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foundation_course_students:whole_handbook [2024/08/20 15:32] lisas [Payment of Course Fees] |
foundation_course_students:whole_handbook [2025/07/10 13:07] (current) guyw [Foundation Course: Student Handbook] |
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====Foundation Course: Student Handbook==== | ====Foundation Course: Student Handbook==== | ||
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=====Introduction===== | =====Introduction===== | ||
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We encourage you to read this handbook carefully as it forms the basis of the learning contract between you and Heartwood.\\ | We encourage you to read this handbook carefully as it forms the basis of the learning contract between you and Heartwood.\\ | ||
- | The Heartwood Foundation Course is made up of 12 online Units offering a broad introduction to the field of herbal medicine, with an emphasis on the practical use of herbs to alleviate common ailments. The course is assessed using a variety of methods including online quizzes and projects tasks, and an award certificate and online badges are given to those who complete all 12 units within the deadlines. Learners who successfully finish all tasks, quizzes and assignments and achieves at least 60% for their monograph, may apply for a place on the Heartwood Professional Course. | + | The Heartwood Foundation Course is made up of 12 online Units offering a broad introduction to the field of herbal medicine, with an emphasis on the practical use of herbs to alleviate common ailments. The course is assessed using a variety of methods including online quizzes and projects tasks, and an award certificate and online badges are given to those who complete all 12 units within the deadlines |
All FC units are released on the **14th of the month** in the evening, we usually say by 6pm. If the 14th falls on a weekend then we release the Friday evening before. | All FC units are released on the **14th of the month** in the evening, we usually say by 6pm. If the 14th falls on a weekend then we release the Friday evening before. | ||
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Academic support is available in a number of ways. General questions can be raised with the course tutors during regular online seminars and text-chat sessions, and in the Unit forums.\\ | Academic support is available in a number of ways. General questions can be raised with the course tutors during regular online seminars and text-chat sessions, and in the Unit forums.\\ | ||
- | Particular and individual issues can be raised via the LMS direct messaging system | + | Particular and individual issues can be raised via the LMS direct messaging system to their tutors.\\ |
- | + | ||
- | Nikki can also advise on how to get help with any personal, health or pastoral issues that may arise during your studies.\\ | + | |
If you have difficulties using the LMS, help is available and you are strongly encouraged to use it as early and often as you like by emailing [[mailto: | If you have difficulties using the LMS, help is available and you are strongly encouraged to use it as early and often as you like by emailing [[mailto: | ||
- | ====== | + | ======Accessibility for students with learning differences and disabilities======= |
- | Heartwood | + | As part of our ongoing commitment to improving access for all Heartwood |
- | These may be summarised as follows:\\ | + | |
- | ===== 1: Internal quality assurance ===== | + | **Assistive technology and resources available on the LMS available to all students:** |
- | 1.1 Institutions should commit themselves explicitly to the development of a culture which recognises the importance of quality, and quality assurance, in their work. To achieve this, institutions should develop and implement a strategy for the continuous enhancement | + | Heartwood Accessibility Menu: available as a circular gold icon with a black figure, on the bottom left hand of your LMS screen. Please |
- | 1.2: Institutions should | + | Downloadable pdf documents: most of our videos that contain technical information |
- | 1.3 Assessment of learners: Learners should be assessed using published criteria, regulations | + | BBB (Big Blue Button) Webinars: Please make sure you have read through the document about Big Blue Button, located on your Welcome Page, just below your Monthly Webinar dates. |
- | 1.4 Institutions should have ways of satisfying themselves that staff involved with the teaching of students are qualified and competent to do so. They should be available to those undertaking external reviews, and commented upon in reports. \\ | + | **Externally Sourced Assistive Technology: |
- | 1.5 Institutions should ensure that the resources available for the support | + | Many devices now have built-in accessibility |
- | 1.6 Institutions should ensure that they collect, analyse and use relevant information for the effective management of their programmes of study and other activities.\\ | + | Text to Speech Software: |
- | 1.7: Institutions should regularly publish up to date, impartial | + | Text-to-speech (TTS) is a type of assistive technology that reads digital text aloud. It's sometimes called “read aloud” technology. |
- | ===== 2: External quality assurance procedures: ===== | + | Examples of text-to-speech software: |
- | 2.1 External quality assurance procedures should take into account the effectiveness of the internal quality assurance processes described | + | *Speechify |
- | 2.2 The aims and objectives of quality assurance processes should be determined before the processes themselves are developed, by all those responsible, and should be published | + | *ClaroRead for Microsoft |
- | 2.3 Any formal decisions made as a result of an external quality assurance activity should be based on explicit published criteria | + | *Natural Reader |
- | 2.4 All external quality assurance processes should be designed specifically | + | *Google TTS https:// |
- | 2.5 Reports should be published and should be written in a style, which is clear and readily accessible | + | *Panopreter: |
- | 2.6 Quality assurance processes which contain recommendations for action or which require | + | *Murf https:// |
- | 2.7 External quality assurance of institutions should be undertaken on a cyclical basis. The length of the cycle and the review procedures | + | *Lovo https:// |
- | 2.8 Quality assurance agencies should produce from time to time summary reports describing and analysing the general findings of their reviews, evaluations, | ||
- | ====== | + | Speech to Text Software: |
+ | |||
+ | If you need to use speech to text software for your assessments, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Online Time Management Apps: | ||
+ | |||
+ | These are software tools accessible via web browsers or mobile apps designed to help individuals and teams organize their time, track tasks and projects, and improve productivity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Examples of online time management apps (most are free): | ||
+ | |||
+ | *MyHomework https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | *Trello https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | *Evernote: https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | *Pomodoro Technique: there are a variety of free apps that enable this time management method that uses a timer to break down work into focused intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. After four " | ||
+ | |||
+ | *Stayfocused https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | *Antisocial: | ||
+ | |||
+ | *Remember the Milk: https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | *2Do: https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Study Aids | ||
+ | |||
+ | *Quizlet: https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | *SimpleMind Mind Mapping: https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Video Captions: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Video captions are not currently available for our course content because it was created before the software existed. However, please consider the variety of free captioning software available. Google Chrome has recently released one. The captioning will appear when you watch a video or listen to a soundtrack in your browser. Here are some instructions (you need to download Chrome):to enable Live Caption on Google Chrome from your desktop, go to Chrome Settings: | ||
+ | |||
+ | *go to the Advanced section\\ | ||
+ | *then go to the Accessibility section\\ | ||
+ | *Then click the toggle for Live Caption\\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The feature is currently available in English and is available worldwide on the latest version of Chrome on Windows, Mac and Linux devices. It will be available on ChromeOS soon. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **A note on assistive technologies for those progressing to Professional Course** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Please note that many assistive technologies now use AI. Students progressing to the Professional Course who have learning differences, | ||
+ | ====== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Academic Integrity** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Heartwood Education has a responsibility to promote academic integrity as well as to identify and penalise academic misconduct including plagiarism. Academic integrity is a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to the values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage. Heartwood and our tutors are committed to these values, and we ask the same of students. This is an important part of an individual’s and an institution’s reputation. Academic integrity is a positive and ethical approach to learning. It is not an offence to draw upon the work or ideas of another person where this is appropriately acknowledged. In fact, this is essential in developing good academic work. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Academic misconduct is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to formal academic work and includes the following: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Plagiarism: The use, within assessments, | ||
+ | * Artificial Intelligence (AI): The use of generative AI in your assessments\\ | ||
+ | * Contract cheating: the practice of students engaging a third-party individual or service to undertake their assessments\\ | ||
+ | * Falsification: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The following is a list, ranked in order of severity, of unoriginal work, adapted from Turnitin (the main tool used in marking Professional Course assignments to alert tutors to possible abuse of academic integrity): | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1. Submitting someone else’s work, word for word, as one’s own.\\ | ||
+ | 2. Containing significant portions of text from a single source, without alterations.\\ | ||
+ | 3. Finding and replacing key words and phrases but retaining the essential content of sources.\\ | ||
+ | 4. Mixing paraphrased material from multiple sources.\\ | ||
+ | 5. Combining perfectly cited sources with copied pages without citation.\\ | ||
+ | 6. Copied material from multiple sources, made to fit together.\\ | ||
+ | 7. Citing non-existent sources or including inaccurate information, | ||
+ | 8. Including proper citation but relying too closely on the text’s original wording and/or structure.\\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | None of the above are acceptable in your assessments on the Foundation Course. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **Generative AI** | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is much interest in and growing use of generative AI tools, especially ChatGPT, but also Google Bard, DALLE-2 and CoPilot. Generative AI is an AI technology that automatically generates content in response to written prompts. As these tools are developing rapidly and we are in the process of understanding their implications for education and assessment, we expect that students will avoid the use of such software in generating content for any of their submitted work. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | **Implications of academic misconduct for progression to the Professional Course** | ||
+ | |||
+ | If a student’s monograph is suspected to have involved plagiarism or any other form of academic misconduct, we reserve the right to submit the work to plagiarism software, which will store the work securely, and mark the work minus the plagiarised content, which could bring the grade below the 60% needed to progress to the Professional Course. If the results point towards academic misconduct, this may also affect the student’s progression to the Professional Course. We will discuss the results with the student, with the aim being to promote academic integrity and reflection. | ||
- | All Heartwood staff recognise their ethical and professional responsibility to protect the interests of learners. In situations where a conflict of interest may arise, particularly where a learner and staff member have a family or close personal relationship, | ||
- | * Selection for any prize or bursary | ||
- | * Selection for any Heartwood programme | ||
- | * Selection/ | ||
- | * Supervision of theses/ | ||
- | * Complaints and disciplinary proceedings | ||
- | * Assessment or academic progress issues. | ||
- | Staff members must declare to the Trustees of the Education Fund any personal interest with regard to a currently enrolled learner – whether the connection is through family, business or close personal relationship. | ||
====== Disciplinary Procedures ====== | ====== Disciplinary Procedures ====== | ||
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Should a disciplinary issue arise, Heartwood normally adopts a 3-stage procedure with a warning email sent at each stage detailing the nature of the problem, and the steps required by the learner to resolve it. Failure to comply after the receipt of a third warning email may result in a learner being suspended or excluded from the course.\\ | Should a disciplinary issue arise, Heartwood normally adopts a 3-stage procedure with a warning email sent at each stage detailing the nature of the problem, and the steps required by the learner to resolve it. Failure to comply after the receipt of a third warning email may result in a learner being suspended or excluded from the course.\\ | ||
- | A member of Heartwood staff who identifies, or who is made aware of, the misconduct shall draw it to the attention of the learner. This interaction must be recorded and will be drawn to the attention of the Course | + | A member of Heartwood staff who identifies, or who is made aware of, the misconduct shall draw it to the attention of the learner. This interaction must be recorded and will be drawn to the attention of the Course |
A learner who is the subject of a complaint of misconduct or against whom a criminal charge is pending or who is subject of a police investigation, | A learner who is the subject of a complaint of misconduct or against whom a criminal charge is pending or who is subject of a police investigation, | ||
- | No learner will be suspended or excluded unless | + | No learner will be suspended or excluded unless |
- | Notwithstanding the above, Heartwood reserves the right to summarily exclude students for acts of gross misconduct without the need to follow the above warning procedure. | + | Notwithstanding the above, Heartwood reserves the right to summarily exclude students for non-payment of fees or acts of gross misconduct without the need to follow the above warning procedure. |
====== Appeals Process ====== | ====== Appeals Process ====== | ||
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A student aggrieved by a decision to suspend or exclude shall have the right to appeal to Heartwood within 10 working days of such suspension or exclusion.\\ | A student aggrieved by a decision to suspend or exclude shall have the right to appeal to Heartwood within 10 working days of such suspension or exclusion.\\ | ||
- | Grounds for the appeal should be sent in writing to the Course | + | Grounds for the appeal should be sent in writing to the Course |
Following the appeal meeting, a copy of minutes taken and a letter outlining the outcome of the appeal will be sent to the student in writing within 10 days. | Following the appeal meeting, a copy of minutes taken and a letter outlining the outcome of the appeal will be sent to the student in writing within 10 days. | ||
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====== Timeliness ====== | ====== Timeliness ====== | ||
- | You should engage with all learning activities which form part of your course Units subject to medical issues or other personal reasons notified to the Course Administrator, [[mailto: | + | You should engage with all learning activities which form part of your course Units subject to medical issues or other personal reasons notified to the Administrative Coordinator, [[support@heartwoodteam.net|]] |
You should also be aware that some Units require specific attendance at live webinars and text chat sessions. These will be clearly stated on the LMS page for each Unit.\\ | You should also be aware that some Units require specific attendance at live webinars and text chat sessions. These will be clearly stated on the LMS page for each Unit.\\ | ||
- | You are expected to become familiar with the use of the LMS as part of the course. If you have any problems in using the LMS, you should contact [[mailto: | + | You are expected to become familiar with the use of the LMS as part of the course. If you have any problems in using the LMS, you should contact [[support@heartwoodteam.net]] at your earliest opportunity. |
====== Intellectual Property ====== | ====== Intellectual Property ====== | ||
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In doing so they must: | In doing so they must: | ||
* Respect others' | * Respect others' | ||
- | * Avoid activities which may lead to criminal liability, including use of pornographic material. | + | * Avoid activities which may lead to criminal liability. |
- | * Avoid keeping of others' | + | * Avoid keeping of others' |
* Not produce or pass on any material which could be considered defamatory. | * Not produce or pass on any material which could be considered defamatory. | ||
* Understand that Heartwood will impose severe penalties – up to dismissal or even referral to the police – in order to protect the safety of learners and uphold the reputation of its courses. | * Understand that Heartwood will impose severe penalties – up to dismissal or even referral to the police – in order to protect the safety of learners and uphold the reputation of its courses. | ||
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===== Access to the systems ===== | ===== Access to the systems ===== | ||
- | Learners are provided with access to the Heartwood Learning Management System by means of a username and password. Users must take all reasonable steps to keep their passwords confidential and not disclose them to anyone else. If an enrolled learner believes that his or her password has become known to anyone else, the password should be changed at the earliest opportunity. | + | Learners are provided with access to the Heartwood Learning Management System by means of a username and password. Users must take all reasonable steps to keep their passwords confidential and not disclose them to anyone else. If an enrolled learner believes that their password has become known to anyone else, the password should be changed at the earliest opportunity. |
Any user who, for whatever reason, comes to know the password of any other user must not attempt to obtain access to the Learning Management System using that password nor disclose it to any other person. Use of a password by anyone other than the authorised person will be treated as serious misconduct.\\ | Any user who, for whatever reason, comes to know the password of any other user must not attempt to obtain access to the Learning Management System using that password nor disclose it to any other person. Use of a password by anyone other than the authorised person will be treated as serious misconduct.\\ | ||
- | All reasonable efforts will be employed to ensure that Learning Management System will be made accessible to all learners, regardless of disability, who have a legitimate reason for using them. Heartwood seeks to explore the potential of information technology to assist disabled students to engage in their chosen course of studies and, in particular, to carry out any associated course requirements and academic tasks, so far as resources allow. | + | All reasonable efforts will be employed to ensure that Learning Management System will be made accessible to all learners, regardless of disability, who have a legitimate reason for using them. |
===== Penalties ===== | ===== Penalties ===== | ||
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The course remains available in its current form to learners for 6 weeks after the initial 12 month study period. | The course remains available in its current form to learners for 6 weeks after the initial 12 month study period. | ||
- | * Some activities have deadlines, and you are advised to check submission dates in advance | + | * Some activities have deadlines, and you are advised to check submission dates in advance. |
* At the close of the course, students will have access to an archived version free of charge for one year. | * At the close of the course, students will have access to an archived version free of charge for one year. | ||
* That version will not contain interactive features such as glossaries, webinars or forums. It will include all the videos, slides, documents, pages and e-book material you would need to use for reference. | * That version will not contain interactive features such as glossaries, webinars or forums. It will include all the videos, slides, documents, pages and e-book material you would need to use for reference. | ||
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By accessing the Foundation Course Welcome page you are confirming that you have read and understood this document in its entirety, and that you agree expressly to abide by all the regulations and policies it contains for the duration of your studies with us. | By accessing the Foundation Course Welcome page you are confirming that you have read and understood this document in its entirety, and that you agree expressly to abide by all the regulations and policies it contains for the duration of your studies with us. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ======Using Herbs in Pregnancy and during Breast-feeding====== | ||
+ | |||
+ | As you are beginning to taste herbs on this course, some of them for the first time, we would like to say a little about the use of herbs in pregnancy. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are many herbs that are completely gentle and safe to use in pregnancy in the form of teas, far too many to list here. Google will come up with many over-cautious lists so it is better to look at some of the herbal textbooks you may be acquiring as the course develops (some of which have lists of herbs to avoid in pregnancy). | ||
+ | |||
+ | With the exception of one, all the herbs studied on the course are safe to use during pregnancy and whilst breast-feeding. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Here is some extra guidance you may find helpful. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It’s always good with herbs to start with one and develop a personal understanding of how it works for you. For digestion you could try chamomile, fennel, lemon balm or peppermint for starters. Ginger tea is quite safe to use during the first trimester. Try boiling a piece of crushed fresh ginger. | ||
+ | |||
+ | During the subsequent 6 months of a pregnancy, most things can be treated (eg pre-existing conditions, heartburn etc) but ideally under guidance of a herbalist. Many women opt to drink raspberry leaf tea in the last few months of a pregnancy which has a long tradition of being used safely as a uterine tonic. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Herbal for Mother and Child by Anne McIntyre\\ | ||
+ | The Natural Pregnancy Book by Aviva Jill Romm\\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Lastly, for those of you that are interested in this topic, there is a recording of a lovely webinar delivered to FC students in 2024 on the topic of pregnancy from herbalist and midwife Rosemary Umolu. | ||
===== UNIT 1: The History, Scope and Philosophy of Plant-Based Medicine ===== | ===== UNIT 1: The History, Scope and Philosophy of Plant-Based Medicine ===== | ||
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* Have completed various extra monograph activities involving examining the leaf pattern and flower detail of your chosen plant; completing a drawing (with eyes closed) of your plant; and tasting your plant to identify your 5 key words | * Have completed various extra monograph activities involving examining the leaf pattern and flower detail of your chosen plant; completing a drawing (with eyes closed) of your plant; and tasting your plant to identify your 5 key words | ||
* Have written 300 words summarising what you feel is important about your chosen plant | * Have written 300 words summarising what you feel is important about your chosen plant | ||
- | * Have completed your monograph. You have 6 weeks after the release of Unit 12 to submit your final assignment - the herb monograph. | + | * Have completed your monograph. You have 6 weeks after the release of Unit 12 to complete all units and submit your final assignment - the herb monograph. |
==== Additional Information ==== | ==== Additional Information ==== | ||
There is a reference and further reading list. | There is a reference and further reading list. | ||