If you have questions or concerns that are related to the content of your course and/or instructional procedures, please contact your instructor(s). Contact information for your instructor is provided in the "Facilitator Information" section of your course once you have access or you can find this information in porches before the term begins.

Once courses begin, please contact the E-Learning Lab at (937) 229-5039 during normal business hours, M-F, 8am-5pm for technical issues. If you have urgent technical needs after normal business hours, Please contact the IT Help Desk at (937) 229-3888 or email helpdesk@udayton.edu. Please provide your phone number and a description of the issue so we can respond appropriately.

The preferred browser of Isidore is Mozilla Firefox version 3.5 or higher Please make sure you have this browser installed on your computer. Most technical issues occur because of browser issues. You can download and install Mozilla Firefox for free at - http://www.mozilla.com.

Your assignments are explained within each module of your course.

A calendar of assignments appears in the Class Documents of "Start Here" .

You are to submit your responses to the location (Isidore tool) that is specified in the assignment. Typically, you submit your response to one of two places:

• The Forums tool (see “Discussion Forums” below)
• The Assignments tool (see “Assignment Drop Box” below)

The Assignments Drop Box (also known as the Assignments Tool) is one of the locations where you submit your responses to assignments. For information about how to submit assignments to the Assignments Drop Box / Assignments Tool, view this video

The Assignments Drop Box (also known as the Assignments Tool) is located in the Menu (or Navigation) column of your course. Click the Assignments tab and that part of your course will open.

Sometimes referred to as “24/7” (meaning 24 hours a day, seven days a week) asynchronous online activities enable participants to access/read/post items at a time of individual preference. Most online activities are asynchronous, which is opposite of synchronous.

The Course Information section of each online course provides a course calendar, which includes assignments and any additional course schedules.

The Office of the Registrar maintains an Academic Calendar of dates and events that apply to the entire university for the current academic year.

A chat room is a communication tool that instructors may to use. The chat room requires that all participants to be online at the same time. If your instructor chooses to use a chat room in your course, you will be informed of the date and time when it will be offered and you will receive instructions for participating. A chat room activity is sometimes referred to as a "real time" or synchronous activity. It is the opposite of asynchronous.

Depending on the Isidore communications tools that your instructor chooses to use in your course, your instructor may post messages to you via any or all of the following tools:

• Announcements
• Chat Rooms
• Discussion Forums
• Blackboard Collaborate sessions
• Isidore Email (Check the “Facilitator Information” link in your course to determine if your instructor has a preference for communicating with Email.)

Depending on the Isidore communications tools that your instructor chooses to use in your course, you may communicate with others in your course through various Isidore tools; i.e., the Discussion Forums, Chat Rooms, Isidore email, and/or Blackboard Collaborate sessions.

Download this tip to learn how to hide sites you don’t want to see anymore.

The Forums tool (commonly referred to as Discussion Forums) is used to foster discussion about specific topics and/or assignments. The assignments, in each module, will specify the topics and/or questions to which you are to respond. You are to write your response and then post it to the specified Forum. Your instructor and others in your Discussion Group will be able to read and respond to the content that you posted.

Your instructor will inform your assignment to a Discussion Group or Team. The list may appear in any or all of the following:

• An email message from your instructor.
• An announcement in the “Announcements” section of your course.
• An attachment in the Course Information section of your course.
• A message or list in the Discussion Board in your course.

Occasionally, participants experience difficulties when attempting to download files from Isidore. Typically, those participants who encounter this problem are using Internet Explorer. In those instances, after selecting/clicking the link to the desired file, the following, easily overlooked, message will quietly appear in small font in a small horizontal bar at the top of the computer screen: “To help protect your security, Internet Explorer blocked this site from downloading files to your computer. Click here for options.” If/when you click “Options,” you will receive another message wherein you may select “Download file.” After you select/click “Download file,” you will be asked to choose whether you wish to “Open” or “Save” the file. This only occurs with Internet Explorer; an alternative solution is to use a different web browser, such as Firefox. Remember Firefox is the preferred browser’s when using Isidore.

Blackboard Collaborate is an optional, web-conferencing, program that features a variety of communication and visual tools. If your instructor chooses to use Blackboard Collaborate in your course, you will be informed of the date and time when it will be offered and you will receive instructions for participating. Blackboard Collaborate is unique, because it is both synchronous and asynchronous. If you cannot attend a “live” Blackboard Collaborate session, your instructor has the capability of making the session available to you at a later date.

The menu (or navigation) column in your course includes a tab labeled, "Facilitator Information." This page that provides contact and biographical information for your instructor.

To use a keyboard shortcut, you must hold down one key and click another at the same time. A few fundamental shortcuts include the following:

Copy = Control + C (on a PC) / or Command + C (on a Mac)
Paste = Control + V (on a PC) / or Command + V (on a Mac)
Cut = Control + X (on a PC) / or Command + X (on a Mac)
Select All = Control + A (on a PC) / or Command + A (on a Mac) of my computer that perform

See more shortcuts for Windows

See more shortcuts for Macs

Modules are similar to chapters in a textbook. They are the sections into which the content of the course is arranged, divided and/or organized. Typically, modules specify reading assignments from required textbooks; provide links to learning resources (within the course and/or on the Internet); delineate learning activities that you are to complete; and direct you to assessment activities. The number of modules varies from course to course.

The issue with pasting text typically comes from special characters that are pasted in from Word. See the following tip resolve this issue.

Yes, Mozilla Firefox will automatically underlined misspelled words. It will allow you to see which words are misspelled without installing anything. If you are using IE (remember, this is not the preferred browser), see the tip for installing a spell checker.

Yes, download the University of Dayton Isidore Student Quick Start Guide.

Literally, synchronous means events happen at the same time. Online activities that require participants to attend and/or participate at the same time are known as synchronous activities. Some instructors may choose to include synchronous (sometimes referred to as "real-time") activities in their courses. Chat rooms (defined above) are one example of synchronous activities. Synchronous is the opposite of asynchronous. Most online activities are asynchronous.

You may customize (hide, reveal, rearrange, and limit) the tabs on your Isidore account page that display the names of your courses (also known as "sites"). To customize your tabs, see Isidore Tips below.

To determine the textbooks that are required for your course(s),visit porches.udayton.edu. When you are at logged in at porches follow these steps. Porches-> Registration Tools ->Student Schedule ->Select term and Submit ->Purchase Books Button. All of the Porches links are on the left side of the screen. You may purchase textbooks through any location or supplier of your choice, but you must purchase the correct edition of the required textbook of the course. Ed Map gives students a discount.

Some instructors use older versions of Microsoft Word and cannot open files with extensions that end in ".docx." When you save a Word file that you plan to upload to Isidore, be sure to select "Save as Word 97-2004 Document (.doc)"

Are you having problems pasting text into Isidore from Word? When pasting text into an Isidore box are you noticing extra garbled text or a loss of formatting? If you're composing text for an assignment or discussion thread in Microsoft Word before copying it into the system you should be using the 'Paste From Word' option built into the text editor. Download the tip

Do you want to remove tabs of courses that you have finished? You may do so by using the “Hide Site” feature. Download the tip

Are you having problems accessing files from within the Modules tool? Possibly, Internet Explorer is blocking the content download. Download the tip

Would you like to use Spell Check in Isidore? If you use Internet Explorer to work in Isidore you can install a Spell Checker to help identify and correct any text you type while working in any tool. Download the tip

Avoid the loss of content that you are typing into Isidore! Whether you are typing a long assignment submission in the text editor, or posting a detailed discussion forum post, you’ll no longer be the victim of lost work and will no longer be logged out of Isidore without warning. A new security feature has been installed that will inform users before their session times out so they won't lose any work they’ve composed in Isidore. Download the tip

This tip will explain how to mark individual forum messages as read. Download the tip

Internet Explorer is not the preferred browser to use with Isidore. There are several issues that could surface. We recommend you download and use Mozilla Firefox version 3.5 or higher.

If you continue to use IE, you will find that it may Occasionally, Internet Explorer presents a problem that cannot be immediately resolved. The follow-ing links will show you how to work around some known issues, depending on which version of Internet Explorer you use:

IE 9.
IE 8.
IE 7.

To see all of the available tips, go to the LTC’s Isiodore Tips page.