One thing that works: always volunteer to do the donkey work. Do your patch as thoroughly as you can each time and everyone will build confidence in you.
My online experience Sharing my experience on online course at MS level. I would be interested in focusing at international students. Starting with application, be prepared with TOEFL early and evaluated transcripts, have a Dollar account where applicable. Not all courses are practically tenable online no matter how convincing the ad reads. Quality MS programs are generally expensive in my view. Do not go for the ‘Diplomavilles’ which are all over the internet. Source for an accredited university offering online courses. Look for one that offers a possibility of the same course being offered to fulltime resident students with an online option. It might be helpful to know if they have experience with online international students qualifying from the program. Fast internet connectivity is a must but you will also need to access your course while on the move, so you will need a Modem and as much as possible WIFI. It is advisable to do online exams on a wired internet, never on WIFI, from experience it is more stable, so have your IT configure it for you. Resources can be a challenge to get especially if textbooks need to used. You must use the exact edition your course instructor recommends or else you will run into serious trouble and it might be too late. Ask to know which materials are to used on time. Some online bookstores do not ship to some destinations and you might need someone to source them for you and post them. However modules which utilize published online work as core course materials are the best. Introduce yourself to the research librarian to have a personal communication from time to time. The course administrator and an academic advisor/mentor can be very helpful. Take only what you can handle per semester. Some online courses especially with 3 credits and above are better off taken alone and in any case any course with 4 credits and above needs a longer semester. Unless you were a dedicated full time online student then it is advisable to take your time and enjoy the blessing that goes with one course per semester, off course that will mean taking longer on the program but it is a better sacrifice and is worth it. Circumstances or poor performance might mean you drop one therefore care to know how you are progressing from time to time from your professor. For graduate students 85% or equivalent of B+ is what you will require to be retained in the program, to attract potential scholarships. If you are new to the platform, get adequate orientation to e.g. Blackboard, Canvas. You will need to sharpen your online library searching skills. Familiarize yourself with Webinars, Skype etc. Download whatever you need early, say in the first week of the course. You might get trouble with some articles and request from others in the class/group. Do not send articles to anyone, send links instead. Subscribe to some credible sites that provide case studies like Harvard Business Review, National Academies Press. Group norming must be quick and be as open as you can to each other. You will need to settle in as soon as possible and feel at ease with each other as the pace picks up. Remain royal and trustworthy to your group members, be productive in the discussion forum, be timely, punctual, orderly, with well researched responses. Remain within reach of your group, it can be very frustrating when they cannot get your timely response. Log in a minimum of twice a day on to the discussion forum, or just snoop around. It can get worse
when they choose to ignore you! The instructor will notice and you will score poorly for low participation. One thing that works: always volunteer to do the donkey work. Do your patch as thoroughly as you can each time and everyone will build confidence in you. Time zones between your host institution and geographical location can be upsetting especially when deadlines are approaching, a scheduled webinar or chat, I have an 11 hours difference and there was a lot of adjusting. I prefer to do my coursework at home and do all downloads at my workplace, where I am more engaged with other activities. But please pick a timetable what works for you. On the minimum never walk without your course work even if it means saving it in a flash disk if you cannot have your computer. Some modules may be tailored with residents or citizens in mind and might have a ‘foreign language, culture’, it will be challenging but it does not take long to catch up. Just run along. It gets interesting with time. Above all else do not hesitate to ask for HELP. About this author Simon Kamau just completed coursework in Human Technology Interphase partial fulfilment for MS Nursing Leadership & Health care Systems Management, University of Colorado Denver, USA. He works as a Graduate Assistant in the BSc Nursing program University of Kabianga, Kenya. His link is: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simon_Kamau/publications/
