Popular Culture & Mass Media
MEDI 265
Game Theory & Analysis
Quick Start Guide: How to play this course!
Important Tips
Start the course right away
Work steadily Ask for help Talk to Doug often
Give yourself credit
Enjoy Yourself!
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Step 1. Familiarize Yourself with Our Course Website
Once you get logged on to the course site, spend some time looking around and getting familiar with
all the different areas and resources available to help you with your online course. Some of the useful
areas include:
• The Course Documents area on the righthand sidebar. This includes links to our syllabus, our game
(course) rules, our game (course) scoring, and activities.
• The Course Resources on the righthand sidebar. This includes links to our Course Calendar,
Scoreboards, Student blogs, the Glossary, and a link to information on how to contact Doug. The
Course Calendar is very important. It is the main page for accessing the learning materials for each
weekly unit. This is where you find out what to do each week. Note that each week’s current unit
will be featured on the main page of the website.You can also find it under the Course Calendar.
• The Course Discussions area is where I will place the links to the course discussions that we will
engage in over the term. Each discussion will have its own page. I will add the links to specific discussions when we are preparing for them.
• The Scoreboard area is directly below the Course Resources area. Here you will find links to each
week’s Scoreboard. The weekly Scoreboard will normally be posted on the Friday following the last
day of the unit.
Step 2. Check Out Doug’s Contact Information
One of the important document links in the Course Documents area is a link to Doug’s Contact Information. This is one of the most important documents in the course. One of the best secrets to
success in online learning is to keep in good contact with your instructor. This page will give specific
information about the different ways you can contact me, including dates & times.
Step 3. Look Over the Course Materials
Go through all the materials available in the course. (Some materials may not available at the beginning
of a course. In this course, curriculum units will be released on Monday mornings.) Don't worry about
reading everything, or even understanding everything in detail, but look everything thing over so that
you have a big picture view of the course. The course materials are organized into Menus, accessible
on the top right of the course website. MEDI 265: Game Theory & Analysis
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MEDI 265: Game Theory & Analysis
Course Documents Menu
This menu contains the important documents that you’ll need to access to complete this course. Be
sure to start your course by reading through these documents. In particular, pay attention at the beginning to the course syllabus, course rules, course scoring, and course activities documents.
These lay out the course organization & structure. The course syllabus tells you exactly how I will
run the course--the rules of the road, if you will. Understanding what is expected of you and when it
is expected is essential to doing well in any online course. It’s important to note that this course is run
as a game! This means you have to get your head around how to play the game :-)
Course Rules This page contains the rules of our online game (the course). Be sure to carefully read through all the
rules of this course, as you will be held accountable for any violations that you make! Course Scoring
This document explains how the course scoring system work. Basically, you will earn XP based on
how you do in each assignment.You can earn bonus XP by completing Twitter Challenges, posting
Glossary entries, and by leveling-up. At the end of the course, your grade will be based on your total
XP. Be sure to read this page carefully so that you understand how the scoring system will work. Ask
questions if you are unsure.
Course Activities (Assignments)
This document contains the activities (assignments) for the course. Most activities will also have a due
date, which is when the activities must be submitted to the instructor. If you need help submitting
activities be sure to contact me before the activities is due. Remember: activities that are not submitted on time will lose 5% per day and no activities will be accepted after the last day of class without an
official course extension. Note that in this course there are a certain number of required assignments
and a certain number of optional assignments.
Course Resources Menu
This menu contains links to important course resources, some of which will be essential for you to
complete this course. The important menu items include:
Course Calendar This is where the learning materials for the course are found. Under each week you will find learning
materials from Doug, links to online resources, and other learning materials. Be sure to check out
each week’s materials when they are released. I will release each week’s materials on Monday by 9:00
am.
Student Blogs This links to a page that provides access to your student blog. Note: you can only access your own
student blog.
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Step 4. Ask Questions!
It is very important to get in the habit of asking questions. That is how you learn, and it is essential to
solving any problems that crop up during the course. If it is a personal matter, you can email me directly. If it is a general problem (i.e. I don’t know where to find something on our website) you can ask
it in the general discussion forum and anyone with the answer can provide help. It is always a good
idea to post general questions in this forum, because other folks might have the same question.
Game Theory & Analysis - Online
Online
MEDI 265: Game Theory & Analysis
Step 5. Do the Readings!
Some students try to get through courses without doing the readings. This might even work if you are
happy with a C grade and the class is face-to-face. But, this is an online course and there won’t be any
lectures. A significant portion of the course materials are in the form of readings. If you don’t do the
readings, you won’t pass the course. Step 6. Don't Procrastinate!
When you start a new course, one of the most important things is to get started as soon as you can.
By starting right away, you will avoid falling behind and having to rush through your work. It's important not to panic when you start a new course, and one of the best ways to avoid feeling overwhelmed is to start right away so that you can see yourself making progress. If at any time you feel as
though you are falling behind, be sure to contact me and we can discuss your situation. I have been
teaching online courses for almost ten years, and the number one problem that I have seen is students
who don’t start and keep up with the course work. Remember that in a summer course this is especially important because the summer semester is only seven weeks long, and it is very difficult to get a
course extension in a summer semester.
Step 7. Have Fun!
One of the most overlooked aspects of learning is having fun. Now, before you groan out loud, I’m not
joking (nor being overly optimistic). Studies have shown that students who enjoy themselves learn
better. More importantly, common sense dictates that if you’re going to do something, you might as
well enjoy it! Oh, and I have a confession to make: this course is my favorite course all year. Don’t get
me wrong; I have great students and I like my other courses. It’s just that in this course we can all relax just a litttttle bit more and have just a littttttle bit more fun. And, theoretically, we are studying
something that we’re deeply interested in (who’d take a game theory course if they didn’t like
games?!?). Anyhow, I’m going to be having fun, so I strongly suggest you do too :-)
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Doug Stetar
Game Theory & Analysis - Online