Welcome back again...

Course Structure and Goals

This course has two sections:
  • HOU 101 contains the basic content you will need to get started with HOU. It is expected that you will complete this portion of the course during your first year of HOU professional development.
  • HOU 201 includes more advanced applications and student research. It is expected that you will complete this portion of the course during your second year of HOU professional development.

You should have already completed the HOU 101 course before beginning HOU 201.
HOU 201 will prepare teachers for advanced use of HOU which includes:

  • Understanding the mechanics of how some of the HOU-IP software tools work
  • Exploring more advanced curriculum topics
  • Pursuing student research projects

Technical Issues

This course requires Netscape version 3.0 or higher or Internet Explorer version 4.0 or higher.

Relative size font has been used whenever possible so that you may change your own browser settings to make the text comfortable for you to read.

For those of you who are taking the course for credit, some assignment pages will lead you to the WebCT course site, a database driven web site that is hosted at UC Berkeley. You will require a userid and password to log into WebCT that will be issued by the Hands-On Universe office.

You will find instructions abut using the WebCT site on the introductory page of that site.

 This HOU course uses plug-ins to display multimedia content. Please click the button that says "Check Plug-Ins" to see if you have those installed. If you don't have the plug-ins installed, visit the links provided to download the plug-ins and then come back here. Plug-in software is provided by third party vendors not associated with Web-CT or HOU.

Check Plug-Ins

Assessment and Evaluation

Many of you are taking this course for credit, which means that you are obliged to complete all assignments and exams on teh WebCT site. Others are taking it solely for personal interest and professional development, however we still recommend that you do the activities as they are typical of those you will be teaching in your own class with HOU. The quizzes will give you an idea of how you are doing relative to the expectation of people who have experience teaching HOU.

WebCT

Those of you who are taking the course for credit will be using WebCT for communication with your classmates on particular study questions. Therefore the most important things you need to know is how to get into the WebCT system and how to use the discussion board.

To learn how to get into the course go to http://hou.lbl.gov/webct_course/loginpage/login.html.

These instructions will also lead you to the online orientation on how to use WebCT.

If you are taking the course for credit, please go to and do

Assignment 1: Getting Reacquainted
You will complete the assignment successfully by posting an entry to the discussion board in the topic area HOU 201-1-Getting Reacquainted , and also responding to someone else's post that is already there. If you are the first person to get to this assignment, go back a few days later and see if there is another post to respond to.