The
Pedosphere.Com Soil Science Test Center
An online, web application for teaching and learning Soil
Science using a systems approach
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What is Test Center all about?
The Pedosphere.Com Soil Science Test Center provides
interactivity for learning and exploring soil science and
soil resources at an introductory level. It also allows the
user to custom design sample quizzes, practice mid-terms
& practice final exams. Answers and explanations for each
question attempted provide quick and precise feedback, and
encourage learning. Performance is measured in terms of
overall score, and scores for definitions, concepts and
applications. This unique approach identifies competency as
well as weaknesses in comprehension of the course material.
All these resources have been designed to engage the user in
learning the material and also help the instructors to deliver
their courses.
Learning is an active process which involves the instructor
and students. Ideally, a one-to-one, face-to face, positive
interaction is highly productive. However, instructors
teaching introductory courses to very large classes may have very
little time to actively engage with students on a one-to-one
basis. Fortunately, it is possible to build high quality web
applications that simultaneously engage the student to learn
the subject material, and provide rich & timely feedback.
Resources at the Test Center are organized at three levels
of access:
- Guest
- Registered Student
- Registered Instructor
A guest does not have to log onto the site but can study the
basic features of the Test Center. He/She can take a 14
question demonstration test to closely examine the types of
questions, answers, and explanations that are available. The
application questions have been specially developed to provide
a dynamic synthesis of the subject matter. Guests can also
view the features which are available to the registered users.
To see more of this for yourself,
click here.
Registered students and instructors have accesses a number
of additional resources after they login into the site. See
"How do I use Test
Center" for more information.
How do I obtain access as a registered user?
There are two ways to activate a membership on Test Center.
- Purchase "The
Pedosphere and its Dynamics"
textbook. If you have a copy of this textbook, then
you can use the serial number in the book to activate
your account, for no charge. Go to the
registration form
to activate your account.
- Purchase a membership on this site.
There are three different types of memberships available on
Test Center: Students, Teaching Assistants, & Instructors.
Student Access provides the user with access
to all the basic test center features, such as creating
personal tests, personal notes, and viewing their scores.
Teaching Assistant Access
is exactly the same as Student Access, except the Teaching
Assistant's scores will not be counted in any class averages.
Instructor Access includes
all of the basic features of the student, plus the ability to
create a class, set up tests for their class, track
scores of all the students in their class, make announcements
to the class, and more.
STUDENT ACCESS:
Student Licences are valid for one year, although you may
renew your membership at any time before your membership
expires. To buy a Student Licence, go to the
Purchase Single
User License link on the "Registration" page.
Choose your payment option from the three available choices:
- cheque/money order - fill out the
information requested. When you submit your info, a
printable form will be generated. Print this form,
and mail it to the address shown on the form, with
your payment.
- purchase order - fill out the
information requested. When you submit your info, a
printable form will be generated. Print this form,
and mail it to the address shown on the form, with
your purchase order.
- credit card using the PayPal system -
fill out the information requested. You will be sent
to PayPal's secure system to enter your credit card
information. PayPal handles the transaction in
US Dollars, so daily exchange rates may vary. When your
payment has successfully been processed by PayPal, click
on the link that returns you to Test Center, and your
account should be activated. You will be able to log
in with the username and password you choose during
the registration process.
NOTE: It is very important that you provided us with an
active, working e-mail address. We need this in case we ever
have to e-mail you your password, should you forget it. We will
only e-mail a username and password to the e-mail address
provided. Remember, we will never publish or give away your
e-mail address (or any other info) to anyone, so your privacy
is ensured.
When you are activating your account, you will be given the
option of joining a class. If you were given a registration
number by an instructor, and he has set up a class, you
can join the class at this point. Your instructor will need
to have told you the class name and class password, in order
for you to join. If you have trouble joining, skip this step
and join later, when you get the correct class name and
password.
TEACHING ASSISTANT ACCESS:
Registration is exactly the same as for a student, except
when filling out the form, make sure you select
"T / A: Do Not Include My Marks in Class Ave" in
the "User Type" field.
INSTRUCTOR + MULTIPLE STUDENT LICENCE PACK (MULTI-PACK):
A Multi-Pack consists of one instructor account, and anywhere
from 5 to 5,000 student accounts. The instructor account is
good for one year from the date of activation. When you
purchase the Multi-Pack, you will also receive registration
numbers for the number of students you choose in your class.
Give each student a registration number, and tell them to
come to the "Registration" page, to activate their
account. Their accounts will be good for one year from when
they activate their account. Its a good idea for you to
activate your account and configure your class information,
before the students activate their accounts.
In order to avoid classes from different years being
mixed together, instructor accounts are not renewable.
It's recommended that you buy a separate Multipack for
each class you intend to administer on Test Center.
NOTE: Special arrangements regarding price can be discussed
for instructors purchasing Multi-Packs with a large number
of students, or purchasing a large numbers of Multi-Packs.
Phone us at (780) 421-7834 for more information.
Contact Us
Any questions or comments? Send us an email at:
admin@pedosphere.com
or phone us at (780) 416-4724. Our fax number is (780) 416-4725.
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