NAVIGATING THROUGH A COURSE

Birmingham Theological Seminary

Navigating through the online courses is fairly intuitive, because in general, the student
proceeds in linear fashion from top to bottom. However, new users may need some initial
orientation. We will use the course "Building Your Theology" as an example, but the same
principles apply to all courses.

CONTENTS
1. Start Here...................................................................................................................................................................2
2. Studying a Lesson ......................................................................................................................................................5
3. The Lectures.............................................................................................................................................................11
4. Required Course Readings .......................................................................................................................................19
5. Administrative Blocks ..............................................................................................................................................20
6. Invisible Lessons ......................................................................................................................................................23

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1. Start Here

When you click on the "Start Here" button, you will find general guidelines for the whole
course.

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You should read the "Course Syllabus" first.

Here you will see the course description, goals and objectives, and an overview of the
assignments for the course.

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This kind of document will probably open in a new tab. When you have finished reading this
document, you should click the "X" on the tab in order to return to the "Start Here" menu.

"X" to close second

Tab for "Start Tab for syllabus

We highly recommend that you also watch the video tutorial, “Navigating Through a Course.”
While this PDF document that you are now reading contains basically the same information, it
is good to watch the video to see how things are done.

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2. Studying a Lesson

Now you can begin the first lesson. Notice that there is a block for each lesson of the course. In
this case, there are four lessons based on the Third Millennium videos, as well as a section on
Required Course Readings. Each lesson block has a menu on the right with all of the elements of
the lesson.

First you should read the “Instructions,” then look at the “Resources.” While they are not
required, the “Optional Activities” may be very helpful for assimilating the teachings of the
lesson and investigating new resources. Finally, do the “Evaluations.”

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Let’s look at the “Instructions” window for Lesson 1. You should begin the lesson by reading
"Preparation for Lesson 1" and completing any assignments given there. Then read the specific
"Instructions for Lesson 1." Here you will find all the steps for the whole lesson.

If you do not have much experience using these lessons, you should read the PDF document
"General Instructions for Assignments."

You should also watch the video tutorials: “The Lectures,” “Taking Notes,” and “The Quizzes.”

We recommend that you maximize the window to watch the video tutorials. Otherwise, some of
the video controls and parts of the images may not be visible.

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Notice that when you open a secondary window for a lesson (such as “Instructions,” shown
below), there is another menu at the top, offering another route to the lesson windows:
“Instructions,” “Resources,” “Activities,” and “Evaluations.” You may use this menu instead of
going back to the home page if you prefer.

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The "Resources" section includes the study guides and a glossary of important terms used in
the lesson.

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The "Optional Activities" help you assimilate the teachings of the lesson and apply them to new
situations. The PDF document, "General Instructions for Assignments" explains how to use
them.

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"Evaluations" include quizzes on each section of the lesson and an accumulative test on the
whole lesson. The quizzes are not required, but are helpful to make sure you have learned the
important teachings of each section of the lesson. The accumulative test, based on all the video
sections of each complete lesson, is required, and will determine your official grade for the
lesson. You may repeat the test after five days, and the official score will be your highest score.
You must obtain at least 75% to pass.

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3. The Lectures

You can choose to study the lectures in three different formats: video, audio, or text.

You may access them either by clicking the links that say “Study lesson in video,” “Study lesson
in audio,” and “Study lesson in text,” or by clicking on the links below the image of the video
that say "Video", "Audio" and "Text".

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To watch the videos, you should click on the part you wish to watch,...

Video Parts 1-10

...then click on the "play" button.

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To stop the video, pass the mouse over the video screen and click on the "pause" button.

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On some computers, especially laptops, you may find that the video screen is not completely
visible. In that case, you can either use the scroll bar to move the video image,...

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...or you may prefer to adjust the zoom on your screen, possibly to 75% or 80%.

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To listen to the audio files, you follow a similar process: First, click on the part you want to
hear,...

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...then click on the small "play" button.

To stop the audio, click on the "pause" button.

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To read the text of the lesson, you will need to scroll down through the document.

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4. Required Course Readings

When you have finished studying all of the video lessons for the course and have taken the
accumulative tests and the final exam, you should read the required readings for the course
and take the test on them. These readings are usually divided into several assignments. The
documents are found the "Readings" section. Read the instructions for each assignment, and
use the study guides to help you learn the important information.

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5. Administrative Blocks

Now notice the blocks in the left margin of the home page. In these blocks you can find
administrative links. You may wish to look at your grades or edit your profile, for example.

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Notice that the grades of the course are listed in the same order that the tests are to be
completed. Besides the individual grades for each test, the “Course total” is also shown at the
bottom. Here your overall grade will be continually updated as you complete the accumulative
tests and the test on the required reading. The total possible for the final grade is 100. You
must obtain 75% on all evaluations to pass.

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When you access the links from these administrative blocks, they will open in the main window,
instead of opening in a new tab. This means that you should not click on the "x" at the top right
of your screen when you want to return to the home page of the course. This would close the
whole program. Instead, click on the title of the course (in this case "Building Your Theology") in
the menu at the top left.

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6. Invisible Lessons

You may wonder about the little squares on the right side of each lesson block. You do not need
to use them, but if you accidentally click one, it will make some of the lesson blocks invisible.

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If this happens, just click on the double box icon, and they will become visible again.

Enjoy the course, and may the Lord bless you in amazing ways as you study it!

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