Success Strategies for Online Students | The Sloan Consortium

Success Strategies for Online Students | The Sloan Consortium

Success Strategies for Online Students

August 23, 2010 – 4:27pm | by Sloan-C
Date: 
October 27, 2010 – 2:00pm – 3:30pm

Important Guidance Tips to Address Student Concerns

Students have a variety of unique issues they face in the online environment. Many are either too intimidated to ask, or are unaware of what to ask instructors about how to be successful. This webinar will address how students and online professors can both benefit from guidance provided in the online classroom.
The following topics will be addressed:
  1. Navigation Issues
  2. Terminology Issues
  3. Academic Honesty
  4. Goal Setting
  5. Time Management
  6. Motivation
  7. Increasing Retention
  8. Learning Preferences
  9. Writing and Formatting Skills
  10. Test Preparation Techniques
Although these are common topics addressed in many online courses, many instructors may be inadvertently omitting some important guidelines necessary for their students’ optimal success. In this webinar, the focus will be on providing satisfactory answers to questions students really have,  alleviating their concerns. The end result of learning these techniques will be more successful online students as well as more effective online professors. 
Price:
Individual Members (Free)
Institutional Members ($25/participant)
Guest and Non Members ($99/participant)

 

Powered by Elluminate

Facilitators: 
Diane Hamilton received her B.S. in Business Management from Arizona State University, her M.A. in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix and her PhD in Business Management from Northcentral University. She currently teaches bachelor-, master-, and doctoral-level courses for six online universities. Her books and articles focus on understanding online education, career reinvention and understanding personalities in the workforce. At one of the universities where she teaches, her book The Online Student’s User Manual: Everything You Need to Know to be a Successful Online College Student, is required reading for first-time online students.
Register here: 
Guests and Non-Members ($99/participant)
via sloanconsortium.org

Please click on the above link to find out more about a webinar I will be fascilitating for The Sloan Consortium. “The Sloan Consortium is an institutional and professional leadership organization dedicated to integrating online education into the mainstream of higher education, helping institutions and individual educators improve the quality, scale, and breadth of education. Membership in the Sloan Consortium provides knowledge, practice, community, and direction for educators” (Sloanconsortium.org).

For a list of members of this important consortium of institutions and organizations, please go to: http://sloanconsortium.org/members_list

I personally teach for some of these universities that are listed here. It is an honor to be part of such a quality institution that is committed to teaching excellence. I highly recommend checking out this site by clicking here.

Top 50 Online Buzz Words Explained

If you are considering taking an online college course and feel intimated by the terminology, here are 50 of the top buzz words and terminology you will hear in the online environment. If you are wondering what a rubric is . . . you are not alone.  I have alphabetized them to make definitions easier to find.  To find information like this plus a whole lot more, check out The Online Student’s User Manual by clicking here. 

1.     Accreditation – Quality of the education provided meets the U.S. Dept. of Education standards. There are nationally recognized agencies that the U.S. Dept. of Education recognizes that accredit universities.

2.     ACT – American College Testing Program – test given to high school students to measure education and ability to do well in college.

3.     APA Format – American Psychological Association Format is a guide for formatting students’ papers, including how margins, fonts, citations, etc. should look.

4.     Asynchronous – Not at the same time. In college courses, if a course is asynchronous it means that everybody does not have to participate at the same time.

5.     Attaching Files – When submitting assignments, attaching or uploading is similar to sending an email with an attachment or an uploaded file.

6.     Attendance – Usually a student is considered in attendance on any given day should they post anything to any area of the classroom to show they were there.

7.     Blackboard – Software that many schools use to access the classroom.

8.     Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence – Learners express themselves through movement.

9.    Chat Room – An area in the online classroom where students can talk about things as if they were in a hallway or relaxation area in a regular school. Topics must be clean but do not have to be related to the course.

10.   Critical thinking – According to the Foundation for Critical Thinking (2010), critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

11.   Curriculum – Educational courses offered.

12.   Diploma Mill – A higher-education institution that gives diplomas based on less-than-quality education for a financial return.

13.   Discussion Board – Area in the online classroom where students post responses to questions posted by the professor.

14.   Doc Share – An area within the software program eCollege where students can upload their documents so that others within the course can see and respond to them.

15.   Dropbox – An area within the software program eCollege where students can upload their documents so that only the professor can see them.

16.    eCollege – An online learning software platform used by colleges.

17.    Emoticons – A group of characters used to convey intended tone, e.g. a smiley face.

18.    e-Portfolio – An electronic way to assemble a collection of work you have done, including writings, pictures, blogs, etc.

19.    Extension – In software, the extension is the part of the filename that comes after the period. For example, if a file is named “Sample.doc” then the extension is “.doc”.

20.    Feedback Area – An area in software platforms such as Blackboard where students can see input from the instructor as to how they are doing in the class.

21.    Font – The typeface that is chosen for a document.

22.    Forum – An area within certain software packages such as OLS, which is like a classroom or place that a student will go to find information.

23.    Grade Scale – Explanation for what percentages equivocate to certain grades. For example, 90% may be an A, 80% a B, and so on.

24.    Grant – A way to finance your education, unlike loans in the fact that they do not have to be paid back.

25.    Header – The area at the top of your paper where you might include details such as page numbers or other information about the assignment.

26.    Logical-Mathematical Intelligence – Prefers to think with logic, reasoning and numbers.

27.    MLA – Modern Language Association. A style of writing that schools may use. Most commonly, they use APA.

28.    Musical Intelligence – When music and hearing help with learning, a student is said to have musical intelligence.

29.    Naturalistic Intelligence – When being around outdoors, plants and animals helps with learning, a student is said to have naturalistic intelligence.

30.    Netiquette – Combination of “Internet” and “etiquette”, meaning how to behave properly and not be rude in the online environment.

31.    OLS – Online Learning System software offered by universities to allow students to access their online classes.

32.    Participation – Posting something of substance in a course, usually in response to discussion questions posted by the instructor. Unlike attendance, there must be quality to the posting.

33.    Peer-Reviewed – Peers of the writer of an article have reviewed the document.

34.    Plagiarism – Taking someone else’s work and trying to submit it as your own.

35.    Platform – Software that universities use for online courses to enable students to have access to classes.

36.    Retention – The ability to retain or remember things.

37.    Rubric – Rules for how one will be graded.

38.    SAT – Scholastic Aptitude Test given to high school students to assess intelligence and readiness for college.

39.    Search Engine – Software that searches the Internet for specific things. Examples include Google, Yahoo and Bing. Educational examples include ProQuest and EBSCOhost.

40.    SQ3R – Stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review. It is a process that students can use to study and have better retention.

41.    Syllabus – A summary of course requirements or expectations.

42.    Synchronous – Attending class at the same time as your fellow students and instructors. 

43.    Thread – A posting in class where students and the professor continue a conversation.

44.    TOEFL – Test of English as a Foreign Language – Test to evaluate English skills.

45.    TurnItIn – A software platform that colleges often use to test students’ papers for plagiarism.

46.    Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence – When spoken or written words help students learn better they are said to have verbal-linguistic intelligence.

47.   Virtual University – An online university.

48.   Visual-Spatial Intelligence – When pictures or visual aids help students learn better they are said to have visual-spatial intelligence.

49.    Wiki – A software platform that allows multiple users to input information.

50.    Wikipedia – An online encyclopedia site where students can go to discover basic information. It is important to note is that this is a good place to start looking for information, but not a good source to use when you start to cite references. Because it is a wiki (see definition for wiki), the information on it can be manipulated by numerous users, and therefore can be unreliable.

Is Your Online or Traditional College Fully Accredited?

Is Your Online or Traditional College Fully Accredited?

by admin on August 20, 2010

Is Your Online or Traditional College Fully Accredited?

Accredited online college grade preparation is flourishing quick with most schools charity online degrees. Many colleges right away suggest online courses as well as methods of investigate which have been simpler as well as some-more beguiling for a tyro nonetheless do a good pursuit during education.

Online tutorial degrees assistance students as well as operative professionals in their preparation as well as career advancement. Online grade programs infer to be beneficial in such situations where we need to change in in between obligations towards your family, work as well as career.

Accredited college grade online programs have been accessible in most fields as well as can be finished during a preferred gait of a student. Every a single of us who has ever set feet in a propagandize knows which a little things need some-more time to learn, whilst alternative capability sets as well as contribution have been sealed in to mental recall immediately.

Accredited college grade courses suggest higher grade preparation options all accessible over a Internet. Accredited college grade preparation online is customarily offering in dual options. These have been people from a USA as well as others.

The significance of obtaining a college grade is easy to discriminate as a earning opening in in between those with college degrees as well as those though continues to grow. Accredited college grade preparation online offers some-more people worldwide a event to benefit a college preparation from their own homes or businesses.

Students who finish online college grade mandate rise skills to contest for entrance spin jobs in most specialized fields as well as once hired benefit an value in their capability to allege inside of their fields.

It is rarely critical to investigate as well as to acquire your college grade from an accredited establishment no have a difference if we investigate online or upon a college campus. Not usually will your pursuit offers be contingent upon your college being accredited though students who instruct to request for college financing can usually do so if their college is scrupulously accredited by a correct tutorial boards. No banks will give any college tyro loans to students who have been intending to investigate with a college though accreditation.

The tangible costs of your preparation will change formed upon a university your select to attend, credits we have been transferring in, as well as a approach we select to financial your education. You should deliberate with a college which we devise to attend to get a good guess of a price of your college education.

Online schools carrying a most appropriate staff as well as expertise to learn a college degrees do not come cheap. It takes income for a college to sinecure a good training staff which will work during upon condition which we with a information, skills, as well as believe which leads to good outlines as well as keeps your seductiveness spin tall as we finish your college grade requirements. High outlines as well as a execution of your studies in spin gets we which good job.

Online grade programs everywhere worldwide from normal universities as well as colleges to featured item educational centers focusing upon a expect margin we might be meddlesome in. Just have certain which a college or university which we select is entirely accredited as well as has a rarely competent staff prior to signing upon for their courses.

Learn some-more about online college preparation as well as a consequences for a approach we will live as well as work during College Education Online

via onlineuniversitycolleges.com

It is important to understand accreditation when looking for an online university. This article shares some important information. I’d also add the following:

Not only are schools accredited (institutional accreditation), but their individual programs (specialized accreditation) may be as well. There are six regional accrediting organizations that can grant this accreditation in the U.S.:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools www.msche.org.
New England Association of Schools and Colleges www.ctci.neasc.org.
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities www.nwccu.org.
Northcentral Association of Colleges and Schools http://www.ncacasi.org.
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools www.sacscoc.org.
Western Association of Schools and Colleges www.accjc.org.

You also want to be sure that after you have spent a lot of time, money and effort getting your degree, employers will recognize that as a quality education. You also want to be careful that you are not getting a degree from what many have referred to as a “diploma mill”.

A diploma mill is a school that is more concerned about simply making money from you, and just giving out diplomas for that money, than the education you receive. “A diploma mill or degree mill will pose as a real university and rewards degrees without any evaluation or very little academic work from its students. They make money by selling printed degrees and providing academic references and falsified transcripts to indi-viduals who purchase degrees from them” (elearners.com, 2010). Technically, you can buy just about anything out there, but what good is a piece of paper that says you have a degree when you didn’t learn anything, or do anything to get it other than pay money? That is why it is very important to check out the school’s accreditation before you pay for anything, to be sure you are getting a quality education that will be well-respected and worthwhile.