Frequently Asked Questions

On this page the frequently asked questions of participants have been compiled. Only those question/reply pairs are applicable to you which have been sent by the moderator.

Question: What are the most important issues when publishing course information on the platform?



Hoffmann&Reif: Generally, we recommend to have a look at the manual for authors (the manual refers to a different project but it is suitable for our purpose). In addition, please consult your peers through Skype and help each other (make sure that you send tested deep links only). If you work at the same institution please cooperate to manage the content management system properly. Most relevant for your reader is the usability of the page published. Please check all file sizes, use gif, jpg files for graphics, images only (never use bmp file format). Always test the accessibility of a page as soon as published and released by you.

Question: I have noticed that some file names can cause trouble when used for files to be published on web servers. Which file name convention do you recommend?



Hoffmann&Reif: Not all file names are valid when published on Internet servers. The reason for that is that most server systems run on Linux operating system and this requires to stick to a file name convention which differs a little from the Windows Operating System (Windows allows you any character in file names and it does not differ between small or capital letters in file names). You may have a look at this page which gives an introduction to the topic: What's In A (File) Name? http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol6/html_no6.htm

Please take into account the following short convention scheme when choosing a file name:

• Choose file names according to the following template: type_topic_project_authordate.ext , example: presentation_MathCourse_cpeo_shof20040807.ppt
• special characters like "&" or "*" are not allowed
• use capital letters in case of multiple words

Question: How can I make sure that information objects (e.g. tables, text areas) are not overwritten since we use the same login account sometimes.



Hoffmann&Reif: For efficiency we are using sometimes the same login account to edit certain pages. If you edit these pages please be very careful that you do not overwrite information objects of your fellow participants. If you are asked by the system to "Overtake" then you better press "Cancel" (in this case the chance to overwrite is rather high; it means that the object is being edited or that the editor did not leave the object properly and it remains in the "edited status"). Please copy the reference information objects always (e.g. a table, a text area) and paste it, so that you can be sure to edit your own information object only.

Question: I clicked on the "Leave"-button of the Skype chat window. How can I re-enter the chat group ?



Hoffmann&Reif: If you leave a chat you won't be able to join again unless someone invites you to join. If you have left you won´t get those messages which have been sent after your leave (even if someone invites you again previous messages are not displayed to you because you were not part of the group at the respective time). So, the task of checking who has left and inviting her/him again is a daunting task for the moderator. So to avoid this situation we require your cooperation. Please follow the guideline: 1. AVOID clicking on the "Leave"-button on the Skype Tool Menu. 2. To exit from the chat just click the close (X) button on the top right corner of the chat window. 3. To see your group chat again, click "Tools" on the tool bar -> "Recent Chat" -> "Your_Chat_Name". (NOTE: If you sign in to the Skype, the respective chat window will open automatically whenever new messages were sent before)

Question: What am I supposed to do if my peer is not uploading her/his deliverables in time.



Hoffmann&Reif: If your peer is not active, then choose the deliverable of any another participant and evaluate this one. However, we recommend that the existing peer evaluation teams should persist, collaborate and do the peer activities.

Question: How can I send contributions to a discussion using the bulletin board ?



Hoffmann&Reif: To take part in the discussion, go to the bulletin board page. Under “Subject” you find a link to the first message describing the topic. Please click on the link. The new page displayed shows the first message, i.e. the moderators´ invitation to the discussion. Below you find a list of replies (so far replies have already been sent). Choose the message to which you wish to reply, either the current one or if one of the messages out of the link list, open the message by clicking on the link. At the bottom of the page, below the text of the message and the link list of replies, you find input fields: Subject, Author, E-Mail, and a free text area. The fields Subject, Author, and E-Mail are filled in automatically, please overwrite the text according to our instructions. Fill in the free text area and finally click on “Send”. After submission you will receive the message “New record inserted (Date Time)”. Your new contribution can now be found in the link list below the message to which you have sent the reply!

Question: I cannot login. What do you recommend me to do ?



Hoffmann&Reif: Your account information consist of an e-mail address and a password. All characters are case sensitiv and make sure that no blank space is added when entering the login information. If you cannot login, please proceed as follows: 1. close all (!) browser windows ; 2. enter again the link containing the string "manage" (which was sent to you and refers e.g. to your course home page); 3. Login with e-mail address and password again ; 4. If you still cannot login, please reboot your computer and start with step 2 again ; 5. If you still cannot login, please contact the moderator directly (shof@hoffmann-reif.com) and send him the link used, your username and password. You will get support quickly.

Question: How will we know that we have voted in the module polls?



Hoffmann&Reif: Your vote is counted automatically when having choosed one option and clicked on the button "Vote/show results >>>". The next displayed page shows you that one vote is added to the results. Please note, it is essential that you exactly vote once for each question in the module polls, otherwise we will receive false results. You must inform us via e-mail always that you have done the module poll, by this we can controll the voting and also give you the 1/4 point for the module poll.

Question: Please explain the procedure how to vote ?



Hoffmann&Reif: You participate in a poll by following 4 steps: 1. Access the module poll and enter account name and password; 2. Vote for the first question ONCE and then click on the button “Vote/show results >>>”, then wait wait wait - until a new page with the results is displayed; 3. Repeat step 2 for the next questions. This means you have to vote SEVERAL TIMES (once for each question only); 4. After having sent all votes, please send an e-mail to the moderator shof@hoffmann-reif.com, fill in the subject field: “Poll for module No. ??? done” (please fill in the correct module number). You need not write more text in this mail.

Question: How to distribute files to the group?



Hoffmann&Reif: In general, we recommend a file upload to your course homepage. Please copy the deep links into your e-mails so that the recipients can access the files from the web through a mouse click.

Background information: As a moderator or as a participant you must take into account the bandwidth conditions and storage limitations of all members and the server load. If you send e.g. a 4 MB file to a mailing list of e.g. 50 members, it may happen that

a) a participant´s mailbox gets flooded by this message resulting in a severe access problem to future e-mails in general (meaning that you can cause an unintended drop out of a course participant through a single e-mail)

b) the list server has to distribute 200 MB amount of data (50 x 4 MB) resulting in a short or even longer server side network congestion and connectivity problem

Please note: Moderators and participants can seriously damage the virtual classroom and cause the learning process to stop - much easier than in face-to-face teaching. Both require the media literacy to estimate how much bandwidth and storage is consumed on the server and the moderators´/participants´ computers and networks. Each time you start a bigger exchange of data a rough bandwidth and storage calculation must be made before hitting the "send" button. In doubt please ask and do not send.

Question: We are expected to manage a rather large amount of e-mails. Which tools do you recommend for managing e-mails ?



Hoffmann&Reif: You will save a lot of time if you use an e-mail software which allows you to download all messages from the server at once and to read them offline afterwards. You may leave the messages on the server and delete them after some weeks. This allows you flexibility when accessing the messages e.g. while on travel. As tool for e-mail management we recommend MS-Outlook, Eudora or Mozilla Thunderbird. If you access your e-mails (e.g. yahoo.com) through your WWW-browser only it may happen that you cannot manage your messages efficiently after some time. The earlier you become familiar with an offline e-mail client software the better.

Question: How can I subscribe to a discussion thread in the board ?



Hoffmann&Reif: The discussion board offers a notfication feature. Each time a message is posted to the board you can get an e-mail as a notification. This helps because you do not have to browse the board for new messages then. Therefore you should subscribe to the thread(s) so that an e-mail notification is delivered to your mail box whenever a new message is posted on the thread. Steps to register to a thread: 1.Go to the respective board and click on the thread which you want to subscribe; 2. In the area "Send notification for coming replies" enter your email id where you want to receive the notify e-mail (field "My email"); 3. Click on the "Insert" button; 5. A text will appear saying that "New notification-record inserted (Date/Time)"; 5. Repeat Step 1-4 for every thread you want to subscribe to or for all the threads in the board. Please take into account a special note from the moderators Waribam Bhalindra and Angom Buboo Singh: "Knowledge grows by sharing" , see also further explanation

Question: I uploaded deliverables wrongly. How can I put my homepage in order ?



Hoffmann&Reif: The procedure to DELETE a deliverable or any file is quite simple. Please follow these steps: 1. Go to the respective folder, e.g. the folder “My Deliverables” of your homepage. 2. Enter this page in the manage mode. 3. Find the Select Action field that is placed left beneath the file. 4. From the drop down list "--Select Action--" choose "Delete". 5. At the new page which is loaded then your file will be deleted. – To put your files in the correct ORDER, please make use of the functions “Move up” and “Move down”.

Question: How do I upload my deliverables ?



Hoffmann&Reif: To upload your deliverables or any file please follow these steps: 1. Go to the folder “My Deliverables” of your homepage. 2. Enter this page in the manage mode. 3. From the drop down list "--Select Action--" choose "file". A new page is loaded then. 4. Click on the button "Browse..." to search your file. 5. Choose it and click on the button "Open". 6. In the field "Short title" fill in a short descriptive name. 7. In the field "Title" fill in a self explanatory description. 8. Click on "Insert" and wait wait wait - until a new page is displayed. Now your file is uploaded. 9. Repeat steps 3-8 to upload another file.

Question: Please tell me how to change password.



Hoffmann&Reif: You can change your password after having accessed your page in the manage mode. Then click on your name (you find your name at the border of the window below, please scroll downward).

Question: I was registered to the mailing list by the moderator but my messages are bounced. How can I solve this problem?



Hoffmann&Reif: You can send messages to the mailing list if your e-mail address has been registered to the respective mailing list system. This helps to avoid spamming and is done by a moderator or mailing list manager usually. It is possible to send messages to the list from further e-mail providers (e.g. gmail. yahoo, your own mail system). The e-mail addresses must be registered then. Therefore please hand over all e-mail addresses to the mailing list manager which you may use for course participation or moderation right from the beginning.

Question: I am subscribed to the mailing list but after sending a message I got the feedback "You are not subscribed to this list with the above address."



Hoffmann&Reif: You posted a messsage to list ???@domain-name.xyz, sending from a registered account. But the message bounced. What is the reason for that ? If I reply to a message sent by you another address is added automatically as recipient. It means, that the reply address field in your e-mail client does not contain the subscribed address. Now imagine a registered list member adds (for any reason) the list address ???@domain-name.xyz to the reply address field of an e-mail client ... The mailing list and all recipients would be flooded through one single message within a few seconds; we would have to disconnect the mailing list server then... Please make sure that your reply address field in your e-mail client contains the same address as the registered one.

Question: I was checking my mail regularly but could not find the one from the moderators. The mail was in my Bulk mail folder, that the reason for my delay to reply to your mail. (I can't make out why the mail is in the bulk folder !).



Hoffmann&Reif: We are using the mailing-list ???@domain-name.xyz for mails to all participants. Some systems filter the incoming mails automatically to avoid spam mails, e.g. the Yahoo! and the Hotmail system. If you find the incoming messages from our mailing-list in your Bulk mail folder / Junk Mail Folder / Trash Folder please follow the procedures: Yahoo! users: you must create a new filter to redirect the mails in your inbox: Log in to your Yahoo! account -- Select the Filters page -- Click the "Add" button on the Filters page -- Enter a name for the new filter in the Filter Name field, for example: cpeo -- Choose the field you want to match in the incoming message; please choose: To:/Cc: -- Choose the criterion by which you want a match to be made, choose: contains -- Enter the text that you want to compare in the field above, enter: ???@domain-name.xyz -- (When a new email message arrives, the filter will check to see if this text appears in the field you specify; if it does, the filter will transfer the message to the destination folder you select.) -- Choose the destination folder to which you would like the message delivered if there is a match; for example: Inbox, New -- Choose "Add Filter" when you are finished creating the filter criteria. -- If you have more than one filter, you'll see "up" and "down" arrows to the right of the list of filters on the Filters page. In this case select the placement of your new filter at the first place using the "up" arrows. Hotmail users: Log in to your Hotmail account -- Select 'Options' -- Select 'Safe List' which is the list of accounts that you do not want the Junk Mail Filter to block -- Add ???@domain-name.xyz to the 'Safe List'

Participant: What will the duration of the 2nd and 3rd face to face sessions be?



Hoffmann&Reif: The face to face sessions are mandatory. Both face to face sessions will last at maximum 4 days (whereas 3 days of the face to face session are mandatory only).

Question: I understand that as part of the course, we will actually design and produce a course. What is the expected learning hour of that course ?



Hoffmann&Reif: This depends on the training needs you are planning to fulfil. Please note, that you produce a course which must be delivered to customers of your institution/company (in real life). Please make sure that you can accomplish the work load. We recommend rather a short course, deliberately designed, implemented and delivered with excellent service from your side.