Online User Manual Basic Instruction and Use Guide
TABLE of CONTENTS Training System Navigation (Get me to where I m going!) Online Training Homepage Creating an Account and Logging In Help Page and Help Resources 04 06 07 Making a Course Selection (Choices, choices) Trying a Free Course Making a Training Path Decision Course Syllabus Informational Pages 07 08 09 Registration / Payment Process (Here s my dime, let s go!) Payment / Course Registration Payment Processing Confirmation/Course Introduction Page(s) 10 11 12 Training Course Structure and Layout (How s this puppy work?) General Layout and Function Top Navigation and Controls Purpose and Use of the Video Player Module Purpose and Use of the Resources Module Purpose and Use of the Scripture Module Purpose and Use of the Document Module Purpose and Use of the Course Reading Module Purpose and Use of the Notes Module 13 14 15 17 20 23 25 26 2 P a g e
TABLE of CONTENTS (continued) Completing the Course (Now What?) Completion/Next Steps Page 27 My Courses Page/Course Management 28 Precept Online Community and Group Discussion 30 3 P a g e
Training System Navigation Get me to where I m going! Training Homepage From any entry point into the Online Training (OLT) experience, whether from a Google search, from a banner image on the precept.org homepage, from a link in our estore, a radio/television ad or some other link on the web, you will likely be directed to the Precept Bible Study Institute homepage at precept.org/ots. This page is the starting point for entrance into the OLT system. 4 P a g e
Should you ever get lost or side-tracked in the website navigation, simply returning to precept.org/ots will allow you to find your way back, starting from the entrance to the Online Training System. The Precept Bible Study Institute Main Page or homepage is laid out much the same as precept.org but has several features to get you started in choosing the best training course to suit your needs. 1. Login and password area for returning users. 2. Video player 3. Additional video selections 4. Click to take a free course 5. Click to view the Help Page 6. Link to the Decision Page 1. The Login/Password area is found throughout the precept.org website. This area is for returning users to login if they already have an account with Precept. Each user will need to sign up for a free account in order to take any of the Online Training courses. New users who do not have an account will be directed to create one once they make a decision on which course they would like to enroll (see Logging In or Creating an Account, page 06). 5 P a g e
2. The Video player on the main page displays the latest video testimonies of people whose lives have been utterly changed by Precept Bible Study Training. 3. Additional testimonial videos are available to watch by selecting any one of the thumbnail selections below the main video player. Selecting one of these videos will only change what is in the video player; nothing else on the web page will change. 4. The View a Free Course button will take you to a fully-functional example course where you can sample the Online Training system functionality and get familiar with the structure of the Precept Bible Study Institute training (see Viewing a Free Course, page 07). 5. The View All Courses button will take you to the Course Decision page (see Making a Training Path Decision, page 08). 6. Learn How to Use This Training System link will take you to the Help Page where there are videos and other resources to teach the user how to use all the components of the OTS (see Help Page and Help Resources, page 07). Creating an Account and Logging In Precept Online Community and the Precept Online Bible Study Institute require that users are logged in and have a free, personal account in order to participate. An account with Precept is critical to ensuring that any work created, notes made, documents completed, Scriptures marked, lists created and saved within the Online Training System are accessible to the individual who created them. Each login/profile stores each individual s saved work and gives them access to those resources for as long as they maintain an account. Account Setup Terms of Use User Type 6 P a g e
To create an account, users simply fill out the simple, free registration form at: https://precept.org/contactinfo/register. Users create their account by entering a first and last name, an email address, a password they can remember, a zip code, and then selecting the box agreeing to the terms and conditions of the Privacy Policy & Terms of Use. Then each user should then select a user type and click Create Account. Try a Free Course Precept Online Bible Study Institute offers several types of courses, some for a fee and some for free. One free course is Why Study the Bible Inductively? This course is intended to take the user through a sample course in order to see the quality of the presentation and the format of training. Along the way, the free course will introduce users to sound Biblical principles as well as the benefits to studying inductively. Help Page & Help Resources At any time before, during, or after a course users can go to the Precept Online Bible Study Institute Help Page at precept.org/ots_help. The help page contains a series of tutorial videos, a link to download this document, a link to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and a way to submit feedback to one of the Precept Online Community groups. 3. User Manual 1. Video Player 4. FAQ Link 2. Tutorial Videos 5. Feedback Group 7 P a g e
1. The Video Player on the Help Page is the same as the video player on the Precept Bible Study Institute homepage at precept.org/ots. This by selecting one of the tutorial videos in the list below this window, the player will load and play the video. 2. The Video Tutorials are individually specialized videos that teach users how to use various components of the OTS. For more specifics about the Tutorial Videos, see Training Course Structure and Layout, page. 3. The User Manual is this document. 4. The FAQ link takes the user to the Precept help page. This page contains help topics in a posting format. The database is searchable by keyword and answers are noted with a green checkmark. This is a place to ask questions and leave them for an administrator if the answer is not already found in the database. 5. The Feedback Group button takes the user to the Precept Online Community Feedback Group. The POC Feedback Group is a forum where users can ask and answer questions of each other. The group is also moderated by Precept staff to assist in answering questions. Choices, choices Making a Training Path Decision The Precept Online Bible Study Institute has a variety of courses that are designed for three different types of learner; those wanting to learn how to study the Bible, those who want to learn how to lead others in Bible study and those looking to sharpen their skills or become better at a particular aspect of Bible study. Clicking the link to View All Courses takes the user to a page where a series of sliders allows them to select the appropriate track or path for learning student, leader or skills. Student Track Leader Track Skills Track 8 P a g e
As the user selects one of the tracks, by clicking anywhere in the slider, the content below the slider will change to reveal the corresponding courses. Description Video Sample Student Courses Track Each track ( Skills Track is shown in the example above) contains a description and a series of courses below it that fall into that category. Each course contains a video sample called an Inside Look which allows the user to see a short snippet of the course contents in order to preview a selection. Within each course row, there is a link to the syllabus for the course. This takes the user to a page containing all course details and other information. 9 P a g e
Here s My Dime, Let s Go! Registration / Payment Process Whether by selecting a course from the Decision Page (described on page 09) by navigating to a course selection from the Bible Study Institute tab within the Precept Online Community (see page for details), or by navigating to a course link directly, each user will be instructed to either log in to Precept.org with their username and password (if they have not already) or to create an account. Any user already logged in will bypass this step. (To review how to create an account, see Creating an Account and Logging In, page 06). Once a user has created an account and logged in, they will be directed to a payment page. The page will contain a description of the course, a price for that course and an option to enter a coupon code, should they have one. Description Price/Cost Coupon 10 P a g e
A user will then click the Continue button to show the (1) current balance on their account with Precept Ministries, (2) the fee for the current course, (3) the charge that will be made to the credit card, and (4) the account balance once the transaction is made. To choose a payment method, users can either select a saved credit card (if they have previously made transactions and chosen the box that allows the system to remember their card) or they can use a new credit card by filling in the credit card form. Then, for all new credit card transactions a billing address will need to be completed in the form below the card information. For user security, credit card information is not editable, but is removable. If users have changes to their stored credit card information, they should delete the card using the delete icon to the far right and then enter a new card. Clicking the Submit Payment button will complete the transaction. Discount or Coupon Code Existing account balance Fee for this course Charged if you purchase Updated balance after transaction Saved credit card To delete saved card New card information System Remembers Your Card if Selected * New card address information System Remembers Your Billing Address 11 P a g e
*NOTE: Precept Ministries does not store Credit Card information. Recurring transactions are handled by third party, certified online merchant processors that pass all current PCI qualifications. For more information about PCI compliance please visit http://www.pcicompliance.org. The final step in the payment process is a confirmation page which shows the paid status and the Course Introduction page. The course introduction page is the beginning of the Online Training. The page welcomes the user to the course and provides a video summary of what they are about to jump into. The summary video gives an overview of all the components in the Online Training system and briefly describes how they are used. The course is briefly outlined on this page and there is a link to the help page. Course copyright and other information is also found on the Course Introduction page. 12 P a g e
How Does this Puppy Work? Training Course Structure and Layout The general layout of the Online Training System is a simple arrangement of six modules stacked vertically on the page, each having a specific and unique function or purpose. Course Section Number Enrichment Group Link (P.O.C.) Jump to Section Menu 1. Video Player Module 2. Resources Module 3. Scripture Module 4. Documents Module 5. Course Reading Module 6. Notes Module Continue to the Next Section Button 13 P a g e
The top navigation within the Online Training System allows the user to keep track of their progress within the course. The arrows across the top indicate where the user is within the main site directory of precept.org. These arrows (called bread crumbs ) show the user is in the precept.org site, is within their personal profile, the course they are working in and what section of the course out of how many sections total for that course. Course Navigation bread crumbs Course Management Link POC Group Link Course Navigation bread crumbs Switch Between Sections The second tier of the navigation at the top of each page includes two active links; the My Courses link will take the user out of the Online Training System and into the user s Precept Online Community course page where they can manage the courses they have registered and/or completed. Another link to the course Enrichment Group is also here. (For more on the Precept Online Community and Enrichment Groups see page 31). The second link in the navigation contains the current course name and clicking it will simply refresh the current page. One additional function within the top navigation is the Jump to Section menu. The Jump to Section is a drop-down menu that will show the user sections they have already completed. Once a section is completed and the user clicks the Continue to Next Section button at the bottom of the course section page, the Jump to Section menu will add the new section number. Users can then use this menu to quickly jump between sections they have already worked in. At the end of the course, the user will see all sections in the drop down menu. 14 P a g e
The Video Player Module Under the course name and the section number & title, you will see the video player module along with several smaller thumbnails underneath. The main window of the video player is what is currently cued-up to play. The smaller selections below the main window are additional videos that you can select to play at any time. Player Window Play/Pause Button Volume Control Full Screen mode Slide FF/RW How To Thumbnail Videos Note about potential latency or lag: If you are experiencing any difference between the audio and video in the video player, where the audio does not seem synced-up with the video, this is likely due to other resources on your device slowing down the playback of the video while the audio is moving ahead. To fix this, be sure to close down other programs that may be competing with the Online Training System. Close other tabs in your browser, close other windows or mac programs, media players, streaming audio/video, etc. Doing this will enhance the overall experience with the training system. When you have closed other applications so that the Online Training System is the only service running, simply refresh your browser and start again. The main window of the video player, has five basic functions: play, pause, slide-forward or back in time (which is something known as scrubbing), volume control and full screen mode. To play a video, simply hover over the window with your mouse and left-click 15 P a g e
anywhere in the player window or simply click the play arrow in the lower left corner. To stop the video at any time, click the pause button (or click anywhere in the video frame). To move forward in time (fast forward the video) or to move back in time (rewind) you will need to slide the counter tab this is called scrubbing the video back and forth. You will notice that this tab has the total minutes and seconds lapsed as you slide it forward in time or back. If you slide the tab to the end of the clip, you will see the total length of the video. This tab can be helpful if you want to note a certain thing in the video so you can to return to that exact spot and review it again later. One note about this slider in order to use the slider, when you first get to a new section of an online course, you will need to first play a few seconds of the video in order for the entire length of the video to render in the frame before you can use the forward and back slider. This will take a very short time for those with very fast internet connection but could take several seconds for those with slower connection speeds. The volume control is simply that a way to control the sound level of the video in the player. To increase the sound volume, use your left mouse button to click the sound bars and then move right to increase the volume and left to decrease the volume. When you decide on the appropriate volume for your liking, simply release the mouse button. Another option here is to simply click around on the sound bars until you find the volume you like. Full Screen mode Precept Bible Study Institute uses high quality, low compression video in order to give you the cleanest video, without very large file sizes so that there is limited delay when loading a video. As a result, our videos can be played at full screen in your computer monitor or on your device. To bring the video full screen, first, the video must start playing. Then, simply click the full-screen mode button (the arrows pointing outward). Once you do, you will immediately notice a message that says press ESC to exit full screen mode. This is how 16 P a g e
you can minimize the video back to the training screen. While in full screen mode, you will notice your controls are still available to you at the bottom of the screen and there is a scaling button in the upper right corner. The scaling button when on, indicates the video is at full screen but if you turn this feature off, you will be able to watch the video at the center of your screen without any other distractions. Whichever mode you choose, scaling on or off, your web browser will remember this mode and play the videos that way until you toggle it on or off again. There is a set of thumbnail videos below the main video window. Each video in the filmstrip rotator will allow users to select a different help video while taking a course. Selecting one of the videos will load it into the main window nothing else in the course view will change. To view different videos that are available, click the arrows either right or left to review. And when you are ready to return to the original course video, it will be the first in the list. Current Section Video Tutorial Video Rotate Left Rotate Right The Resources Module When in any Online Training course, to the immediate right of the video player you will see a section called Resources. This module is exactly that resources for your use during any of our training courses. Some sections will have nothing in this module while others may have more than a page of different items that you can view, download, save and/or print out. The purpose of this module in the system is to provide students with another option for completing their training by doing assignments on paper if they so choose. The Resources section may contain Word documents, Adobe Acrobat documents, maps, images and even links to websites or other resources. 17 P a g e
If you look at the module itself, you can see a list of available resources under the name category, then a description of the file-type of the resource, and finally, the date in which the resource was created in the system. The reason for this last section is so that you know how recently the resource was updated. In each of these columns, you as the user can sort your view of the list. By clicking the name column you can sort the list alphabetically from A to Z or Z to A. The same goes for the Type column and the Date Added. At the bottom of the Module, you will see some arrows for page selection. If any of the arrows are active, or in other words, they are not greyed-out, you will be able to select another page of resources. This usually only occurs when there are more than 10 resources available and they have to spill onto another page. The module will tell you which page you are viewing out of how many pages are possible. The circular arrow or refresh button, will refresh the module in the instance that you want to return to the original view as the selections were sorted to begin with. As a user hovers their pointer over a link, it becomes active clicking on the link will bring up a description page. There are several parts of the resource description page and each resource has its own. The description page was added to the online training system in order to give the user more details about the resource they want to download, but also, this is a place where users can rate the resource based on how helpful it was to them, make comments about the resource and essentially create a discussion thread about the resource with Precept and others. Users are not required to do anything at all here, but these options are available should they wish to use them. 18 P a g e
The Go Back to Course Section button will take you back to the course page where you selected the link. The details section of the page has the details about the resource itself. Clicking the download link will download the resource to your machine. Once downloaded, you can either view the resource and discard it, or you can save it, print it or both. Go back to the course Download Link Description Voting buttons Expand/Collapse Comment Area Response Notifications box Captcha Security Code Below the description of the resource you can rate the usefulness of the download. With one-to-five votes, five being the best, you can tell Precept and others how well you liked the particular resource. Users can leave a comment for Precept and others to see as well. Users can explain why you liked or didn t like the resource or even leave a comment for other users that you think might help them as they use the resource. A further option on this page is to select whether or not to be notified when someone replies to a comment. To enter a comment, type it into the space provided, then, enter the Captcha code (a security measure) and hit send. Over time, this particular resource could build up a number of comments, and so you have the option to hide the comment section should you want to do so, using the collapse/expand arrow on the right side of the comments section. 19 P a g e
The Scripture Module In each course under the Video Player and the Resources modules is a critical part of the Precept Bible Study Institute experience that separates our training from all others. The Scripture Module is the location where you will interact with the Bible text in such a way that you can mark Scriptures for your individual study. Expand/Collapse Arrow Preloaded Scripture Selections Load Other Text Single-Word Icons Multi-Word Marks Slider Erase / Undo Buttons Saved Status Translation Selection Clear ALL Marks Other Saved/Marked Texts Menu The Scripture Module has several parts; a top bar of Scripture buttons, a tool bar of marking icons, a lower bar with erase and undo options, a translation selection dropdown, a button to clear all marks and another dropdown menu to view all the Scriptures assigned to the given course. First, not every section of a particular course will have Scriptures assigned to it, in this event; the module is collapsed and reads No Scripture Assigned. The top bar contains pre-loaded Scripture buttons. In some courses there may only be one Scripture passage to review and so it will be the only button visible. But in other courses and other sections, there may be several Scriptures to choose from while working. To change Scriptures, simply click the corresponding button. Any marks made will be saved (once the notification in the bottom of the module says Changes Saved ) and when you switch back and forth all marks will be in-tact. Additionally, there is a button labeled, other passage for loading a passage not assigned to the course. To do this, click the button and then type the Scripture for the 20 P a g e
system to look up. Use numbers for books such as 2 Chronicles for instance, verses using Roman numerals- II Chronicles. You can look up a single verse, an entire chapter or even an entire book of the Bible, as long as you tell the system which chapters to load. Once a reference is typed, click the Look Up button to display it. Once the passage text shows up in the window, click the Load button and the Scripture will load into the Scripture Module of the course. The next part of the Scripture Module is the Marking Tools themselves. These icons are available to mark the actual words and phrases of the Scriptures loaded into the window. Here is how they work: Most of the tools in this section are effective on a single word of Scripture. However, the last six icons in the bottom row, which includes the underline, double underline and wavy line can be used to mark up to 20 words at a time. But before we get to specific examples of how to make these marks, we need to talk about how you assign them to the text. There are two ways to mark Scriptures in this module; you can simply use your mouse and double-click a word, then choose a symbol, and it will appear on the word. The second way to do this is to click and drag to highlight text by holding down your left mouse button and releasing it when you have selected the word. You will use this second method for selecting multiple words. But remember, for selecting multiple words, you should only use the highlighter, underlines or the wavy line otherwise selecting one of the icons will cause the system to place the symbol in the middle of your selection. Again, more details about specific tips and marking options are covered in the Tips for Online Marking tutorial on our help page. One note about the bottom row of icons: to offer more variety to the user, the last six tools have drop down color options, so that you can change the color of the mark to give various words and phrases a different look and separate them from others. To use 21 P a g e
these additional color options, select the word or phrase to mark, then simply hover over the icon you wish to use and slide the mouse down to click your color choice. To change a mark that you have made to the text or undo the last mark you made, the next bar has two buttons. Once you make a mark, after a few seconds, the training system will auto save your work so that you don t lose it. Once that has occurred, you can erase the errant mark by clicking on the marked word or phrase and selecting erase. But if you wish to simply step back through your markings in reverse sequence and undo them, you can do that by clicking the undo button as many times as you need without hesitation. There is also the option to clear all marks made to the Scripture module across all sections, essentially erasing all marks that were saved with this Scripture. There is no way to undo this action. Once Clear All Marks is selected, a warning will pop-up asking to confirm the action. Just before the click to clear all marks button is the translation drop down menu. Currently the Precept Bible Study Institute offers the New American Standard translation and the English Standard Version. Selecting a translation here changes the Bible version for the entire course so that every section will remain consistent. However, you can switch between them and compare if you choose. Remember the ESV translation is formatted differently from the NAS and so Scriptures will flow down the page differently depending on the translation. One thing to note here if you do choose to swap between translations, any marks you make on the Scriptures will remain with the translation you marked and will not transfer to the other. Feel free to mark both translations noting that marks are stored separately for each. The last button on the Scripture Module is the View All Scriptures button. This drop down menu will contain all the Scriptures you have come across throughout the entire course. The first section of the course will likely not have anything more than the verse in the window that is visible to you. However, as you continue through the course, section by section, this drop down will become more populated each time you make a mark on a text and it is saved. Then, from any section of the course, you can not only pull up the Scriptures you have been viewing but they will also contain all the marks made. 22 P a g e
Finally, one added convenience to marking in the online Training System is the auto-saving function. Next to the View All Scriptures menu, is a notification in blue. When making marks in the Scripture window, this notification will tell you that your changes are pending. Then, after a few seconds, you should see the note change to let you know your changes have been saved. Be sure to allow your changes to save before moving on to other sections of the course. The Document Module The Document Module in the Precept Bible Study Institute is a powerful and unique tool to help users interact with the system by providing fillable documents, charts, lists and maps to use, save and later print. Many sections of a given course may not have a prepopulated Document Module, but when an assignment is given in a particular Course Section, the window will be populated with the appropriate form. The Document Module is located directly below the Scripture Module. This is a collapsible /expandable section that gives the user the freedom to hide the document in order to save real-estate on their screen should they need it. In a Section where a document is assigned or presented to view, the upper left corner of the Module will contain the Document description, the Document title, and the expand/collapse arrow. While specific instructions on the use of each different document is given in the video within each section of the course, it is helpful to know what you can do with this Module. Any document that is intended for the user to fill out will have areas that are typable. Like other modules in the Online Training System, the Document Module will automatically save your work when you switch documents or when you move on to another section. 23 P a g e
Expand/Collapse Arrow Document Name Document Editable/Fillable Fields Manual Save Button Saved/Stored Document Menu Users can also click the manual save button in the bottom left corner of the module to save changes as you go. In the same way the Scripture Module saves the marks made to a text and places the text in a drop down button in the bottom right, so does the Document Module. Once users come across a new document in the course, it will be stored in the Stored Course Documents button at the bottom. Once all the documents in the course are populated here, they will be available everywhere in the course. So if a list document is completed in Section 7, later on in Section 9 (for instance) it can be opened from the drop down menu and retrieved, whether or not there is a different document in the window already. This way, at any time throughout the course the user can review and switch documents- perhaps even working on several at once. From time to time, the Document Module will also be used to display larger maps, charts or images which are not meant to be editable. The purpose of this is to give the user a larger view of something that contains a lot of detail or for comparing examples of marked Scriptures as marked in the Scripture Module above. 24 P a g e
The Course Reading Module Near the bottom of many of the Sections in a given course there may be a Module that appears called Course Reading. If this module is visible, it serves a very simple purpose The Course Reading Module is where the course administer can place special helps, insights, bullet points, images and even examples to help the user understand what is being communicated in the videos for each section. Often, the Course Reading Module is set up to give an example of how to mark a certain passage of Scripture. But then, in a second page, there may be a second example that shows the entire passage as it is suggested to be marked. If there is a second page in a Course Reading Module, the user is required to view the second page before moving on to another section of the course. To view the second or subsequent pages of the Course Reading Module, simply take not of the page number at the bottom of the module. Expand/Collapse Arrow Pages of Course Reading And like the Scripture and Document Modules, the Course Reading Module is also collapsible or expandable should the user need to close it down to save space on the screen. 25 P a g e
The Notes Module At the very bottom of every course section is a Notes Module. This module is strictly for the student s personal use. The Notes Module is set up to allow the user the ability to create their own personal notes on a section of the course or on the course itself and to style their notes with a couple of simple editing tools. Looking at the top of the Notes Module, you will see a tool bar. The first tool is a font selection drop down so that the user can choose from a couple of font types. And just as you might find in an MS Word or other document program, there are selections for making text bold, italics or underlined. Next there are buttons to increase or decrease font size. Next to that, font color selector and a highlighter. Users can then choose to justify their text to the left, middle or right of the Notes window. Expand/Collapse Arrow Add/Remove Pages Text Editing Tools Pages of Notes Saved Status To give the user some additional options and flexibility, the Notes Module also allows posting of web links. To post a link, you must have the url or address of the link you wish to insert, then after clicking the add link icon, type or paste the address into the field. The link will be activated and usable from anywhere in the course from this note. Next to the add link icon, there are also bulleted list options for making bullet points about your learning, and for the advanced note taker, we ve even provided the ability to insert notes using HTML language. If you don t know what HTML is, then don t use this function. It is like walking into a high-end luxury car dealership where there are no prices listed on the windows if you have to ask about price, then you shouldn t really be in there. 26 P a g e
The last feature to mention about the Notes Module is the delete page and add page feature. At the top of the Module you will see these two buttons. These allow the user to create multiple pages of notes that follow them throughout the course. For instance, in Section 1 of a course, you might decide to take a note or two. But then in Section 2, you decide to make a new note so instead of adding to the previous note from Section 1, you can add a page by clicking the Add Page button. Now you can have notes separated by sections. Like all of the other editable modules of the Online Training System, the Notes Module auto-saves the changes you make- the notes you add- so that you don t have to remember to do so. Now What? Completing a Course / Next Steps At the bottom of each course section is a Continue to Next Section button which advances the user to the next part of the course. Upon reaching the last section of any course, the Continue to Next Section button will be labeled Finish Course. Clicking this button does a couple of things; it registers the user as having completed the course, populates the Completed Courses tab on the My Courses page in the Precept Online Community, generates a completion certificate and a compilation document and moves the user to the Next Steps page. The Next Steps page gives the user access to return to the last section of the course, view or print the course completion certificate and/or compilation document, and gives a link to the Precept Online Community. 27 P a g e
My Courses Page / Course Management At the top of every section of every Online Training course is the My Courses link. Either by clicking this link from the Online Training System or by navigating from another place, users arrive at a webpage within the Precept Online Community from which the user can manage their courses in the Online Training System. (Details on the Precept Online Community can be found at precept.org/poc). User Login/Profile Enrolled/Completed Courses User (POC) Navigation Tabs Course/Payment History Search for Courses Search Results This page contains information in which the user can view the courses where they are currently enrolled, the courses they have completed, a place to search for additional courses and a results field where other courses can be viewed or started. This page is also a place where users can select to view or download their completion certificate, view or print the course compilation document or review the course completion page that is found at the end of each completed course. 28 P a g e
Completed Courses Tab View Course Completion Page Print Completion Certificate Print Course Compilation Document Clicking the Print Completion Certificate icon will launch a PDF viewer on the user's machine (usually Adobe PDF Reader which is available as a free download). Once open, the user can view and/or print the certificate which is customized for the user and includes the course name, the registered name of the user and the date of completion. Clicking the Print Compilation Document icon will launch a print dialog on the user s machine which is based on the installed printers and/or the web browser being used. This document can be viewed, saved or printed. Clicking the View Course Completion Page icon will take the user to the exit page of the course they select. This allows the user another set of navigational options that exist outside of the Precept Online Community. Payment History Page Clicking the Payment History link on the My Courses page will open a new page where the user can view the following: subscriptions to Online Training courses, individual courses purchased and individual courses that were free. On this page, users can manage their subscription courses (should they have any) and make changes to the level of service by clicking the Change your subscription button. 29 P a g e
Course Subscriptions Individual Course Payment History Course Cancellation/Reset Free Courses Taken All payment history is available on the Payment History Page including the course names, the cost paid for those courses and the date the course was purchased or joined (if it was a free course). There is also a button to cancel a course. Cancellation Cancelling or resetting a Precept Online Community Online Training course can be done only by calling customer service. Course cancellation will not provide a refund for the course but will allow all user information to be extracted from the Precept Online Community and user data will be erased; including all saved documents and course materials. Resetting an Online Training course is also a possibility should the user decide to reset their course and re-take it from the beginning. Because users can retake courses at their leisure once they have been enrolled and make changes to their courses at will, this option is not often requested. Like cancellation, resetting the course will also remove all saved documents, course materials and work done in a course. 30 P a g e
Precept Online Community / Group Discussion Each user who enrolls in a Precept Online Bible Study Institute Online Training course is automatically given free membership into the Precept Online Community (POC) and is also given membership to a corresponding enrichment group for that course. For instance, a user who enrolls in the training course, Why Study the Bible Inductively? is automatically a part of the POC Bible Study Skills group. Accessing the group can be accomplished in a number of ways (see more about using the Precept Online Community at precept.org/poc). The most convenient way to access the POC Group that corresponds with a training course is to click the Course Enrichment Group link on any section of a course, just above the Jump to Section menu. The Course Enrichment Group link takes the user directly into the Precept Online Community group page for that course. It is a place where users who are taking the same course can connect, share thoughts, ideas and ask questions of one another. 31 P a g e
Another way to access the Precept Online Community is to navigate to the My Courses page from the link nside the Online Training System. Clicking My Courses takes the user to the My Courses page inside the POC, where the user can manage their payment history and course selections. (To review, see page 28 of this document). A third way to reach the Precept Online Community through the My Courses page is to select any one of the print options from the course completion page that users go to at the end of each course. The Completion Certificate and Course Compilation Documents are both on the My Courses page. The Precept Online Community is an online community for connecting and equipping Bible Study Leaders and students by providing ongoing support, training opportunities and exclusive resources to help them become more effective in their study of God s Word and in making disciples for Christ. Each participant in the Precept Bible Study Institute Online Training is automatically a member of the POC and has access to a number of resources and activities. 32 P a g e