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Succeeding in IDC

Keys to Student Success

• Plan to devote at least 10 hours a week to each graduate course.

• Get going on your courses as soon as they begin.  Many instructors send out email via your Banner email address to tell you how to log on and get started.

• Log-on to online courses every day to monitor email, discussions, and announcements.

• For online courses, print out each week's instructions and follow them in the order provided.

• Meet all deadlines.  Pay close attention to due dates for assignments; Vista will not accept assignments after designated dates

• Use the feedback you receive to improve your work. Otherwise, you're wasting one of the most valuable resources afforded to you as a graduate student.

• Instead of getting anxious about mistakes, learn something from them.

• This is a professional program; work as if your instructor is your employer and your grades are employee evaluations

• Learn the online course tools right away.  Use the support services and tutorials to help you get up to speed early.

• Be a problem solver.  When something doesn’t seem clear to you or doesn’t work the way you expect, see if you can find a solution.  When you have exhausted your resources, including technical support and WebCT Vista support, consult the class, if there is a discussion area for such topics, or a technical forum, if there is one in the course.

• Use email according to your instructor’s guidelines.  Use discussion for public communication.

• If you are expected to use any special tools or software in your course, such as Live Classroom or Podcasts, be sure to learn how to access the content provided via these tools before you need it. 

• When in doubt about course requirements and expectations, consult the syllabus first.  Then, if you don’t get the information you need, contact your instructor.