbox area is
arranged into separate folders, each of which
is used to submit work for an individual
assignment. For details on how to use the
dropbox, review this video: Dropbox.
• Quizzes
• You may use the Quizzes tool to take a quiz
and review quiz results. All current, future,
and past quizzes are listed. To take a quiz, click
on its name. For more information on quizzes,
check out the Quizzes video.
• Classlist
• You can use the Classlist to see who's enrolled
in your course. You can also use it to see
which of your classmates is currently online.
• Grades
• Use the Grades tool to view your grades and
to view comments and feedback left by your
teacher. For details on your Grades area,
review this vidoe: Grades.
• Blogs & Wikis
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• Most classes will have a Classmates Blog
where you will get to know your classmates.
Many group assignments use Wikis, a tool that
allows several people to edit the same
document. Click the Blogs & Wikis link above
to get a sense of what this area will look like.
• For even
• For even more information on how to use the
various tools in your course, check out all of
our Student User Guides. Should a prompt
appear to log in – use your new username and
password to view the videos or powerpoints.
To add an image
• To add an image to your profile:
– Select an image you would be willing to share with your parents
or school administrators.
– Make sure the image file is not too big - we recommend a size of
100 x 100 pixels (larger images will not display any bigger, only
load more slowly).
– Click Change Picture.
– Then click Upload and locate the image file on your hard drive.
– Click Add to add the image.
– If you need to remove the image after uploading it, click or click
Change Picture to upload a different image.
– Once you're done editing your profile, click Save.
– You can return to the Classlist and click your personal
image again to edit your profile later.
How to: Post in the Discussions
• How to Access Discussions
• Click the Discussions link on your course menu
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• The Discussions List page will then open. It
lists the topics available to you, organized into
forums. Click a topic name to enter the topic
and join in the discussion.
How to Read a Message
• To open an existing message, click the Subject
in the list of messages.
How to Reply to a Message
• Click the Reply button at the top of the
message.
Type your message in the text box.
Click the Post button to save your
message (or click Cancel to exit
without saving).
How to Compose a New Message
• Click the Start a New Thread button at the top
of the message list to post a new message.
• Type your message in the text box and click
the Post button to save your message (or click
Cancel to exit without saving).
How to Add an Attachment to your
Message
1. Click the Add a File button beneath the text
box.
2. Drag and drop the file into the
dotted line rectangle or click Upload to
select a file from your computer (you
can also add files from your locker
space).
How to: Take a quiz
• Click Add to u Quizzes
Use the Quizzes tool to take a quiz and review
your quiz results. To access the Quizzes tool,
click the "Quizzes" link on the course bar.
From the main Quiz List, click the
name of the quiz you want to take.
A confirmation window will open. Click
the OK button to begin.
• Time restricted quizzes
If your quiz has a time limit you may be prompted or forced
to submit your quiz. If the quiz is set to auto-submit at the
end of the designated time period, only saved questions
are submitted. Make sure you save regularly near the end
of the quiz period and try to finish and submit the quiz
before the time expires.
Viewing your submission information and graded quizzes
To access information about your submissions and to see
your quiz score:
From the main Quiz List, select Submissions from the
dropdown beside the quiz you want to view.
• How to: Use the Dropbox
How to Submit Assignments via the Dropbox
• What is the Dropbox?
• The dropbox is a place where you will upload
assignments. Assignments are the equivalent to homework,
papers, or projects in your face-to-face classes. Your teacher will let
you know when you should submit an assignment via the Dropbox.
How to Create a File to Upload in the Dropbox
First, complete your work in a word processor or any other
appropriate application. Next, save your completed work to your
computer in a location where you can easily locate it.
Uploading a File into the Dropbox
Once you have created your file, and have finished editing it, it's
time to submit your work to the teacher for grading.
• How to: View your grades
View Your Grades
Each student has a personal Grades area. Your
Grades area is only visible to you, no other
students in the course can see your grades. If
you have questions regarding any of your
grades, please contact your teacher.
• To view your grades, click the Grades link in
the navigation menu at the top of the page.
Individual grades, plus any comments, will be displayed in by the week.
• Let's Get to Know Each Other! – User Guide Classmates
An online classroom is unlike a face-to-face classroom in
that students live in different communities and most likely
have not already been in a class together. These
classrooms are similar, though, because building
community and getting to know each other are important
components of the first few weeks in any classroom.
Learning about each other establishes relationships which
will be important in future course work.
To help us learn about each other, we will all add a profile
to the Classmates blog. To get us started, I have created an
entry - you can use my profile as a guideline for the format
and content of your entry.
Click the Blogs and Wikis link in the
NavBar. Click the Classmates link to
enter the Classmates blog. Read my
entry to the Classmates blog.
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Next, create your own entry in the Classmates blog. When in the blog, click on the Add New Entry
button on the left.
You will be prompted to provide a title for your entry. Enter your name as the title.
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Next, compose your entry. You may wish to use the following section headings (any order you
want):
Image: Include a recent image of yourself (ONLY yourself please) or image/avatar that represents
you! Please be mindful of appropriateness - you should be willing to share this image with your
parents or school administrators! Also - make sure the image is not too big - we recommend a size
of 150 x 200 pixels.
Location: Your current location -City and State only please - do NOT provide your street address.
Interesting tidbit: Include something about yourself; your year in school, teams/activities/clubs you
participate in, work experience, stuff you like to do...anything you'd like your classmates to know
about you!
Favorite Websites: (and why you like them). Please do NOT provide links to myspace and facebook
pages. All websites should be appropriate for a classroom setting.
Jazz it up (optional) with any other interesting multimedia you might have created. Remember that
your multimedia must be appropriate for a classroom setting and must answer the questions listed
above. Some examples you may want to use:
– Record and post a flip video
– Link us to a youtube video where you introduce yourself
– Record and post an audio introduction of yourself
– Create a talking avatar/Voki (http://www.voki.com) of yourself
– Create a cartoon/Toondoo (http://www.toondoo.com) that introduces yourself
• Check out the rest of the class!
Finally, read the profiles of your classmates and
make comments. Read and respond to comments
left for you as well. Instructions on how to
add/read comments are listed in the How to: use
a blog document in Part 4.
Evaluation
You must complete your classmates blog post,
including an appropriate image and some
interesting information, by the end of VHS Week
1. Please check spelling and grammar! Be sure to
check out your classmate's posts as well.
• Finding New Posts
There are several ways to view new posts
within discussions depending on your course
personal settings and preferences.
– By default, the Updates widget on your course
Home page displays the total number of unread
posts for all discussion topics in your course.
Navigating Discussion Topics
• Opening a Topic:
To enter a topic, click the topic’s name on the
main discussions page. Once you've opened a
topic, you can also navigate between all of the
discussion topics in the course using the
Discussions List links in the sidebar:
• Dropbox
The Dropbox is where you'll be submitting
assignments to your instructor. To access the
Dropbox, click the Dropbox link on the course
menu and a list of folders will open. The
Dropbox Folders page contains a list of
assignment folders.
Grades
Use the Grades tool to view your
grades and to view comments. To
access the Grades area, click the
Grades link on course menu.
Uploading a file
Type a Description of the file.
Click the Upload button and locate the file you want to attach; or, drag and
drop a file into the area within the dotted lines.
Click the Upload button to attach more than one file.
Click Save once you have located all of the files you want to include.
Creating a folder
• You may wish to organize your files in folders.
To create a folder, click the New Folder
button.
On the next screen, type the name of your new folder and click the Create
button.
Time Management
• K, take a deep breath. Just in case you've been speeding
through this Student Orientation, now is the time for you to
slow it down and pay close attention. Because taking to
heart the information on this page can be the difference
between having a great learning experience and a
mediocre one.
• When we ask former VHS students what was the singlemost important lesson
they learned from taking an online class, almost everyone
gives the same response: "Don't save all your work each
week for the last day!"
• Your VHS class has more flexibility than your regular
classes, in that you can log in to your online class in the
evening, on weekends, or whenever you like. But with that
flexibility comes responsibility!
How to help yourself
• Avoid problems with discussion posts by…
• Making sure you are completing all work in a
word processor and cut and paste into your
assignment. This way you have a backup of your
work just in case you need to re=post an
assignment.
• Use correct version of browser.
• Be sure you are clicking Post button
• For Dropbox assignments, remember that you
must attach your work – you cannot just add a
comment.