Botanical Illustration III: Advanced Techniques

Welcome to Introduction to Botanical Illustration III: Advanced Techniques, an online Distance Learning course offered by Cornell's Department of Horticulture. This course assumes that you have at least a basic knowledge of how to use a computer, including using a mouse and keyboard. In addition, it is assumed that you are familiar with your web browser and navigating between pages on the Internet. Even if you are a computer whiz, or have your degree in distance learning, please go through these instructions on how this course works. You will undoubtedly pick up tips that will make navigating and participating in this course easier and more meaningful. It will be best if you use these printed instructions while you sit at the computer and familiarize yourself with the course. Feel free to play around and try different buttons. You cannot break anything or cause any problems!

As the course progresses, the emphasis will move from this guide to solely online activity. An online version of this guide is available within the course in case you wish to refer to it later in electronic format. The actual appearance on screen is governed by settings on your own computer and as a result what you see may be slightly different from that shown in the examples.

Hardware and Software Requirements

To complete this course, you'll need regular access to a computer that is connected to the Internet. If you travel frequently, or don't have a home computer, neighbors, friends, and public libraries are other possibilities not to be overlooked. We strongly recommend that you have a high speed (broadband) internet connection. If you are using a dial up internet connection there maybe be elements of the course (video, larger images, interactive elements) that will not load for you. The computer should have a Web browser such as Netscape, Mozilla, or Internet Explorer, and you will need an email account to which we can send course-related information. Be advised that you will need to check in several times a week, or once a week for several hours, so be sure the computer(s) you plan to use is easily accessible to you.

Be aware that some computers have sophisticated 'firewall' software installed which deters hackers and viruses, but can also make our password-protected site impossible to access. If you have difficulty logging on from a particular computer, consider whether this might be the problem.

Course Expectations

This course is designed for adults, and does not carry college credit, but a certificate will be issued to those who successfully complete the course. Successful completion entails turning in all the assignments, submitting your journals, and submitting a comment to the student forum weekly. The class is run and moderated by an instructor, who will be actively participating and answering questions. Assignments for a given week are always due on the Friday of the week, although the instructor will not typically review them till the following Sunday or Monday. Since we do not meet face to face, it can be easy to lose track of course dates.

Each week you will always have painting exercises. There is a group forum (discussion) topic each week, which everyone is expected to participate in. These forums are the primary interactive component of the course, and are essential to creating the community of learners that we and other experienced online educators have found enhance the learning experience for all. It is up to everyone to make the forums welcoming, interesting spaces in which we all learn from each other.

The course is planned so that each week you have a unit to work on. Of course, there are some students who prefer to work at their own pace, either faster than the weeks schedule indicate or will catch up later. Many of you will find life outside the course (illness, personal emergencies, other commitments or preferences, etc.) force you to work on one unit when the rest of the class may be working on another unit. That's your choice, but do realize that the forums are more valuable to you as a group learning tool if you participate in them when everyone else is participating. Also, you may find that some assignments with due dates have expired if you submit them after that date. Keep all this in mind as you make your choices.

This course is built with web-based distance-learning software called Moodle. It works just like a regular website. For example, words of a different color from the regular text are a links you can click on to go to another part of the course, or to an external website. Assignments are submitted through the course website. They are scanned and uploaded to the course website.

We have found that some students prefer to read course material on paper instead of from a computer monitor. If you prefer, you can print any part of the course, but don't forget that you will have to come back to your computer in order to click on links, found throughout the text, to other course resources (e.g. glossary entries) or to external websites. So if you prefer to print course materials make sure to print important links or your information will be incomplete! If you find that the right side of a printed page is cut off, you will need to go to Page Setup (under the File menu at the top of your Web browser, or word processor) and change the page orientation from Portrait to Landscape.

Getting to Know Moodle - the Basics

Paul Treadwell, our site administrator, has created a comprehensive video, showing the basics of navigating Moodle.  Please watch it in its entirety!  Even if you have taken a previous course, please take the time, since some facets of Moodle have changed with the upgrade: