Question 5:
Will student projects be grouped again by topic in a way that they can find other students with similar projects?
Answer:
Yes , when students create a project they will get to pick their project topic. This will automatically sort them by project by topic in a new page, which will also connect them to mentors who have an expertise in the area of students’ interest.
Question 6:
How much information will the Online Community pull from Facebook, if my students use Facebook Connect to log in?
Answer:
Essentially none. Students will have the option to use their Facebook profile picture as their Online Community profile picture. Students will also be able to tell people on Facebook that they’re part of the EnvironMentors community. That is the only communication between the sites. You should remind students to log out of both the Online Community and Facebook if they’re using a public computer. The Facebook Connect feature of the Online Community will be blocked anywhere Facebook is blocked (i.e. high school library computers).
Question 7:
How will the Online Community work for returning students and alumni?
Answer:
Alumni are still able to log in to the community. Although we told you at the retreat that returning students should create new profiles to take advantage of all the new features, that’s not necessary anymore. Returning students can simply update their existing profiles. Remember to have all students to select the year or years that they have been a part of the program. Years are listed by the year of the national fair, so the 2011-12 academic year is the “EM class of 2012” because our fair will be in May 2012.