Why am I not receiving all the emails that I think I should be?
It is possible that some ocTEL email messages may be being filtered into your ‘junk’ folder. Please add the addresses octel@alt.ac.uk and octel-public@jiscmail.ac.uk to your address book.
How can I keep up with all the conversations on ocTEL?
We provide a number of tools and views to help you do this.
- The Course Reader is the most comprehensive stream of contributions outside the forums. You can filter it to show only posts on blogs, the email discussion list, Google +, shared bookmarking tools or other spaces.
- The Daily Newsletter lists recent contributions across many of these spaces in a single email. If you are not getting this check your ‘Manage Newsletter Subscriptions’ link from your [edit_profile_link] page or check your email spam folder.
- The participant blogs & discussion spaces page hopefully does it what it says on the tin, listing and linking to all the places we know of where ocTEL participants are saying things related to the course.
- The a top contributors page lists the top 20 community members who have generated the most content. Of course, volume and frequency aren’t everything.
- The Twitter (retweets) page shows the tweets that have resonated the most in the last 24 hours (in terms of retweets).
More details and context for each of these is available in our Signposts guidance.
Why can’t I login? Why doesn’t the system recognise my email address?
The ocTEL website is separate from the main Association for Learning Technology website, so ALT members will find their passwords for the ALT site do not work here. This short screencast takes you through the login process as it’s intended to work.
You should have received email notification of your ocTEL password at the email address you provided when registering for the course. If you have that notification, please try to login via http://octel.alt.ac.uk/login/ (If you haven’t already done so, please register to be sent login details. As this process is not fully automated, it can take one or two working days to receive these details.)
If you do not have the notification, or if the password supplied does not work, please follow the Lost Password link (http://octel.alt.ac.uk/login/?action=lostpassword) and enter the email address you provided when registering for the course. You should then receive a link to reset your password.
If the system does not recognise your email address, it may be that we have you registered under a different address, or that you registered within the last two working days (the link between registration and this site is not fully automated). Please email octel-tech@alt.ac.uk and we will look into the problem.
Meanwhile please note that most of the course materials and discussions are available without logging in.
How do I cut down on all the emails I’m receiving?
There is a daily ocTEL Newsletter that goes to most registered participants. It includes new course information and a round-up of recent course discussions among participants, on blogs and forums. You can [edit_profile_link] and check the ‘Manage Newsletter Subscriptions’ link to change the Newsletter frequency from daily to weekly.
There is also a JiscMail discussion list for the course. You can change the settings on this list so that either (a) you receive only message per day with a ‘digest’ of all the discussions or (b) you unsubscribe from the list completely. If you are logged into JiscMail, you can manage your subscription via the web and choose either Digest or Unsubscribe. By email, you need to send a message from the same address that is receiving the emails to listserv@jiscmail.ac.uk with no subject. The body of the message should contain the line
SET OCTEL-PUBLIC DIGESTS
or
UNSUBSCRIBE OCTEL-PUBLIC
Whether you’re on digest mode or unsubscribed, you can still read the course messages via the JiscMail web interface or the ocTEL course reader.
Is there any certification or credit for doing the course?
There is no formal accreditation at the moment. The Association for Learning Technology will issue a digital Certificate of Participation to anyone who completes the course. We may offer an Open Badge for one of the later modules in the course, and Open Badges are one of the areas we aim to include in any future version of ocTEL Meanwhile experience on this version may be included in a portfolio of evidence for CMALT (Certified Member of the Association for Learning Technology) status.
My question or problem isn’t here. How do I get a solution?
Go to the Orientation and Help forum and see if it is addressed there already. If not, ask there. Periodically we will update this page with the questions that are most frequently asked.