In 2012, Babson Survey Research Group reported that 5.5 million students all over the U.S. took online courses in their college education. College of DuPage has 29,000 students are enrolled in online courses.

College of DuPage has set up a way for these students to gain knowledge on how to be a good student within their online courses so they can obtain the credits they need for their degrees in an online environment.

Orientation to online learning is an online guide book to online course(s). Each student enrolled in an online course is automatically enrolled in online orientation as well.

The resources, found on COD’s website, range from videos to tips, to places, both virtual and on-campus, where students can go for help. These sources provide a way for students to learn all of the basics, from what type of computer they need for the best study techniques.

The first two months that this resource was offered to students, 2,074 students took advantage of at least one of the resources available to them. COD’s Learning Technologies Program Specialist Becky Benkert said students using these sources have given good feedback. She feels these resources are helpful to both new and returning online students.

“Students have been self-reporting that they feel more confident about pursuing their online courses after completing the orientation than they did before they began,” Benkert said. “These resources should be equally helpful to anyone enrolled in an online course. They would be most helpful to new students, but anyone who wants a refresher should find the orientation beneficial as well.”

COD sophomore Nina Colella is currently enrolled in online classes and was never told by professors that the resources were available to any students who would need help during the semester.

“I really don’t know that much about any online resources that are offered,” Colella said. “In both online classes that I am currently taking neither professors have recommended us using online resources so I guess that is my reason why I haven’t. There was one video that I had come across that explained how to navigate around the online courses. I turned it off after about a minute only because I already had knowledge on how to do everything that I felt the video was going to explain.”

Another online source provided by COD is an online blog dedicated to answering questions students have about online classes. It focuses on helping students decide if taking online classes is the right choice for them.The blog can be accessed by anyone thinking of registering for an online course. The online resource has entries that go into detail on how to pick classes and what works best for different types of students.

The blog also invites students to write posts about their experiences with online classes, what they found helpful and what they did to succeed.

Students can access these resources at http://www.cod.edu/online/how/orientation.aspx.