Lesson 1: Introduction to the Course

This first lesson is really like using a compas...you are getting your bearings in this Online class, finding out where things are, and getting the lay of the land!

It is vital that you read all the documents that have been provided in this course to get a feel for all the complexity of this Online class. And, I said "complexity", not "complex". It is not DIFFICULT to get around, there is just a lot here so you need to spend some time getting to know it. Sort of like exploring a city instead of a small town!

In each of these Lesson Plans and in the CourseBook, you will see this same organization of material...an "Attention Getter" like this one...then a listing of the Learning Outcomes (what I expect you will be able to learn), the Teaching material for you to review, and finally the Assessment activities that are going to allow you to demonstrate that you GOT the Learning Outcomes.

ENJOY!

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

  • Navigate the Blackboard interface
  • Review and discuss the schedule of the course and the use of Blackboard and the CourseBook

Teaching

Basic Structure of the Class

This class uses the following components to teach:

  • Blackboard
  • CourseBook

What you will find in Blackboard (Bb)

Blackboard is what we call a Learning Management System or LMS. For most of your other classes, nearly all of your course materials are located in this LMS. This class continues to use the LMS for a lot of important things, but not for all aspects of the class.

In this course we use Blackboard to do the following things:

  • Provide introductory Lessons that orient students to all teh course materials.
  • The syllabus, course policies, and other course documents are stored in Bb for your reference.
  • We use the Online Discussions tool in Bb to enhance communicaiton and, in the case of Online/Hybrid classes, to host Graded Discussions.
  • We use the Messages tool as an email system to get in touch with other members of the class, including your instructor.
  • We record and calculate grades on ALL assignments, mid term grades, and final grades.
  • We include a reference document that identifies the m-Learning components you will need for the class (this is located in its own link on the left menu in your Bb class.)
  • In the Lessons folder you will find additional folders for each of the Chapters in the CourseBook. In these folders you will find a reference to the Chapter and any Discussion Boards, Quizzes, and/or Assignments that you need to complete.

What you will find in the CourseBook

The CourseBook is a custom authored digital book that contains all the course material for the class. The material is organized into Chapters. Each Chapter designates a specific unit of instruction and is organized in the following structure:

  • Attention - this first part of each Chapter includes an image and text to orient you into the general ideas of the Chapter.
  • Learning Outcomes - this second part of each Chapter identifies what we expect you to learn or be able to do after you have completed the Chapter.
  • Teaching - this third part of each Chapter provides all the content and instruction for the topic. Content may include text, links, videos, documents, and even small review quizzes.
  • Assessment - this fourth part of each Chapter describes the learning activities that we wish for you to complete. This area includes descriptions of assignments, online graded discussions (for online/hybrid) classes, and other projects.
  • Links - When we want you to use a specific app or to access our iOS and App Tutorials and/or Mental Health Core Content CourseBooks, you will find links to these resources right in the context of text.

This structure is easy to remember because the first letters spell out ALOTA...and that is the name of this Instructional Design Model!

Assessment

Lesson 1 Discussion

In this discussion I would like you to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about yourself and why you are in the Mental Health Program.

This will be your first graded discussion. In order to get FULL credit for the discussion you need to post your own answer to the prompt and reply to at least two other persons' posts. Every post that you make will be evaluated for the degree that it has answered the prompt, what you have contributed to the discussion, that it is a substantive post (rather than something like "I agree"), and on mechanics like grammar and spelling (there is a spell check in the discussion interface!)

Unless otherwise indicated, these instructions apply to ALL of the discussions in this course. I will not be repeating them each time so be sure you remember to post your own statement and reply to AT LEAST two others for EVERY graded discussion in this class.