next »

[magistra]

Inspired by Notaprof's thread, this thread is to create a list of tips which those who teach online can give out to students.  Perhaps we can get it stickied.  Here are a few to start with:


Make sure you have reliable internet access.

Create a calendar with due dates, study times, etc.

Familiarize yourself with the course software and any textbooks before the semester starts.

Read the syllabus and course materials very carefully.  Re-read them midway through the semester.  Make sure you're fulfilling all requirements, are familiar with course policies, know the deadlines, etc.

Traditionally, a student is to study 3 hours outside of class for every hour in it.  Our in-class hour is the equivalent of your reading the online lecture notes.  Thus, for a 3-credit online class, you are expected to devote a minimum of 12 hours a week to it; many students will need more time.  This should be reflected in your calendar.

Check the course website and your university e-mail a minimum of three times a week.  Check on a regular schedule; this should be reflected in your calendar.

Work continually throughout the week as you would for a face-to-face class.  This should be reflected in your calendar.  If you try to do all the work for the week in one day you will fail.  If you ignore the class for weeks at a time you will fail.  If you leave major assignments until just before the deadline you will fail.  You must exercise self-discipline to succeed in an online class.

Use all available resources, both online and on campus.

Don't be afraid to e-mail the professor!  We still want to hear from you.  Ask for feedback, clarification of instructions, or ask a question.  If possible, try to meet with your professor in real time.

Don't just post to the discussion boards, read and respond to others' posts.  Be part of a live discussion.

Read all feedback carefully.  It will help you improve on the next assignment.

[notaprof]

Wow!  This is great!  Thanks Magistra!

Sorry if that is too many exclamation points for some, I think they are all warranted.

[polly_mer]

Step one before signing up for an online class, read through any of the excellent checklists on the factors that many successful online students share like this one or this one and make sure that this is you.

Make sure you try everything the first week as part of the orientation.  Don't skip anything as "trivial".  It's far better to spend five minutes and find out that you really do know how to do whatever it is than to assume you do and find out the day something is due (or worse two days after the due date when you get that zero) that you don't.

Never give away free points.  If you can take a quiz until it's perfect, do it.  If you can get three points on the first day for reading the syllabus and finding the secret message to email to the professor, do it.

Make sure that you are computer literate according to whatever standards your school posts as a required part of online classes.  If you don't know what any of those things mean, ask, ask, ask (preferably before the start of the semester, but definitely not later than the end of the first week).

Go to the online orientation if there is one before class starts.  Take good notes and, again, try everything.

[melba_frilkins]

Adding to the above:

Use a printed calendar/weekly planner to write down all important dates. Keep this where you can see it.

Keep a three-ring binder for the each class. PRINT a copy of the syllabus and keep it at the front of the binder. Also print out other important documents like instructions for assignments.

If you have two or more online classes, be careful not to get them mixed up, for example what time of day assignments are due. Make a list to summarize the policies for each class.

For your discussion board replies, type them up as a Word (or other word processor) document. Proof and edit your work. Save it as you go along. Then copy/paste into the discussion.

Work ahead, as the course allows.

Act as if each deadline is 6 hours earlier than it actually is.

Have a back-up plan in case your computer or internet service goes kaplooey at the worst time possible.

If you have small children, do not plan on being able to work on the class while watching your child(ren). You'll have to wait until they are in bed for the night.

Check if there's a recommendation for which browser you should be using. Use it.

[sueelvins]

Adding to the above:
Use a printed calendar/weekly planner to write down all important dates. Keep this where you can see it.
Work ahead, as the course allows. Act as if each deadline is 6 hours earlier than it actually is.
Have a back-up plan in case your computer or internet service goes kaplooey at the worst time possible.
Check if there's a recommendation for which browser you should be using. Use it.

I wished to point out a few comments from personal experience as a Doctorate student...

Most universities can provide you with a weekly calendar planner which will eliminate the idea of ever needing to print out excessive paper. I'm not sure about others but I for one look at it this way, it's hard enough to deal with a load of books let alone more paper to go through. That's just my own pet peeve as I like to keep my desk free and clear of excessive waste.

I chose to use a day planner as I write everything in it that occurs throughout the week for class. Now since I am taking Doctorate studies it is quite intense because the class work is 1) on line and 2) accelerated so it is a shorter span. What some students would take in two months, I complete in four to six weeks pending on the class genre. 

Now something that I will agree with 110% is that I do keep it within arm's reach and eye view at all times because I review it more than I review the monthly wall calendar without a doubt. The planner has become something that is a huge help for my daily and weekly college routine especially now that I am starting to plan out my doctorate dissertation prospectus.

As for the working ahead comment, that is something I can speak on as I am doing it now ONLY because I need to be on medical leave for a brief time due to surgery. After receiving permission from college personnel and filling out the correct forms, I now can discuss the necessary way to work ahead within the class. For example, a hint that was suggested to me from my Chair adviser regarding this was to speak to the instructor during the first week (after meeting with the instructor off line) and discuss with the instructor the best way how he or she would advise on working ahead to not be overwhelmed yet still be ahead in assignments because of my situation.

Since I have permission from my Chair and the ADA Director to do this, I can freely discuss the matter with my instructors and that is the only time that I would feel comfortable in moving forward so everyone is on the same page and in agreement.

As for the browser usage, when a student gets a welcome message there should be a notice in it from the College or University that tells them the best browser he or she must use for their studies. I know each term I receive notice from the help desk that my classes are now open for accessibility along with a reminder of the browsers that are highly suggested to use for the recommended performance. I believe the last email I got there was even a link suggested to get the latest update which was a new addition to their email.

As a programmer who has been using computers since Windows 3.1, I pay close attention to the odd ball issues and make others aware of any technical issues if they are important.  =)

Regards,
S. Elvins

[chaosbydesign]

I took an online class this year, so thought I'd share a few things I thought of while I was taking it:

-Do not spend any more time on each 'lecture' posted online than you would if it were an online class (i.e. read through the lecture and take notes as you would in class, then do private study as you would normally from those notes.) It's not enough to read through the lecture over and over again until you've learned it word-for-word -- the same extra work/reading is required as would be required for a f2f class, and just because the class is online, it does not mean that *everything* you need in order to get a high grade will be provided for you. Extra reading will probably be reccommended. Read all of it. Then find more yourself.

-Go through each lecture as it is posted -- set times each week to work on the online class and stick to the same times each week. Missing just one day can result in you not having finished all the work required for the week before the next lecture is posted, and this can result in you falling behind for the rest of the semester. It is much harder to catch up on missed material with an online course than it is in a f2f course. If you set aside an hour or so to read the week's material at the same time each week as if it were a timetabled class, it will be much easier to keep on top of things -- do this at the beginning of the week so that you have the rest of the week to work on the week's topic. Reading the lecture on Saturday morning and expecting to finish it all by Monday will not work.

-As you're reading, set yourself questions on the material and come back and answer these the following week (i.e. after you have completed the next component). If you can't answer the questions, go back and review the material. It's useful to review all the material covered so far every couple of weeks so that you know you're understanding the material and able to build on what you know with the following lectures, rather than continuing to not fully understand things all the way through.

-If something isn't clear, ask! There are as many students (if not more) in an online class as in a f2f class so you have plenty of people to discuss things with. If the online class is being run as a part of a degree which also has f2f classes, many of the students taking the class will be on your campus, so if you prefer to have some f2f contact in classes, contact the students via the CMS and see if any of them would be interested in setting up a study group. You could pick articles related to the week's topic and have a 'Journal Club', along with asking eachother questions on the course material. Come up with questions to answer together -- instead of having each person in the group answer one question, have everyone answer all the questions and discuss them all together. Everyone will find something that someone else in the group may not have found, so you can learn from eachother.

-Online classes are NOT easier than f2f classes -- they're harder. If you're taking the class because you think it'll be easier, then you'll be in for a shock. Because you're completely responsible for your own learning when taking an online course (nobody is verbally reminding you of deadlines, nobody is taking attendance at classes etc.) you have to keep on top of everything even more than in a regular class. Check all deadlines regularly. Read assignment instructions in advance -- you'll have to ask questions by email, so it's not a good idea to leave this until the week the assignment is due in case the professor is unable to answer email for some reason.

[drcowboyphd]

These tips are fantastic, and correlate with what we tell our own online students. I'm compiling them into one bit list-o-tips for my online class.

[gerogal]

Thank you all. I summarized the ideas and tailored it to my U.
  I am teaching an online class and am posting it to my students.

[coastcat]

I'm an online student in a masters program that includes a lot of collaborative work, so I've got a few tips to add.

1. Your technology must be reliable. Clean the garbage off your computer, install anti-virus and anti-spyware software if you don't already have it, update your OS including all service packs, and use your student discount to get the latest versions of whatever software you need. If you can, set up a second computer as a backup. If possible, make that backup computer a laptop; if your home internet goes out, you can work at the library or Starbucks. Oh, and buy a printer. Inkjets are cheap.

2. Email is your lifeline. My collaboration partners have both my university email and my personal email. If you don't want old classmates popping out of the woodwork and friending you on Facebook later on, just set up a free (Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc) address to use for classes and forward incoming mail to your real address. CHECK YOUR EMAIL DAILY. Geez.

3. For collaborative work, look to options like Skype, Google Docs and Sites, Windows Live Sync, GoToMeeting, and Dropbox. Set up regularly scheduled meetings with your teammates. Last semester I completed a major assessment project with two teammates. We used Google Docs for brainstorming and writing drafts, Skype for talking (two scheduled weekly meetings plus additional meetings as needed), and Dropbox for exchanging formatted or large documents.

4. Use Google Calendar or an equivalent to remind you of deadlines, meetings, exams, and other class obligations. Put reminders on your cell phone as well. Write critical dates on the wall in blood if you must.

5. Chime to the suggestion about composing your posts offline. Your instructor and classmates will (for the most part) only know you through the written word, so make a good impression. After you've written the post, read it out loud. If it sounds awkward, re-write. If you used txtspk, just log off and kill yourself now, thanks.

6. Set up the right environment for classwork. I do most of my writing at the upstairs computer, accompanied by a pot of Earl Gray and a couple cats. I find it hard to concentrate on reading at home, though, so I print out any articles for the week and review them at Starbucks (scribbling notes in the margins).

7. If any materials are posted to the CMS, save them to your computer right away. I save the syllabus and all the articles to my Dropbox so they're accessible from anywhere (including my iPhone).

8. Read the syllabus. That should go without saying, but any regular reader here knows it has to be repeated regularly. Read the syllabus, please.