Penn State University Provost Nick Jones sent the following message to the Penn State community on Wednesday, August 24, 2016.
From: Executive Vice President and Provost Nicholas P. Jones
Date: August 24, 2016 at 4:11:14 PM EDT
|
||||
Archives for August 2016
Welcome to the New Academic Year!
Academic year 2016-2017 will begin on August 22, and our faculty, staff, and students are ready to go! There is a huge amount of behind-the-scenes work required to support our students, and while we continue to offer courses throughout the summer we also use the summer months to retool for new processes and prepare for evolving student needs. The August 2016 newsletter for the LDT online community reflects changes and improvements that students will want to note.
The newsletter contains the following articles—click here to view the entire newsletter: [Read more…]
Starting the Fall 2016 Term
The Fall 2016 term is about to begin. Let’s take a look at the dates and details that LDT students need to know.
August 22, 2016, Monday – Courses open on Canvas. Students may access and review course materials by logging-in at cms.psu.edu. Instructors will likely send a preliminary message to students inviting them to review the course. Some instructors may choose to begin the first week’s lesson(s) on Monday, but others may use Monday and Tuesday as orientation time.
August 24, 2016, Wednesday – Lessons begin. The LDT program uses a Wednesday to Tuesday lesson schedule, which you can read more about here.
August 27, 2016, Saturday – Regular Drop Deadline: A class dropped on or after the first day of class [August 22, 2016] and on or before this date will not be reflected on your transcript. Courses dropped after this deadline will incur a drop fee. See the World Campus reference page about dropping a course. Overall, a student must decide to drop a course promptly to avoid having the course reflected on the transcript and incurring a fee.
If you have any questions about your course, please write to your instructor either via your Canvas Inbox or by e-mail.
We are happy to have you in our program. Have a great semester, and work smart!
LionPATH is the New Way of Student Life
Across a number of coordinated offices throughout the university much of the past year has been dedicated to implementing LionPATH, the new student information system at Penn State. LionPATH will completely replace eLion. LionPATH offers a much more powerful student information system that will benefit students and faculty/staff alike. The first challenge is helping nearly 100,000 users transition to a new system. We all need to be patient because everyone is working with a new system, students, staff, faculty, system administrators, and tech support alike.
The best information for LDT online students is the Graduate Student Portal of LionPATH. From that portal you may then log into LionPATH’s Student Center.
Throughout the Fall 2016 term, eLion will continue to fade from use. As you’ve experienced already, all Fall 2016 course registration occurred in LionPATH. Course registration, including course adds, drops, and term withdrawals, will continue in perpetuity in LionPATH. [Read more…]
Start of Fall 2016 Term Registration Update
The LDT Program faculty is excited to start the new academic year. As we enter the Fall 2016 term, our courses are nearly full. Thanks to the prompt registration of our continuing students, we were able to add an additional section of LDT 415A—a response that further underscores the necessity for our program’s students to take advantage of their priority registration privileges. Please remember to register as soon as you are eligible.
LDT Fall 2016 Courses
| Registration Status | Course Code | Course Name | Delivery Timeframe | LionPATH Class Number | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FULL | LDT 415A sec 001 | Systematic Instructional Development | 8/24-12/9/16 | 5661 | |
| FULL | LDT 415A sec 002 | Systematic Instructional Development | 8/24-12/9/16 | 32148 | |
| Almost Full! | LDT 467 | Emerging Web Technologies and Learning | 8/24-12/9/16 | 27078 | |
| FULL | LDT 527 | Designing Constructivist Learning Environments | 8/24-12/9/16 | 27082 | |
| FULL | LDT 566 | Computers as Learning Tools | 8/24-12/9/16 | 27087 | |
| Almost Full! | LDT 581 | Theoretical Foundations of Learning, Design, and Technology | 8/24-12/9/16 | 27167 |
About Our Wednesday to Tuesday Lesson Schedule
The LDT program’s courses are delivered using a Wednesday to Tuesday lesson schedule. This weekly schedule is also used by faculty of the Curriculum and Instruction (CI) courses at Penn State, which is another group that serves a large K-12 educator population. LDT and CI have been deeply thoughtful about our lesson schedule, and we have maintained this schedule throughout pressure to conform to the Monday to Sunday schedule that is used by most of World Campus. Here are the key reasons for our use of a Wednesday to Tuesday lesson schedule:
Working Students’ Schedules
A Monday to Sunday schedule emphasizes that work be done on the weekends, particularly on the Sunday due-date for weekly assignments. Many students who are involved with K-12 education and who have children or other personal obligations are in a position where they either (a) must [Read more…]
New Student Information Page
We’ve compiled all of the existing Penn State resources that are helpful to new students onto a single-page list. Click on the “New Student Info” menu item in the blue bar above, or visit here.
Welcome to the LDT Program!