Computer Access

Students must have daily access to a computer. If you don’t have frequent access, online learning might not be for you.

Not only will you need access to a computer, but you will also be required to log into the Internet. Almost all computers now come with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) program like AOL or Earthlink already installed. If you haven't already subscribed to an ISP, you will want to do so.

Computer Comfort

You don’t need to be a computer or software engineer to be a successful online student. You do however need to be comfortable using email, an internet browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape) and know how to use a word processing program like Microsoft Word. If you can work with these three things, you are a great candidate for online learning. If not, you should become familiar with them before enrolling in your first online course.

Accessing your course

One of the major stumbling blocks for online students is that they do not access their course frequently enough. It’s tempting to think that you can check your class once or twice a week and be done with it. But that’s not the case. One of the primary places that learning takes place is in the asynchronous (students are not required to be online at the same time) discussion boards. This is where you participate with your instructor and fellow classmates. Because the communication here takes place asynchronously, information is constantly changing and being updated. If you only checked it once or twice a week, you’d have a lot of reading to do and very likely you’d be very far behind. The fact is you should check your class everyday if possible, or at least five times a week.

Participation

Many people are surprised that participation is such a large part of online learning. Most faculty will weigh your participation very heavily, some times up to 30 percent of your final grade. Participation means checking in on the course shell, responding to questions posted in the discussion boards and replying to responses from your classmates. Your professors will tell you in the class syllabus exactly what they expect from you in regards to participation.

Course Calendar

Online courses at University College follow the ten week quarter schedule. Students will have due dates for their assignments, projects, papers, tests and quizzes. You are expected to follow the course calendar provided within your syllabus.

Course Materials

Students are responsible for obtaining course materials. We try to make this as easy as possible for our students. Textbooks can be ordered online through the DU bookstore and in most cases can be delivered within a few days. You are also welcome to purchase your book through other online booksellers. Just make sure you get the appropriate edition. Your professor might also put special journal articles on reserve via the electronic reserve at Penrose Library which are available over the Internet. Students might also be responsible for purchasing special software, depending on the course. Your syllabus will list all of the required course materials.

DU email

Since the class you will be taking is online, you will spend a lot of time communicating electronically, especially via email. As a University of Denver student, you are given a free DU email account. University College recognizes that most of our students already have one or more email accounts that they commonly use. However, University College will send emails only to your DU account and many of your professors will only communicate with you via your DU email. You should get into the habit of checking your DU email on a regular basis or forwarding it to your preferred email account.