The first thing that everyone needs to do when getting started in the Adult Education program is to post a brief introduction of yourself, your background, your interests, and a picture in your Oncourse "Profile." Please include some introductory information such as your areas of interest in adult education, prior education or training, personal interests or hobbies, etc. Also, please make sure to update your personal email address and phone numbers if they change at any point in the program. This profile follows you so you don't have to re-enter the information for each class.
Having profile information is very important as we all try to put names, user ids and faces together. When you get in your regular classes you should be able to expect to view this same information on all your fellow students. Also note that no one other than your fellow students and your instructor can see this information.
To get started, click on "My Workspace" and then click the "Profile" link. You will see a page that looks like this:
Click on "Edit my Profile" link.
Type in your information in the text boxes provided. Please make sure to include your email address and at least one phone number. Type your 2-3 paragraph introduction in the "Other" section.
IMPORTANT: Make sure neither of the "Hide" check boxes are checked. If you do that your information will not show up in your classes.
Since many of us will never see each other face-to-face, having a picture is especially nice when you are trying to keep track of who is who in a chat room or discussion forum. While a photograph is preferred, if you want to put up a picture that you think better represents you, go right ahead. There are some online drawing generators at SouthPark Generator and Mini-Mizer that you can play with. Be sure to read the FAQ on how to save your drawings.
Please try to keep your picture very small - no bigger than 100 or so pixels wide - and focused on your face. A picture loaded directly from a digital camera will usually be many times this size so check the file size. A good sized picture will be less than 20K.
If you have a bigger picture that you need to crop and resize, try using Picnik, a free web tool, to crop, resize, and enhance photos that you have stored on your computer or on a photo sharing site such as Picasa, Flickr, or Photobucket.
If you are using a photo sharing site you also may be able to upload a larger picture and then select a "thumbnail" - or better yet "Square" - version generated by the site. In Flickr that option is found by clicking on "All Sizes" on an individual picture page.
If you do not use a photo sharing site you can add a picture by uploading the photo file to the "Resources" tool in the "My Workspace" area of Oncourse. Please see the Uploading a Picture to Oncourse CL Resources video tutorial.
VERY IMPORTANT: When you upload your picture to the Resources tool you MUST click the "Add details for this item" and make sure the circle by "This file is Publicly Viewable" is filled in/selected. No one else will be able to see your picture if you don't.
Once the picture is uploaded and you have the web address for the picture's location, copy and paste that url in the "Profile" page where it asks for "Picture URL."
