How to participate
Announcements
We will use announcements (at the top of the page) to communicate important information about the course during the period of facilitation (28 October – 29 November 2013).
How much time do I need?
The time you spend is up to you, but we suggest that you may need a minimum of 2 hours a week to view materials, contribute to the discussion and undertake challenges. The idea of this course is that you don't have to read everything on this site. We are encouraging you to contribute resources that relate to your geographical area so that participants can compare how mental wellness issues are different across the globe. We also aim for most of your time to be actively engaged in activities and challenges rather than reading content.
How do I get started?
How you work though the modules is up to you. We recommend working through them sequentially; however, this is an open course and you are free to choose a path through the materials to suit the time you have available. You can also choose to complete tasks individually, or use the forums or social media to join with a partner or group to tackle the challenges.
Tasks include journal reflections, discussion forums, creating and sharing resources. There are also weekly challenges to undertake that aim to encourage you to create, remix or share resources outside of this site.
Suggested approach:
- use a blog for journal reflections (more information below)
- start working through modules (these will be available one week before the course starts)
- contribute to discussion forums and reply to comments
- share resources on social media (more information below)
- undertake challenges (to earn a badge)
Social media
Part of the intention of this course is to distribute resources and information about mental wealth outside of this course platform, into other communities. You can do this by sharing amongst your own social networks and by using those attached to the course:
Like our Facebook page
Follow us on Twitter at @MWFlinders and use hashtag #mwflinders to tweet about any of the resources or issues surrounding mental wealth.
You don't need to use or monitor all of these channels – you can use the one you are most familiar with or try something new – it's up to you! You can also create your own groups!
Other tools
Discussion forum
Disqus is the forum tool used on the course site which lets you follow contributors and vote posts up to highlight them. It's used on a lot of websites but if you get stuck you can have a look at the user support guide or ask on the general discussion forum.
Journal/blog reflections
We encourage you to create a blog (or use your existing blog) to record these tasks. Of course you can keep a handwritten journal or art journal – whatever feels right for you – but we encourage the use of a blog so that you can share your responses easily. Try Blogger or Wordpress or any other blog platform that you are familiar with.
Collecting and curating resources
There are quite a few tools for curating online resources and we encourage you to use those already familiar to you. Some suggestions are Facebook, Google+, del.icio.us, flickr, pinterest and scoop.it.
Help and support
This is an open free course and there is no dedicated technical support. We encourage peer support. If you get stuck or need ideas, you can use the general discussion forum at the top of the page to ask other participants for ideas (e.g. specific instructions on how to use third party social media tools).