Tips for Success

Things you should know and do on or before the first day of class:

• Success Tip 1: Communicate Often with Your Instructors. Make sure that you keep an open line of communication with your instructor. It is important to make your instructors aware when you are falling behind in your class. They can only help you if they know you need help. The earlier you communicate issues to your instructors, the more options for helping to resolve them.



• Success Tip 2: Read your course syllabus very carefully on the first day of class. Your syllabus contains deadlines, assignments and testing schedules, as well as detailed information on the course and what you are required to do in the course. Put all key deadlines listed in the Syllabus in your personal calendar or PDA.



• Success Tip 3: Plan your study time. Based on the assignments and exams listed in the syllabus, estimate how many hours per week you will need to complete the work and block off times each week on your calendar or PDA for doing this work. Protect those study times by letting friends, family, and people you report to at work know about your classes and the times you have blocked off for completing your course work. If you end up finishing early, great!



• Success Tip 4: Make use of Resources. The CTC Distance Education Orientation is a free resource for all students. It is quick and self-paced and has many helpful tips for maximizing your success in classes. It covers things like test-taking strategies, understanding your learning style, time management, and available CTC resources.
  
  There are also free, live orientation sessions at the beginning of each term. The Live Orientation and a full range of student resources are available in CTC's Online Student Center inside Blackboard. As soon as you have access to your class, you have access to the Student Center. Check the Announcements page for dates and times of the Live Orientation. Follow the steps below to enroll:
  1. Log into Blackboard.
  2. Click on the Organizations and Tutoring tab.
  3. Browse the Organization Catalog.
  4. Select "Student Center" from the list.
  5. Click on the Enroll button.
  That's it. Once you have enrolled, you are enrolled for as long as you are a student at CTC taking online classes.
  
  Math Tutoring and an online Writing Center are also available in Blackboard.



• Success Tip 5: Contact the Helpdesk immediately if you have any technology issues that prevent you from participating in your course. Technical issues are not a valid reason for missing classes or course assignments since you can access Blackboard from any computer with active internet access. The Helpdesk telephone number is 1-866-350-4729.



• Success Tip 6: Submit your Test Proctor Submission Form to the Central Texas College Testing Office as soon as the course begins. See Testing for Distant Learners for more information.



• Success Tip 7: Keep your addresses and phone number updated. Always update your home address as well as email address and enter all the numbers for your phone number in your online student record in case you need to be contacted. You can update this in Webadvisor or use the Email Address Change Request form.



• Success Tip 8: Virus Protection - Ensure your virus protection is up to date. This can ensure that your computer is safe from viruses that might compromise your course work.



• Success Tip 9: Drops or Withdrawals - Please remember that once a class starts, drops and withdrawals from the class have financial costs associated with them. Review the class requirements, prerequisites, and expected time commitment carefully before the class starts. If you don't feel you can dedicate several hours a week to your class, you might want to think about reducing your course load. You can contact Clara Evans, your CTC program mentor, for help with developing a time management plan to fit everything in. If in doubt about whether to drop a class, contact Clara, who will help talk it through with you. You can reach her by phone at 706-705-4153, by email at Clara.evans@ctcd.edu, using AOL IM: claranymentor, or Yahoo IM: ck2boyd.



• Success Tip 10: Take the English and Math Placement Exams - If an English or math class is required to meet your degree requirements, verify that you have met the prerequisite requirements as stated in the CTC catalog. If not, take the English and math placement exams for CTC. They will tell you exactly where your academic strengths and weakness are so that you know what level of course to take and where you need to beef up some skills. Most students who fail college classes have a weakness in Math or English. It is nothing for which you should be ashamed. If you know your weakness, we can help you strengthen it so that you get the most out of all your classes at CTC and thrive! Contact the CTC Online Testing Office:
  • Phone 254-526-1289 (toll free 1-800-792-3348 ext. 1289)
  • Email online.testing@ctcd.edu