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Instructions for the Botany Module

Here are the instructions you need to follow to use the materials, navigate through this site, have discussions, and take the quizzes. Please go through all three parts of these instructions now.

1. Learn how to navigate and move through the materials.
2. Learn how the discussion works and set up your subscription.
3. Learn how quizzes work, and take the introductory quiz.

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1. How to navigate

Navigation buttons

We have set up several ways for you to navigate through the course materials. The icons on the right side of this page and on the course main page link only to the first pages of the major sections of material. The links near the top of each page also connect only to the first pages for each section. To move through the material sequentially, including all the pages within each section, you must use the back and forward buttons.

Hyperlinks

Text that is underlined is linked to further material. For example, some terms are linked to the glosssary. When you click on them, you open the glossary. Try it now -- click glossary. These are called hyperlinks, hypertext, or simply links. You will find these linked to tables and figures in this Web site and other locations on the World Wide Web.

After you visit a link, you must use the back button of your browser software to re-trace your steps. The back button for most browsers is located in the upper left corner of the window. If you are new to online browsing, ask a friend to show you. The back button is an essential tool, even though we have provided other navigation options.

There are linked words and phrases near the top of each page, which look like this:

external plant parts
roots | stems | buds | leaves | flowers | fruit | seeds

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home | introduction | life cycles | internal plant parts | external plant parts | growth & development
environmental factors affecting growth | plants in communities | plant hormones & growth regulators

These connect only to the first pages for each section. After you click on a section, use the forward navigation buttons to go to subsequent pages. The links that appear | in this color | are the ones you have viewed. The links that appear | this way | indicate files you have not yet viewed. You can go to the contents page to check which pages you have viewed.

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2. Join the discussion and meet your classmates

You are not taking this course alone. Others are studying the same materials, and here is a way to connect with them. There is a discussion forum for you to post questions and comments. We encourage you to connect with other people studying this material. Use this opportunity to get your questions answered and to help other students. Get acquainted with how to participate in the discussion and submit a subscription to the message board when you start the course.

Subscribe to the discussion

You don't have to go online to the discussion to keep up. Subscribe to the message board and you will get all messages that are posted in your e-mail. Go there now and sign up.

a. Click this Discussion link. The page opens with Botany1_MG at the top.

b. Scroll to the bottom of that page.

c. Click in the small circle to the left of the word "Subscribe".

d. Enter your e-mail address in the box shown. (Be sure to include all of it.)

e. Click the "Submit Subscription" button.

Learn how the discussion system works

We have posted more instructions on the discussion instructions page. You will also find active links to more detailed instructions inside the forum itself--in the underlined links for the various boxes.

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3. Learn how the quizzes work

Quizzes are linked at the end of each section. The quizzes are designed to let you know when you have given the right answer, so you can test yourself on what you've learned. You can take the quizzes again at the end of the course to see how well you have retained what you learned earlier.

The quizzes are multiple choice. You click on the buttons for A, B, C, etc. and if your answer is correct, the box shows a representation of a smile which looks like :) and your score is shown at the top. If you pick a wrong answer, you'll see an X, a comment, and a different score. You can click on as many buttons as you want to see how it works. Note that the area in front of the buttons looks like a place to enter text, but it is only designed to display text.

Take this sample quiz to see how it works. Use your browser's back button to return here.

If you have technical problems, check your browser and computer configuration to be sure you have the right set-up to run the special software. To check, go to the test page. You'll find links there to an alternate way to quiz yourself if the quizzes don't work for you.

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*The complete Master Gardener Handbook is available from Extension and Experiment Station Communications. Enter publication number EM 8742 in the search box.