To-dos and do-nots

Profile and Picture

You must add a good picture of yourself in your user profile as soon as possible. Also, write something about yourself: your conversion, calling, work family, hobbies, education… this way other students and your professors learn to know you.

Edit your use profile clicking your name TOP RIGHT and then “Edit Profile.” If you have difficulties editing or adding your picture please send it to support@evangelicalseminary.net.

Writing Responses

The response must be written in the correct forum and discussion thread, because otherwise you don’t get any points for your text even if it was perfect. The required submission must be sent exactly in the right submission area, because the online teaching format and grading system requires it so.

The feedback assignment is also mandatory, because it is an integral part of the learning experience and course design. Giving feedback at the end of the course contributes 5-10% towards the course grade, so it is relatively easy (there is are wrong answers!) way of gaining points.

Instructions and Support

First, you should read carefully all communications and instructions coming from us, or that are part of course instructions. Many questions coming from students have their answers in instructions that are – obviously – not been read.

If you end up in a situation where you don’t know what to do next, please DO NOT write to the tutor or professor a note that says: “I don’t know what to do next, please advise.” Instead, every time you need help you MUST provide the following information:

• Who are you (name, email) and what program you are doing.
• What were you doing when the problem occurred.
• If the problem is related to a particular course or assignment, give all the details.
• What have you tried to do to solve the problem.

Our staff can’t read minds, and they have no means to help you if you don’t give enough background information. Many times they can’t even figure out your name from an email address if that is the only clue you provide. If you give enough information you will get help sooner! Otherwise the support person must ask you to clarify these
questions, and it will take more correspondence and time.

Also, if you report a problem and ask for help, and then later you figure out the answer or solution by yourself, you MUST must contact the support AGAIN and inform that the problem is solved. You will save a lot of our valuable time if you cancel your support request and tell us that problem is already solved. If you don’t, we have no means to know that the problem is solved, and we will use time to investigate the issue for serving you – just to find out that there is no problem any longer.

Your Account

Save your username and password in a place you can go and check them if you can’t remember (most of us don’t). Make sure no one else finds your notes! In addition, saving your username and password in your browser’s memory is an acceptable practice as well, just make sure that your computer or handheld device is secure (=password or otherwise protected), in case someone hacks into your computer or steals it. In an extreme situation, contact support@evangelicalseminary.net for help. We can change your passwords, but you can’t do it by yourself.

Enrolments

Enroll only into courses that you are currently taking. There is no limit for number of enrolments, but you should probably start with one or two courses at the same
time. Taking more workload as you learn how demanding the courses are and how much time you have for your studies.

Remember, you can finish your program as quickly as you can, or you can take as many years for doing it as needed. The main goal is to LEARN, and rushing through courses is not always the best option. Studying in WWES is flexible, and you can adjust your workload according to your life situation. Also, you can take a break if your life situation requires it. Many students have done that. Just remember to log in to the online system every now and then to avoid an automatic deletion of our user account. Please notify your tutor and professors about the break. Even if your account gets deleted, we can reactivate it later with some effort.

Plagiarism

Lastly, by far the darkest issue to be covered: plagiarism! You MUST always write your own text. If you cite someone else (a book or online source), you MUST give proper reference using footnotes or endnotes. If you fail to do that, you will get a warning (first incident), or your study right and possible scholarship will be suspended (second  and more warnings). That has happen to some very promising students who never learner to use of references. Also, you can’t get any points toward a grade from plagiarized work; instead that must be written again.

You must NOT copy and paste from the textbook without giving a reference, even if that is technically possible and that the assignment involves only an assigned text. You should NEVER use someone’s text and claim it your own! That is academic fraud and a serious offense.

Nowadays there is technology available that checks texts automatically and evaluates text’s level of plagiarism. We are using that technology! If the plagiarism score is high, a professor can check what sources have been used, and if the references had been used correctly.

The best way to deal with the problem of plagiarism is to learn to use references. In that case “copy and paste” is an useful technique to insert citations into one’s own text. There is nothing wrong with “copying and pasting” a citation from an electronic book or online source – IF you use references right; as a matter of fact, learning to use references in a correct way will give you credit for more rigorous academic work!