Selecting the Right Program

When you completed the application for admission to NOVA, you probably selected a program/major. If so, you picked it from a long, long list of options, and it might not have been very clear to you which one was right for you. It's always a good idea to meet with a NOVA counselor (you can contact the ELI counselors at elicounselors@nvcc.edu or 703-323-2425, or contact a campus counselor) to talk over which program you chose. The counselors can explain the requirements for completing that degree or certificate, help you understand what goals that degree or certificate can help you achieve, and more. For example, some degrees are designed to transfer to four-year colleges, while others are not. If you're planning to transfer, we need to make sure you're following a program that will help you achieve that goal! As you're selecting classes for fall, now would be a great time to talk with a counselor to make sure you're on the right track.

Don't forget to pay for your fall classes!

Don't forget--if you've registered for fall classes but haven't yet paid, you must pay by 5 P.M. this Friday, July 31, or you may be dropped from the classes. For more information on how to pay, visit the payment website. If you have questions about payment, contact any campus business office (you can find the contact information for each business office here) or your financial aid advisor.

And, remember as well that if you register for classes anytime after July 31, your payment is due by 5 P.M. the next business day.

All of us at NOVA look forward to working with you this fall!

Cool Technology Tool: Picasa Web Albums

We do it all the time - go somewhere special with someone special and take special photos. And then they sit in the camera until they have to be deleted to make room for more or, worse yet, on your hard drive on your home computer until they get lost among thousands of other files.
Google has an answer to your problem – Picasa Web Albums! You don’t have to download anything, not even Picasa. All you need is a Google account to log into http://picasa.google.com/.

Simply upload your photos to a FREE online album. You can give the album a title, provide a description and make it public, unlisted or require a sign-in to view the photos. You can have multiple albums in your account – one for your vacation to the beach, one for your daughter’s soccer games and another for the family reunion in Nebraska. When you are ready, you can share the URL for the web albums with your family and friends and all the photos will be in one place. If your album is public, a search may turn up others who are interested in your photos or you can search for photos of your next vacation spot.

So, don’t be afraid to take those photos. Keep a record of your fun and experiences. Picasa Web Album makes it easy to store & share your photos.

ELI Tip #7: New Introductory Video on Free Smarthinking Tutoring

Have you heard us talk about our free, unlimited online tutoring but wondered exactly how it works and whether it would be right for you? Now it's easy to find that out. Visit the ELI Tutoring page here and click the "Watch a short video" link. You'll see a 15-minute video that shows you exactly how our free tutoring works, so you'll be more comfortable logging on and trying it yourself. So far in 2009, ELI students have already used more than 1,150 hours of free tutoring. Why not try it out yourself?

Technology Tool to Help You Study: Mindmeister

Textbook chapters, articles, lecture notes, videos, podcasts & more – organizing all the information presented in a course and making it meaningful to you can be a daunting task. One way you can organize information is through a visual representation called a graphic organizer.

Graphic organizers can be used in many ways, such as preparing an outline for an essay, assisting with group brainstorming and decision making, exploring relationships – the possibilities are endless!

One free graphic organizer available online is called Mindmeister. Signing up for a Mindmeister account allows you to create three free “mind maps” or graphic organizers. You can share your mind map with others and even collaborate with them online! For more information, or to create your account, go to http://www.mindmeister.com/.

ELI Tip #6: ELI staff are here to help!

If you are having a problem with an ELI course, or are just confused about what to do or how to get started, please don't forget that ELI staff are here to help you! There are three easy ways to get in touch, and you can find them all by visiting the ELI website. (We suggest that you bookmark this site so you can easily find it later!)

In the left-hand column, you can find the ELI Hotline phone number (answered Monday-Saturday), a link to our online chat (also available Monday-Saturday), and a link to email us your question. So, pick your preferred way of communicating, and let us know how we can help! The sooner you get in touch and let us know your question or problem, the sooner we can help you resolve it so you can get back to learning.

Keeping on Track

Novelist Amelia Barr said, "It is always the simple that produces the marvelous." I think this is a great description of what you are doing in your online classes. It's the simple things--being sure you check your email and your course site regularly, setting aside regular times each week to complete your assignments, keeping in contact with your professor or calling ELI when you need help--that will ensure that you succeed in your classes, in completing your degree, and ultimately, getting to the career and/or higher degree you are working toward. And reaching those big goals could certainly be described as marvelous! So, keep focused on the small things. What can you do today in your ELI classes to make sure you are staying on track for success?

Cool Technology Tool: Jing

One of the frustrations in a distance education course is having technical problems. Sometimes it is difficult to write out in an email exactly what your problem is. It seems as if you type and you type and you type, and still the professor does not get it! It would be so much simpler to just “show” him or her what is happening on your end. Well, your wish has been answered! Jing is a FREE screenshot and video capture program that can be very useful in showing others a technical concept or problem. There are versions for both MAC and Windows. In addition, TechSmith, the parent company, offers server space to its users to store the images and movies that you have created. In this way, you can use them over and over again.

Here are some examples of how you can use Jing software.

Screen shots: Here is an example where your instructor tells you to go to the “Groups” area to answer the first question. You, however, do not have a “Groups” area in your course. This screen shot allows the instructor to see what links you have in your course.

Video Capture: This feature captures your screen for a little video that you can either save as a file or store on the TechSmith server. If the screencast is saved as a file, you can embed it in an email or post on the web. Since it can also be stored on the TechSmith server, you can paste the link to the video in emails, IMs, and on the web as I have done in the example that follows. (This allows it to play faster, too.) The video can play up to 5 minutes long and supports both audio and video. Click on this link to see a screencast that I did for a classmate on how to find our project files on GoogleDocs: http://screencast.com/t/zA5D0LyHiS5

How to get started: First download the FREE Jing software at http://www.jingproject.com/. The Jing yellow suns symbol hang on your computer screen. When you need to capture content on your computer screen, click on the yellow capture ball to the left and begin. Here are some short, handy videos to get you started: http://help.jingproject.com/get-started/get-started-with-jing-taking-y/. Enjoy your new toy!

NOVA Tip: SPD is now CST!

It's time for registration for fall, and some students have called us at ELI saying they're having trouble finding any SPD (Speech and Drama) classes. Don't worry--they're not all full! They've just had a name change. The Speech and Drama department is now called Communication and Theatre Studies (CST). So, just look for those courses under the CST prefix and you'll find what you're looking for!

Google Apps Tip #6: Google Sites

If you have wanted to have your own website but didn’t know how to get started, here you go!

Google Sites is one of the easiest ways to create your own website and publish it for people to access from the Internet. First, choose a template you like from Google Sites. Then you can add text or attach files or embedded images, videos, or information from other Google applications (like Google Docs, Google Calendar, Picasa and YouTube).

You can also create a web page with your friends and classmates by inviting them to be collaborators with you. If you want to make your website private, invite only the people you want to be allowed to view your site.

Check your Blackboard courses on your iPhone

Did you know Blackboard has put out an iPhone app? You can use it on your iPhone or iPod Touch to check into your courses and see if there are new announcements, see if your professor has graded your work or left you comments, read recent posts on the discussion forum, and more. The app is free, so why not download it and see if it's useful?

Here's a quick YouTube video that introduces the app and shows you what it can do.

Is anyone using this app now? What do you think? Is it user-friendly? Does it help you keep up with your classes?

ELI Tip #5: We don't like to brag, but check out our new degree!

You probably already know that you can complete many different Associate's Degrees completely online through ELI. As of this fall, we have another degree to add to that list (drum roll, please...). You can now complete the Associate of Science Degree in Science completely through ELI. This degree is a good choice for students who want to transfer to a four-year college or university to major in fields like agriculture, biology, chemistry, pre-dentistry, forestry, geology, nursing, oceanography, pharmacy, physics, pre-med, science education, or mathematics. If you wish, you can complete the Associate of Science Degree with Mathematics Specialization rather than just the straight AS in Science--again, completely through ELI's online offerings.

To learn more about this degree, read about its requirements in the NOVA Catalog. As with any degree, to be sure that this degree is right for you, meet with a NOVA counselor to discuss your academic path and transfer plans.

Quick, Free Tutorials on 100 Widely-Used Software Tools

Have you ever been working on your computer--whether for school, work, or your own projects--and gotten stuck trying to figure out how to get your software to do what you want it to do? NOVA provides you with a great tool for solving this problem--free, short, online video tutorials on just about any software product you might be using.

The service is called Atomic Learning, and the easy login instructions are here. Once you log in, you'll find tutorials on just about any software imaginable, from the basics (Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.) to things you use a lot for school (such as Blackboard) to more specialized software you might use for web page design, creating audio files, editing photos, and more (e.g., Dreamweaver, FrontPage, Garage Band, Final Cut Pro, and more). Tutorials are provided for both PC and Mac software programs.

The best thing about the tutorials in Atomic Learning is that each video is short and focused on just one particular skill or task, so you don't have to sit through a lot of instruction on things you don't need to know. Just read through the list of videos on the software you're using, find the video on what you need to know, watch for a couple of minutes, and hopefully, your problem will be solved!

Post a comment if you've used these tutorials--or, check them out and then post a comment to let your fellow ELI students know what you think of them!