No! You just have to register for the SmartStart: Academics OWL site and you will have access to all of the courses in August.

The program kicks off on August 1st, but can be accessed until the end of April.

The courses are completed on OWL, a learning management system used here at Western. You’ll access the self-paced courses, forum posts, Zoom events, handouts and more through this system.

You do not need to formally withdraw from the program if you no longer wish to engage with the content. There is no penalty for not completing courses.

No! The courses can be started at any time. SmartStart: Academics will formally end on August 31, but you will be able to access the OWL site throughout the year. There are no deadlines for any practice activities or quizzes throughout the courses.

Time varies between courses and units. Each module within each course shows an estimated time for completion, which ranges from 30 minutes to 2 hours.

You can work through the lessons on your own time. There are events hosted over Zoom, that will run at specific times. These Zoom events aren’t mandatory, so attend the events that fit into your schedule.

No. You may take as many or as few diagnostic quizzes as you like. The diagnostics are designed to give you an idea of where you are at in different areas of each course so that you know which topics you may need to spend more time on. To get the most out of the modules, we suggest you take the diagnostic quiz so you will know which areas you need to brush up on. The results of the diagnostic test are only for your information, to use as a guide for your learning.

You will have access to every subject shown in your diagnostic quiz regardless of how you scored. They will be divided into modules so you can choose which modules to spend more or less time on. You can also complete the modules in whatever order you like, so you can move on to a new topic without finishing the previous module.

There are quizzes embedded throughout the courses. Some will be done through external sites, and others will be completed on the OWL site directly. In addition, there are practice problems, questions, and prompts to collaborate on investigations embedded in the units of the courses. The tests and assessments are there to help with your learning and for you to assess how much more reviewing you might need to do.

Generally, there are 1-2 quizzes per unit. You do not have to do all of them, however, we strongly recommend completing every aspect of the modules that your diagnostic quiz indicated you needed more practice with.

The tests and assessments are there to help with your learning and for you to assess how much more reviewing you might need to do. The results of these tests and quizzes are not shared with anyone. We may use anonymized data to assess the success of the SmartStart Academics program, but will not share your name or scores with anyone.