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         CMPGR 287                    Spring 2003             Sharon Watson          

 

Serf Student Jumpstart e-booklet

Welcome to CMPGR 287 Multimedia Literacy. This e-booklet is designed to jumpstart you into the course. The instructions provided here, will  take you  online into a virtual learning environment on the World Wide Web called Serf.  Describing how exciting it is to learn this way, a student once described this environment as an E-ticket ride. We hope you will find this course just as exciting. Soon you will get your ticket to ride; keep on reading!

What You Will Need

In order to take this course, you will need a Windows or Macintosh computer and an Internet account. It must provide the basic Internet services of e-mail and access to the World Wide Web via Netscape Communicator or the Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Going Online

All of the exercises in this course can be completed via modem over an ordinary telephone line. If you have a higher-speed connection, screens will appear more quickly, but the course has been designed to work over an ordinary telephone line. 

The procedure to access your Serf course is two fold.

The first is to gain access to the Serf site,  the second is to logon to a specific course.

Access to Serf site:
1. First you will  to the Serf site using the address below (address are called an URL - which stands "Uniform Resource Locator").
Do NOT go there yet, finish reading first.

http://serf.pbs.org/serf/default.aspx


2. A pop-up window will be displayed asking for validation to the Serf site, use

for User Name:   serf
for Password:     welcome

3. Click OK

The first screen you will see next  is the Serf logon screen to a specific course and will look similar to the one below.  Before you can log on, you need to create a Serf name and password. This will only be done once and then you will use the above URL, access the site, and then enter you Name and Password for you course. 

This one time procedure of creating you Serf name and password is called "Cashing in Your Ticket"

To "Cash in your Ticket" : 

You can now click on the  icon on the top of the page or  the link under the Name Password login dialog box " you need to cash in your ticket" - click a link to enter your ticket information.

To enter the following when asked:

Your First Name

Your Last Name 

Your DP#

Make sure you use your name as registered at MJC. 

If Serf recognizes your name and ticket number, you’ll be taken to a screen that lets you create a Serf name and password. Your Serf name is the name you will type every time you log on to the course, and your password is a secret word that you will be required to type in order to log on. When you choose a password, pick something you can remember. Do not use easily-guessed names such as your first or last name, your nickname, your hobby, or other words that people associate with you. Mixing letters and numbers in a password makes it harder for people to guess. Most important, remember your password. To select a Serf name and password, follow these steps:

    • Type your Serf name into the Serf Name field.
    • Type your password into the first Password field; asterisks will appear to keep your password secret.
    • Type your password again into the second Password field. What you type in the second Password field must match exactly what you typed in the first Password field.
    • Click the Create button to create your new Serf name and password.

If the Serf name you chose has already been taken by another user, Serf will inform you and ask you to choose a different name. Follow the on-screen instructions until your Serf name and password have been created. If you have any other problems contact your instructor right away at the course website (cmpgr287@yosemtie.cc.ca.us).

From now on, you can sign on quickly and easily by going to

 http://serf.pbs.org/serf/default.aspx 

where the on-screen instructions will prompt you to enter your Serf name and password and click the Logon button.

Once you have logged onto SERF you will no longer need to go to the “Virtual” site for this course (http://virtual.yosemite.cc.ca.us/cmpgr287).  Everything will be done through Serf...unless Serf is down and then you can check on "virtual" for instructions there.

Beginning the Course

Once you log on, you’re jumpstarted into the course. From now on, all of the class instructions and assignments will come from this Web site. 

Pressing the Weekly Assignment button at the top of the SERF screen (far left) will give you access to the assignments for each week of the semester. 

As the course progresses, you’ll notice how Serf knows where you are in the course, what you have and have not done, and what you should be working on each week. You’ll also notice icons that denote different kinds of events on your syllabus, assignments you need to complete, how much each assignment counts toward your grade in the course, and how much time you have to complete them. There are dozens of features that make it easy to move around the course, study the materials it delivers, submit your assignments, and see your grades. The course delivery system used to create this environment is called Serf. The remainder of this pamphlet describes some of the options available to you while using Serf.

Note: When you log on, if you’re enrolled in more than one Serf course, you’ll be taken to the course you were working on last. To switch to a different course, scroll down to the System Options, and choose the option to Switch Courses. (see illustration below)

What is Serf?

 

Serf is an acronym that stands for Server-side educational records facilitator. It’s your servant on the Internet; hence the name Serf. Serf provides an environment for delivering courses anywhere in the world, using the World Wide Web as a distance education medium.

Serf provides support for students, teaching assistants, instructors, and administrators. The administrators use Serf to create courses and enroll students. Instructors use Serf to create their course syllabus, which consists of an ordered list of instructional events, assignments, and multimedia resources. Teaching assistants help the instructor provide services to students, and may assist in the grading of the assignments. The beneficiary is you, the student, who partakes in a learning environment rich in multimedia resources and Internet services.

How to Use Serf

At the top of every Serf screen is a menubar that provides you with communication and navigation options. Not all the courses menubar are the same, so yours may be a little different. You’ll find links to a Weekly menu (with readings, web materials and assignments) e-mail, news, and an index of items contained on the course syllabus. For more options, click the Options button, which will bring up a detailed list of the options available to you in this course.

Most of the pages are too long to fit on the screen all at once. Use the scroll bar at the right edge of the Serf window to scroll up and down the page. Click the arrows to move by small amounts, or click the blank space between the arrows to page up and down. You can also drag the slider to move any place on the page. Remember that the Serf menubar will always be at the top of every page, and the detailed navigation options will always be near the bottom.

Navigation Options:

The detailed navigation options are divided into five sections. Here’s a summary of what you can do with the options in each section.

  1. Syllabus options. In the syllabus section, you’ll find buttons that let you see the current class, which is the class that the instructor scheduled for the day you logged on. To move to any other class, use the Brief Index button, which lists the classes in the course. The Detailed Index button will bring up a complete list of all of the events in the course; use the detailed index when you’re looking for a specific event. The Preamble button will display the course preamble, which is the information you get when you log on prior to the start of a course. If you want to search the syllabus for a particular word or phrase, click the Search button. Finally, to view the complete course syllabus, click the View Complete button.
  2. Assignment options. In the assignment section, you can click the Inspect button to see a list of all the assignments in the course. If the list seems overwhelming, remember that you’re looking at a complete list of all of the assignments, and you have the entire term to complete them. There’s a Submit button that you’ll use to submit assignments, and a Grades button that’ll show you the grade you got on each assignment, along with a prediction of your final grade based on the work you’ve done so far. If you’re curious, go ahead and click the Grades button. If you haven’t submitted any assignments yet, no grades will be filled in, but you’ll be able to see how convenient this will make getting a grade report during the course.
  3. Calendar options. The calendar section provides buttons for seeing daily, weekly, and monthly views of your personal calendar. There’s even a button that adds an event to the calendar. When you add an event, it gets added to your personal copy of the calendar. No one else in the course can see your personal calendar. You can add birthdays and anniversaries or other kinds of reminders to your personal calendar, and Serf will remind you as the date approaches.
  4. E-mail options. The e-mail options make it quick and easy to send messages to your course instructor, teaching assistant, and classmates. When you click the Classmates button, you’ll get an e-mail grid showing the names of all the students in the class. To send e-mail, simply click the name of a student. Before people can send you e-mail, however, you’ll need to click the Register button and register your e-mail address in the course.
  5. System options. You’ll find system-related options in the System section. You can log off or change your password, for example. If you’re enrolled in more than one Serf course, you can switch courses. There’s also an option for setting up your CD-ROM drive. If a CD-ROM is being used along with this course, you should click the CD-ROM Setup option, and follow the on-screen instructions to set up your CD drive for use with this course. Last but not least, there’s an option called Discussion Forums, which you can use to participate in online discussions with your classmates during the course.

 

Serf Discussion Forums

A special feature of this course is the way you will use the Serf Discussion Forums to communicate with your professor and fellow classmates during the course. To enter the forums, simply click the Discussion Forums button in the system section of the student control panel.

Show-Me Movies

The Multimedia Literacy textbook comes with a CD-ROM containing more than a hundred "Show-Me" movies that illustrate the step-by-step instructions and tutorials in the textbook. Each movie is linked to an event on the course syllabus. To play a movie, you simply click the hotspot in the syllabus that launches the movie.

The first time you launch a movie from the syllabus, your Web browser will probably ask how you want it to handle this kind of file. Tell your browser to "open" it (not save it). If your browser asks whether you want to be asked this question for files of this type in the future, say no. Otherwise, you’ll keep seeing this question.

If your Web browser has trouble finding the movies, scroll down to the Options grid, and in the section on System options, click CD-ROM Setup. Follow the on-screen instructions to set up your CD drive. Then the movies should play back fine. Note for Macintosh users: The name of the CD is Multilit_3e.

Troubleshooting

If your question deals with course content, scroll down to the e-mail options at the bottom of the screen, and send e-mail to your course instructor or teaching assistant, who are online frequently.

Finally, if you can solve the problem e-mail us at the course address given in the syllabus.

Sign Your E-mail Messages

Whenever you send an e-mail message to your course instructor or teaching assistant, please remember to sign your message by including your full name and e-mail address at the bottom of the message. If you do not do this, your instructor may not be able to respond to you if the mailer you’re using does not automatically include your correct e-mail address. This is especially frustrating at the beginning of a course, when the instructor wants to help you, but cannot respond because your correct e-mail address does not appear in your message.

Please form the habit of always including your full name and e-mail address at the bottom of any messages you send your course instructor or teaching assistant.

Remember to Log Out

When you’re done using Serf, remember to log out and shut down the Web browser. This is especially important if you’re using Serf in a computer lab where other students will be using your computer. If you do not log out, the student who uses the computer next could gain access to your records. You wouldn’t want that to happen, so please remember to log out. Your records will expire after a while, but until then, the next user could possibly gain access. The best way of making sure your work remains private is to shut down the Web browser when you’re done using the computer. Shutting down the Web browser guarantees that no one can gain access to any of your Serf screens.

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