Summer Registration Starts Today!

Are you ready to register for summer? The following are three important things you can do to prepare for your next registration:

1. Check your student record in NOVAConnect to identify any holds or action items posted on your “To Do List” that have not been addressed. You can view your student record online by accessing NovaConnect, selecting Self Service, and then selecting Student Center.
2. Run an Academic Advisement/Degree Progress Report to assess the progress you are making toward a particular certificate or degree at NOVA. You can find instructions for running this report here.
3. Contact your faculty advisor or a NOVA counselor if you have any questions about your next registration.
   

Using YouTube to Study

Have you ever thought of using YouTube to help you study? YouTube (a site where users can post videos) is great for a lot of things (like looking up clips from a movie you love, watching an old TV commercial you remember from when you were a kid, viewing important political speeches, or sharing home videos with friends and family). Increasingly, it's also great for education. There are lots of short videos posted on YouTube that can help you in learning the material for your courses.

For example, what if you're taking trigonometry this semester? If you search YouTube for "trigonometry," you'll get 1,520 videos. As you scroll through, you'll see everything from basic introductions to trigonometry to really specific things like "How to solve trigonometry problems on the iPhone." Or, you can search for a particular concept you need help with. For example, if you search for "trigonometry right triangles," you will get 82 videos that focus on showing you how to solve right triangle problems.

Of course, the same thing applies to many different subjects. There are 62,000 (wow!) videos about various topics in physics. There are 236 videos on French grammar. There are 123 videos showing how to use APA citation format in your papers. You get the idea! That's a lot of help, right at your fingertips!

Try it out and see what you can find related to your classes this semester. Did the videos you found help you better understand the material you were trying to learn?

Discussion Forum Perks

Kaitlin, an ELI student, has never been one to say much in the classroom. It was hard for her to get the courage to answer questions and to contribute to discussions. She prefers to have time to think about what she wants to say. Often by the time she practiced what she wanted to say in her head and got the nerve to speak out, the class had moved on to another discussion. However, now that she is taking ELI courses, she is able to be more involved. She feels confident to share comments and to participate in the discussion forums because she has time to think about the questions, reflect on the other students’ responses, and provide her own thoughtful feedback.

What are some of the ‘perks’ you’ve experienced taking ELI courses?

How Are Your Technology Skills?

If you took the self-test ”Is ELI for Me?” on the ELI web site: http://eli.nvcc.edu/eliforme.htm, you know that your situation and your personality preferences may be just right for taking distance learning courses at ELI. We found another self-test that will help you assess how your technical skills will help you succeed in online courses. Check out the site from Austin Community College to see how your skills match up: http://dl.austincc.edu/students/TechCheck.html.

Are these self-tests helpful? Have you seen others that you would recommend?

ELI Counselors Make a House Call

We're getting close to the time when registration will begin for Summer 2009 and, not long after, for Fall 2009. Are you considering taking ELI courses in those semesters? Are you trying to figure out what courses you need to take next to get you closer to achieving your academic goals? If so, we recommend signing up for the free, 45-minute ELI webinar, "Getting Ready for your Next Semester."

A webinar, in case you don't know, is an online meeting. You will need speakers or a headset, attached to a computer with internet access, to participate. During the webinar, you'll see information the ELI counselors have prepared to share with you as ELI staff talk about things you should consider as you select classes and evaluate your progress toward your degree or certificate. You will also be able to ask questions and hear the questions of other students participating in the webinar. It is a great way to get some guidance on your studies without leaving the comfort of your home or work computer!

To register and get more information about dates and times, click here. Sessions are coming up March 25, March 26, and April 1. Hope to "see" you there!

Blog Tip #1

I am so pleased to see how many of you have visited the blog already. We've had over 300 hits in less than 48 hours. Keep those visits coming!

I know that some of you are probably not very familiar with blogs, so we will give you tips from time to time to make sure you are getting the most out of this one (and any others you decide to read).

One student sent me a question about having trouble posting a comment to the blog, and I'm betting that others of you had the same confusion. When you click the link below a blog post to comment on it (or just to read other people's comments, which I encourage you to do!), you'll see that there is a text box where you can type in your comment. Then, below that, it says "Comment As" and gives you a drop-down menu to choose an identity. If you have a blog yourself, you may have one of the identities listed toward the top of the list. However, please know that you do not need to have one of these identities in order to comment. You have two other ways to comment.

One option is to choose, from this drop-down menu, "Name/URL." When you choose that option, a box will pop up and you will be able to enter your name (you can choose to enter just your first name, or first and last). You will also be able to enter a URL (web address) if you'd like. (For example, maybe you have your own blog, or personal web page, you want people to be able to link to from your comment.) Don't worry if you don't have a URL you want to include--leaving that line blank is no problem. Now, having entered your name and maybe a URL, you can post your comment.

A second option is to post your comment anonymously. Just choose "Anonymous" from the drop-down menu.

I hope this helps any of you who were having trouble posting comments!

Welcome to ELIfe!

You're probably here because you are an ELI student who received an email from the Director of ELI (that's me!) announcing the launch of the new ELI Student blog, ELIfe. Welcome!

I hope you like the blog's name. If you were a student with ELI last semester, you may remember that we had a contest for students to name the blog, then let faculty and staff vote on the 42 (wow!) nominated names. ELIfe, nominated by ELI student James Ward, was the clear winner.

This blog is for you. We at ELI want to have as many ways as possible to reach out to our students and to let you know about all the resources and information we have to help you do your best in your ELI classes and your studies at NOVA overall. We'll have lots of different ELI faculty, staff, and students writing posts for the blog--maybe I'll even ask you to write one!--so there will always be something new to check out.

Please keep on coming back. Read the posts, check out the websites we suggest, add comments to share your thoughts and questions, and take the polls we post. Everyone at ELI is excited about hearing what you have to say!