Orientation 2: Using Your Learning Portal

Your first sign in to the learning portal comes by invitation from the school, and your access opens on the start date of your session.

On this screen, enter the email address the school has on file for you and press Continue, then follow the instructions in your invitation.

The menu on the left is how you move around. The top group opens separate pages: teacher messages, announcements, course materials, your assessments and session timetables. The group below it jumps you down the same page to your course details, how the course runs, assessment weighting, learning goals, your hours, feedback and appeals, policies, contact details, examinations and system requirements.

Read every section of the hub before you begin your first week.

Your course is asynchronous. There are no fixed class times. You study when it suits you, following the weekly pacing in your session timetable.

Each week you work through the unit materials, post your response to your teacher's weekly discussion question in the class discussion, respond to your classmates' posts, and complete that week's assignment or evaluation.

Your attendance and participation mark is based on completing these weekly milestones, not on attending anything live.

Under Course Materials you will find your course outline, your syllabus, your worksheets and any readings your teacher posts. Press Download beside each one.

Download the outline and the syllabus in week one and keep them.

Under Session Timetables, download the timetable for the session you are enrolled in. It sets out what you do in each of the six weeks, and when each assessment is due.

Your teacher posts a message for each week under Messages from Your Teacher, and on the Teacher Messages page. It lists your milestones for that week, what to read, and what to submit. A message marked Action needed asks something of you.

Check this every week. Your teacher checks your progress against these milestones and will contact you if one is missed.

Your teacher opens a topic for each unit. Read it, press Post a reply and write your own response, then come back and respond to at least one classmate.

Videos are optional. Your teacher records one only where a video helps explain the work, so this page is often empty. When a video is posted for your course it appears here, and your teacher tells you under Teacher Messages.

Under Your assessments each row is one piece of work. It shows the title, which part of your mark it belongs to, the total possible score, the week it belongs to, and its status. The button on the right changes with the type of work: Open the quiz for a quiz, Submit this work for an assignment or a learning log.

Work to the week shown on the row, not to the order the rows appear in.

For an assignment, a case study, a learning log or the culminating task, press Submit this work on that row and follow the form. Submit the week's work in the week it is listed.

Your weekly learning log is where you record your offline reading and note making. It is not a milestone in itself, it is the school's record of your offline hours, and your teacher reviews it each week.

When your teacher has marked a piece of work, the same row shows Score Earned and your teacher's written feedback, and the status changes to Feedback available. While it is still being marked the status reads Being marked.

Read the feedback before you start the next unit. It is written to tell you what to do differently next time.

Your unit quizzes and your final examination are on one page, in the order you meet them. Read the rules at the top of that page before your first quiz.

Quizzes are closed book unless your teacher tells you in writing that notes are allowed. Before you start, make sure you have a stable internet connection and enough uninterrupted time to finish. If a quiz is interrupted by a technical problem, stop and contact the school office immediately rather than starting again.

Each quiz sits in its own panel with the number of questions, the time limit and the week it belongs to. Enter your first name, last name and the email address you use to sign in to the portal, so your result is matched to your enrolment.

Before its week arrives, the panel shows the dates it will open and close and will not let you begin. That is normal. Come back in the week listed for it.

Your final examination is supervised. The proctoring guide on your course hub explains how it is booked, what happens on the day, the identity check, what is monitored, what is not allowed, and what to do if a concern is raised.

At the foot of your course hub, three things are worth reading in week one:

• School policies: assessment and evaluation, academic integrity, attendance, appeals, privacy, fees and student conduct.
• Minimum system and software requirements: hardware, operating system, browser, internet speed and any course specific software.
• Contact the school office: the address, the telephone number, the email address and the hours.

Your enrolment record, your financial records and your personal profile are not in the portal. They are on the school website, and this card on your course hub takes you there.

Sign in with the email address and password you created when you enrolled. If you cannot sign in, use the password reset link on that page, or contact the school office.

Send your question to the right place and you will get an answer faster.

Telephone 905-326-0045. Email admissions@amcantech.org. Administrative and telephone support runs Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm Eastern.