Course Site Tour

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Course Site Tour

Form the homepage of our online course entitled, “Forest Governance, Public Relations, and Community Development.” We would like you to look at the left-hand side of the screen where you can see four major tabs: the home tab, syllabus tab, modules tab, and the assignments tab.

Let us browse through the home tab first. You can scroll down to check the details of the instructor’s name and email address. You can also see a communications tab where links for announcement and course general questions forum are located. There is also a student help desk and student resources which you can explore and read so you can be guided as you progress through the course. As you scroll down the homepage, you can see the course materials where links for the course syllabus, course schedule, and course assignments are also provided.

As reflected in its title, the course is divided into three modules, which are considered as social pillars in the promotion of sustainable forest management. The first module has four topics which focus on the importance, concepts, and principles of good forest governance. The second module has three topics which focus on public relations in sustainable forestry management. And finally, the third module has four topics which focus on community development in forestry.

Under the course materials and activities in the homepage, you can see the overall organization of the three modules and its subtopics. If you click or select Topic 1.1 under Module 1, you will be directed into a window which shows the contents of that topic. This contains five tabs.

First is the background readings tab which shows the suggested readings for your reference before viewing the lecture video. Links are already provided so you can download the suggested reference materials.

Next is the video lecture tab where you can listen to our discussion on the topic.

The third tab contains the self-directed test which is designed to check your understanding of the lecture video. You can click the quiz link provided under this tab so you can answer the questions by making your choices for each question and submit your quiz.

The fourth tab is for online discussion or forum activity. To assist you in information exchange, there is a discussion forum for this course where you can share your insights, comments, inquiries and other feedback about the topics to other participants of the course. It is very important for you to fully appreciate the essence of collaborative learning and participation in the social aspects of sustainable forest management. Under the online discussion tab, you can see two links: the instructions at the online discussions page where description, procedure, submission, grading system, and rubrics were provided. The other link will direct you to the corresponding discussion board with a forum question on the module topic where you participate in the online discussion by posting your reply to the forum question.

The fifth tab is for the assignment activity. Not all topics have an assignment activity but if there is, click the link provided which will bring you into a window that contains the description of the assignment, directions or requirements, submission details, and the rubric for grading the assignment. All assignments should be submitted through corresponding assignment dropbox under Assignments in Canvas.

Now, let us go back to the homepage so we can look at the contents of the other three tabs on the left hand-side of the screen. There is a syllabus tab which will show you the course syllabus of this module. This is also downloadable for offline viewing. Below the syllabus tab is the modules tab which will show you the list of guidelines to follow during the online course. Some examples are the late assignment policy, netiquette expectations, and academic integrity. The list of graded assignments and the links for each one (e.g. online self-tests, online discussions, and assignments) are also provided here. We encourage you to read all the guidelines for a better understanding of how the online course is structured. Lastly, there is an assignments tab which shows the chronological list of all the course requirements (i.e., self-test questions, forum activity, and assignment activity) that can serve as your checklist.

That is how this Canvas course site works. We hope that you will enjoy your online learning experience on the human dimensions of forestry!

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