Since we are changing the course structure of our MAT I & II Courses into a new version or model, we want to be sure you understand how this will work:
Course Start Date: This is the date when the participants will be given access to the new online course material in our new Learning Management System called LearnCat. Participants will need to create profiles in the Online Learning Portal or LearnCat beforehand to access the online materials but we will instruct you on how to do this when the time comes. The participants will work through the first half of online course material at their own pace on the start date. The work will take about 3-3.5 hours to complete.
While each course is a little different, these are some of the elements one can expect to find in the online course material: reading, listening to audio clips, responding to questions in the course forum, watching videos, taking small quizzes.
First Session: This is when you will meet with your course instructor and the other participants in a classroom setting (or in a webinar starting with the fall courses for the Online Only courses). This session will only last about 1.5 hours and will be a discussion or review of the material already covered by the participants on their own. There won’t really be much new material presented at this time. Participants must come prepared, having already read and done all the assignments so far.
Participants will then have a week after the first session to complete the second half of the online course material. This will take about 3-3.5 hours to complete on their own.
Second Session: This is when the participants meet with the instructor for a second time and discuss the second half of the material covered in the online course material. Participants must come to class having already completed all the work so that they can participate fully in the class discussions.
End Date: This is when all final projects should be submitted by and all loose ends tied up. This is also the last day that participants will have access to the online course material. Following this date, participants will be removed from the online course environment and the forums will be wiped so that the next group can be loaded in.
This new model puts a lot of the work on the participants to complete on their own time. It is meant to be more flexible for people’s busy lives without sacrificing content or workload. Each MAT Course is designed to be 10 hours of work. In the old model, the majority of those hours was taken up by classroom time with only a little work to do on your own. Now, the model is flipped with the majority of those hours spent in work on your own and only a little classroom time.
We hope everyone will find the new model more convenient.
To learn more, please read our blog entry on the changes found here.
Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you!