Support Sites

Students should call the Academic Computing Help Desk at 523-9294.

Faculty and staff should call the ITS Solution Center at 523-1511.

Statewide folks should call toll-free at (888) 520-7215.

If this is your first time to take a web course, there are about 100 things we 'old timers' take for granted that are new to you.

Let go of your grown upness and let the adventurer and explorer part of you free.

Of course not!

You made more hard landings, dented more coffee tables and fell on your head or derriere over and over again. You didn't think anything of it, you just got back up and tried something else, or did the same thing over again until it worked. Sometimes you cried, sometimes you had a little tantrum time. Always, you took it for granted that you could succeed.

3. Feel free to cry when the !@#$%^ machine crashes on you or a download stops in the middle of something.

4. Buy a good tantrum poster that shows an animal taking a sledge hammer to the keyboard and saying something like "compute this" and hang it in a prominent place. Then point to it and laugh - take deep breaths, go make an ice cream sundae and reward yourself for trying this hard stuff.

5. Remember you are a pioneer. The information superhighway isn't so super. The difference between you and a veteran is that we have lowered our expectations of what the web can do, stopped blaming ourselves for all the things that go wrong and realize that most of it is "the ghost in the machine" and not us at all.

6. Experiment a little -- adventure around -- you are not very likely to ruin anything. When all else fails, pull the plug on the machine, reboot and take a break while the machine is telling you that you shut it down wrong. Yeah? Well, you did. So?

7. Get a buddy! As soon as you can, hook up with another person who is learning, too. You will find out that your experiences are normal. Lots of the things you do - and that your program does, and that the NAU system does - are happening to everyone. One time you can get into WebCT, and then, all of a sudden, you can't. Besides, you can share shortcuts you learn. It is nice to feel supported. In fact, it may even be one of the best investments of time you can use.

Stay in close touch with your instructor

No question is stupid to me. I have cried like a baby over this stuff. . . and just when I think I finally understand, a file will disappear. Just when I think everything is in place, a link won't work. I lose links all through the course. I will think I finally understand a process, and there will be an upgrade that will change something unexpected, or somehow I will lose a response I posted, or a message will come back telling me that your address doesn't exist - and I'm returning your e-mail. So --- stay in touch with me. Let me help. I will be on your side. I understand that there are two kinds of learning happening. Not only are you working on the content of the course, you are learning how to be successful at distance learning. You are learning to pace yourself, to learn content without a lecture or teacher presence. You are setting time lines and tasks that are quite different from anything else you have experienced. Be positive, be patient, be proactive! . . . . and trust me - because I will be trusting you.

Problem Solving Support Sites

Of course not!