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Penn Advance Online Learning

Virtual Open House

Welcome to the PennAdvance Virtual Open House! Click on any of the links below to find out more about how our online courses work and how you can participate. Please note: You will need the free RealPlayer software to experience the multimedia content in this Virtual Open House. Please visit http://www.real.com and look carefully for the free download. If you don't have RealPlayer you can still see the slides in the slide shows below, though you won't be able to hear the audio narration.

How to Apply / Register

Participating in PennAdvance Courses

PennAdvance courses take place entirely online, so you will meet live in cyberspace at the appointed time, not in a classroom. Your online 'classroom' will be in the eCollege system at http://www.sas.upenn.edu/CGS/pennadvance/courses/login.php  (If you've taken other PennAdvance courses in the past, you'll notice that this is different - we're now using eCollege, not the Blackboard system.)

What You'll Need

The list of technical requirements is online at http://www.sas.upenn.edu/CGS/pennadvance/delivery/techreq/
In general, most computers purchased in the past couple of years will be fine, but please do check this page.  If you're on Penn's campus, you can also use a computer in a campus lab.  More details about doing that are available by clicking here.

What To Do Right Now (or Well Before the First Class):

  1. Make sure that you know your UserName and Password for the eCollege system. This will be e-mailed to you a few days before your class starts.

  2. Review the technical requirements for the course (click here) and be sure you have everything you need.

  3. Another VERY important tech aspect of the course is the Chat Room.  PLEASE make sure that you can get into the Chat Room for your class, as described below under "What to do for class". (DON'T wait until class time to enter the chat room - please do this at least a day or more in advance!

What To Do For Class:

Please arrive in the chat room for the first class about 20 minutes early, just to make sure that your computer is working properly and you have everything set before class actually starts.  You can enter the chat room at any time - it's always open, not just at class time - so check it out well before the first class, and anytime you are using a different computer for class.

  1. Log in to your course site (click here).  Your class will "meet" online in the ClassLivePro area of the site.  To get there once you're in the course site:

  2. Click on the "Chat" tab at the top of the screen:
    image1
  3. Click on the "Class Live" button on the right, at the top of the screen:
    image2

  4. Then click on "Join Session".

    That's it!  Three simple clicks.  Be patient -- the first time you access it, it can take 2 to 3 minutes for Java to start, a small application to download, the Chat Room to get going for you. We suggest that you try this out well before the first live class meeting, so you will be ready to jump right in when it's time for your first live class.  All of this is why you MUST try the Chat well before the first live class session!

 

Samples of Live Class Sessions:

Inquiries Welcome!

Click here to send questions and comments.

Useful links to other PennAdvance pages