Has any one else taken an online college course?

[RStar]

Boy Howdy!

It's been nearly 30 years since I was in college. The newest piece of technology then was the scantron card. The guys who came up with the internet were still in Grade School.

So here I am, trying to teach this old dog new tricks! I've built a website buisness, built a PC from scratch, started a blog, visit these chat rooms, buy and sell on eBay, have a premier PayPal account, pay my bills online, even ordered a custom built pizza online from Pizza Hut.

But I cannot figure this class out. Some instructions would be very helpfull, but I guess they figure everyone must know what to do.

Has anyone else taken an online class? It's called "myitlab" through Pearson/ Prentice Hall. The class is Excel 2007 Comprehensive.

My question conserns how to "Save your work". My assignments are hands on, and when I complete it, it goes to the next assignment. Then after that section is done it closes. What do I "save" and when?? I don't know, it never says. In an email the instructor said "Save your work" that's it. I know I need to save "it" to my hard drive and turn it in to the instructor in an email as an attachment, that part I get.

During the exersize, part of it is to save the worksheet to the workbook in my documents, but I don't think that is being saved to my hard drive (at least I can't find it there), I think it is all part of the simulation. My deadline to turn it in was yesterday. I have had such a hard time trying to figure out what I need to do, I was up untill midnight trying to get it turned in. I got all the work done, now it's going to be late.....

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

~Bob

[BarTopDancer]

I go to Penn State online and suppliment my lower division with GWC Online courses.

I was taking a course that utilized the My[class]lab from Pearsons and it was so bad I had to drop it and I am a technical person (the tech support was non existent).

That said, the lessons that were done on the My[class]lab were not saved to the hard drive. There were separate lessons that were done in Word that were sent to the instructor via the course website. Perhaps the lessons you have to turn in are separate from the MyITLab lessons?

If all else fails, email your instructor. They are usually willing to work with you (and extend due dates) if you communicate with them.

[RStar]

Thank you! At least I feel better- I was feeling rather dumb there.....

At any rate, I emailed the instructor, and I think she can go online and see that I completed all of the work in time. I'm not in it for the grade, though it would be nice to get the units so that some day i may at least get an AA.....

[RStar]

So, anyone? Class? Class?

I've written the instructor, and not heard back yet.

I've querried the people that run the website, and nadda. I have to start working on the next chapter today, and I'm not sure what to do. Perhaps I'll do a live chat with one of them today to see if I can get anywhere.

[BarTopDancer]

Call and leave a voice mail with the instructor. Call the campus online class tech support.

[Gemini Cricket]

I took online classes in Boston for the non-profits that I worked there. It was a week long course.
Can I just say... Bo-RING!
I fell asleep at least twice.

It was online and a conference call as well. So if you wanted to ask questions you could ask and get an answer right away.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I took online classes when I was at Santa Ana College, which I really dug because I hate lectures.

Sorry RStar, each college has its own software, so we can't really assist you with technical stuff. Like BTD says, you'll have to get your professor or their tech support to help you.

[Matterhorn Fan]

You may also wish to email your instructor, in case your instructor is the type to answer emails before voice mail.

[BarTopDancer]

MF - he did. No reply.

[Matterhorn Fan]

Whoops--nevermind!

I thought it was just the Pearsons people he didn't hear back from.

[RStar]

Thanks guys! I finally got a message back from the insructor. I think I have it figured out now. I was in the "online" mode, thinking the lab was where the homework that I sent to her was produced. It's not. I have to run the Excel 2007 on my machine and then submit the spread sheets I put together according to the textbook.

Why don't they tell you before the class starts that you will need the following:

Course cost $66 (including health fee, that they disclosed)

(They listed course materials as $0)

Textbook with lab $117 (disclosed day class started which is typical)

Microsoft Excell 2007 (Office Pro 2007 bundle) $299.95 (but can be purchased through the college for $84.98- a fantastic discount!) which wasn't disclosed until three days AFTER class starts and we were trying to do the work.

Total to take class:

Expexted : $66

Actual: $267.98

Why can't they list all nessessary materials and books before hand? Do they not get the book info from the publishers in time to print the information? I have the computer requirements, Win. XP SP2, Explorer 6.0/7.0, bandwidth, screen resolution, plug-ins needed, etc. so why can't they through in "Oh, and you'll need Excell 2007 loaded on your machine to do the work."?

I guess they figure everyone should know thay need it if that's what they are learning, but I though I was going to be doing it all online, and the version of Excel I have on my machine (and use at work) was irrelevent.

And perhaps a little instruction about how to do the course would have been nice. What my teacher finnaly told me is the book is the course, the lab is an inhancement. Duh....

/rant

Ok, I'm going to go on the Verizon website and order our new phones now. Thanks again for your help!