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Nuclear Training Services Ltd.
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Your Browser
The pages on this site are best viewed using a modern (i.e. version 4 or greater) internet browser, with a screen resolution of 800 by 400 pixels set for at least 16 bit colour. If you have any serious problems with viewing the pages please let us know using the feedback form.
Browsers should be set up to accept 'cookies'. These are used administratively during the OAF submission simply to confirm the identity of the submitter.
For the sake of clarity all our pages use the 'Verdana' font. This is widely distributed with Microsoft and Netscape browsers and we expect most people to have it already available on their computers. If you don't, there is a link on our resources page to allow you to download it. The other font we use, which is essential to provide the mathematical and Greek symbols, is the 'Symbol' font. Again the resources page has a link to allow you to download it.
Copyright
Unless otherwise indicated, the copyright for all material on this course is held by the originator Dr. Gordon Gilmore, who reserves all intellectual property rights inherent in it.
Material in the public areas of the site can be freely downloaded to web browsers for examination and information. Material in the restricted areas of the site is only for registered participants on the course who are free to print it out for the purposes of their own private study. Copying of the downloaded files or of the printed pages for any other purposes, including distribution to third parties, without prior written agreement with the copyright holder, will be regarded as an infringement of copyright and action taken. Organizations wishing to make use of the course material are invited to contact the copyright holder.
A Strategy for the doing the Course
No matter how well presented, the computer screen is not a relaxing medium for detailed study. We expect that most of our students will find it easier to print each module out and study off-line, going back online to complete the OAF. Some modules will have online resources linked to them which you may find useful while studying them. Before going off-line to study, just check whether there is anything else relevant you ought to be downloading.
There will be various resources for you to download: information, spreadsheets etc. Some of these will be essential to do the exercises, other will be merely very useful. You would be well advised to create a separate folder on your computer to download these into. (Both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator will 'remember' where you last saved information to.)
There are many diagrams within the modules. In order to reduce the load time most of the graphics files are small and the diagrams may not be as clear as we would like. In all these cases clicking on the diagram will give you a larger version of the diagram. These diagrams will always have some sort of underlined label to alert you to the fact that it is linked.
Many people will probably find it easier to print out the OAF, complete it, and check it off line and return online to submit it.
How long does each Module take?
Quite honestly, at this moment in time we don't know. In fact we would welcome information from students on this matter. We hope that students will be able to complete any module in no more that one and a half-hours, many in much less time than that. The actual time will depend upon the depth of previous knowledge and how deeply the individual student immerses him/herself in the material. Eventually we intend to mark each modules with an expected study time.
Assessment - the Online Assessment Form (OAF)
At each level you will meet a number of OAFs! These are On-line Assessment Forms. Basically you answer a number of questions by filling in the boxes, click on the 'Submit' button and your answers are transmitted to us for assessment.
IMPORTANT: You should appreciate that most of the OAF questions are checked by a computer script. Like all computers, ours are simple minded and cannot see nuances in the information. Within the OAF you may be asked to provide results in a certain format, for example: 'nuclide name in the 60-Co format', 'energies to 2 decimal places', 'information exactly as given by CompAct'. If you do not use the correct format (including wrong case) you may be marked down by the computer unjustly. Check your answers carefully before you click on that 'Submit' button.
Most OAFs will have a general 'Comments' box for you to send information, concerns, mitigating circumstances etc, relevant to the Module. We welcome any comments and, while we expect that people are likely to use this box to complain about some aspect of the module, we would particularly welcome positive comments and suggestions for improvement.
How we deal with OAFs:
When you send the completed assessment form you will receive an immediate confirmation of the information you have sent to us. In most cases your response will have been checked by computer and the confirmation page will inform you whether your answer was right or wrong and give you the correct, or expected, answer. Some questions will be Tutor Marked Questions. These are indicated by 'TMQ' on the feedback. The feedback may, or may not, include the expected answer for TMQs.
In cases where tutor assessment is needed it may take a few days for you to receive feedback. Please be patient when waiting for tutor assessment. If you do need to enquire about it, use the feedback form or email.
If you feel you have not performed well on the assessment form you may, if you wish, submit another. You will get feedback from this but we regret that only the first submission will be taken into account in the assessed mark on your completion certificate. If you feel that the answer you gave is equivalent to the expected answer by all means contact us and we will review the OAF for you.
NB! Your browser must be set up to allow 'cookies', otherwise you will not be able to submit your OAF.
The next level?
As soon as we register that you have completed the final assessment for the current level you will be given access to the next level of the course. You will only receive this when all assessments for the level have been completed.
How long do I have?
Passwords are granted for six months from the date of registration. At that time they will automatically lapse. If you need an extension please contact us. There is no restriction on the time to do individual levels or modules.
Cheating!
What stops you getting someone else to fill in the assessment form? Nothing at all! We assume that participants on our courses are sensible adults. If you wish to cheat in the assessments we don't mind. You will be the loser.
Support:
At every Level the index page will have a link to the course participants feedback form. In addition, each OAF has a dialog box into which you can type queries. You can use these for any purpose you wish: ask questions, make comments, point out errors in the course material, ask for help... We hope you will do this. This course is new and there will undoubtedly be hiccups. We can only sort these out if we are told about them.
But please be polite! Gratuitous insults and offensive language may result in password access being rescinded without refund.
During periods when there are many participants working through the course at one time we will arrange live on-line discussion sessions on an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channel. We will arrange a regular time when anyone taking the course can log on and discuss the course with other participants and tutors.(We will provide a link so that students can download the necessary software and may be able to provide an window to the IRC network from within the Course site.)
Once the course is running the Notice Board page at the head of this page will be used to post new information, such as IRC online times.
Support: feedback form | Phone: +44 1925 740769 (0900 to 1700 GMT only please!)
Security:
You are given a password to allow you individual access to the course material. Please do not divulge this to any other person, registered or not. If you forget your password contact us via the feedback form.
Accesses to the site, legal and illegal are monitored and used to check for abnormal downloads. Attempts to breach our security will be taken seriously. Abuse of the system by registered users will result in withdrawal of access rights without refund.
http://online.nucleartraining.co.uk/info.htm Copyright © 2000 Dr Gordon Gilmore
If you have any comments about this page contact NTS Net