 Hello my name is Adrianne Leinbach and I 
would like to welcome you to the master course 
tour for my Introductory Geology class or GEL 
This class met the exemplary standards 
created by EPIC
When students enter the class they start with 
the getting started tab.
Here they will find a course tour video that 
orients the students to the course and includes 
information about where the syllabus
is located and the important information that it 
contains students are held accountable for the 
information in this video and on the 
syllabus by completion of the getting started 
syllabus quiz
The getting started area lets the students know 
what I expect from them and what they can 
expect from me. 
It also provides them with information on 
completing assignments, asking questions, and 
reviewing their grades. Students are directed 
from here to complete their course entry 
quizzes so that they can have access to the 
other material in the course.
during the first week of class
students complete an ice breaker discussion 
board
This discussion board has students introduce 
themselves talk about a book or a movie they 
have recently seen
and attach a picture or avatar of themselves 
and finally include their shoe size and height
Students must collect 15 other students shoe 
sizes and heights to complete a graph on their 
first lab. This gets students working 
together and makes them read and respond to 
other posts.
 
Assignments are due the same day each week 
and can be found under the lessons tab
 A separate folder is included each week for 
lecture and lab material
 Instead of giving students a list of weekly 
learning objectives for each lesson 
I have turned them into note taking templates.
Students use these to take notes which I offer 
to review.
Incentive to complete these note taking 
templates comes in the fact that they are 
allowed to use them
them on their weekly quizzes as well as the 
midterm and final
Students are also provided with Soft Chalk 
exercises to supplement their textbook
Questions are included in the softchalks that 
give students immediate feedback
Students are allowed to do these more than 
once so they can use them as a study tool.
 
weekly labs each have a video included to 
introduce the laboratory
this video was that you have to use the tools
Videos are also included in the lecture portion 
of class. These were selected to help 
 
meet the needs of students in areas where 
students have had problems in the past
Lastly students are asked early in the 
discussion board process to pick from a list of 
geographical locations
then for the remainder of the semester their 
discussion boards
are based off these locations and important 
geologic information both past and present
they report out on the geologic history
a past earthquake event, landslides, floods and 
other events
This helps students put events into perspective 
and understand how geology comes together 
in one location. They will often seek out those 
doing similar locations to comment on their 
discussion posts.
thank you for your interest in this course and 
please do not hesitate to contact me if you 
have any questions
