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Hello :)
Welcome to ASLU!
My name is Alyson Rafferty. I'm your ASLU Success Coach!
Feel free to contact me for anything having to do with your class.
The online version of this email is at: https://lifeprint.com/aslu/
Here is the link to use to enroll into your course: ______________________________________
Use that link within a few days of receiving it because it may expire. I recommend you use it right away.
When you click on the link you will be brought to a page that says 'Enroll in ASL _ (ASLU)' and you will be asked to enter the email address you would like to use for the course.
You will then need to select whether you are new to Canvas Free for Teachers or if you already have an account.
If you already have an account you may use the same login information for this course.
If you are a new user you will need to select the circle that says that. Once you select the circle it will open another text box where you will enter your full name that you want to be used for the course. Make sure to agree to the Acceptable Use Policy and then click the blue button titled 'Enroll in Course'
You will then need to check the email you used to sign up. You will receive an email from Canvas Free for Teachers which will include a hyperlink that says 'Click here to finish the registration process' Click the hyperlink and you will be brought to Canvas again. You will then be prompted to enter the login (username) you would prefer and a password (make sure you keep this information in a safe spot in case you may need it.) and you will be prompted to select the time zone you are located in. It is up to you if you want to select the box for 'receiving information, news and tips from Instructure.' When you have finished inputting your information, click the blue box that says 'Register'
After this you should have access to the course.
If you have any questions or concerns about the registration process, the new LMS and how to navigate it or anything you may always email me.
Here's how to get succeed in your course:
___ Read your your syllabus thoroughly:
[ ASL 1 Syllabus ] [ ASL 2 Syllabus ] [ ASL 3 Syllabus ] [ ASL 4 Syllabus ]
___ Take the quizzes for your level
___ Complete and submit a 500 word research paper.
___ Take the Deaf Culture Quiz.
___ Create and submit your video project.
___ Choose a local proctor, request and take the receptive final.
The specific instructions and links are in your syllabus!
You study the lessons at Lifeprint.com (then go to your syllabus and click on the quiz video links FROM YOUR SYLLABUS and write or type out your answers.
Then you go over to https://canvas.instructure.com/ and log in there (which you will be able to do after you use the enroll link I mentioned above) and submit your answers for each quiz. The Canvas system will automatically grade your quiz and post your score to the gradebook.
After you've taken the quizzes (including the culture test) you need to turn in your research paper, your video project, and pass the receptive final (at 70% or better). Then you will be done.
Level 1 students study lessons 1 through 15.
Level 2 students study lessons 16 through 30.
Level 3 students study lessons 31 through 45.
Level 4 students study lessons 46 through 60.
The lessons are at: http://Lifeprint.com/asl101/lessons/lessons.htm
In the lesson pages you will see links to the vocabulary. I recommend you click on each of the vocabulary links and review the individual signs and review the sentences.
Then watch the instructional video.
There are some practice quizzes at the end of some of the lessons -- also if you want even more practice quizzes see: http://asl.gs/quizzes-practice/index.htm
However, make sure you also do the REAL quizzes by using the quiz links in your syllabus.
Then go submit those links at the https://canvas.instructure.com/ site.
Also you might want to bookmark www.youtube.com/billvicars
For the specific videos that match your lessons -- see the SCHEDULE section of your syllabus.
If you feel that you are not recognizing some of the signs in the quiz videos that means you need to review previous lessons or do a better job of scrolling down on the individual vocabulary pages so you can learn the variations.
I'm going to say it again because it is important: See your syllabus for more details regarding your assignments.
When you email me it is really helpful if you identify yourself clearly (first and last name) and which class you are taking.
The SUBJECT LINE of any emails you send should include: "The name of program, your name, and the topic of email."
For example:
"ASL 1: Jane Smith: Paper Topic: "
"ASL 1: Jane Smith: Video Project Link"
"ASL 1: Jane Smith: Final Exam Proctor Info: REPLY REQUESTED."
Please read your syllabus (and re-read it) until you understand what it will take to get the grade you want out of this course. Use the links in your syllabus to make sure you take the right quizzes. (There are practice quizzes that are good to take but that don't count toward your grade. So use the links from your syllabus to be sure). If you note any conflicting information or information that needs updating...do let me know. Here at ASLU we are always tinkering with the website trying to make improvements.
If you want to see your scores for the assignments there is a "GRADES" link at the https://canvas.instructure.com/ site. When you get near the end of your lesson quizzes it will be time to submit your research paper, your "video project," and the name of a local proctor for your final exam (see the syllabus for more info). You can turn in your research paper, culture test, video project, and final exam at ANY time during the course. Just make sure to get everything done a couple weeks before you need your letter grade. (At the end of the semester there is the "end of semester rush" when the procrastinators turn in their assignments and it sometimes takes us a couple of weeks to get everything graded.
I recommend you keep backups of your work (quiz answers, etc.) so that when you get done with the course you will have an electronic folder with your answers to the quizzes, your receptive final exam answers, your research paper, and a backup of your expressive video (see the syllabus for more info). When you get everything completed, I'll document your work by awarding you documentation in PDF format.
Feel free to email me any time for any reason. If you do not hear back from me within 48 hours, feel free to resend your email. (I get a rather large number of emails.) Understand that I am not bothered at all whatsoever by my registered students sending as many emails as they would like or need in order to succeed in their studies.
A note regarding the Final Exam and the Video Project (see the syllabus for general details). The final exam is weighted at about 5:1 which means that each sentence has about five concepts and if any one of those concepts is missed the whole sentence is wrong. This provides a testing result that is similar in rigor and difficulty to what I expect from my in-person college students. I expect my online students to pass their Video Project and also their Final Exam at 70% or better so that I can document that the distance education student has attained a level of communicative competence similar to what would be typically be demonstrated by a first or second semester college student (depending on which level is being tested) achieving a "C-" or better.
Let me state that again: Since this is a distance education program I expect you to do at least 70% on the Video Project and on the Final Exam in order to pass this course.
Thus regardless if you get 100% on all the other quizzes -- if you do poorly on either the final exam and/or expressive video project you cannot pass this course.
Remember, when sending email it is best to put in the subject line:
ASL 1: "first and last name" "the topic of your email." (Or whatever course level you are in).
-- That helps me to stay organized and track your progress.
Also, if you need a timely reply (I get tons of email) it helps to add something like "REPLY REQUESTED" to your subject line (along with your first and last name and the course you are in).
Cordially,
Alyson
_____________________________
Alyson Rafferty
ASL University Associate Director and Head Student Success Coach
Email: ASLUniversity@AOL.com
p.s. It is my goal to get back to always you within 48 hours (or 72 hours on weekends).
If you have some sort of urgent situation you are also welcome to contact Dr. Bill Vicars directly:
[Link] Dr. Bill's Contact Info ►
(Or see: www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/contact.htm )
Questions and Answers:
QUESTION:
A student writes: "Hi I was wondering how to set up the due dates for my quizzes tests and projects. Thanks, ________"
ANSWER:
Hello :)
Decide your due dates based on what best meets your needs.
The course is "open" 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so your schedule is totally flexible.
Sometimes students on summer break take my class and have "all day free" and literally do two or three lessons a day (immersion style) and complete the lessons in a couple of weeks and then do their paper in a couple of afternoons, one afternoon for their video project and an hour for their final exam -- thus completing the program in three weeks.
Some students mess around, don't do anything and then end up asking me if I wouldn't mind if they go past the typical 16-week deadline. To which I generally reply, "Sure, as long as I'm alive and the website is up you are welcome to complete the program." Technically though, according to the registration letter, if a student isn't doing at least one lesson a week I can consider them to have "dropped out" and I can drop them as a student. (I haven't done that though -- ever. It just doesn't seem cool. It doesn't hurt me to keep 'em on my roll.)
Quite a few students do "one lesson per week" and get done in about a "semester" (16 weeks).
I recommend you take a good look at your schedule and ask yourself "When is it likely that I will have a convenient and regular time to sit myself down and DO a lesson?" (Pick a time that is attached to some other "regular" occurrence in your life.) Then schedule "15" of those times to do one lesson each time. Doing a lesson consists of: reviewing the vocabulary, reviewing the sentences, and taking the REAL quiz for that lesson. If you have time, read the various cultural and background information, take the practice quizzes, and watch the instructional video (where I teach one-on-one). If you don't have a lot of time then focus on the things that get you points.
This course is not about scheduling but rather how efficiently can you complete: 15 lesson quizzes, 3 unit quizzes, one research paper, one video project, and one cumulative final exam.
If it were me? I'd knock the lessons out as FAST as I can and get them DONE and choose my proctor and take my final exam and BOOM the course would be over (so I could focus on the other things in my life). It is a myth that a person has to stretch out "language lessons" over a few months. I've found the opposite to be true: The more immersive your experience -- the better you actually learn the language. The fact is, the only way you will retain this information for more than a few months after the class is for you to either "keep taking classes" or to develop Deaf friends and hang out in the Deaf world.
One thing for sure to do is to complete your video and final exam at least two weeks before you need your documentation so that I'll have time to grade them.
Question:
Do you give partial credit for partially right answers on the final exam?
Answer:
The grading of the final exam is based on sentences not on words.
Thus a student who misses one major sign in each of four sentences on a 20 sentence exam will end up with a score of 16 out of 20 for having missed four sentences out of twenty.
If you get the sentence completely correct, you get the points.
If you miss a major sign or if you change the meaning of the sentence then you miss the whole sentence.
This is based on having tested several thousand students. (I started teaching college classes in my mid-twenties. About a hundred students per quarter and/or semester, for over twenty years. 200 x 20 = 4,000) I've found that an average student will miss four or five sentences, a good student 2 or 3, very good student, 1 or 2, and an exceptional student will miss none. Thus the grading works out quite well to the typical grade scenario of A's, B's, C's, and so forth. If I graded it by "words" and not sentences, almost every student would get an "A" and the students who really should not pass would be getting "C's."
Why is this important? Because language classes are cumulative. If you haven't sufficiently learned the basics you should not be promoted to the next level course. This is to protect you, your next instructor, and the Deaf Community.
The links to the VIDEOS for the official quizzes are in your syllabus.
Using the username and password you chose previously log onto the Canvas website and find the quizzes submission link and go there and select the multiple choice answer that best matches your typed out answer. If you don't find matches you either need to study more or you need to go back and make sure you watched the right quiz.
For example, here is the video for ASL 1: Quiz 1: http://lifeprint.com/quizzes50q/quiz01video.htm
(That link is found in your syllabus under the "Assignment" column in the "schedule" section of your syllabus.)
Or if you would prefer, here is a page with the (right) quiz links all in one place: http://lifeprint.com/quizzes50q/index-video-list.htm
You should watch the video quiz and type out your answers after studying the lesson:
http://lifeprint.com/asl101/lessons/lesson01.htm
It also helps to watch the instructional video (which is part of the lesson).
Then after you've watched the quiz video and typed out your answers you should log onto the gradebook at:
https://canvas.instructure.com/
I recommend doing about one quiz a week to be considered progressing. Also, if you want to pass the Final Exam make sure to REVIEW frequently! (So you can remember the earlier material when it comes time to take the Final).
Then when you get done with the quizzes you can use your time to prep your research paper, do your video project, and review for the final exam (all of which are explained in your syllabus -- so please READ it). You should email me your proctor's name, title, and email address several weeks before you need your letter grade for this course.
Cordially,
- Dr. Bill
_______________William Vicars, Ed.D.
Question: When I log on to https://canvas.instructure.com/ it tells me I'm not registered for any courses!?
Make sure you are not logged into Canvas then click the link in your "Welcome" email which will automatically put you into the right course. From then on you should be able to access the course gradebook at: https://canvas.instructure.com/
Response:
Please let me know if this works.
The process for getting into the class (the first time) is to click on the special link in the email sent to you by Ms. Alyson Rafferty.
Please find the email from Ms. Rafferty with the subject line what includes the word "Welcome..." (Check your spam folder if you didn't receive anything from ASLUniversity@aol.com ). Make sure to read that email carefully because it has important information in it.
After you have opened that email find and click on the special link in the email that automatically puts you in the class.
Tip: I recommend if you've already set up a username and password for the https://canvas.instructure.com/ site that you "log off" from the site and close the tab you were in. Then open your email and click on the link and let it take you (fresh) to the sign on page that the link points to.
If you have any issues with this process please email Ms. (Alyson) Rafferty at ASLUniversity@aol.com and describe to her what you have tried (or if you haven't received the "Welcome" email).
Cordially
Dr. Bill Vicars
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