FAQ

Q: Who should take this course?
A: This course is intended for degree and non-degree seeking students and working professionals in the environmental sciences, environmental health sciences, earth sciences, natural sciences, life sciences, agricultural sciences, and environmental engineering areas. The course requires introductory biology and chemistry through organic chemistry for as pre-requisites for success. For degree seeking students, university credit earned for this course can be transferred to your home institution if you are not a local student.

Q: How is it taught?
A: The course has 2 lectures per week that can be viewed live or archived on the Web or in the classroom on the Univ. of Idaho campus (M, W 9:30-11:00 am US PT; GMT - 8, zone U). The course begins in late August and finishes in late December. The course is designed for a variety of learner types. Text, visual and audio interactive support is a part of the course whether in the classroom or over the Web. The course can be taken at the undergraduate or graduate level (see Course Syllabus for details). When the course is not in session, the archived lectures from the previous class are left on the site. Lectures and the supporting course information are updated annually.

Q: What if I am not a student at the University of Idaho?
A: This course can be taken completely over the Web. If you are taking this course to fulfill or supplement curriculum requirements at your home university we can work with your institution to transfer credits. Working professionals or part-time students can register as a non-degree seeking student see Student Admissions. This course can be taken as a part of a 3-course certificate program in Environmental Contamination Assessment that is offered on-line.

Q: How do I register for this course?
A: Please visit the Official Etox Web Site and select the appropriate link on that page.

Q: How much does this course cost?
A: Full time students at the University of Idaho and Washington State University are not charged separately for this course. Other students taking the course for university credit can register as a part-time student, either as a resident of the State of Idaho, or as non-resident, and for undergraduate credit or graduate credit. Specific fees are in the links:
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Q: How do I do homework, exams and papers for this course?
A: This is a digitally supported course. All students will submit homework, exams and papers electronically. All submissions can be printed out for your use.

Q: What are the terms and conditions for taking this course?
A: You must adhere to the Course Honor Code.

Q: What should I expect from this course? Is it different?
A: You will have a different experience in this course than a typical university level course. If you are on campus, the differences will primarily be in the web resources and course support areas. If you are a distance student, you will be interacting with a variety of students via chat, email and the lectures - you can do live chat with the instructor during the lecture. Although the course is paced for performance through a semester, you have some freedom on how and when you choose to do the work needed for success. This is especially important for working professionals and graduate students that require flexible course schedules or for those who travel for field research and conferences.

Q: How much time should I budget for this course?
A: University courses typically require 2-3 hours of work per credit-hour. This is a 3 credit-hour course and you should expect to commit 6-9 hours per week to course effort for success. Graduate credit success may require additional effort depending on the study habits and skills of the student.

Q: Is this a difficult course? What do students say about the course?
A: Difficulty of a course depends on your level of preparation and the amount of effort you are willing to put towards success. As an interdisciplinary subject area, the course is demanding in its scope of subject, quantity of readings and the requirement for a case study (and a book review for graduate students). Lecture homework is a simple support for ensuring the student keeps pace with the course readings. Some of the exam problems are challenging while others are a drill of material to be mastered. The course case study is a major part of the learning experience in this course and requires significant effort. Depending on background and individual student abilities, the course has been regarded by students as everything from easy to hard. There are tradeoffs in a digitally supported course and certain shifts in classroom culture (more email and chat - less classroom discussion). Overall, students give the course very high marks in review and remark favorably on the information resources available, the lecture style, the holistic nature of the course material and the anywhere-anytime accessibility of the course. The Chronicle of Higher Education, reviewed the course. You may review some comments from students who have taken the course are found here.

Q: What software do I need to see and hear the lectures? Is it free?
A: You will need to download and install a version of Real Player from RealNetworks, Inc. The site you will link to offers full versions of the player, 14-day trials of the full version and a totally free player version. When you go to the site, find the link that explicitly says Free RealOne Player if you do not wish to purchase or trial the full version of the software. The free version is sufficient for the course.

Q: Why won't the lecture video/audio play?
A: Check to make sure you have the Real Player is installed correctly. You may try going to another website like www.cnn.com to see if you can play videos from there.

Q: What happens to the information I send through this web site? For example my homework, or questions that I ask.
A: When you click the "SEND" or "SUBMIT" button your homework, quizzes, and questions will be sent to the e-mail address: etox@uidaho.edu. This is the course e-mail address which will be retrieved by your professor Greg Möller.

Q: How will exams be administered during this course?
A: Exams will be delivered at the regularly scheduled class time via an E-mail attachment.

• Exams will be DUE a specific number of hours after delivery.
• You need to e-mail your exam as an attachment to etox@uidaho.edu.
• Exams should be completed with Microsoft Word 97 or higher, or an application that can produce the MS Word file type (.doc) A short tutorial on Word Drawing tools is available.
• MS Word Tutorial
  

Q: Is there homework, and how will it be administered?
A: Because this is a web assisted course much of the outside class activity will be on the Web. Each lecture (found under the Lectures) will have a Homework button on the left side of the portal. A new window with the homework will pop-up. Instructions will be at the top. You will fill out the Homework form and press the submit button which will automatically send your homework to your instructor. Please print a copy for your records.

Q: Who do I contact if I have technical problems with the course web site?
A: First contact Professor Greg Möller. He will then either answer some of your questions or forward the question on to the appropriate technical staff here at the University of Idaho, Moscow.

Q: Who do I contact if I have technical problems with my computer?
A: There are several options you may consider depending on the problem you are experiencing. If you have a system administrator who looks after your computer contact them first to see if they can be of assistance. If you are having internet connection problems contact your internet service provider. You may contact your Professor Greg Möller if you think that your problem is related to the course Web site. Another option is to contact the University of Idaho Helpdesk: helpdesk@uidaho.edu.