Lesson 1.1:
Start Guide for Your Online Readiness Course

On behalf of Northern Essex Community College, North Shore Community College, and  Salem State University, We would like to welcome you to your online readiness course! My name is Gail Rankin and I work at  Salem State University. While you are hearing my voice, know that the creation of this course was a group effort. It was designed, written, and built by students, for students. These participating students were first-year attendees, seniors, sophomores, and graduate students from all three institutions. Designed both as an orientation and reference guide, the students carefully added the elements that they felt were critical for you to know. It their names that appear in the credits below.

This brief training will help prepare you for successfully completing college courses online. What does success look like in an online course, and how is it different from a face-to-face course? Among students, there is a myth that online courses are easier than in-person classes, but just like a course in a classroom, online courses require hard work, self-discipline, and focus to learn the course content successfully and earn a passing grade. Online courses have the added benefits of flexibility in when, where, and how you complete your course. As the demand for online courses grows, we want to help you build the skills you need to be successful and have a positive experience. That’s where this course comes in. 

This course will go over the basics of online learning and what is expected of you in an online course. We’ll also offer tips and tricks to improve the skills and habits that make you a strong student, like time management, organization, and finding motivation, noting that these skills are employed slightly differently when taking an online class. It will also go over tech prep to make sure you have the right tools for your online course and common online learning platforms that you may encounter at your college or university.

This course will take approximately 3 hours from start to finish, however you can jump through the sections to pick and choose what areas you want to focus on. All the information that you need to prepare for an online course is divided into four “modules,” or units of information.

We hope that you will find this course useful, productive, and informative. We look foreword to hearing your feedback as we work to make this course better. Good luck!