International Association of Adjunct Practitioners

Here are a few tips you may find helpful for some of your students who are “new” to the online format for learning.Check the system requirements for your online course. Online Universities will list the minimum requirements you must have in order to participate adequately in their online environment.

1. Print out all assignments and all work that you turn in to avoid catastrophes should you loose your data at least you will have a hard copy.
2. Never send an e-mail or Post to the course until you have read your work thoroughly. Once you have sent your words out into the cyber space you cannot retrieve them. Be careful. If you are emotional about anything, it is best to wait until you are calmer before you do any course work online. Better to be late than to offend someone who may never forgive you.
3. Read all assignments, and syllabi carefully.
4. Allow Study Time that is adequate for the course. Most instructors will tell you how much time you should expect to spend on posting to discussions, homework, and teamwork.
5. Don’t disappear from your course without first notifying instructor. Unexpected absences can affect your grade tremendously in any course where your contribution is solely via the internet.
6. Keep up with all assignments. Once you get behind in an online course it will create havoc in your personal life as you spend days and week-ends trying to play catch-up.
7. Participate with your team. Teams are usually a major factor in your online course. If you are assigned a team and do not contribute as much as your fellow team members, they will not forgive you and consider you to be a free loader. Failing as a team member will affect your grade.
8. Create a schedule for your online course for which you are willing to stay committed. It is too easy to loose track of how many days it has been since you last visited your classroom. Days can easily turn into weeks.
9. Interact with your classmates by contributing meaningful responses to their postings and by offering helpful resources.

International Association of Adjunct Practitioners    Los Angeles, CA 90043