LoudCloud Student Walk to Class Tutorial

LoudCloud Student Walk to Class Tutorial Welcome to the GCU Student Walk to Class Tutorial for LoudCloud. The Walk to Class tutorial series consists of several short tutorials that will allow you to view a section as many times as you need without having to watch the entire series again. After watching this series of online tutorials, Students will be able to navigate through the online classroom environment. There are eight parts to this series. Part 1 will introduce you to the account management website, which allows you to set-up and reset your password for the Student Portal. Part 2 covers logging in to the Student Portal and LoudCloud. Part 3 demonstrates the calendar, which interactively allows you to view your assignment details, view assignments and discussion question due dates, and add tasks. Part 4 reviews the Task tab, which includes links to the Discussion Forums, Assignments, and Quizzes. Part 5 outlines the Resources tab, including the Course Materials, Syllabus, Student Success Center and Library. Part 6 covers the Class Wall and Roster. Part 7 outlines the Reports tab including the Gradebook and Analytics features. Part 8 outlines the features of the Announcements tab. This concludes the introduction to the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series for LoudCloud. Please Part 1: Accounts at GCU Welcome to the next part of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series: The Account Portal Website. The GCU Account Portal website allows you to register for self-service password reset and reset your password for the Student Portal, ANGEL, LoudCloud, Canyon Connect, MyGCU email, and the Library. New students should locate the New Account Notification email from technical dot support at gcu dot edu to obtain your username and password. You will need this information in order to register for the self-service password reset and to reset your password to a password of your choice. To use Accounts at GCU, browse to https colon forward slash forward slash accounts dot gcu dot edu. If this is your first time visiting Accounts at GCU, click on register for password reset and then click on register to start the registration process. Step one: personal information. New students should enter the password obtained from your New Account Notification email to confirm your identity and click on authenticate to proceed. Current students should enter the password you use to sign in to your Student Portal to confirm your identity and click on authenticate to proceed. Step two: security questions and answers. Set up three security questions and answers by typing the answer into the answer field for three questions of your choice. The July 12, 2011 Page 1

security questions and answers will help to identify you when you return to reset your password. Click on submit. Note that three questions must be answered in order to proceed. If three questions are not answered, you will receive an error message and will be returned to home registration screen. Each time you are returned home, you must re-start the registration process. Note that security questions do not appear in the same order. Now that you have your username, email address, and password, you will be able to visit GCU dot edu and log in to the Student Portal. Once logged in, you will have access to your academic records, LoudCloud, your MyGCU email account, and other academic resources. You will have access to LoudCloud three days before your first scheduled course. If you have any questions or need any technical assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Technical Support at one eight seven seven five two five six one two eight, by clicking the email us link on the Technical Support page of GCU.edu and completing the short form, or by visiting the Facebook page at http colon forward slash forward slash Facebook dot com forward slash GCU Tech Support and posting your question to the Wall. Once registration is successful click finish to return to the Accounts Portal homepage. To reset your password, click on reset my password. Enter LOPES in the domain field and enter your username in the username field. Click submit. Answer the three security questions you selected and click Submit. *If you have forgotten your security answers, contact either your Academic Counselor or Technical Support to have a new temporary password generated. Once your receive your new temporary password, you may then browse to https colon forward slash forward slash accounts dot gcu dot edu, click the Register for Password Reset link, and follow the complete password registration process again. Enter a new password. Your password must contain a minimum of eight characters. Enter your new password again to confirm it. Click Change Password. Click Finish to complete the password reset. Please note that it may take a few minutes for your new password to be activated. This concludes the Account Portal Website portion of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series. Please Part 2: Logging in to the Student Portal and LoudCloud July 12, 2011 Page 2

Welcome to the next part of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series: Logging into the Student Portal and LoudCloud To access the Student Portal, go to http://www.gcu.edu, click on the Current Students link and then the Student Portal button. Once you have successfully logged in you will see the Student Portal homepage. Select your course from the My Courses tab to access your LoudCloud classroom. This will direct you to the Loud Cloud homepage. The LoudCloud homepage provides access to a student s current courses. To enter a course, click the arrow button corresponding to the course on the homepage. After entering the course, there will be six main tabs located across the top of the page: Calendar, Tasks, Resources, Connect, Reports, and Announcements. These tabs, along with the Announcements, Student Success Center, and Rosterboxes at the bottom of the course homepage, provide easy navigation throughout the classroom. This concludes the Logging in portion of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series. Please Part 3: Calendar Welcome to the next part of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series: Calendar The Calendar in Loud Cloud is an interactive road map of what you will need to accomplish each and every week in your course. Click on the Calendar tab. The Calendar tab provides the ability to view course assignments and discussion questions in weekly or monthly formats. Your calendar defaults to the monthly view in which we can see each module week by scrolling down. To view the details of each assignment on the calendar, click on the Assignment links on the Calendar. After clicking an Assignment link, the due date, maximum points, and assignment details are displayed as well as a link to submit your assignment for the corresponding assignment. The Calendar is a great feature to assist students with time management. If they would like to do so, students can add personal tasks and events to the calendar to help with meeting deadlines and course objectives. To schedule a personal task or event, click on the Schedule button then choose the type, enter a title and description, and select the start and end dates. Click Submit. The new task or event will appear on the calendar. Note that tasks and events added by students are not visible to other individuals in the classroom. July 12, 2011 Page 3

This concludes the Calendar portion of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series. Please Part 4: Tasks (Discussion Forums, Assignments, and Quizzes) Welcome to the next part of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series: Tasks Several links appear under the Tasks tab: Forums, Assignments, and Quizzes. 4.1 Discussion Forums To access the Discussion Forums, click the Forum link under the Tasks tab. The Forums are where faculty-to-student communication takes place in the classroom. There are four types of Discussion Forums: the Main Forum, Color-based Team Forums, Individual Forum, and the Questions for Instructor Forum. The Main Forum is where the weekly module discussions take place. Students are graded on their contributions to the discussions on a weekly basis. In addition to accessing the Discussion Forums from the Tasks tab, the discussion forums can be accessed from the Course Homepage in the bottom left corner. The forum titled Questions for Instructor is where you will post questions for the professor that you would normally raise your hand in class to ask. The professor will respond to your questions within twenty-four to forty-eight hours within this discussion forum. If you have a question that you want to ask the professor privately, one that you would perhaps stay after class to ask if you were attending on campus, you should send him or her messages through your Individual Forum. The Individual Forum helps you easily keep track of communications since it is all available at-a-glance right inside your classroom. Rest assured that all communication that takes place in your Individual Forum is completely private. The Main Forum is extremely important as it can amount to nearly twenty percent of your overall grade. Students are graded on their contributions and participation in the discussion topics. Each week the instructor will post a few discussion topics for you to read and respond to. Begin by clicking on the discussion topic you wish to respond to and then click reply. Type your message as you would an email and click Post Reply. When students reply to your post, it will be indented and slightly to the right. This is called threading and easily allows you to follow along in the discussion. In addition to your own answer, you are responsible for reading and responding to fellow classmates. These do not need to be lengthy posts but should answer the question and provide meaningful discussion. Just as you would have a lively discussion July 12, 2011 Page 4

or debate in the classroom, the same form exists online. To reply to a classmate, click their post and then click Reply in order to thread the conversation as we discussed earlier. Finally you will see your collaborative learning community team space if your instructor chooses to have your specific class participate in group assignments. You will see this option if your instructor has put you in a designated group. This area is similar to that of the Main Forum. It is an area where only your team can go and discuss upcoming assignments that you are going to collaborate on. 4.2 Assignments To access the assignments pages, select Assignments from the Tasks tab. The main Assignments page is divided into two tabs, Current and All. The Current Tab displays assignments due during the current module week. The All tab provides easy access to all of the assignments due during the course using a dropdown menu with options to select any module week in the course. To view the details of an assignment, click on the link to the assignment. The corresponding Assignment page will display the assignment details at the top, including the due date and a description of the assignment. Click View Rubric to review how the assignment will be graded, note: not all assignments will have a rubric. Once you are ready to post your assignment, click New Attempt. You will enter the title of your paper into the title field and then you will click Browse. You will then find where you saved your file, click Open, and then click Save. Next you will click Submit to submit your assignment to Turnitin. Your similarity index will post within one hour of your submission. Review your originality report by clicking View Report, make any necessary changes to your paper, and click New Attempt to upload the most recent version of your paper. If you make changes, you will need to submit your paper to Turnitin again. Once you are ready to submit the final paper, click Submit. Final submission will display the date it was submitted. Undergraduate classes at Grand Canyon begin on Monday and end on Sunday and graduate classes begin on Thursday and end on Wednesday. All assignments are due by midnight in Arizona time on day seven of the module. This concludes the tasks portion of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series. Please Part 5: Resources Welcome to the next part of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series: Resources July 12, 2011 Page 5

The Resources tab is where information about course requirements, materials, and additional resources is housed. Under the Resources tab there are several links including Course Materials, Syllabus, Faculty Resources, Student Success Center, and Library. 5.1 Course materials By clicking on the Course Materials link, Students can access the course materials on three tabs: Current, All, and Add-Ons. Using the Current and All tabs, Students can toggle between viewing only the materials for the current module or all of the materials for the course by week using a dropdown menu. Links are available to access Textbooks, Websites, and Lecture Notes. Entering into Module One, the first thing Students should do is review the additional readings and websites and then review the Lectures. The introduction in the lecture will provide you with a foundation of the week s learning. This should be read carefully on Day One of the given week. To access a course material, click the corresponding link on the Course Contents page. The Lecture Notes contain unique features such as the ability to highlight content: A Like feature: A quick link to the Lecture Notes for other modules: Links to related content: And a comments box at the bottom of the Lecture Note: 5.2 Syllabus Students should access the Syllabus on the first day of any given week of the module. Students can access the Syllabus by clicking on the Syllabus link under the Resources tab. Links to the various course materials and resources are embedded directly into the Syllabus. This is a time-saving tool as many of the important course materials can be accessed directly from the Syllabus. The default view of the Syllabus is the Current tab. The Current tab displays important information about the Objectives, Materials, Assignments, Discussion Questions, and Participation for the current module week. To view the entire Syllabus, click on the Overall tab. This provides information about the entire course in regard to Topics, Objectives, the grading scale, course Assignments, and other course details. To print a copy of the Syllabus, click the Download link in the upper right-hand corner. July 12, 2011 Page 6

This will open the entire Syllabus as a PDF file that can be saved or printed. 5.5 Student Success Center The Student Success Center link under the Resources tab provides access to the Student Success Center, an invaluable resource you should visit frequently as a student of Grand Canyon University. The tab available to view is colleges. This section provides detailed information about each specific college and the degree programs offered to you. In addition, you will also find other useful information each college finds necessary for you to view. On or before the first day of class, you ll want to visit Succeed at GCU as it provides an overview to help you succeed in the online environment. There may be terms that your professor uses that are new to you, for example CLC, module, syllabus, and DQs, all of which are explained here. The knowledge you gain by reviewing these web pages will help you plan day-to-day as you will have a frame of reference for what is expected of you. Along the left are additional features available to help you succeed. Turnitin is a plagiarism detection service. This valuable resource is available to you as a student. GCU requires that you submit your assignments to this service prior to your submission. Plagiarism is a serious offense with devastating consequences. Taking the time to make sure you did not accidentally forget to cite information is important. GCU offers a variety of tutorials to help you succeed. Aside from LoudCloud, there are also tutorials on APA Style and Format, the Bookstore, the online library, and other areas of interest. The tutorials section provides link to GCU built tutorials such as the one you are currently watching as well as Microsoft Office tutorials. If you are new to using Microsoft Office, these tutorials are very helpful. Even if you have used the Microsoft Suite before, it may be worth going through the tutorials as there are many shortcuts that can make your life easier as an online student. Please be aware that Grand Canyon University and the LoudCloud learning system require that you use Microsoft Word. If you have Microsoft Works, Word Perfect by Correll, or other word processing software, these programs are not supported. If you do not currently have Word, you can visit the Technical Support page of GCU.edu to obtain it at a special discounted student price. The next section of the Student Success Center is the Writing Center. We have included valuable information pertaining to the APA and MLA formats in addition to the information on writing an executive summary. Perhaps you have not written in APA before or perhaps writing in APA is something that you are a little rusty on. You can select APA and download a template that you can just type over in order to have your format correct for APA. July 12, 2011 Page 7

The last section contains information on the GCU support services. Here you will gain access to Academic Counseling, Financial Aid, the Library, Technical Support and tutoring services. Free tutoring is available to you as a student here at Grand Canyon University. If you find yourself needing assistance in a specialized area of study, you can access online tutors through this service. As you can see Grand Canyon University is committed to your success and committed to providing you all the resources to help you be successful. Take time to review this again to ensure you are aware of all resources available to help you be a successful online student. This concludes the Resources portion of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series. Please 5.6 Library The Library link under the Resources tab directly connects you to the GCU Library. This feature allows you to conduct research through online journals, articles, books and databases. The online Library now offers a special tool that allows you to conduct your research all at once. This allows you to have the flexibility when conducting research and it doesn t narrow the search to one specific catalog. It allows you to gather relevant data from all databases. It may be beneficial for you to review the tutorials offered on the Library homepage. They give you step-by-step instructions that you will find extremely useful when conducting your research. Part 6: Connect Welcome to the next part of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series: Connect The Connect tab provides access to the Class Wall and the Roster. 6.1 Class Wall On the first day of class, your primary responsibility is to post a message on the Class Wall. The Class Wall is just like a coffee shop here on campus. It is a place for students to hang out and get to know each other. On campus, new students are invited to introduce themselves by saying their name, their home town, and any other number of facts about their lives. It s an ice breaker that allows members of the class to get to know each other. This is the same concept within the Class Wall. This does not need to be a lengthy biography; it s an opportunity for you to provide some information to your instructor and your peers so that you re not just a name. It also allows your instructor to verify that you will be attending class. July 12, 2011 Page 8

First you will need to post your Class Wall biography. Type your bio in the comments field and after you are done, click Submit. Now what you will see is that your biography has appeared on the Class Wall. Once you read a few bios, you may find something in common with someone and want to comment. To do so, click comment below their post and enter your message as you did with the initial post. We recommend that when engaging in conversation on the Class Wall, to address the individual in the thread you are replying to, that way it is clear with which student you are speaking to. In addition to the class wall, select Roster to view each individual within the course. This is also where you will find your instructor s contact information. Click the instructor s profile to view their email address and phone numbers you may reach your instructor at. This concludes the Connect portion of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series. Please Part 7: Reports Welcome to the next part of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series: Reports Students can access the Gradebook and Analytics links under the Reports tab. By clicking the Gradebook link, Students can view all of the grades for the class for each module week. Click on a specific module week to view the individual assignment and participation grades for that module week. Analytics are also accessible under the Reports tab. A variety of reports and graphs are available to view your progress in the classroom, such as: quick access to review the number of posts made to your forums and an at a glance review of your modules assignment scores. This concludes the Reports portion of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series. Please Part 8: Announcements Welcome to the next part of the GCU Walk to Class tutorial series: Announcements The final tab is the Announcements tab. Here you will see important announcements from your instructor letting you know of anything new and exciting that is coming up during the week by providing information on specific assignments or clarifying any expectations that he or she may have. These announcements should be reviewed each week day that you log in. July 12, 2011 Page 9

This concludes the GCU Student Walk to Class tutorial series for LoudCloud. If you have additional questions, please contact Technical Support. Thank you for watching. We wish you the best of luck! July 12, 2011 Page 10