Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Answers to FAQ
Besides your books and DVD lectures you’ll also need a class syllabus. Go here to find the Distance Learning Course Schedule page. Please bookmark this page.
As for attending class, first you’ll need to request a user account for distance classes on this Web page. Please note that this will be a different user account than your UGF network account or your personal Internet access account. UGF's technical support staff will create your user login and password and e-mail you the directions to the address you supply on the request form.
In effect, you’ll be downloading what is essentially a "plug-in" classroom client program for Internet Explorer. A product of the iLinc Corporation, LearnLinc provides the means to attend our “Virtual Classroom,” where our live class discussion sessions are held. LearnLinc currently only works with Windows based PC’s, although the company is working to release a Mac version soon. It's important to note that you will need "Administrator" access (privileges) to install the LearnLinc program.
Follow the directions and contact UGF's staff if you have any difficulties with the installation process.
Once you’ve downloaded and installed the LearnLinc client software, you’ll be able to attend your live distance class sessions by "joining" the virtual classroom (usually called "Current Online Session") on your LearnLinc Homepage. Please note that you should attend class using Internet Explorer as your web browser because LearnLinc currently does not interface well with other browsers. Just click the "Connect to Class" link on the menu of the Distance Learning Homepage here, which (by the way) you should also bookmark. You can certainly use other browsers for you Web surfing outside of class, but Internet Explorer really does work best for joining a LearnLinc class.
If you are prompted to prepare your classroom when you click the [Join] button, we suggest you Save a copy of LearnLinc to your local computer. Using the Open option to attend class will likely cause you trouble later. Please understand that this is an actual college class and you really would be well advised to take notes.
The LearnLinc Virtual Classroom consists of a live audio conference between your instructor and other students currently logged in--but it also provides a Text Chat area where you can type in questions (or provide brief answers if you're asked to respond). At the end of the class session, LearnLinc allows you to save the contents of the Text Chat window, which can provide a great addition to your class notes. If you want to speak into your microphone and have your instructor and classmates hear you, you only need to "raise your hand" by clicking on the hand icon at the top of the screen. When your instructor notices your hand, he or she will "grant you the floor," and you can click the on-screen [Talk] button to be "On The Air." In order to work over dial-up connections, the LearnLinc classroom is configured to work like a "CB radio," you can either listen or talk, but not both at the same time (the technical term is "half-duplex" steaming audio). As a result, it's good classroom manners to let the instructor know when you're done speaking by saying, "Back to you," so he or she can take the floor back and answer your question.
Students who live in or near Great Falls have another option for attending class. They can come to campus and sit in the physical classroom with the instructor. Student s who wish to attend in person should enroll in the “DC” section of a Distance Learning class, if available.
All students, distant or local, also have a phone-in option should they experience severe connection problems or not be near a LearnLinc capable computer during their scheduled class time. The number to call is 406-791-5398. Please note that anyone living in the Great Falls area will be officially considered a Campus student, even if their course load consists entirely of Distance classes.
Think of a syllabus as an outline of the class. Generally, a syllabus will contain a course description, instructor contact information, required textbook(s), a projected calendar, a list of expectations, and a grading scale. UGF Distance Learning syllabi are often interactive in that many of them will have embedded links to other research sources, exams, or forms necessary for the class. Click the Course Schedule link on the Distance Learning Web page here to find current semester syllabi. Please note that you may have to enable pop-ups within your browser in order for some syllabi to display correctly.
4. I found a course list on UGF’s main page. There are no interactive syllabi there at all. What’s up? And what’s all this about a PDF file?
Only Distance Learning classes currently at UGF offer online syllabi. You probably clicked a Course Schedule link that led you to a PDF file which may list all courses offered by UGF, not just the Distance ones.
A PDF file is a format used by Adobe Acrobat, and you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed in order to read files of this type. Essentially, it’s an image file similar to the JPGs that your digital camera creates. You’ll find that most Distance Learning syllabi are in HTML format, making them Web pages and thus interactive.
The interactive Distance Learning Course Schedule for each semester is available by clicking the "Course Schedules" link on UGF's Distance Learning page.
5. I don’t live in Montana. When do I attend my classes?
Montana is in the Mountain Time Zone. We observe the same Daylight savings rules as (most of) the rest of the nation. That puts us two hours "earlier" than New York, one hour "later" than the West Coast, and seven hours earlier than Greenwich Mean Time. Please allow for differences in time zones when you plan your semester enrollment.
6. Why don’t I see all my courses listed on my LearnLinc Homepage?
Just like any physical classroom on campus which has many different subjects taught in it throughout the day, so too the Distance Learning classroom. Therefore, if you click to [Join] the "Current Online Session" at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, you might enter a Psychology class, followed directly by a Math class at 9:00 a.m. Should you join the class at 3:00 a.m. Mountain Time on Wednesday morning, you’ll find yourself very lonely since your professors are probably still asleep.
With the exception of certain English and Speech classes, you will always join “Current Online Session” for your classes. Please remember to allow for any differences in time zones. The University of Great Falls is in Montana, which is in the Mountain time zone.
7. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have to miss one of my live class sessions. Is there a way to “make up” the class?
Fortunately, UGF’s delivery system was designed with the working adult in mind. The wise academics who first conceived of this fairly unique teaching method knew that occasionally "Life happens" to us all.
If Life throws a curveball and you just can’t make it to your class at all, go to the currentl semester's interactive syllabus page here, and then click the time of day column for the class you missed, which will bring you to a download page for LearnLinc recordings. Please Save the recorded copy of the session to your local hard drive. Afterward, clicking the downloaded file will launch the LearnLinc player, complete with VCR-like controls, and play back the entire class session you missed.
8. I’m going to be away from my computer during class time. Can I still attend "live?"
Life’s curveballs happen all the time. Just find a phone and dial 1-406-791-5398. Be aware, however, that it’s "your dime." So if you live in the Great Falls area, you won’t be liable for long distance charges. Unfortunately, if you live outside the Local Dialing Area, there probably will be long distance charges involved. Dialing that number will connect you to a conference phone that sits right next to your professor in the physical classroom, thereby “bridging” you into your class session over the phone.
9. How do I submit homework?
The answer to that may vary, depending on where you physically live. Most of our professors will accept assignments via e-mail with attachment, and that preference may be detailed on the course syllabus. To make your assignments easy for your professors to open, you should save your documents in Microsoft Word format (.doc) or in Rich Text Format (.rtf). However, for certain writing classes, or for classes where a "paper" document is deemed necessary, you may have to rely on the US postal system. Our address is:
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University of Great Falls |
Students residing out of country would be well advised to research alternate delivery methods, such as UPS or FedEx for those rare paper document submittals. Canadians especially are advised that use of government postal systems can delay delivery of their packages, sometimes more than a month.
Students who live in the Great Falls area will generally be advised by their individual professors about submitting homework.
10. What about exams? What is a proctor?
Testing methods vary from one professor to the next. Your instructor may use "Open-Book, Take-Home" exams for instance. In that case, a copy of an exam would be sent to your address of record, that is, the address you listed when you enrolled at UGF. If your address has changed, please contact the Registrar’s Office so that exams and other communications can reach you in a timely manner.
Some professors use proctored exams. Essentially, that means they want you to be watched while you take the exam to insure that there’s no possibility of using reference material or more time than is allowed. Usually an instructor will proctor his or her own tests for campus students, but Distance students are responsible for lining up their own volunteer proctor. There is a form to fill out and return to the Academic Program Assistant responsible for distributing proctored exams. Click here to download a copy of the form. Once you identify a local proctor, he or she can remain your proctor of record unless you relocate or change proctors for some other reason.
11. How do I request my distance Learning account information? Is it the same as my UGF log-in?
Using LearnLinc (the Virtual Classroom software) requires an individual login ID and password. As noted in the first question, even though the login ID may reflect your existing UGF login, a new password will be issued to you for joining LearnLinc.
Go here to request your new user account. Inputting your account information on the LearnLinc new user request page and submitting the form will generate an e-mail message to the Distance Learning staff. Once your request is received by them, your account will be created in the LearnLinc system, and you will subsequently receive an email containing your new login (username), password, and download instructions.
Please note that if you submit your request during business hours you will probably receive a reply within the hour. If you do it at night or during the weekend, please wait for the next business day for a response.
Once you have successfully logged in to the LearnLinc server, you can change your password from the one assigned to one you will remember better.
12. I’m a Yahoo or AOL email client. For some reason, I can’t get email from anyone at UGF ( like my professors). What’s going on?
Some Web-based email services have very aggressive spam filters. AOL and Yahoo are prime examples. Should you receive an e-mail from someone new, someone not in their “domain,” that e-mail might be automatically classified as spam and removed from your Inbox. In Yahoo’s case, such messages are generally sent to the bulk mail folder. This has proved to be an issue for students who wish to create new Distance Learning user accounts. If you have never received and cleared messages from anyone at UGF before, you should follow these steps BEFORE you request your new UGF Distance Learning account.
For Yahoo users-- open your Yahoo mail account, click Options in the upper right corner and then click Spam Protection. On the next page, assuming you have SpamGuard on, make sure that that under Spam Filter you have “Save these messages in the Bulk Folder for X months” selected. If it isn’t, any message from UGF will be automatically and permanently deleted. Next check the options under Mark Spam + Not Spam. Be sure "Move the message to my Inbox" is selected. Then submit your request for a new LearnLinc account. After allowing time for UGF staff to reply (see above), check your Yahoo account. Look in your Bulk Mail folder and if the message is there (it should be), open it.
You then have two options. You can use the Not Spam tool and essentially let Yahoo’s servers know that, for you at least, email from UGF is to be allowed through. Or you can simply add the sender to your address book--which more than likely accomplishes the same thing.
For AOL users the process is much simpler. After submitting your request and waiting the appropriate time, open your AOL account, click on your spam folder. Assuming a message from UGF was sent, open the message, then click “This is not Spam” which will automatically send the message to your inbox and adds the sender to your AOL address book.
13. I’m a student who lives in or near Great Falls. I’m taking UGF Distance Learning classes. Will I be expected to do things differently? What is a “DC” section of a Distance Learning class?
A "campus "student is defined as someone who lives within 50 miles of Great Falls, even if he or she attends all courses from home via LearnLinc. Campus students are expected to deal directly with their instructors, both for homework and for testing. No proctor is generally needed for a campus student since the instructor (again, generally speaking) is responsible for proctoring his or her own exams to campus students. A “DC” section of a Distance Learning class literally means a “Distance Campus” section. Students who enroll in a DC section are expected to attend the live class session in person with the professor in the physical classroom. If the class is under enrolled, however, they may have the option of attending virtually. Campus students who enroll in a “D” section are expected to attend their class session via LearnLinc in the virtual classroom. There are numerous computers around campus with LearnLinc pre-loaded on them and headphones nearby available for checkout.
Campus students can submit their homework directly to the instructor or via campus mail by sealing their submittals within an envelope with their instructor’s name prominently written on the outside. Just give the envelope to Academic Program Assistant or drop it off at the UGF Campus Store.
14. I plan to attend class from my local educational institution or place of work. Will it be any different for me?
LANs (Local Area Networks) and WANs (Wide Area Networks) are commonly found at schools, places of business, and governmental offices, including the military. These networks are often proprietary and separated from the World Wide Web of the Internet by security measures such as corporate firewalls and varying levels of user rights and capabilities. Most typically, employees of companies have very limited user rights that curtail their ability to install programs, download files or receive streamed data. LearnLinc, for instance, uses streamed audio data during each class session. A student wishing to connect to class from his or her place of work or school should coordinate with their local Network Administrator. The LearnLinc client program itself is only about a two megabyte download, but occasionally limited “holes” have to be “punched through" firewalls to allow attendance in the live class session. UGF Distance Learning staff stand ready to work with LAN and WAN administrators during the installation of LearnLinc and any subsequent issues that may arise.
15. My microphone doesn’t seem to work, and my professor says that I’ll have to give some oral reports throughout the semester. What’s wrong?
The first thing to do is check the microphone connection! Sometimes the cord isn’t plugged in all the way which will cause “problems”, or it’s plugged into the wrong port. You are also well advised to not use a splitter of any kind. Using a splitter, connecting multiple devices to one input, can degrade overall performance as well as affect your microphone input. Be alerted that LearnLinc looks for a sound card with speakers and microphone connected. Sometimes it doesn’t play well with USB devices and will require extra tweaking. Try always to plug into your sound card or into your sound ports, which look just like they should fit 1/8-inch headphone jacks.
Although rare, you might have a microphone that requires battery power. If you have one of these, a non-battery mic would be a good investment. Sure as sun in August, your batteries will always give up the ghost just when you need to deliver an oral report worth a significant percentage of your final grade. At least be sure to check your battery strength often. But how do you know if your mic is functioning at all?
A useful tool exists within your Windows operating system to check if your mic is working or not. Find the Sound Recorder in Entertainment (usually) in your Accessories folder available from the Start menu. Here’s the steps, specific to Windows XP. Click on START/All Programs/Accessories/Entertainment/Sound Recorder. A little window will open that resembles an old cassette recorder. Click the red button. As you speak, assuming your microphone is selected within your computer, you should see a wave form appear in the black rectangle. You’re now digitally recording your voice. Stop, rewind, and play back and you’ll hear whatever you said. Congratulations, that’s 90% of how LearnLinc works with a mic. When you close the recorder Windows will tell you that “The File ‘Sound’ has changed. Do you want to save changes?” You probably don’t, so tell it No. Didn’t see the wave form moving? Didn’t successfully record your voice? Your microphone may not be a selected device. Read on.
Warning: the following steps are general guidelines that work on a majority of Windows based PCs. There are multiple Windows operating systems in the marketplace with myriad types of sound cards and they all have features that vary from these general steps. Nonetheless, something similar to them should be available on your PC.
Do you have a little loudspeaker icon on your taskbar next to the Time of Day?
Put one there by going to your Control Panel and opening the Sounds and Audio Devices icon. (Start->Control Panel->Sounds and Audio Devices). Once it’s open put a check mark in “Put Volume Icon on Taskbar”. Please note that clicking the “Advanced” box will open the Volume Controls referenced below. When the Volume Control icon is on your task bar right click and Open Volume Control. Another way to get to the controls is to go to START->All Programs->Accessories->Entertainment->Volume Control. It looks like this:
The Volume Control window defaults to controls for Playback, or rather what comes out of your speakers. It looks a bit like a digital version of a concert sound mixer panel. If your speakers are not working, this is where you un-mute them. You should also have a Microphone control here and it should be muted. This will prevent any subsequent internal feedback later. To get to your Recording controls, which control input devices like your mic, click Options/Properties, like this:
and then select Adjust volume for Recording. Make sure you have Microphone checked in the Show the Following Volume Controls, like this:
At that point you’ll see controls for the Recording side of your Window Sound Controls. You‘ll only see controls for devices that you selected in the white area of the Properties window.
Make sure your Microphone is selected. Don’t be confused by selecting your microphone on this side after muting it on the Playback side. Remember, that’s to correct any possible internal feedback in your system. For instance, have you ever pointed a live mic at a speaker? Imagine that high pitched squeal working digital havoc on your computer. That’s why you mute your mic on the Playback side and select here.
Your computer may or may not offer Advanced Controls for your microphone. The item will be listed under Options and will be grayed out if not available. If you don’t have an advanced box, and your computer’s sound controls does offer you the option, turn it on under Options by left clicking, like this:
Advanced Control Off Advanced Control On
Then you’ll have an advanced box under your Mic control (see Recording Control picture above) and clicking it will open a window that looks
like this: Or like this:
Please note that the Advanced Controls on the left offer a Microphone Boost and the option of turning on a front panel microphone input, while the one on the right offer some arcane thing called “Mic 20dB Enable”. Both of these tools do the same thing--they boost your mic output. So if your professor complains of hardly being able to hear you, this is probably the fix. .
Before you enter your first class session, LearnLinc will automatically launch a thing called the “Audio Wizard”. The Wizard tells LearnLinc which sound device (sound card) to look for and sets playback and recording levels. To save time, you may want to run it yourself before you enter your first class. After LearnLinc installation, go to Start->All Programs->iLinc-> Audio wizard and follow the prompts. This tool is also available under Tools with the LearnLinc virtual classroom.
16. I have the latest version of Microsoft Word, but my instructor can't open the documents I send. What's going on?
The new version of Microsoft Office saves documents in a different format
which isn't compatible with previous versions. Fortunately, this is fairly easy to fix.
You can customize Word 2007 to save by default in a more compatible format
by following the steps in this graphic:
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17. I'm enrolled in a course that involves Blackboard interactivity. How does that work?
The Blackboard teaching model allows students to participate in class asynchronously each week of their course(s). This means that students do not need to be online at the same time.
This is especially helpful to students who are working full time, raising a family or campus students who can not fit a specific course into their schedule. More specific directions are available at:
http://www.ugf.edu/DistanceLearning/Blackboard_info.htm