Accessing Your Online Course(s)
Taking an Online Course
Attendance
Feedback and Responses
Technical Requirements
Technical Assistance
Study and Survival Tips
Course Evaluations
College Honor Code
Accessing Your Online Course(s)
By registering for this course, you will have access to the course through
Blackboard. Log onto Blackboard at bb6.fccj.edu. The course will
be visible to you when the course has been made "available" by me.
Typically I make the course "available" the day before the start of class.
Taking an Online Course
Taking an online course is ideal for students with busy schedules and can be
more convenient than an on-campus class. But please remember, online classes
are not easier and do have deadlines, assignments, and participation
requirements just like on-campus classes. Please budget your time carefully
and keep an open line of communication with me. If you are having technical
problems, problems with your assignments, or problems that are impeding your
progress let me know as soon as possible by calling or emailing me so that
we can work together to ensure your success in this class.
You should review the Online Course page at the Distance Learning web site
carefully for important information about technical requirements, online
learning FAQs, technical support resources, and tips and resources.
All of my online courses are offered in Blackboard.
Blackboard is a learning management system used to deliver courses over the
Internet. It is a web-based software platform that you will log into and use
to access course materials and exercises that I make available to you such
as the syllabus, calendar, bulletin board discussions, links, and much more.
The only experience you need is basic world wide web browsing skills.
Once you are assigned a username and password by me (you must email me for
this before the first day of class), you will always log into the course at
http://bb6.fccj.org.
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Attendance
All online courses that I teach are offered fully online. There are no class
meetings required, however, there will be participation requirements and
field experience requirements for some classes. Participation is interpreted
as attendance and is always weighted into your final grade.
Feedback and Responses
Generally, you can expect an email or telephone response from me within 2
business days. Email is the BEST way to contact me. You can expect
assignments to be graded and grades posted with feedback within one week. If
I am delayed, I will let you know in advance.
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Technical Requirements
All online courses require the following:
Please note
that when turning in your assignments, if you send me an infected file I
will deduct 10-20 percent from your grade on that assignment. FCCJ offers
all paid and enrolled students a FREE email account and Dial-In Access. If
you have a computer with a modem, you can use FCCJ's Dial-In service to
connect to the Internet free of charge. You must have an FCCJ student e-mail
account BEFORE you can use the student dialup services. For information
about how to activate your Student Account and Dial-In Service, see
http://students.fccj.org/dialin/.
My classes require that you meet the general technical requirements, and
also have an understanding of the World Wide Web, word processing, and
email.
Be honest
with me if you feel that you may not meet the technical requirements. If you
are forthcoming, then we can work together to help you meet the
requirements.
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Technical Assistance
Technical assistance is provided by the Learner Support Center. Please call
904-632-3151 for assistance, or email
helpdesk@fccj.org. The hours of operation are:
Monday - Thursday 7am - 10pm
Friday 7am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 1pm
Sunday 1pm - 5pm
Please consult me with any problems related to the course and reserve
technical problems for the Help Desk staff. The Help Desk will not be able
to assist you with problems related to the course, such as deadlines,
content questions, etc.
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Study Skills and Survival Tips
Taking an online course should be an enjoyable, rewarding experience.
However, you must:
Be willing to participate, and understand the rules of participation. For
example, in the "online" world of communication there are codes of etiquette
(netiquette) that you should familiarize yourself with. See
http://www.distancelearning.org/HowToSucceed.htm for more information.
Always use proper grammar when using the Discussion Board. Do not use slang, and use emoticons :-) ;-) :-( sparingly.
Keep on track
and don't fall behind. If you fall behind in short session courses, it will
be difficult for you to catch up. Find a calendar tool that you can live
with and use it to chart all of your due dates and assignments on a
timeline. Word has a Calendar Wizard that does the job thoroughly and
inexpensively.
Learn how to evaluate and cite Internet resources. See How to Evaluate a Web
Site and the Information It Delivers for a great discussion of this topic. I
will provide more information about this as part of each course.
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Course Evaluations
All FCCJ distance learning courses are surveyed. All surveys and results are
completely anonymous. If you have questions about any of the surveys, please
contact the Distance Learning Office.
Three types of surveys are administered to students:
Orientation Survey
If your distance learning course requires an on-campus orientation, you will be asked to fill out a one-page orientation survey. All of my orientation material is online, so you will not be asked to fill out Orientation Surveys.Withdrawal Survey
After the term withdrawal deadline (usually 5-6 weeks after the official start date of the term), a withdrawal survey is mailed to students who have withdrawn, or received an AW (Administrative Withdrawal) from a distance learning course.End of Term Survey
Distance learning courses are evaluated at the end of each term. For each distance learning course you are enrolled in, you will be asked to fill out a one-page survey. End-of-term surveys are administered within the final week of the term. For my courses, online evaluations are administered. As always, the results are completely anonymous.
College Honor Code
All of my courses follow the Academic Dishonesty and Discipline Procedures
set forth by FCCJ. These college-wide policies can be found here.