Catching Up & Actual Learning

Getting Caught Up!
If you are behind, catch up.  Now's the time to do that.  If you've received 0's for grades, that's not an absolute final grade.  I am reasonably lenient as long as it doesn't increase my workload or bend the integrity of the class as I see it.  I'm interested in you completing this class.  If you need help, YOU HAVE TO ASK!  I don't know you're having difficulties if you don't ask; it's not like a classroom where I can read the confusion or frustration from your face or body language.  PLUS, if you don't say anything, you prevent me from helping you; if we were in class, I could corner you and help you if I thought you needed the help.  In an online class, you can lurk and hide all semester, and I'll never know you there.  Sound off if you need help or have frustrations.  

It's What You Make It!
In many online classes, the class and what you learn from will be what you make of it; much of the responsibility to take advantage of the opportunity to learn is yours.  Because you're not in a classroom with a faculty member managing the workflow, the instructor has much less influence over how you interact with your classmates, learning resources etc.  I encourage you to make something of it.

For example, the goal for the Information Security Awareness module was to make you more cognizant of issues related to your computing safety and privacy.  It's not possible for me to observe and give you a grade for doing certain things that are valuable: modifying your password to be more secure, installing virus protection on your computer etc.  HOWEVER, if you want to get something out of this class and actually improve your computing skills, I strongly encourage you to follow up on the information security awareness blog post you wrote (or were supposed to have written ;-).  If you said you're not certain whether you have virus protection on your computer, explore the links to AVG I provided and figure out how to install it on your machine. If you learned your password is weak, take time to modify your password you use for Facebook or other important site - make it a strong password.  If you don't know how secure or private your profiles on social networking sites are, take the time to learn how to make them as secure and as private as you need or want them.

Much of the true learning in this class is up to you.  And, I *know* this information is useful beyond the purpose and function of this class as a class for which you need credit.