How to Succeed in an Online Course: Study Skills and Survival Tips

Getting Started - Introduction to Online Learning

Netiquette - Helpful Tips

Selecting and Citing Internet Information

Working with your Professor

Netiquette - Helpful Tips

In the virtual classroom, you communicate with your classmates and Instructor primarily in writing through the public course bulletin board, e-mail, and sometimes chat sessions. "Online manners" are generally known as "netiquette." As a general rule, you should adhere to the same classroom conduct that you would "off-line" in a face-to-face course. Some examples of proper netiquette are:

• Avoid writing messages in all capital letters. THIS IS GENERALLY UNDERSTOOD AS SHOUTING.


• Be careful what you put in writing. Even if you are writing an e-mail message to one person, assume that anyone could read it. Though you may send an e-mail to a single person, it is very easy to forward your message to hundreds or thousands of people.


• Grammar and spelling matter. Online courses demand the same standard of academic communication and use of grammar as face-to-face courses.


• Never use profanity in any area of an online course. The transcripts of online course bulletin boards, e-mail, and chat sessions are savable.


• When responding to messages, only use "Reply to All" when you really intend to reply to all.


• Avoid unkindly public criticism of others. Publicly criticizing others in an inappropriate way is known as "flaming."


• Use sarcasm cautiously. In the absence of nonverbal cues such as facial expressions and voice inflections, the context for your sarcasm may be lost, and your message may thus be misinterpreted.

In a face-to-face setting, our tone of voice and facial expressions may convey as much of our meaning as the words we use. In a written message, the subtext of your meaning may be confused or misinterpreted. "Emoticons" are sometimes used in conjunction with text to overlay emotion in a written message, to clarify the meaning. It is a good idea to check with your Professor as to when (or if) it is appropriate in any areas of the online classroom to use emoticons or commonly used Internet slang abbreviations (e.g., "lol," "brb," etc.). Some examples of emoticons are:

Here are just a few examples of some popular smileys (it helps if you read them sideways):

:-) smile	|-( late night	B-| sunglasses	;-) wink
:-( sad	[:-) listening to IPOD	:-& tongue-tied	:<| Ivy Leaguer
8-) glasses	:-} wry or fiendish grin	:-0 big mouth	:-@ screaming
:-D big smile	:-I hmmm	(:-) smiley big-face	:-] sarcasm

Working With your Professor

Each distance learning instructor has different expectations and course requirements. It is important that you read the course requirements carefully, and communicate thoroughly with your Professor. Don't wait until the last minute to report problems, or discuss any difficulties you may be having.

Here are some tips for working with your instructor:

• At the beginning of the term, contact your Professor ON-TIME. Do not wait until a week past the official start date to contact your professor. Likewise, keep in mind that online course access is not available until the official collegewide start date.


• Some online courses require class meetings, such as labs or orientation. If an orientation is listed in the Schedule Notes of Artemis as "Mandatory," it is required and necessary to your success in the course. Schedule accordingly.


• Work WITH your professor. If you have an academic matter to discuss with your professor, contact her/him. The Learner Support Center and Distance Learning Office can only help you with technical problems. A technical problem is a problem with the technical working of BlackBoard. For example, if your online testing session timed out and you have lost access to the online test, contact your professor - this is NOT a technical problem.
  

Selecting and Citing Internet Information

See How to Evaluate a Web Site and the Information It Delivers from the FCCJ Library Web.

As you browse the many resources on the Internet, you will find web pages on just about any topic you can think of. If you are doing academic research, it is strongly recommended that you make use of the library as your primary source to research and collect articles and books on your topic. Resources found on the Internet can still be used, however, you must conscientiously evaluate the source and content of the Web page.

When an academic journal publishes an article, that article is peer-reviewed for accuracy and plagiarism. You can be confident that the article is accurate, and you can cite it reliably in your bibliography. However, you may find an article on the Internet that appears to contain good information, however, there is no guarantee that the article contains accurate information, and is not plagiarized from another source. And, because of the temporary life of some web sites and pages, when you cite the resource, it may not be there later for you or your Professor to check. Ultimately, if you include inaccurate or plagiarized information in your research paper, you are responsible. It is your sole responsibility to verify and corroborate the accuracy of any sources that you utilize and cite in a research paper.

Nevertheless, the Internet can be a helpful source of information, when used with forethought. You must evaluate each page carefully. Some questions to ask yourself:

• Who is the intended audience of the Web page?


• What is the source type? Is this a memo, a letter, a personal page, an unpublished article, a conference proceeding?


• Is the author or publisher of the web page listed clearly? Is there an e-mail link to the author for questions or comments?


• Is the author or publisher a professional, or an expert in the web page topic?


• Is the URL appropriate to the content of the page?


• .edu and .org sites are hosted by educational institutions. Example: http://www.unf.edu. Personal web pages at an academic site (student and faculty pages) usually contain a username in the URL.


• .gov sites are hosted by the government. Example: http://www.ed.gov


• .com and .net sites are hosted by commercial interests. Many personal home pages are hosted commercially.


• Does the site indicate the last page update? Has the site been updated recently?


• Read the Web page content critically. Is there evidence of bias?


• Are links from the page current and relevant?