Induction

**Induction**
This is a Generic Induction page which I think we can use for all courses. The thinking is that:

What we want students to do in the Induction to an online course is to achieve the ‘**comfort**’ element in their online experience, which is the first element in the complete set, which is: comfort, fun, trust, engagement.
 * 1. Aim**

Students need to be comfortable with the tools; they need to have some fun (its not all ‘serious’) - otherwise they will never develop an online community; they need to trust each other, and the facilitator, which builds up slowly; and they then need to engage in the community of inquiry and do some serious intellectual work.

The outcomes for the Induction are that students should get to know their way around the platform, and get to know each other. So they need to:
 * 2. Outcomes**

2.1 Tell each other about themselves, and start chatting 2.2 Navigate between WebCT pages and the Flex pages/website 2.3 Use the ‘communication tools in WebCT: email and discussion boards 2.4 Start thinking about what they want from the course, and where they want to go to.

Students need to be able to do the induction within their own time and at their own pace, so it should be part of the activities of the first two (or three) weeks, but we should advise them to do it in the first ‘few’ days – they can always come back to it later, and add responses and comments.
 * 3. Time**

The following is an example, written for Engineering Design, which can serve as an exemplar for Induction to any course. The details can be varied.

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**Induction**
In this section you will be introduced to the tools and navigation for this unit, and to each other. There are a number of activities that you need to complete to make sure that you know your way around. At the same time, you will getting to know each other, and starting to establish the basis for discussion and collaboration.

Go back from this Course Contents page to the WebCT homepage, and go to the email link (on the left). You will find an email from your course facilitator. Follow the instructions
 * Activity: Communication**

<Contents of the email: Dear Asdf, good to see you online, and in the email section. These emails are for communicating with your fellow participants on the course, and with your facilitator, about specific issues and information relating to the course. You should check your email each time you logon to WebCT, and you should see a notification on your “My WebCT” page when you have new mail.

Of course you should feel free to use other emails, or to use both, and copy emails you send here to other email addressed. However … there is an inverse law here, as you are probably aware: the more emails you send, the less likely your recipients are to read them.


 * Please note** that your course facilitator will answer queries and issues FIRST of all in the discussion forums, only then in the course emails, and only then on their port.ac.uk emails, if your query is specifically personal and confidential. Keep to the discussion forums as your first port of call. It’s an important part of the way we set up a collaborative space for discussing and exploring issues.

So …

· A little about yourself: · How did you get to be on this course? · What do you expect to gain from the course? · Do you have specific plans for what you will be doing afterwards? If so, what are they?
 * Tell us:**

· Your thoughts to the **Introductions** discussion forum in no more than 200 words (the link to Discussions is at the same place you found the link to the emails) · Respond to at least one other person’s posting · Send an email to your course facilitator, introducing yourself (in whatever way you want)
 * Post:**

Think of an issue that your think would be of interest to your fellow participants on this course. This might be a recent discovery, new procedure, recent disaster, or just an issue that fascinates or puzzles you.
 * Activity: Issues and Resources**

POST your thoughts, in no more than 100 words, to the **Issues and Resources** discussion forum, and if you know of useful information or resources about your issue, insert links to these in your Post. You should either copy and paste the URL into your text, or use the hyperlink facility, which you will find in the “HTML Editor” link, just below the text box in the Reply section in the discussion forum.

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