Welcome to PCOL & WAOL students

Dear Distance Learning Student,

Welcome to online learning in the Pierce College Distance Learning program. I think that you will find these courses rewarding, but challenging. It is a full-fledged college course. So, plan now to dedicate time and energy toward your learning experience.

Online education is exciting because many people who would like to take courses have other responsibilities, like caring for young people, working, or they simply have a full schedule. Online education allows you to pursue your educational goals from home, at hours that are convenient for you. Online education is not less demanding than classroom based instruction, just different.

In a classroom, you're more likely to listen to lectures and take exams. In an online course you are more likely to participate in “threaded” online discussions, submit assignments electronically, and spend lots of time on the Internet visiting various web sites and reporting on what they teach. The interaction with fellow students and the instructor in the threaded online discussions is where the greatest learning takes place.

You should plan to be online, at times convenient for your schedule, 5 out of 7 days, roughly 15 hours each week. In summary, this is NOT a correspondence or independent study course.

We would like to remind you of the existing Academic Dishonesty Policy. Our instructors are fully aware of the policy and the disciplinary actions that could be given. You are in a unique position to experience learning from home, but keep in mind that you are a member of Pierce College and are governed by its policies and regulations. What is the Academic Dishonesty Policy?

There has been some concern with students not being able to receive emails from their instructor(s). Here are some suggestions to ensure a successful online learning experience:

If using a 'pop–up blocker', set it to allow 'pop–ups' for the course management system site (or disable it when working in the online system).
Make sure your e–mail program accepts/allows all e–mail from your online instructor & Pierce College Distance Learning (distedu@pierce.ctc.edu).
Make sure your e–mail address in the course management system is correct (see instructions in How to login). This is extremely important since it enables communication with the instructor and the college.
Be advised, official messages from the college will use your Pierce-created e-mail address. If you regularly read e-mail using a different address (like gmail, Yahoo, etc.), you should setup your Pierce account for automatic forwarding to your other account to avoid missing critical information. Find more info/procedures on logging in and forwarding e-mail...

Washington OnLine ( http://www.waol.org ) the organization providing the “online classroom” for these courses, is made up of a consortium of all the community and technical colleges in Washington State. If you are interested in the full list of online courses Pierce offers this quarter, the current class lists will provide that information.

Have a fun and successful quarter – you will be surprised how much you learn!

The distance learning packet of essential information is available by printing each page using a button like this:

You choose which pages you need to print. For example, try the button & print this page.

Sincerely,

Edward A. Bachmann, Director of Distance Learning
DL Staff