CPD College Course Participant Guide Introduction This course has 5 modules. You must meet the criteria set out by the DES to successfully complete this course. When you have successfully completed this course you can download your certificate of completion and this is what you will use to claim your EPV days. Please note carefully that you are not finished this course until you have your certificate of completion. Please print out this participant guide and read it carefully. It contains the answers to most of the questions you may have. This guide is divided into 3 sections relating to your progress from start to finish through your course. The structure of this guide is as follows: 1. Getting started 2. Engage with the course/meet the DES criteria 3. Complete the course Stage 1. Getting started 1. Log in to your course 2. Navigating through your course 3. Read section 1 and accept terms and conditions 4. Check/Edit your profile 1. Log in to your course To log in to your course, you must be enrolled and have your username and password. If you cannot recall your username and/or password you can retrieve them from the login box or you can contact us and we will reset them for you. Once you are enrolled and you have your username and password just click the login link on the top right corner (shown below) or the login/start course link beside your chosen course. Note: the images used in this guide are taken from the first few courses but the steps, processes and links are the same in all courses. Before you can access your course you must enter your username and password in the login box as shown below. 1
When you are logged in and enrolled on the course, the course modules view will appear. Just click the link for the first module as shown (in the sample) below and this will bring you into the topics outline page of the first module. NOTE: The DES regulations require you to complete the tasks at the end of module 1 before you can progress to module 2 etc. Module progression is contingent on the completion of assignments. Alternatively, at any time you can go to the My Courses link at the top of the page and navigate to your course modules this way. Again please note that you must complete the modules in sequence. 2
2. Navigating through your course When you enter the course module, you are presented with a Topic Outline page as shown below. This is essentially a table of contents showing the pages and other resources that are in the module. Each of the items in this list is an active link that you can click, to directly access the content page. Once you are inside a content page as shown below you have the following options from the navigation bar at the top of your screen: 1. Use the forward and next arrow buttons (on the right hand side) to navigate to the previous and next pages (as shown in the image below) 2. Use the drop down arrow (also on the right) to open a drop down box with the links in the table of contents and jump to the link you want 3. Return to the module topic outline page by clicking the module title link in the top left breadcrumbs menu (e.g. MD01 in the sample image below). 3. Read section 1 and accept the terms and conditions Please go through all the pages and guides that are listed in the first section of module 1 before starting into your course. You must also accept the terms and conditions as outlined by the DES before you can engage with the course. 4. Check/Edit your profile The simplest way to check/edit your profile is to click the Edit my profile link in your participant block (the block with your 3
name on the right hand side of each course outline page). This is shown in the image below. When you click on the Edit my profile link, it will open your profile page. Please check that all the details on your profile are correct. Make any changes that are necessary and when you are happy that your profile is correct then click the Update profile button as shown below. NOTE: THE PERSONAL DETAILS ON YOUR PROFILE ARE ONLY VISIBLE TO YOU. Stage 2. Engage with the course/meet the DES criteria 1. Engage with the course for 20 hours 2. Complete the assignment and 2 responses at the end of each module and your reflective assignment at the end of the course. 3. Complete the course evaluation survey 4. Double check your Teaching Council Registration number 1. Engage with the course for 20 hours You engage with the course by reading the course content, viewing the resources, completing your assignments, participating in the discussion forum etc. When you are online, the system records your time spent online and logs it in your CPD record. You may manually input any off-line time that you spend reading materials or preparing forum answers etc so that this time also gets added to your record. NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE A MINIMUM OF 10 HOURS ONLINE How to update your offline time record (see image below) 1. Click the Update time record link in your participant block as shown 2. Your time record is shown. To alter offline time, click the link called Alter offline time as shown 3. The offline time then becomes editable and you can enter the correct time in hours and minutes 4. Click Save to record the update (make sure you click 'Save' before you click 'Continue') 5. The offline time and total time are now updated. Each time you update the offline time you overwrite the previous value 6. Click continue to return to the topic outline page Note: You can update your time record as often as you want. Each time you do, the updated time overwrites the previous time and is automatically saved on your CPD record. 4
2. Complete your module assignments and responses and your end of course reflective assignments You have to do ONE ASSIGNMENT at the end of each module plus TWO RESPONSES to other participants in your course group. You will find your module assignments at the top section of each module. They are presented to you early in the module to give you an opportunity to consider your answer as you progress through the module. You must post your assignment answers to the forum in each module. REMEMBER: YOU MUST DO ONE ASSIGNMENT AND MAKE TWO RESPONSES IN EACH MODULE. YOU MUST ALSO COMPLETE THE END OF COURSE REFLECTIVE ASSIGNMENT IN MODULE 5. Module 5 has a forum for the module assignment plus two responses and the course/reflective assignment. Therefore in module 5, you have to do your module assignments and your end of course reflective assignment. Note: Your response answers should be a reply to the answer or response of another participant in your course group. We would encourage you to engage in discussions with your fellow participants. Please also note that all your contributions to the forums are recorded on your CPD record. How to do your module assignments 1. Go to the relevant section in the module and then click the module/assignment forum link 2. This will open the forum, where the questions are presented. Click on the question you wish to answer/discussion thread you wish to enter 3. To answer an assignment question, you must click on the 'Answer question' link and post your assignment. (A 250 word minimum is required for text only assignment answers. This does not apply to assignment answers that link to video, audio, image or program files). Type your answer in the text box or copy and paste it in from an external text editor if you think it will take longer than 20 minutes to compose. When you are happy with your post click, Post to forum. The word count will be shown when you post your answer. You may edit your answer within 30 minutes if you so wish. 4. To make two responses to other members of your course group (your course group includes your facilitator and the other participants in the group). Click Reply to a blue shaded post as this person is a member of your group. Alternatively reply through the My course group link which is provided in the forum. There is no minimum word count on these responses. 5
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How to do your end of course/reflective assignment 1. Go to the relevant section of module 5. Look at the reflective assignment question, the reflective assignment instructions and then click the reflective assignment forum link. 2. Respond directly to the question posed using the process outlined above. Note: How to stop receiving emails from forums To avoid receiving emails of all posts to forums, you need to ensure that the Discussion subscription button is unchecked when you are making a post. 7
If you are subscribed to a discussion forum and you wish to unsubscribe, you will need to go to the discussion thread page and click the button on the right so it goes from an envelop image to a dot image as shown below. 3. Complete the course evaluation survey It is a compulsory requirement for you to complete the course evaluation survey before you can successfully complete the course. How to complete the course evaluation survey 1. Go to the end of module 5 and click on the link Course evaluation survey as shown below 2. The course evaluation survey page will come up. Then click the link called Answer the questions 3. Please answer all the questions on the survey 4. When you are finished click the Submit your answers button. Then the survey is completed. 8
4. Ensure your Teaching Council Registration Number is included in your profile You can do this by clicking on the Edit my Profile link in your participant block as described earlier in this guide. Stage 3: Complete the course 1. Request course completion 2. Check your status page/email for result 3. Download your certificate 1. Request course completion The first step in the completion process if for you to request course completion. How to request course completion 1. Click the Request completion link in your participant block on the right hand side of all the course pages 2. The system will then check to see if you have met the basic criteria set out by the DES. If you have not, you will see what criteria are "Incomplete" as in 2 below. You must then address these criteria. 3. When all 4 basic criteria are met you will see that they are all completed as in 3 below 4. Then click the Request Course Completion button to send your CPD record to the facilitator 5. This notice tells you that your record is now under review by the facilitator and your request will be processed within 24 hours (usually much less) 9
2. Check your status page/email for result Your status page shows all the courses you have completed or are completing with CPD College and the stage of completion on each. When courses are completed your CPD record and completion certificate are generated and are accessible from this page. Within 24 hours (usually much less) of you requesting completion, you will be sent an email and your status page will be updated with the result of the facilitator review of your CPD record. If the facilitator requires more information then you will be sent an email stating this. In this instance you will have to add additional information to your contributions and request completion again. The facilitator will outline exactly what is required in your feedback email. If the facilitator deems that your CPD record fully meets the DES criteria then your email will state that and there will be specific feedback given. At this point your status page will be updated with the facilitator feedback and your certificate will be generated. There will be a link from the email you receive back to your status page. 3. Download your certificate to claim your EPV days In order to claim your EPV days you must download your certificate, sign it and present it to your principal. You may download your certificate from your status page. There is a link to your status page from the home page (MY CPD PORTFOLIO) and from your participant block on the course pages. How to download your Certificate and CPD record 1. Open your status page by clicking the link in your participant block or from the home page 2. Click the 'View certificate' link relating to the relevant course 3. Your certificate will open as a PDF file. You can save it to your computer or print it off 4. You may also download your CPD record 5. You may also download a record of all email correspondence between you and CPD College relating to your course 10
Please retain a copy of your Certificate to present to your principal to claim your EPV days. You can also download your certs at any time from the home page www.primaryteachers.cpdcollege.com and save for your records. This option is available year round from the MY CPD PORTFOLIO block on the right hand side of the page. Just click on the image shown below and click View record and then save the PDF to your computer. 11