Introduction to Environmental Education
Welcome to our free online training program!
The Michigan Water Stewardship Program’s (MWSP) Environmental Campus is a state of the art environmental education tool for managing knowledge resources and delivering them consistently to Michigan residents. The learning management features enable MWSP to provide online training free to those wishing to participate in our Stewardship Courses via a simple site registration process. Many colleges and universities use similar professionally customized software for their online courses. A great advantage of this tool is the ability to deliver to Michigan residents any-time access to knowledge regarding sound stewardship concepts and best management practices for our water and other natural resources. We hope that you will take advantage of our offering and begin your journey to learn new ways to improve water quality in the Great Lakes, or to review the latest research based information.
Objectives and Expectations
The 3 primary learning objectives of the online training program and website general information are:
- Identify environmental risks, concerns or problems in and around your home.
- Learn how to better manage your home and property to save money and care for Michigan’s natural resources.
- Take preventive actions to safeguard your health and the environment.
What you will gain:
The online training program will help you to identify your environmental risk level with the risk assessments you take that rate your current situations and every day practices. The environmental risk levels are LOW, MEDIUM and HIGH. The information provided in the environmental education training will allow you to make the changes in behaviors by adopting best management practices to protect our water quality and environment thus lowering your environmental risk level. All information is confidential and for your personal use only. We know that with each individual’s actions we can together make a positive impact on water quality and natural resources in Michigan and the Great Lakes region.
Timing and Course Tracking
The courses vary in length and are composed of multiple lessons that encompass several topics. Each lesson within a course may be taken independently so each person may work at their own pace and return to continue with the training dependent upon their personal schedule. Each lesson can usually be completed within 5 to10 minutes. The system will track which courses and lessons you have completed with a green check mark next to that lesson so you will know where you left off when you were last on the site. A course or lesson is completed after the environmental risk assessment is finished.
You may take each environmental education assessment as many times as you wish to go back and document lowering your risk level as you adopt new practices or make changes around your home. It is suggested that you may wish to take the environmental assessments first before beginning a course or lesson just to see where you are before the information is obtained and applied, thus establishing your baseline. Environmental risk assessments may be found at the end of shorter courses, or within the lessons making up larger courses. Your environmental risk assessments are stored under transcripts for your account so that you may view your accomplishments over time.
You must sign-up and register on this website with a username and password in order to access the free online training courses in the Environmental Campus. Your registration will automatically make all courses available to you and allow you to track your progress.
Computer Requirements
Browser:
It is recommended that you use Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7.0 or higher to optimize your learning experience. If you are using Internet Explorer 6.0 or lower you will encounter issues with proper page views. Upgrading your browser is free and can be accomplished by visiting: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/ The other free browser options that are compatable are current versions of Mozilla Firefox and Apple's Safari. Internet browsers and version upgrades are free so select the one that works best for you. There are many more browser options that may work with the site as long as the latest version is used, however, Internet Explorer version 7.0 or higher is recommended.
Monitor Display Settings:
Monitor display settings vary dependent upon age and if your monitor is an LCD (flat screen) or a CRT monitor. To gain the best display and screen resolution for your monitor check for recommendations provided by your computer. A minimum display setting of 1024 x 768 pixels or higher is recommended. If your resolution is below 1024 x 768 pixels all items may not fit on your screen.
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Description of Stewardship Courses is next!