frequentlyaskedquestionsfaq

Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ

Many of the students' questions of anything to do with this class will be listed and responded to here. If you don't find an answer to a question you have about any aspect of the course, feel free to send it to me via IM, discussion, or e-mail. The question, and hopefully an appropriate response will soon be listed on this page.

Q. Where would I go to see my grades for your class? How often do you update the grades?

A. When you are on the home page you will see a bar that includes several icons. One of these icons has an "A" inside a box. When you click it, the scores of the work you have completed that has been graded will show up.

A. I usually grade completed work after the date it is due which is midnight Saturday night of each week.

Q. Are all the assignments on chitester?

A. Nothing in this class happens in chitester.

Q. What are the assessments in the left section of each lesson page. Are these the assignments?

A. If you go in to these assessments, you will find the work to be done. They are called assessments, but they should more appropriately be called assignments. Lesson 1, for example, has several such assignments. These can be seen inside Lesson 1.

Q. Where is the link for the book list?

A. Inside Lesson 2, the assessment on the left titled, Lesson 2 - Book Selection. The booklist is also found on the syllabus, just below the criteria for the book review.

Q. Where is the assignment for the PowerNap?

A. Inside Lesson 2, on the left side, there is a link that is titled, "Relaxation Exercise - PowerNap". Click this link to go into the assessment (assignment) with all the directions for completing the PowerNap.

Q. I was wondering where we go to find out what score we received on our assignments?

A. When you are in the class web page looking at the home page there is a toolbar on the left. There is an option there that says "my grades". When you click on it, your graded assignments scores will show up for you.

Q. I have read the syllabus and noticed there are no test dates listed. Is this correct there is only a final paper and no tests?

A. I suppose I could create some tests, but I am not fond of tests in general, so I won't. All the assignments happen each week inside each lesson area. There is a nice little variety ... but no tests in the traditional sense ... I hope this isn't too disappointing.

Q. I live over 50 miles away. I printed out a proctor approval agreement and faxed it to
Lisa Leigh. I just thought I would let you know my situation.

A. You don't have any need for having anything proctored in this class. You can do all you need to for this class in the comfort of your home.

Q. I was wondering how much each assignment is worth?

A. Each assignment should have a point value listed with it just before you do it. Before you move into the place in the "assessments" where you put in the work, the last line lists the point value for that particular assignment.

Q. I was inquiring about the online discussions. Do we have to go to those? I never know when they are and I am gone from early morning until about between 9-11:00 PM so it is very hard to get online.

A. Unless I say otherwise, the online discussions are voluntary. It adds a lot to the rest of the class if you contribute freely. Online discussions aren't like chat rooms. In a chat room, you communicate (by typing) directly to one or more people as if you were talking with them on a telephone. A discussion group is more like the mail. You write your thoughts when you want to and others read your thoughts when they want to and respond when they want to. You may also participate freely in the chatroom with other members of the class ... or me (your instructor).

Q. Is there a way to review what you did wrong on your assignments?

A. I may not always leave comments about your assignments, even though I didn’t give you the total number of points. I usually comment on these types of things in my letters to the class at the beginning of the week after I have finished grading the assignments. Usually, a lower than total amount of points means the work was on the right track but lacked sufficient detail or didn’t quite follow the instructions for what was supposed to be included in your response.

Q. I would like to participate in the online discussions but I can't find them. Where in WSUOnline are the discussions we are supposed to post responses to?

A. From the Home Page there is a toolbar along the left that includes "My Grades" "Announcements" "Discussions" "Mail" etc. Select Discussions. This will bring up all the currently happening discussions. The categories list the main categories of discussions. You can go into each of these categories and submit your thoughts in any of them except the first one (From Me to You - That one is just for my letters to you.) Surf around inside the discussions and add your thoughts freely.

Q. I have a quick question about the assignment for lesson 6 (on mindfulness). I read over the information and what you want us to do, but I was curious, do we have to find a place where there are no other people, completely secluded or do we just have to be by ourselves? And do we write down all the thoughts we have or just what we see? If you could just clear up these questions for me that would be greatly appreciated.

A. These are good questions. The answer to the first one is that you can do it anywhere. You can be by yourself out in nature or on a bus with 40 other noisy people. The process is the same.

The answer to the second question is that you write down both your thoughts AND the things you notice from your senses - sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell, intuition, and any other senses you have (balance, 6th sense, etc.). Noticing all of these things are part of being mindful.

Q. I know it is my fault for waiting until the last minute, but I could not get onto WSUOnline. It kept telling me I couldn't open another browser and that I was already signed on (which I wasn't). I finally gave up and went to bed. I tried again this morning (Sunday), but couldn't even get the computer to process my logon and password.

A. If you want to fix the browser problem, simply use two different browsers (i.e., netscape, firefox, mozilla, internet explorer, SlimBrowser, etc.) opened to the class at the same time. You can log into the class in as many different browsers as you would like without getting that message that you are already logged on. You just can’t open the class with two different windows of the same browser.

A. The server is always scheduled to be down during the early hours of Sunday morning which is why you weren’t able to get your logon and password to work.

Q. I was wondering if it's ok to click on "Begin Assessment" just to preview what is expected before I want to actually complete it. I see that they each say "Unlimited attempts" but was wondering if that is true for this class. I have had professors before not like multiple attempts and I was wondering if previewing it counts as an actual attempt.

A. You may preview an assignment question as many times as you would like to before you actually complete the assignment.