Review the centralized organizational system presented by your school's online platform. Most programs use learning management systems, such as Blackboard and Moodle, which present all learning resources on a central page, typically the first one that appears after logging in. This page houses all online courses, assignments, research resources, academic calendars and access to student support services.
Explore the organizational structure of each individual course. While campus students find their courses in specific physical locations, online students can find each course housed in an individual online location that can be reached from the home page. Each online course page offers organized access to assignments, archived lectures, graphical interfaces, learning materials, proctored exams and discussion forums or chat applications.
Attend live communication sessions with professors or participate in online forum discussions. One of the principal advantages of technology learning online systems is that they can simulate the interactivity of the classroom discussion. While chat applications provide access to live talks with professors and students, discussion forums provide a place in which students can discuss and debate learning issues over a long period of time. Discussion forums archive every thread for students, and in many ways act as class notes for students to reference at any time.
Students who attend online programs with synchronous (live) classes must master the various technology learning online software and hardware required for streaming lectures. Such technologies often include web conferencing applications provided by a host school's online platform, chat applications embedded within the live lecture stream and a web camera (for students who interact with live classes via a personalized video stream).
Conduct research using online library and educational resources provided by your school's learning management system. One of the major advantages technology learning online systems provide is centralized, electronic access to an immense amount of informational resources, including academic journal databases and electronic books. For example, the University of Texas System's online platform provides online students access to more than 11 different libraries within the university system.
Utilize the centralized access to student support services. Learning management systems offer access to a variety of support services from your main page, including academic advising, mentoring, tutoring and technical support. While campus students often must trek around campus to seek help from different departments, online students have access to all their support services in one place. (Most systems provide chat applications to communicate with support services.)