Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------- The Course Orientation Tutorial presented by Michele Fritz, your instructor for "Introduction to Entrepreneurship" at De Anza College. Welcome! This is the text transcript version of the audio narration. Login Page --------------------------------------------------------------------- You need to start by logging in to the secure Catalyst server at https://catalyst.deanza.edu/ There is information on the login page regarding the username and password you need to use, and whom to contact if you need help. Once you have entered your username and password, click the "Login" button to submit them. Catalyst Server ---------------------------------------------------------------- You may need to scroll down to see the course list in the My Courses box. If so, drag down or click on the scroll bar on the right. You should find a link with the course number, Business 55 for "Introduction to Entrepreneurship". Now, click on that link to enter our course! Course Home Page --------------------------------------------------------------- This is the home page for our course. The left hand column is for administrative functions, such as the De Anza campus calendar. On the right side of the home page, you will find the course content, organized in a convenient weekly format. The top block in the course contains information you will need throughout the course. Let's examine what is located here. There's a welcome message and a heading that says "Please start here" with a bright blue arrow. Each time you enter the course, please make certain to click on the "Important Announcements" link at the top. Announcements ------------------------------------------------------------------ When you do, the Announcements forum will appear. And you should click on any new announcements which you have not previously read. For example, this one is a welcome message. Announcements may contain information about changes to assignments, grading, or important reminders. It is my main method for contacting the class as a whole. You'll see a link at the bottom of the page with the current call number for the course. This is one handy way to return to the home page of our course. Let's click on it to try it. Course Home Page --------------------------------------------------------------- Now we are back at the home page. In the top block, there is a section entitled "Getting Help". Let's click on the link for "Your Instructor". Your Instructor Page ----------------------------------------------------------- This page contains all my contact information and links to information about my professional background. Please feel free to email me at any time, I love getting to know each student personally! Heres a second handy way to get back to the home page of our course. At the top of each page there is a series of links known as "breadcrumbs" (if you know the Hansel & Gretel story, this should make sense to you.) Anyway, in the list, you can find the course call number, which again links to the home page. You may be wondering why there are more links in the breadcrumbs than steps we originally used to arrive at this page. It's just that the Catalyst system offers us a lot of shortcuts to get around. If you use the back button on your browser, you would have to press it twice to get back to the home page of the course. This longer route (the back button) is the third way to return to the home page. Course Home Page --------------------------------------------------------------- You are welcome to come to my campus office hours if you are local. I'd love to meet you in person! But we can also arrange virtual office hours by chat. Just confirm it with me by email in advance, and then click on "Virtual Office Hours" to enter the chatroom at the meeting time, where I should be waiting for you! Okay we are at the home page, progressing through links in the course information block. The "Syllabus", also called a greensheet on campus, contains all the course policies and information about how you will be graded. It also has information about the textbook to get and the software tools you'll need to download to your computer, so you'll want to read this document as soon as possible. The link entitled "Instructions for editing your profile" goes to a page that has step by step directions for updating your profile, which is one of the first tasks you'll need to perform in our course. Instead of showing the text, allow me to demonstrate... You'll probably need to scroll down to see the administration box in the left- hand column. Here it is. The administration box is also where you'll go to look at your grade record, but we're want to update our profile, so Click on "profile". Edit Profile Form ------------------------------------------------------------- You are looking at your profile. Click on the tab at the topthat says "Edit Profile" to enter changes. Most of the fields in this form are self-explanatory, but if you are uncertain about something, please leave it at the default. One thing you want to make certain is that the listed email address is the one you check frequently. That's where all the course message will go. Scroll down to see the bottom of the form... You'll note that there is a way to upload a digital image into your profile. This image will appear next to all your discussion posts. I'd like to encourage everyone to upload a picture, so that the online environment seems a bit more friendly and warm! If you don't have a digital photo, then please find an appropriate cartoon or picture on the web that you feel represents you. Click on "browse" to locate the file on your computer that you want to upload. Scroll down to the bottom until you see the "Update Profile" button. Click on this button to submit your changes. Course Home Page --------------------------------------------------------------- "Links for Entrepreneurs" is a list of Internet resources that are useful for this class. You will find sites to help you with Entrepreneurship in general. The "Student Cafe" is a special forum designed to allow you to network and socialize with your classmates, like you might when on a break in a real classroom. This is not the place to discuss course-related matters! Since we'll be using forums for our discussion in this class, let's take a look at the Student Cafe so you know how to use it. Just click on the link to enter. Student Cafe Forum--------------------------------------------------------------- The Student Cafe forum comes up. In order to communicate with my classmates, I need to post a message. To do this I'll click on the button that says "Add a new discussion topic." Forum Form --------------------------------------------------------------------- And a form comes up for me to fill in. I type a relevant topic into the "subject" line, and then click on the big box to explain further. I can simply type, or if my browser allows it, use the formatting tools provided. When I have completed my message, I scroll down and I am given the option of including a file if needed. To submit my question, just click on the button that says "Post to forum." Confirmation Page -------------------------------------------------------------- You'll get a confirmation...And you'll need to click on "continue" to see the forum again. Student Cafe Forum ------------------------------------------------------------ Now my message is listed in the forum! If I click on the subject...I can see the whole message. Let's do that. To reply to another student, click on "Reply." Since this is really my own message, you will notice I can also edit or delete the message. Others will not have those options, unless they are also looking at their own messages! Forum Form --------------------------------------------------------------------- And here's the box where I can enter my answer...When I am done with my reply, scroll down...and click to "post to forum" just as before. Student Cafe Forum -------------------------------------------------------------- Now you can see the answer, posted right under the message. You can click on its link to see the whole thing. We'll be using forums, just like this one, for most of our class discussions. Now you know how they work and can try it yourself! But let's return to the home page to check out a few more things... Course Home Page ---------------------------------------------------------------- If you scroll down on the home page, you will see that there is a block for each week of the course containing the assignments and materials you will need during that week. The little rectangle icons that are in each weekly block allow you to turn off everything except the current week. If you accidentally do this, just click it again to restore your full view. And now you can see the Week 1 Lesson box. These links will take you to pages that explain the assignments due this week. Just get started by reading Assignment 1 and visiting the "Introductions" forum. Your classmates and I can't wait to meet you! Assignment files located in each of the weekly lessons contain directions for the tasks to be completed each week. The Week 1 Discussion: Introductions Forum is our first discussion. Please enter and meet us! Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening.