This course is a graduate level course that can be taken as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) or one that is credited by your university. Activities for MOOC-based learners will largely be peer-assessed while those that are for credit will be assessed by a tutor or lecturer assigned to the course.
This course is divided into four modules. Each module is divided into several sections that represent chunks of an important topic in forest ecosystems and Community livelihoods. Each section has an Interactive Lesson that contains bite-sized chunks of information in the form of short videos and review questions within the lesson to test your understanding of the said lesson. Each module has a Module Notebook that contains information about the concepts and references that would allow you to learn more about the topic. You may read them before and after doing the interactive lessons. It is recommended to take the course sequentially.
The course also has two major assignments that are supplemented by online forums for feedback and improvement. As this online course, like many others, is hinged on peer-learning, you are required to actively participate in those forums.
To successfully finish this course, you are expected to spend at least six hours per week to accomplish the requirements and participate in activities.
How to advance in the course?
As mentioned on the previous section, the course should be taken sequentially and according to schedule. The formative feedback that forum-based activities is important in crafting a fully developed paper for your assignments. Each Interactive lesson also tracks your progress within the lesson, so be sure to get 100% in each lesson as they will also be part of your grade.
What's my advice?
Taking any online course requires motivation and perseverance. Before taking this course, it is important to remember your goals and reasons for doing so. This will help you be consistent in fulfilling the requirements of the course.
An online course can give one an illusion of being easy to finish and one that does not require a regular schedule. However, this is also one of the most common reasons why online learners fail to finish an online course. Thus, please treat this course with the same or even greater seriousness. This means that you should decide a protected time each day and week to accomplish the tasks in the course. If you are having problems with maintaining focus, you may try a web-app called Pomofocus (https://pomofocus.io/Links to an external site.), which could help you organize yourself vis-à-vis your course-related goals.