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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where's my course material?
A: Your course material is located at . Billing and account information is available at https://www.westondistancelearning.com/Student/. After logging in, click the "Home" link on the top left. If you haven't taken the Success Strategies course yet, please begin there. It will walk you through the online learning platform and answer most of your questions.

Q: Where are the technical requirements to take a course through ?
A: Please visit the technical requirements page for the list of hardware and software requirements.

Q: How can I save an Adobe PDF file?
A: If using Firefox or Internet Explorer and the PDF is already open, click File » Save As. If you haven't clicked the link yet, right click it and choose Save Link As or Save Target As.

Q: What are your help desk hours?
A: We are normally available Monday - Friday from 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM and Saturday & Sunday from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM (MST). We can be contacted by phone toll free at .

Q: What is Moodle?
A: As you work through an online course, you may hear or see references to the term Moodle in your course materials. Moodle is simply the learning management system or course Web site that holds your course. Moodle contains the online course materials, assignments and Practice Exercises and allows you to participate in discussion forums and send messages to instructors and other students. When you see the term Moodle, just think of it as the course Web site.

Q: Why does my pop-up blocker need to be disabled? How do I allow pop-ups for this site only?
A: We use a software package called Moodle to handle our online coursework. Moodle will open another window (called a pop-up) when displaying certain pages. Many browsers will block this pop-up and prevent you from accessing your necessary course material. You can disable your pop-up blocker altogether, but we recommend you only allow our web site to display pop-ups. This will allow you to access your course material while retaining the benefits of having a pop-up blocker.

To do this within Firefox, click Tools » Options » Content, and click the Exceptions button near "Block pop-up windows." Add to the list. • To do this within Internet Explorer 6, click Tools » Internet Options » Privacy » Settings. Add to the list.

Q: How do I check how much RAM I have and the type and speed of my CPU within Windows XP?
A: Click Start » right click My Computer » Properties. Your speed (in MHz or GHz) will appear at the bottom. Anything above 1.3 GHz (1300 MHz) is acceptable. 256MB of RAM is required, but more will improve performance. This area also shows which service pack (if any) you have installed.

Q: How do I check responses to my forum comments?
A: One must be in that course to view those forums. Go to the People box and click Participants. Select your name. Click the Forum Posts tab. Select the post. to view your postings for that course (including forum name, path and what type of forum). Note: just your last posting is referenced here, not the responses. To see responses from others (full posting), go to the right side and select “see this post in context”.

Q: If I need to contact the instructor, what are the ways to do so?
A: You may contact your instructor privately using your course Web site:

  • Log in to the course site, and navigate to your course homepage.
  • Locate the People block on your screen, and select the Participants link. This will display the names of all students and instructors in your course. (The word Instructor in parentheses will follow instructors’ names.)
  • Find and click your instructor’s name. A Send message button will appear on the next screen.
  • Click the Send message button to bring up the in-class messaging box.
  • Type your message in the space that the box provides, and click the Send message button when you are finished.
  • Your message will display for your instructor the next time she logs in to the course site. When your instructor answers your message, you will be notified within the course.

Q: How do I check the version number of my web browser?
A: In Microsoft Internet Explorer, click Help » About Internet Explorer. We recommend version 6. • In Mozilla Firefox, click Help » About Mozilla Firefox. We recommend version 3.0 or newer. Students have reported increased performance when using Firefox, which is a free download available here.

Q: Is Macromedia Flash compatible with my Macintosh browser?
A: Flash is compatible with Firefox 1.x, Mozilla 1.x, Netscape 7.x or later, AOL for Mac OS X, Opera 6, Safari 1.x or later.