What is Expected of Me in Online Courses?

In order to be most successful when taking classes online, it is helpful to have certain skills, and while not all online courses are the same, many share similar expectations.

This page will cover some of the typical requirements of an online course and the rest of this Online Learning Readiness Guide will provide you with some resources to develop the skills that are helpful in meeting those requirements.

Proactivity

Since you won’t see the instructor at a regularly scheduled classroom time, online courses require students to be proactive. You can be proactive as you:

Ask for help. The instructor can’t see your confused or frustrated expression in a classroom; you will need to reach out to the instructor when you have questions, are confused, or need help. Don’t get discouraged and give up; asking questions is key to learning. You might spend hours trying to figure something out that would only take a few messages back and forth or a quick chat with your instructor to learn.
Plan Ahead. You will need to allow for 24-48 hours for your instructor to respond to your questions (more if it is on the weekend). This requires you to do work a few days before the due date so that you can get your questions answered in time to complete the assignment.

While you can (and should) ask for help, ultimately it is up to you to succeed! You are responsible for understanding the course content and turning in your assignments on time. Be proactive. Don’t sit back and wait for things to happen; that can lead to failure. Make sure you take initiative.

Frequent Participation

Image showing empty seats in a college classroom. It states "Your online professor still noticees when you aren't participating" Throughout the whole semester, you will typically be expected to log in and complete some sort of assignment or quiz at least once a week and in many courses, twice a week. These are not independent study courses that can be completed at your leisure.

Many online classes expect you to log into your course and complete some sort of assignment (quiz, survey, discussion, etc.) within the first week or two of class to prove that you intend to remain in the class. According to college policy, some instructors may even drop you from the course if you have not logged in within the first week because they have students on the wait list who would like to enroll in the course.

Even if a course does not have weekly due dates, it is still important to log in at least twice a week (or more if the instructor recommends it) to keep up with the latest announcements and communications from your instructors and peers. There could be changes to due dates, assignments, or grades that you need to know about.

Since online courses have the same level of difficulty as face-to-face (F2F) courses, you will likely spend 6-10 hours a week on each of your 3 credit courses.

Reading and Writing

Though many online courses include videos and images, they typically require more reading and writing than a F2F class.

For example, a discussion that is carried out verbally in a F2F class will likely be a written discussion in an online course (though some discussions may happen through video).

Another way more reading is required is that some instructors will write out the information that they would share in a lecture in a F2F class. For example, instructors might use written announcements to give the same information about due dates, upcoming assignments, clarification on concepts that they would give at the beginning of a class session. They might also write down the instructions for an assignment that they would say out loud in a F2F course.

One thing to note: Even though an online class may include videos and images and reading, the same accommodations for disabilities that are made for F2F classes can be made for online courses.

Technology

While online learning does not require you to be an expert at technology, it does require some knowledge of how to use the internet and the platform that gives you access to your courses (Canvas).

Get Prepared for Online Learning

The rest of this Readiness Guide will discuss more details about these requirements and provide resources to help you prepare to meet these expectations. Before we go into those details, click Next to take a survey to find out how prepared you already may be for online courses and the areas you may need to focus on to help you be the best online student.

Click Next below to continue.