FoundationofBuddhistThoughtOnline:

StudentHandbook2008
CompiledbyCourseDesigner:JoNash
ReviewedbyPierreAlozie2008
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Indexofcontents:
1.Yourtechnicalrequirements: Pg3
Yourcomputer. Pg3
DialupversusBroadbandconnection. Pg3
MediaPlayers. Pg3
LinktoFoundationofBuddhistThoughtstudycentre
homepage.
Pg4
2.CourseNavigation:(withpictures). Pg4
(i)Frontpage. Pg4
(ii)Accessandlogin. Pg4
(iii)Enrolmentkey. Pg5
3.YearIntakeandActivities:(withpictures). Pg5
(i)Learningactivities. Pg 5
Discussionforums. Pg5
Subscribingtoyourdiscussiongroup. Pg6
Addanewdiscussiontopic. Pg6
Replying. Pg8
Modulechatroom. Pg8
Enterchat. Pg9
Sendachatmessage. Pg9
4.LearningResources. Pg10
Audiotracksandmediaplayers. Pg10
Onlinetext,bookorarticle. Pg11
Accessingwebsites(onlinevideo). Pg12
Navigatingbacktomodulecontentandthehomepage. Pg13
5.OtherModuleFeatures: Pg14
People(moduleparticipants). Pg15
PersonalProfile(includingeditingpersonaldetailsand
uploadingapicture).
Pg16
UpcomingEventsandCalendar. Pg17
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1.Yourtechnicalrequirements:
Yourcomputer:
TobeabletousetheonlineMoodleonlinelearningenvironmentyouwillneedaccess
toaPCorMac,withasuitablewebbrowser,suchasInternetExplorer,Netscape,
FirefoxorSafari.
Throughoutthisguide,youwillseelinksembeddedinthetext,whichhasbeen
compiledasawebdocumentforonlinereading.Toaccessthelinksdirectlyfromthis
text,simplyplaceyourmouseonthelinkandpressboththeCtrlbuttononthe
keyboardandclickthemouse.Youwillbetakentothewebsitedirectly.
Toreadthisdocumentandaccesslinksdirectlyyouwillneedaccesstotheinternet.
Otherwiseyoucanprintthisoffandthentypelinksintoyourwebbrowserlater.
DialupversusBroadbandconnection:
IfyouonlyhavedialupaccessthenitisadvisabletoordertheMP3discsratherthan
attempttoaccessaudiotracksonline.Thisisbecauseittakesaverylongtimeto
downloadaudiotracksbydialupandwillcostyoualotintermsoftimeandmoney.
Ifyouhaveabroadbandconnectionthenyouareabletoaccessallaudioteachings
andlinkstostreamedvideoquicklyandeasily.Youwillbeabletochoosewhetherto
listenonlineordownloadthematerialstoyourcomputerandlistentothemlater,on
yourcomputerorMP3player.
MediaPlayers:
Youwillalsoneedtohaveasuitablemediaplayerandsoundcardinthecomputer
youareusingasmostoftheteachingmaterialsonlineareaudiotracksandthereare
somelinkstoonlinevideos.
Thefollowingmedia/audioplayerswillbesuitableandyoucandownloadthemfor
freefromthefollowinglinks.Mostcomputerswillhaveamediaplayeralready
installed.
Windowsmediaplayer(themostcompatiblewithourmaterialsforMacsandPCs)
www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/AllDownloads.aspx?displang=
en&qstechnology=
RealPlayer(forMacsandPCs)www.realnetworks.com/products/media_players.html
QuickTimePlayer(forMacsandPCs) http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
Ready?
Onceyouhavecheckedtheaboveyouwillbereadytogoaheadandaccessthe
FoundationofBuddhistThoughtonlinelearningenvironmentat
http://www.fbtstudycentre.co.uk
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2.CourseNavigation:
(i)Frontpageathttp://www.fbtstudycentre.co.uk/
Simplyplacethemouseontheabovelink,presscontrolandclickyourmousetogo
tothefrontpageofthecoursesite,orelsecutandpastetheabovelinkintoyourweb
browser.Itwilllooklikethis:
(ii)Accessandlogin:presstheloginlinkinthetoprighthandcornertobetakento
theloginpagewhichlookslikethis:
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Youshouldhavebeengivenausernameandpasswordbyemail,pleaseenterthisin
therelevantsectionsoftheloginpage,thenpressthegreyloginbuttontobetaken
backtothefrontpage,whichwillnowdisplayallthemoduleheadings.
(iii)Enrolmentkey:
Youwillbeautomaticallyenrolledtoyourmonthandyearintakei.e.forthe
September2008enrollmentitwillbeSeptember2008Intake.
Thematerialsrequiredforthemoduleyouarestudyingwillbeavailableunderthetitle
ofthemodulei.e.FourNobleTruths,TwoTruths,etc.Asyouprogressthroughthe
course,youwillreceivetheenrollmentkeysforthenextmodules.
Ifyouhaveanyproblemsenrollingtothemodulesaskyouradministratorforhelp.
Onceenrolled,youwillbetakenthemodulecontentasbelow.
3.YearIntake.ContentandActivities:
(i)LearningActivities:UndertheheadingTopicOutlineyouwillseealistofonline
activitiesforwhichyouaresubscribed:
Discussiongroupsorforums:
Thisiswhereyouwillmeetthetutorandothermembersofyourstudygroupfor
onlinediscussionoftheweeklytopiccoveredinthetextandaudioresources
provided.Eachtimeyouposthereanemailofyourpostingwillbesentoutthe
membersoftheforum,sothateachmayrespond.
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Subscribingtoyourdiscussionforum:
Atpresentyouwillbeautomaticallysubscribedtoastudygroup.Pleaseclickonthe
discussionforumlinktobetakentoapagethatlookslikethis:
YoucanpostahellomessagetotherestofyourgroupbyclickingontheAdda
newdiscussiontopicbutton.Youwillbetakentotheforumpostingpage,which
lookslikethis:
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Inthesubjectlinetypethepostingtitle,andthentypecontentintheboxbelow.This
willbesenttoallforumsubscriberslikeanemail.Onlymembersofyourstudygroup
willreceivetheseemails,includingstudentsandtutors.
Usingthesidescrollbarontheright,youcangodowntothebottomofthepageto
addattachments,andthenclickonthePosttoforumbuttontosendtotheforum
andstudygroupemailboxes.
Whenyouhavepostedyourcontributionwillbevisibleonlineintheforumasa
threadlikethis:
Whenyouclickonthediscussionheadingthepostingwillbedisplayedlikethis:
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Toreplytopostingsyoucanusethereplybuttonontheforumposting,inthe
bottomrightcornerofthethreadasabove.
Ifyouwantto,youcanalsoreplybyemail*ifyoureceivethepostingdirectlyto
youremailinbox.Howevertoreplybyemailyoumustalsoclickthereplybuttonon
theforumemail,inthebottomrightcornerofthemessage(andnottheReplybutton
ofyouremailprovider).
*Whenreplyingbyemailyouwillbetakenintotheforumviatheloginpage
onceyouhaveclickedthereplylinkintheforumemailmessageasonpage6above.
Ifyoujustreplytotheemailinthenormalway,usingthereplybuttonofyouremail
software,onlytheemailaccountoftheindividualwhohaspostedthemessagewill
receiveit,andnotallthegroup.
ToreturntotheIntakeContentpagethenclickonthe01/07tabinthetoolbartop
left.
Themodulechatroom:
Forlivediscussionwithothersinthemodule:Thisactivitycanbeused,asyouliketo
communicatewithotherstudentsonthemodule.Notethatallchatroomdiscussions
arerecordedinchatroomlogs.Theyarenotprivate!Toenterchat,simplyclickon
thelinkthatsaysclickheretoenterthechatroom.
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Clickontheenterthischatnowlinktobetakenintothelivechatroomwhichwill
popupinMoodlelikethis:
Tosendachatmessagesimplybegintypingintheboxnexttothe>>signand
pressEnter/returnbuttononyourkeyboardtosendit.Yourmessagewillpopupin
thelargewindowlikethis:
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Asothersjointhechattheirusernamesandpictureswillpopupintherighthand
columnofparticipants,andtheirmessageswillappearinthelargerwindowasthey
areposted.
ToviewpastchatsyoucanpressontheViewpastchatsessionslinkinthetop
right.Ittakesaboutthirtyminutesforthemtobearchived.
4.LearningResources.
Herearetheresourcesforthemodulethatyouaretaking.Eachofthe6moduleswill
havetheirownresourcepageandyouwillbeabletoaccessthemasyoumove
throughthecourse.Thispagecomprisesofalistofweeklytopicsandlinksto
learningresources.Theiconsindicatewhatsortofresourcethelinkprovides:
AudioTrack.
Onlinetext,bookorarticle.
Awebsitewhichprovidestext,audioorvideoresources.
Byclickingonlinkstolearningresourcestheywillbedeliveredtoyouembeddedin
theMoodlelearningenvironmentasonlinetext,bookoraudiotrack.
WhenyouclickonanaudiotrackMoodlewillbootupthedefaultmediaplayer
installedonyourcomputerautomatically.
AudiotrackswilllooklikethiswithWindowsMediaPlayer,whichistherecommended
mediaplayeryoucandownloadforfreefromthelinkonpage3above.
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Usethecontrolsinsidethemediaplayertopause,stopandstartonlineaudio.You
canalsosaveaudiotrackstoyourcomputerbypressingtheLibrarytabtogetthe
imageonthenextpage:
InWindowsMediaPlayeryousimplyhighlighttheCDTrackbeingplayedinthelist
thenclickontheSavePlaylistbuttoninthebottomrighthandcorner.Youwillthen
beinvitedtonametheplaylistandhereithasbeencalledGesheTashi.Youcan
addsubsequenttrackstothisplaylistinthesameway.
Thiswillbesavedtoafolderonyourcomputerharddisk,whichcanthenbecopiedto
aCDorMP3playershouldyouwishtolistentocontentawayfromthecomputer.
Whenyouclickontextpagestheyaredeliveredinsidethecourselikethis:
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Youthensimplyusethewebpageresourceasyouwoulddohadyoufounditonthe
internet.WhenyouclickonthelinkstochaptersinSumedosonlinebookintheleft
handframe,thepageswillbedeliveredinsideMoodle,inthesameplaceasthefront
pageabove.
WhenyouclickonwebsitelinkstheytooaredeliveredembeddedinMoodle.A
videointerviewwithBuddhistwriterJosephGoldsteinforexample,willlooklikethis:
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Toreturntothelearningenvironmentafterwatchingthenyoushouldclickonthetab
forthemoduleyouareusinginthetoolbaratthebottomofthescreen.
YouwillbereturnedtotheFoundationofBuddhistThoughtlearningenvironment,
whichwilllooklikethis:
Wanttoreturntothemodulecontentpage?
Thenclickonthemodulelink,whichistheFNTlinkinthetopleftnavigationbar
underthemoduletitle.
Wanttoreturntothecoursehomepage?Thenclickonthehomepagelink,
whichistheFBTlinkinthetopleftnavigationbarunderthemoduletitle.Thiswill
lookdifferentandonlydisplaythemoduleforwhichyouareenrolled.Seebelow:
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YouarenowreadytonavigatethroughMoodlesFoundationofBuddhistThought
Course!
MyCourses:Hereyouwillseethemodulesforwhichyouareenrolled.Tosee
informationaboutothermodulesyouneedtoclickontheAllCoursesbutton.
ThiswilltaketoapagedescribingthefullFoundationofBuddhistThoughtcourse.
Notethatstudentsonlyseethemodulesforwhichtheyarecurrentlyenrolledonthe
frontpageafterlogin.
Featuresyoucanseeinsidethemodulebox
Tutor:Clickingonthelinktothenamedtutorswillbringuptheirprofilewithcontact
detailsforyoutouseintheeventofaproblemorquestionthatcannotbeaskedin
themoduleforum.
4.OtherModuleFeatures:
People:
ThisblockcontainsalinktoParticipants.Clickonthistoseethedetailsofall
studentsandtutorsenrolledinthemoduleasbelow.Clickonthenamesofmodule
participantstoseefullerprofilesandyourownnametoedityourownpersonal
profile.
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PersonalProfile:
Whenyouclickonyournameinthelistofparticipantsyourpersonalprofilewillbe
displayedlikethis:
Clickontheeditprofiletabtouploadapictureandfillinotherdetailsyouwouldlike
yourgrouptosee.Yourfullerprofileforeditingwilllooklikethis:
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TouploadapictureyouscrolldowntothenewpicturebarandpresstheBrowse
button:
Thiswilltakeyouintothefiledirectoriesofyourcomputersothatyoucanuploada
digitalphotointothepicturebox.Simplylocatethefile,clickontheOpenbutton,
tobereturnedtotheEditProfilemenu.
ThenscrolldowntotheUpdateProfilebuttonandclick.Yournewpictureisnow
online!
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Upcomingevents:
Heretheadministratorwillpostnewsofanyupcomingeventsrelevanttothecourse,
plusassignmentdeadlines.
Calendar:
Givesthedateandday,plusflagsupanyimportantremindersaboutcourseactivities,
suchasscheduledonlinechat,essayduedatesandreviewdeadlines.Thesewillbe
postedonthecalendarbythetutorsorcourseadministrator.
Clickingonthemonthinthecalendardisplayenlargestheblock,whichenablesyou
toseewhatisgoingonthatmonth.Itcanalsobeusedtohelporganizeyour
activities*onthecourse.
*Forfurtherdetailsonhowtousethecalendarfacilityasastudent,clickonMoodle
Docsbuttonatthefootofthewebpage.Thistakesyoutodetailedonlineinformation
onthefullfunctionofanyaspectoftheMoodlepageinview.
ShouldyouhaveanyproblemswiththeFoundationofBuddhist
Thoughtlearningenvironment,thenpleaseemailtheCourse
Administratorat:courses@jamyang.co.uk
HandbookwrittenbyCourseDesigner:JoNash,August2007.
ReviewedbyPierreAloziecourseadministrator,August2008