by Robyn Tellefsen
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You're so frustrated, you just want to turn around and go home. Home is the place where you relax, unwind, and incidentally, feel the most free to come up with your best ideas.
Why not invite the classroom into a familiar environment? Come and take a peek at the cyber classroom that you can also call home - literally.
Get the Keys
Let's start with the basics. Turn your car around, and drive home. Walk into your office, or whichever room houses your computer. Turn on said computer. Connect to the Internet. Type your school's Web address into your browser window. Log in, using the screen name and password provided upon registration. Now, click into your course, and let the learning begin.
Look Around
Upon arrival, you'll be greeted with a welcome screen of notes and instructions from your professor. Just as you would walk into a physical classroom and familiarize yourself with its surroundings, be sure to take time to look around your new cyber home and get comfortable with its many windows and writings.
Don't miss the assignment page, which lets you know exactly what's expected of you in the course. The syllabus, or student course guide, details all requirements, and is typically available online as well. You'll probably be assigned work from a textbook and CD-ROM that you'll receive in the mail, as well as work based on online course materials, such as eBooks or PowerPoint slides.
Make Yourself at Home
In order to truly feel at home in your cyber classroom, you'll want to spend plenty of time getting to know your fellow students. Even though you might never meet face-to-face, you can learn a lot about each other and the course subject matter through newsgroups, also known as Web discussion boards. In a newsgroup, your instructor assigns discussion topics, and you're required to post your thoughts and feedback, typically on a new topic each week. Your instructor reads and responds to your posts, and can check to see how many posts you've made throughout the course.
And, if your course is asynchronous, you don't have to log on at specific times - you can peruse and post when it's convenient for you, as long as you meet your deadlines. Assignments such as research papers and essays can be written offline at your leisure and e-mailed to your professor, or uploaded directly into the online classroom. But if you do need to talk to your classmates or prof in real time, save on phone bills and invite them to an online chat. It'll be just like having a meeting in your living room!
Don't Skip the Basement
Of course, not every room in your new home can be a game room. That's right... you need to test your newfound knowledge. Consider this the unfinished basement you may not like, but where there's room to keep all your stuff. The good news is that you can take a trip to the basement (i.e. log on to your exam) at a time that coordinates with your schedule, a time when you're at your best. Many online exams are open-book, timed from the moment you begin, and auto-graded except for essay portions. When you get to higher-level courses, you may need a proctor to ensure the integrity of your work. Bring her down to the basement with you.
Plus, you'll have a blueprint to help you keep track of all the nooks and crannies in your new home - grading menus or spreadsheets that list the material you've submitted. You always know where you stand in this house.
Still deciding about sitting in traffic vs. hanging out at home? Take a look around, and head back where you belong - home, sweet home.
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