TIPS FOR TAKING INTERNET COURSES

Whether or not this is your first internet course, here are some tips for your consideration. 

1.  Be sure to clearly label your postings with the subject and a consistent name.  Changing your name from “Robert” to “Bob” is not a good idea.   It is very easy for the instructor and the computer to confuse the postings.  Be sure it is clear.

2. Post your assignments in your assigned section.  If in doubt, please check the roster for the various sections of your particular current course.  Once you determine your correct section, it might be advisable to bookmark/favorite places section.

3. Internet courses accommodate the user according to their own time-table.   This can be a great advantage or can become a hindrance.  Be sure and pace yourself.  It is much better to work consistently in smaller amounts.  This gives you time to process information and allows peers time to provide feedback.  This is not like an undergraduate course; cramming does not work.  If you want to see how much you have contributed to the course, tap on the search button at the top of the discussion page, type your name, and the computer will allow you to isolate all your postings.

4. Make the majority of your postings thoughtful and pertinent.  Comments like “go girl” or “good job” are not, alone, considered quality discussion postings.  Some of these are fine, but after a few hundred, you will see that they are terribly time consuming.  Postings will be evaluated both quantitatively  and qualitatively.

5. Make most of your comments and questions in the discussion section.  Personal emails to the instructor are acceptable for a rare personal question, but should not be our main mode of communication.  Your publicly asked question and its feedback can often aid the other students in understanding.  This is truly a valuable part of the discussion page.

6. Don’t let technical problems bog you down.  If, after several efforts, you are still experiencing technical difficulties, contact the course designer. They are knowledgeable and happy to help.

7. Expect to spend several hours each week in front of your computer.  Fifteen minutes, once in a while, are not enough for a graduate level course.

8. This venue is an exciting opportunity to explore new technologies, new education techniques, and to just have a good ol’ “new” fashioned time.

9. It might be helpful to learn how to open both the discussion page and the response page, or other page(s) of the course.  You will find it easy to toggle between pages to send comments. You can open any link in a new window by holding down the shift key when you click on the hyperlink.

10. Be sure to print out lesson plans that you may wish to keep, along with your discussion responses.  You might find it helpful in building your portfolio.

How to Save Your Work

It is a good idea to type out your responses in a word processing program such as Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, WordPad, etc.  Then your information is there to use for your journal, future projects, and to use in the Discussion.

Just left click and hold, block the section you want to post, right click on the highlighted text, and select "Copy".  Then you can go to the Discussion form, right click in the box in which you want to put your text, select "Paste", and it's there!  

This will keep you from losing work.  There are a lot of variables and potential problems with Internet, and keeping a backup of your work is always a safe bet.

You can also "Copy and Paste" the comments of others into your word processing document.  At the end of the course, your document will be a nice item to print and include in your Portfolio.

By the way, on a Mac mouse there is no right button to click, so a right-click is a click-and-hold on an Apple computer.