Get Acquainted with the CompTIA Learning platform
The courseware interface is the same for students and instructors. Instructors can review the course material and use any of the resources during class. After students have their account setup, they have immediate access to the full course.
So, for all users let’s look at what’s in the course and how to navigate.
LAUNCH COURSE
- Click the Products tab, this is already the home tab for students.
- Click either the product graphic or the product title to launch the course.
MENU/LAYOUT
- Use the Outline button on the left to view the course outline. You can also use this button to navigate.
- The course is setup by chapter topics.
- Within each chapter are sections in bold text.
- Within the sections are the various activities designated by different icons. Lets take a look at what the different icons represent.
- You can also use the search feature for searching for topics within the course or filter by resource type.
COURSE ACTIVITIES
The video player represents a video lesson or instructional video.
The computer monitor represents a demonstration.
The document represents a text document.
The computer mouse signifies a hands-on lab simulation.
The check box and pencil represent practice questions or section exams.
STUDY QUESTIONS
- At the beginning of each section are study questions and an outline of what students should be learning.
NAVIGATION
- Use the right arrow on the page to move forward sequentially to the next activity or use the left arrow to go back to the previous activity. Remember you can also use the outline button to move non-sequentially within the course.
BROWSER FEATURES
- You can also use the forward/back and refresh browser controls
VIDEOS
- Within the videos there are two options 1) Play Video or 2) Play with Interactive Script. Lets start with Play Video. Most of the features are typical for video players so lets just discuss the tools users have to customize the experience.
- Let’s first look at the closed captioning, students can turn on the closed captioning and select a different font, change the text color, the size of the box as well as the background.
- To the right of closed captions is a playback speed where you can adjust the speed of the video 1 is the default setting.
- Another option is to select the Interactive Script by clicking on the words. You’ll see the text along with the video. Within the Interactive Script, you can quickly move from one point within the video to another simply by clicking any sentence of text. Students can copy or print the video script.
TEXT DOCUMENTS
- The text documents provide a summary about the topic, and there may also be information included that wasn’t outlined in a video. These pages can also be copied, printed, listened to, or bookmarked for later review.
LAB SIMULATIONS
The labs are designed to give students experience within a simulated environment. Everything the student needs to practice is contained in the exercise. Assistance in learning how to use the simulation tools is found in the course.
- For IT courses first read the lab scenario. The tasks are listed as bullet points.
- Click Start Lab to begin.
- Once you have completed all the tasks, click the Score Lab button. Students can click this button anytime.
- A lab report will be displayed to show the score and tasks completed correctly, incorrectly and/or not at all.
- Within the Explanation section is a list of steps to help students identify what they needed to do to complete the tasks correctly.
- Users can print this detail, and then click the Done button.
- Students can repeat the lab exercises as much as they like without an instructor resetting anything. It is recommended that students should do the tasks until they can get 100%. However, students are not required to get 100% before moving on to the next activity.
HELP
-
For help or feedback, Instructors and students alike can click the question mark for additional assistance. This provides options to find answers within the knowledge base, contact support, report an error, or make a suggestion. Students, if you have questions about information in the course or need assistance with a specific lab, you should contact your instructor.
SECTION EXAMS
-
Now, let’s look at the section quizzes. These may be labeled as learning review, practice questions, or a section quiz.
-
The number of questions varies per exam.
-
Click Start Exam to begin. You can start and stop these exams anytime and either resume or restart altogether.
-
After answering all the questions, click Score Exam. Again, you can exit the exam anytime by clicking the X and save your work to resume later.
-
A performance report will be displayed, and students can view what questions they got correct or incorrect.
-
After exiting the practice questions, students can redo the exams as often as they like. Remember these exams are designed as an additional learning tool and not necessarily meant for grading purposes. For instructors you can create Custom Exams that students could take one-time.
PLATFORM HOME PAGE
-
Click the CompTIA title to return to the Platform home page.
We hope this helps you to make the most of your learning experience.