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What's an Online Class?  

 

An online class is one in which both students and instructor communicate via their computers. NOTE:  There are NO on-campus meetings for BUS M28. 

  • The assignments, class lectures, documents, and responses are on screen.

  • Communication with instructor and other students in the class is through the sections called   Discussions and Mailbox, your personal e-mail, and other media. 

  •  The syllabus, assignments, and other course materials are provided on screen.

  •  All of these media are provided with the course curriculum management system, WebCT.

The class does not meet on campus, and students work on class assignments according to their own time schedules. The word for this kind of schedule is asynchronous.

 

  • There are deadlines for assignments but not scheduled times to accomplish them.

  • Tests, however, are scheduled and most have time restrictions and they are online.  

 

In classes I have recently completed through UCLA, students worked from their homes in Israel, many countries in South America, and many states in the U.S. The course instructors were in Idaho (moved to Texas during the course), Oregon, Texas, California, and New Hampshire. When students live in different times zones, it is very difficult to schedule specific times. Alaska is building a large online program because of its vast remote areas in which there are not enough students to support schools and colleges. 

When you take an online class, you need the following:

  • a Mac with 7.1 system or better or

  • a PC with Internet access; Netscape or Internet Explorer (Explorer is better);

  • a modem with at least 14.4 Kbps (28.8 is better);

  • windows 95 or newer; and

  • Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or comparable word processing program.

If you do not have your own computer, check at the open students lab in the new life science, math/computer science building (LMC) on campus.
If you are not near the Moorpark Campus, you will need to locate a computer you can use.

  • You need to be comfortable with using a computer. Confidence in using basic cut/copy/paste and other editing skills in your word processing program is a must.
  • You should know how to search the Internet to complete research assignments.
  • You need experience with maximizing and minimizing to toggle between screens.

Contact Fran at franna@pacbell.net for questions or clarification.