Hi folks!

Don’t you love these ‘first ever’ blog posts? It’s hard to know how to start off. Am I being boring? Silly? Do I sound as stupid as I think I do? It’s like those classroom intros – ‘Hi, my name is Gretchen, and I’m taking this class because….’

Hmm. Now that I think about it, those classroom introductions sort of work, at least for this kind of first-time intro thing. So here goes:

Hi! J My name is Gretchen DeHart, and I’m the Student Technology Trainer here at IU East. Being the student trainer means it’s my job to help students – be they online or on-campus – with learning the software and computer systems they need to know to be successful at IU East. Basically that just a fancy way of saying that if you need to know something about a program – from what happened to the page numbers tool in Word (they always move that thing), or how to work a Wiki in Oncourse – I’m the person to talk to!

Speaking of Oncourse, and awkward introductions…

We are trying something new this semester: The Online Prep Course! The Online Prep Course is an Oncourse Site that offers students a chance to explore and get to know Oncourse tools, so that they can be better prepared for taking online classes. It has five modules, that talk about things like where to find information, student services for Online students, and student perks (like iuware!). Each module ends with a ‘task’ which lets you experience a few of the most common things students need to do in Oncourse to complete class work.

Since many Online students will never come to campus, they might never learn that they have access to things like tutorial services, or free software. The Online Prep course attempts to remedy this by introducing some of the programs, services, and opportunities that all students – no matter where they live – have available through IU East.

If you would like to participate in the Online Prep Course, just go here: www.iue.edu/onlinecampus/prep and fill out the form. It’s free, and won’t affect your grades, I promise.

If you need any help with registering for the Prep Course – or with anything else, please feel free to contact me. My email is dehartg@iue.edu.

Thanks for reading, and if are any computer-type things you’d like to talk about, feel free to reply to this blog.

It’s good to ‘meet’ you all!

Gretchen

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