Introduction

Schedule

The class has a general schedule that is designed to suggest how long students should take in each unit to complete the first semester of this course within a typical 18 week time frame. You may need to make adjustments to fit your specific calendar. You will definitely need to make adjustments for holidays. You are advised to create a schedule that meets the specific needs of your students as necessary and post it in the course.

Getting Started Section: Policies and Procedures

The Getting Started section of the course contains general information that will help students understand how the course works. You will probably want to make some adaptations to fit your specific needs. You can add a separate Policies and Procedures area in which you describe the variations and additions that pertain to your section. This may include the following.

• Specific policies regarding deadlines, revisions, academic honesty, and anything else you feel students should know about.
• Technical instructions for handing in assignments. This course is used in a variety of course management systems, so it avoids giving specific instructions of this kind. Your students will want some specific instructions on how they should access assignments, discussions, and quizzes.
• Any other important information you need to add.

General Tips

Students will be naturally confused at the beginning of the semester. No matter how carefully they are instructed on what to do, they will have trouble getting started. Be sure to put a clear announcement helping them to get started. Contact any students who are not getting anywhere as soon as possible to help them find their way.

You can add a content item to the course in which you introduce yourself and give other helpful information to students. You can even add a picture and a spoken message to this page.

As the semester continues, be alert for students who are not keeping pace. It is very easy for online students to lose touch with the class, and if they do that for more than a few days, they have trouble getting started again.

Remember that you have the ability to make adjustments in the class requirements. You can tell students to change assignment requirements, you can add alternative assignments, and you can change grade book values. One very popular adjustment is to add discussion topics on current events that relate to your course subject.

Generally a 90 / 80 / 70 / 60 scale is appropriate here based on total points in the course. You can devise your own 'weighting system' if you think that's appropriate.