Welcome to the LDT Program

Welcome to the Learning, Design, and Technology (LDT) program at Penn State University. Whether you are pursuing a master’s degree or a postbaccalaureate certificate with us, we congratulate you for taking the bold step to advance your education. And we are very excited for you to join the numerous other World Campus students who are studying with us. This document will serve as a quick-start “how-to” guide to get you started as a new student, and to help you obtain immediate access to important items you will need in our program.

Initial steps
LionPATH Basics
Canvas CMS Basics
Purchasing textbooks
Course start
Penn State Email
How to get help
Working with your Advisor
Helpful Links
Popular Online Course Tools Help

Initial steps

Upon acceptance into the LDT program as a degree or certificate student, you will receive an email offering you admission into our program. This email requests a response from you. The program staff needs to receive from you a written notice of your acceptance of the offer of admission, and they must receive notice that you intend to enroll in courses offered by our program in the next semester.

Once you have accepted the offer from the program, your Penn State Access Account will automatically be activated. The access account username will usually be in “abc1234” format, and will also act as your primary email address followed by “@psu.edu.” This account grants you access to several different Penn State features, but a few of the most important items are:

LionPATH where you can search for courses, enroll, or even withdraw from courses, as well as take care of financial school related issues and declare your intent to graduate;
Canvas Content Management System (or CMS), the chosen learning management software of Penn State, which course instructors use to communicate with students, as well as post their lessons, and other course related material; and
Webmail is an online email and calendaring account assigned to you by Penn State.

Course Plan and Advisement

You will also want to develop your tentative course plan. You can learn more about the LDT Online Courses on this blog.

If you’re a master’s degree student, you’ll want to briefly communicate your interests and goals to your assigned academic advisor.
Educational Technology Integration: Take a look at this standing advisement page first, because the most common questions are answered there.

LionPATH Basics

LionPATH is Penn State’s student information system, which provides students with access to their academic, registration, and financial records. Students can enroll for classes, view/accept their financial aid awards, and view their tuition bills.

Graduate Student Help – Start Here

LionPATH – Adding a course

LionPATH – Dropping a course

LionPATH – Declaring intent to graduate

Canvas CMS Basics

Canvas is Penn State’s content management system (CMS) and operates similar to ANGEL, Blackboard, and even Moodle, which you may have used in the past. As a World Campus student in the LDT program, all of the courses you enroll in will be delivered via Canvas.

Penn State Canvas Welcome Page

Canvas Student Resources

Purchasing textbooks

Students are able to purchase their class textbooks directly from the Penn State’s Barnes & Noble bookstore. You can do this by navigating to the bookstore’s website.

Where to find textbook listings: World Campus page (click on schedule number)

Where to get textbooks: Penn State Bookstore

From the Penn State Bookstore homepage select the Textbooks tab at the top of the page, then click on Find Textbooks. The following page will allow you to enter the semester, the department, the course, and the section. You can have the textbooks mailed to your address so that they are available to you before the first day of class.

Course start

You will not be able to access any of the course material on Canvas until the official start date of the course. Usually the faculty member assigned to the course will send out a welcome email on the first day. Once the course officially begins, it is wise to navigate through the course and read the syllabus, modules, and assignments, in order to get an idea of what is expected of you throughout the semester. The instructor will contact the class within 24 hours (usually much less) of course start. If you have questions about the course, or you are uncertain about the fit of the course with your interests, please send a course mail message (in Canvas) or an email (outside Canvas) to the instructor as soon as possible.

Penn State Email

Students are encouraged to utilize their Penn State email accounts for student- and course-related business. To support security and authentication, some official university communications must be sent to your @psu.edu email address, and some requests at the university must be sent via your @psu.edu email address.

You may access your @psu.edu email in one of three ways:

Via Web page using webmail.psu.edu
Via email client on your computer or device (i.e. Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, etc.)
By forwarding all email sent to your @psu.edu email address to some external email service (i.e. Gmail, private server, etc.)

Access Penn State Webmail account

Forwarding Penn State emails to another email account outside of psu.edu

Setting up Penn State Webmail on Android devices

Setting up Penn State Webmail on iOS devices

How to get help

Technical support, including all issues with computers/devices, Web browsers, connecting and logging-into or using all Penn State resources, Canvas access and compatibility, and virtually all other other Penn State digital resource problems are all directed to the World Campus Help Desk: http://student.worldcampus.psu.edu/technical-support/contact-us

LDT degree program help, such as course choices and other advising matters: Contact your assigned advisor

Course-related help: Contact course instructor

General LionPATH Help: http://lionpathsupport.psu.edu/help/graduate-students/

Working with your Advisor

In the Learning, Design, and Technology program, every student is assigned to an academic advisor. Certificate students all work with the lead faculty member of the LDT online programs, and master’s degree students are assigned to other members of the LDT program’s faculty. Your advisor is able to assist you in several important ways, including your course selection and guidance regarding university resources.

Your advisor is able to monitor your progress as you complete your degree or certificate. It is a good practice to build a working relationship with your assigned advisor early in your career so that you may comfortably discuss academic and program related concerns and questions. Please be aware that it is not the responsibility of the advisors of graduate students to seek out their assigned advisees. If you need assistance, please initiate the conversation with your advisor. If the matter is urgent, contact the program staff member listed at the end of this handbook.