How to Succeed in This Course
Some wise guy once said that 95% of success
in life is just showing up. There is much truth in that statement, even in
academia.
With almost 40 years of teaching experience I have
discovered one fundamental truth: Students who show up on time, never miss
a class except in emergency, do all their work on time, and pay attention to
what's going on, not only never fail; virtually all those students get A's or B's.
In traditional classes that means showing up in
the classroom for the designated three hours per week. For online classes the
requirement is essentially the same, the difference being that instead
of showing up for class you show up at your computer and enter your virtual
classroom on a regular basis.
My suggestion is that you try to set aside regular
times to do this, whether it be in the evening
after the rest of family has gone to bed, or early in the morning before the
rest of the family has gotten up, or at some convenient time during the day
when you can get away from the hustle and bustle of life and concentrate on
your course for an hour or more. In fact, it would be a good idea to find two
or three times during the week when you can do this because trying to do a
week's worth of work in one sitting will put a strain on even the most dedicated
students, particularly those who have very busy lives and are taking this
online course because it's inconvenient for them to come class.
Try to ensure that you have an interruption-free
environment. If you have young children, or work during slack time at the office,
that may be a challenge, but do your best. Learning new material requires concentration,
and if it's frequently broken, you won't retain as much as you should.
Here are some additional tips for success:
- The most important thing in a distance course is getting started, which means not just sending an introductory form or email, but actually starting the course work. Don't put it off.
- Always get your work done on time. Make a commitment and stick
with it.
- Be prepared to sacrifice for success—tape that football
game or favorite movie and watch it after the exam.
- Don't take shortcuts; that is, don't try to skip the reading
in the hope that you can somehow figure out what you're doing during the
exam.
- Print out the topic summaries and as you read them jot down
high points.
- Do the same with the reading in your text. (I have always found
highlighting to be a lazy man's way of note taking—it does not build
retention; having to think and rewrite in your own words DOES build retention.)
- Rather then rereading everything for a quiz, go over your notes
and then go back and check up on what you seem to have forgotten.
- Bookmark the key pages from this site—syllabus, check list, 121 or 122 Home—in a “History Class” folder.
- Do the practice quizzes—you will see a few of the questions
on the “real” quiz, so you'll have a leg up.
- On your writing assignments, never hand in a first draft, and
always allow some time to pass between completing your first draft and revising
and editing the final version.
- Once you have finished your final version let it sit and
proofread it after you've had some time away from it.
- These steps indicate that you need to spread out
your work over the week, because sitting down to write a paper—drafting,
editing, revising, and submitting—all in one sitting is not likely
to produce the best result.
- When you get stuck, ask questions before you get frustrated.
In order to help you succeed, I will do my best to:
- Answer e-mail
requests on a daily basis seven days a week. If I'm going to be unavailable
on a weekend, or for any other time, I'll try to let you know in advance.
(Please
understand that this does not mean that I'm available 24 & 7; it does
mean that I will look at e-mail at least once a day and on most days several
times, but it does not necessarily mean that you will have an answer
within an hour from when you submit your e-mail.)
- Respond as quickly as I can to suggestions about the
web site and fix broken links, etc. If you find the navigation puzzling,
let me know.
- Keep a reasonable balance between making you
scroll and making you click, but I can't get everything you need to know
on one page, nor would you want it that way.
- Return phone calls as soon as I see the message. All my voice mail is sent to me via email, so it may be just as simple to email me and ask me to call you. Be sure to include a number and put History 12x--please call me in the subject line.
- Return all your work in a timely manner, but I will give priority
to those who turn in work on time.
- Understand your problems. You should know that if you find
you cannot handle the course and decide to withdraw, that is not a failure!
If you have given it careful consideration, it will be a mature decision
that will leave you feeling good about wanting to get back to it later.
History 121 Home | History 122 Home | Updated
October 18, 2007