What is online learning?
Online Learning at Hudson Valley Community College means using the Internet and e-mail to access courses, submit homework assignments, and communicate with the instructor and other students. Online learning course materials include videos as well as textbooks, student guides, and Internet sites. Online Learning means that students can work at locations and times that are convenient for them. Although most of the work can be done from home, some of the courses require labs or other on-campus meetings. A few of the courses may also have mid-terms or finals on campus. Please send comments or questions to: Susan Gallagher Director, Distance Learning Phone: (518) 629-7070 E-mail: dlhelp@hvcc.
The term online learning refers to computer or technology-based educational situations and covers a wide range of learning processes. Online learning is: • A program offered through the internet which the learner accesses from any computer with an internet connection. The learner is not limited to a single point of access and may begin work on one computer and finish work on another. This type of learning may, in some cases, also be accessed from a handheld device with access to the internet such as a mobile phone or PDA. This type of learning may be ASYNCHRONOUS, meaning that the learner completes it on his/her own schedule, separate from that of an instructor or other learners, or SYNCHRONOUS, meaning that either learners, the instructor, or both are logging in and interacting with each other at the same time.
If you’re new to online learning, you might think the experience could be impersonal — just you, sitting in front of your computer either late at night or before sunset, depending on your personality! Nothing could be further from the truth. You’ll meet people from all over (we’ve had folks from Australia and New York, and from Louisiana and California in the same courses) and connect with them in deep and meaningful ways as you collaborate to learn the course content. We deliver our online courses in Blackboard, which is a courseware system designed to hold all course announcements and assignments, plus a discussion board (there’s other stuff, there, too, which you’ll learn all about once you’re in a course). You’ll post messages to the discussion board and take part in conversations with other students via “threaded” discussions, which means that you can follow a thread of messages, from the initial post through reply after reply. Unlike a listserv or email, these discussions are re
Some departments in the College offer Internet courses. Using the World Wide Web, students access lectures, participate in class assignments, interact with the instructor, collaborate with other students, and earn college credit. Classroom activities–bulletin board discussions, chatrooms, assignments, e-mail, and testing are completed online. It is strongly recommended that you have intermediate computer and Internet knowledge and fundamental keyboarding skills to fully participate in an online class. Along with computer skills, certain computer hardware and software is required for online courses. To determine if you have the appropriate skills to successfully complete an online course complete the two surveys located at “Is Online Learning For Me?” Check the Online checklist for directions on how to take an online course. Have a look at Riverland’s Computer Resources if you have questions.
