Free Workshop: How to Take an Online Course
Handout for Advisors
UNM-LA
Abstract:
UNM-LA now has a free workshop for students who are new to taking online courses.
Please refer these advisees to take it. A separate handout for students is provided.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Why did we create this workshop?
Working with the support of the HSI grant, Tracy Thompson and Carol Furchner have created a short
online workshop for students called How to Take an Online Course.
We did this in an attempt to increase the success rate of students who sign up for an online course since
their attrition and failure rates are somewhat greater than for students in face-to-face courses, and
these rates for students who are taking an online course for the first time are typically even greater.
What does the workshop cover?
The workshop focuses on two areas: on academic and soft skills that students need in order to be
successful (in any course, but especially online), and on specific “how-to” information regarding using
Blackboard Learn.
Modules from the workshop include:
 Are You Ready to Take an Online Course?
- Skills needed: time management, organization, writing and reading, proactive
communications
- Technology: Skills, equipment, and internet access
- How to take a quiz online
 Using the Content Editor in Learn
 Communicating in an Online Course
 Participating in Online Discussions
 Assignments in Learn
 My Grades and Getting Feedback in Learn
 Finding Help and Technical Support for Learn
 Navigating in the UNM Learn Environment
Who should take this workshop?
We suggest that you direct first-time online students to this workshop if they:
 want to take an online course, or
 need to take an online course because academic requirements and their schedule create this
need, or
 have previously failed or dropped an online course and are retaking another one.
Students with poor reading and writing skills should be made aware of the additional reading and
writing demands in online courses.
When can students take this workshop?
Students may take this workshop at any time during or between semesters, and registration is free. The
course is organized into eight modules, and students will receive a certificate for successful completion
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of all but the last module, which is optional. We estimate that it will take students between one and
three hours to complete this workshop, and it can be done in multiple sessions.
How will student completions be tracked?
Students will be responsible for keeping their own certificates so that no one at UNM-LA will need to
keep track of them. As a fallback, we will have records in the workshop of all students who passed each
module, but the primary responsibility will fall on the individual students.
Some online instructors may require that their students take all or parts of this workshop. Students who
have already passed the assigned modules of the workshop may be able to present their certificates to
their instructor in lieu of repeating those modules.
How do students access the workshop? Signing up and signing in
Instructions for signing up and signing in to this online workshop are provided in a separate handout,
called Free Workshop: How to Take an Online Course – Handout for Students. A copy of this was
attached to the email sent to you, and it is also available in Online Learning - Information for Students
on the UNM-LA website, at http://losalamos.unm.edu/academics/online-learning/students/index.html .
(This section of the website is under construction, so the handout for students may not be there yet, but
it will be before the start of classes for Fall 2015.
May I look at the workshop?
You can view this workshop on Blackboard CourseSites. Instructions, copied from the student handout,
are given at the end of this handout. Follow the same process for obtaining an account and signing up
for the workshop. Obviously, this does not commit you to complete the workshop; it just gives you a
way to see what the students are seeing.
Who can I contact if I have questions?
If you have questions, contact one of the authors of the workshop, Carol Furchner (furchner@unm.edu)
or Tracy Thompson (tthompsn@unm.edu ). We would also appreciate any suggestions or feedback that
you might have.
Please note: This workshop is not offered for college credit.
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Instructions for signing up and accessing the workshop, from the Student Instructions:
How do I sign up and take the workshop?
This workshop is offered using CourseSites by Blackboard, an online environment that is almost
identical to Learn. To sign up for the workshop, follow these steps:
1. Launch a browser and type the following link address in the address bar of the browser*:
http://tinyurl.com/unmla-how
2. You will see a screen with the title, “UNMLA: How to Take an Online Course.
a. Click on the Self-Enroll button.
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b. In the box that pops up, enter the course access code, which is unmlaonline , and
then click on Save and Continue.
3. What you do on the next screen depends on whether you already have a CourseSites
account or not:
a. If you already have a CourseSites account, click on the top yellow button. Go to
step 5, below.
b. If you do not have a CourseSites account, you will need to create one. Continue
to step 4 below.
4. I Need a CourseSites Account: Click on the bottom yellow button to create an account.
a. Fill in the form for creating an account.
i. Use your full name.
ii. For your email address, use your UNM LoboMail address
(yourNetID@unm.edu).
iii. For your Username, use your UNM NetID. If your username is rejected,
attach “100” to the end and try again (e.g., mynetid or mynetid100).
b. Click on Save and Continue. You will see a confirmation message; click on “Go to
Course >.” Continue to step 5, below.
5. If a dark screen appears next, you can go directly to the workshop by clicking on “I’ll do
it later” under button #2 on that screen. (You do not need to work through the items on
the dark screen.) You will be taken to the home page of the workshop – see step 6
below.
6. You should see a screen called “Home Page” with a picture of a student and a laptop.
This is the home page of the workshop. From here, follow the instructions to work
through the modules in the workshop.
To log in to the workshop again later: Now that you have an account and are enrolled in the
“How to Take an Online Course” workshop, to log in later, go the same link as in step 1 above.
Click on the Login button, and log in with your new CourseSites username and password. You
will be taken to the Home Page screen of the workshop, as in step 6 above.

This is a shortened version of the link, which is
https://www.coursesites.com/s/_UNMLA_How_to_Take_Online_Course
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