Infographics for Writing Courses

Traci Gardner, Department of English, Virginia Tech

Succeeding in an Online Course

Online courses work differently from the face-to-face courses that have probably made up most of your college experience. These tips should help you do your best work.

The key to success is to focus on consistent, regular interaction—with the course materials, with your writing group, and with me. Here are five specific ways to make that happen.

1. Use Courses Resources: Explore everything on our course Canvas site, and always do the readings. These resources are the online classroom for the course. You’ll do better if you use them.
    
   
2. Check In On Canvas Daily: If anything changes (like a due date or an assignment), you’ll find it in Announcements first. Check in at least once daily so that you always know what is going on.
    
   
3. Set a Schedule: Schedule weekly class sessions for yourself. Dedicate six to eight two-hour sessions on different days, rather than a one-day marathon session of 15 to 20 hours.
    
   
4. Avoid Last-Minute Work: You’ll do better in the class if you don’t wait until the last minute to do everything. If you wait until the last minute, you may not have time to complete your work or improve your draft before the submission is due.
    
   
5. Talk to me: I have no way to know when you need help. Tell me how it’s going—what works for you and what you’re unsure about. Use posts in Piazza to connect with me. If you have a personal question, use the Inbox tool in Canvas.
    
   

 

 

 

Credit: Infographic was created on canva.com. Icons are all from The Noun Project, used under a CC-BY 3.0 license: : book laptop by unlimicon, Coffee by Vladislava Barzin, Browser by Ramesha, schedule by Chameleon Design, group chat by Gregor Cresnar, and group brainstrom by cathy moser.