Student Guide

We hope this document will help you as you start your course and serve as a reference for you throughout the semester. To download a more extensive (38 page) guide to using Rutgers Online courseware, click here.

IF YOU ARE A NEW STUDENT, please read this document through before starting class. You may want to print it out to keep by your computer.

What you should know before taking an online class

Our online classes have instructors and have limited enrollment - generally a maximum of twenty people - and you will find that there is a great deal of interaction with your colleagues. But there is no question that taking an online class is different from being in a classroom. Successful online students tend to be very motivated, are relatively self-directed, manage time effectively, and have a certain comfort level with technology.

You must have regular access to the Internet, i.e., be able to access the World Wide Web and your email account at least three times per week. Among the technology skills you should have are the ability to

Our online classes are asynchronous, which means that you can decide which times during a week you will be online and do your coursework. But the courses are not self-study: they follow a schedule, there are discussions for you to participate in during a given time period, and there are deadlines for assignments that must be met just like in any other course.

Academic integrity

The course you are taking is graduate level and we therefore assume a high level of ability in reading and writing.

As a nondegree graduate student at Rutgers you are expected to abide by the University Policy on Academic Integrity, which addresses issues such as quoting directly or paraphrasing without acknowledging the source, falsification of data, and/or presenting the ideas of another as one's own. The full policy may be found at http://cat.rutgers.edu/integrity/.

Rutgers SCILS allows the following standard end-of-semester grades for graduate students: A, B+, B, C+, C, and F. An F is used for failing work or for a student who has stopped attending class without formally withdrawing. Please note that in an online class, if you fail to respond to email, post to discussions, or hand in assignments for five days ore more, your behavior counts as non-attendance in class even if you are reading course material on your own.

If you have any problems at any time

Please do not feel funny asking for help if you are having a problem. In our experience, many people wait too long to ask for help and then have trouble catching back up with the class. Here are the places you should go for help:

For TECHNICAL PROBLEMS such as computer compatibility issues, forgetting your password, understanding the software, uploading or downloading documents, you can reach the Rutgers Online helpdesk either

via email: helpdesk@rutgersonline.net (guaranteed 24 hour response)
or
via telephone: the toll-free number is 877-778-8437 (877-7rutger)

For COURSE CONTENT problems contact your instructor - by clicking on the EMAIL button at the top of the course screen and then selecting the instructor's name, or by using the JOURNAL feather in the course if your instructor tells you that he/she will be checking it regularly.

For ADMINISTRATIVE problems such as admissions and enrollment issues, to get advising, or for anything else that comes up that you're not sure about, contact Karen Novick at knovick@scils.rutgers.edu or call the Professional Development Studies office at 732-932-7169.

If you share an email address with a spouse or other person

After you log into your course you will see that most of the activity, including discussions, takes place on the course webpage and not via your email. However, you can easily email the people in your class by using the email function in the course, and you will find that you do receive regular email from your instructor and others.

We therefore strongly recommend that you use your own individual email account for the purposes of this course and not an account that you share with a spouse or other person. If you access the Web through a spouse's or someone else's Internet account, you should sign up for a free email account through Google (recommended), Yahoo, Hotmail, or any other utility, and then use that email address for your coursework.

PLEASE NOTE that if you create a new email address for yourself you must make the change within the online system in order for your email from the course to go to the new address. You do this the same way you change your password, as outlined below. Please also send an email to pds@scils.rutgers.edu notifying us of the change.

No matter where your email is coming from, you should make sure that it includes (1) an accurate subject line and (2) your full name at the bottom.

AOL, Hotmail, and Yahoo users - an important note

Please note that email sent from a coursepage on Rutgers Online will initially appear in your Bulk Sender folder. You must check your Bulk Sender folder regularly and do not delete any messages without reading them, since they may be important messages from your instructor, classmates, or me. If messages appear from the instructor or class member, add the email address to your address list or buddy list so that you get future messages in your Inbox.

Also, please be careful to keep your in-box relatively empty. When your in-box is full, email sent to you will bounce back to the sender. Save messages you want to keep to a folder so that your in-box remains free to receive new mail.

General issues for online learning

One of the best things about taking an asynchronous online course is that you can devote time to the course on your own schedule. Some courses may have a bit of optional "chat" that occurs in real time, but for the most part you will find that you interact with your instructor and your classmates asynchronously.

For a fall or spring course, you should check into the course a minimum of three days per week.
For summer session, which is a compressed semester, you should check into the course a minimum of five days per week .

Note that although our courses do not occur in real time, there is a great deal of interaction and there is a structure to them. This structure includes assignments, and like assignments everywhere, they have due dates. The due dates for online courses are as real as they are for classroom-based courses.

If you're having problems with your course for more than a day or two - whether it's accessing the pages, understanding the content, or something else - please let someone know so we can address the problem.

Netiquette

 There are general rules of behavior that apply to online spaces just as there are rules for face-to-face spaces. If you'd like to read about netiquette, one good website is Virginia Shea's Netiquette Home Page at http://www.albion.com/netiquette/index.html

 About your privacy

Please be aware that one of the features of our online system is that it keeps track of how much time you are connected to your course and its components (Obviously it cannot keep track of how much off-line time you are spending on your course). While your instructor and I have access to this information, be assured that your grade will reflect the quality of your work and not the amount of time you are logged on. In our experience, there is a tremendous amount of variability on how much people log into courses.

Logging in for the first time

You can access your online course through the Rutgers Online website. The URL is

http://rutgersonline.net/

You may want to add this to your Favorites or Bookmarks list on your web browser.

To login, click on "Login" on the left of the screen. A box will pop us and you can enter your Login ID and password.

We sent you the log in and password information in an email confirming your registration in the class.

When you log in for the first time you will be asked to agree to the Rutgers Online user agreement. Read it carefully and then indicate if you agree to the terms. In addition, a dialog box will pop up asking you to download software (Alt Access) that will give you alternate access to the course should there be Internet traffic problems. You can choose to download it, which will take a few minutes, or postpone the download.

After you log in you will be taken to your Personal Homepage on Rutgers Online. This page will give you access to your courses as well as some other helpful information.

DO NOT GIVE OUT your Login ID or password to anyone. Sharing this information can be considered a breach of academic integrity.

Forgotten your login information?

If you forget your Login ID or password, you can send a request to helpdesk@rutgersonline.net and ask that it be sent to you.

Problems logging in?

If you have any trouble logging into the system, please contact the Rutgers Online helpdesk by either

(1) emailing them at helpdesk@rutgersonline.net
or
(2) calling them toll-free at 877-778-8437 (877-7rutger).

The helpdesk is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (guaranteed email response within 24 hours), and they can help you with your login as well as any technical problems you encounter along the way.

Finding your current course

To get to the course you are taking, click on the Academics tab on top left of your personal page. The course will appear under the current semester. To get into it, simply click on the course title.

Use the tutorial before you start classes

Once you've logged in, you will be at your Personal Homepage. Click on the "Academics" tab on the top left. On the Academics page you will find:

(1) a gray bar that reads "Special Courses," under which is an orientation course for you to use to become familiar with the courseware

(2) a library tutorial

(3) a My Profile button which you can use to update your email address or password

(4) a link to some helpdesk information

(5) and, on the first day of classes, access to the course in which you are enrolled

FIRST-TIME STUDENTS should definitely spend a little time going through the Student Orientation course before classes begin. It is a self-paced tutorial which will help you learn how to use our software.

Changing your password or email address

You can change your password or email address at any time. When you make the change the new information will automatically be updated throughout the system. For example, if a classmate emails your entire class moments after you have changed your email address, his/her message will go to your new address.

To change your password or email address from your personal homepage, click on My Profile. Your current password will be encrypted in stars. Enter your new password carefully. Be aware that the system is case sensitive, i.e., pay attention to your use of any capital letters. Re-enter the password on the line below. Then make sure you click on Update. The next time you login you must use the new password.

If you change your email in the system, you should email your instructor and the class just notifying them that your email has changed, since some people choose to save email addresses in their address books outside of class.

Getting logged out

You should be aware that Rutgers Online is timed to log out any user who has not been active on the system for 45 minutes. "Active" means that you have clicked on a button or link. The system cannot detect if you are typing in a text box, it can only detect when you submit the text.

If you are interrupted while you are typing a long answer to a question on the coursepage and you get logged out, you will lose everything that you have typed but not yet submitted . Therefore, if you want to spend some time writing text, I strongly suggest that you use your computer's word processing software to write your thoughts, and then cut and paste into your course.

If you are timed out, a login box will appear to allow you to log back in.

Features of the Rutgers Online courseware

The online tutorial should give you a good idea of how to use our courseware. As you navigate your way around your homepage and your courses, you will find that the navigation is fairly well labeled and that you rarely need to use the Back button on your browser. There are menus across the left side and top of your screen to take you back and forth between different sections of your course and your homepage.

The key features of the courseware are:

•  Navigation down the left side of the screen takes you through the different units of the class. In general you will be moving through them sequentially. Start with the syllabus, and then go on to the first unit. When you click on a unit the sub-sections of that unit appear, and you can click on them to see their content.

•  Across the top of your screen you should see a series of tabs. These are functions within the course.

•  The first tab is for your Gradebook. When your instructor gives you grades you will see them in the gradebook.

•  The next tab for Email allows you to send messages to everyone in the class, or a small group of people, or just one person. You can also use the Email feature to email your instructor.

•  The Chat tab allows for real-time communication. Your instructor may use chat for office hours or optional discussion.

•  The Doc Sharing (Document Sharing) feature allows you and other to share files. You can upload files from your computer to share either with just the instructor or with the whole class. Some instructors ask you to upload papers or essays to Document Sharing so that everyone can benefit from each person's work.

•  The Dropbox has two important functions: Dropbox and Journal.

•  The Dropbox allows you to hand in assignments and get them back. Your instructor may choose to have you hand in papers through the Dropbox, or via Document Sharing, or via email.

•  The Journal is a space that you can use to take notes and for one-to-one communication with the instructor. You and the instructor are the only ones who can see what you write in your Journal.

•  The Webliography is a place for people to share websites that are relevant to the class. You may be asked to include websites as part of an assignment, or just when you come across items of interest.

•  On the top right of your screen is a Help button. The Help is sensitive to where you are in the course, so when you click on it you should find information relevant to the part of the course that you are currently in. In addition, the full help text is available for you to search.

•  If there is text for you to read in the course and you want to have the content take up your whole screen, you can click on the arrow at the top left, next to the word Course, and the navigation will shrink. Click on the arrow again to bring the navigation back.

•  We do not really use the Calendar feature of the courseware that you see under the word Syllabus on the left navigation.

•  When you log into your course each time there may be new announcements from the instructor to read, and you can see what new things have been added since the last time you logged in.

•  The threaded discussion feature of the course is included within the unit of the course. When you want to add to a discussion, you should click on Respond and a form will pop up for you to type in.

•  Within a threaded discussion, you should respond to the original question asked by the instructor. In addition, you may want to respond to postings added by your classmates.

•  If you want to discuss something with one or two classmates, or you want to make general comments to the whole class not related to a specific discussion question, you should use the Email feature and not the threaded discussion. The threaded discussions should stay on topic for the discussion question.

To download a more extensive (38 page) guide to using Rutgers Online courseware, click here.

We hope this Guide has been helpful in orienting you to the Rutgers Online courseware. Have a fun and educational semester!