How to Be a
Good Online Learner

What are the requirements for an online course?

Please make sure to read all of this page very carefully as it contains important information on participating in the courses and receiving information.

Prerequisites

Some of our courses require you to have taken other courses in order to enroll.

Adults and Learning Disabilities

Prerequisite- None

Adults as Learners: An Orientation

Prerequisite- None

ESOL Basics

Prerequisite- None

Beyond Basics: ESOL Lesson Planning

Prerequisite- ESOL Basics (face-to-face or online) or at least one (1) year of adult ESOL teaching

Beyond Basics: Multilevel ESOL Classes

Prerequisite- ESOL Basics (face-to-face or online) or at least one (1) year of adult ESOL teaching

Beyond Basics: ESOL Beginning Literacy

Prerequisite- ESOL Basics (face-to-face or online) or at least one (1) year of adult ESOL teaching

Strongly recommend having taken Beyond Basics: ESOL Lesson Planning prior to taking this course.

ABE/GED Lesson Planning

Prerequisite- Adults as Learners: An Orientation or at least one (1) year of adult ABE/GED teaching

Developing Writing Skills in Adults

Prerequisite- none

 

Computer Requirements

To participate in online learning through the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center, you will need to meet the following computer requirements:

• a PC or Mac with up-to-date RAM and processing speed
  
  
• an Internet connection with a high-speed connection

  • Users with dial-up will experience considerable frustration and periods of no access and may find themselves unable to complete the course.
    
    
• an email account

  • Your login information will come from valrccourses@vcu.edu or courses@valrc.org. Please be on the lookout for this email. You may also receive emails from leellington@vcu.edu and hmajor@vcu.edu. Please add all of these addresses to your email address book to prevent them from being misdirected to your spam folder.
    
    
  • If you have an AOL, Comcast, Yahoo, Crosslink, Juno, NetZero, or Earthlink account, check your spam folder if you are expecting an email from us and haven't received it. These Internet Service Providers (ISP) are known to block or misdirect our emails.
    
    
  • We highly suggest the use of Gmail for an email account. To signup for a Gmail account, go to: http://mail.google.com.
    
    

Participation Requirements

Please make sure that you are prepared to fully participate for the duration of the online course before you register.

You may review the course requirements at www.valrc.org/training/online/index.html. Click on the View course overview and register button for the course in which you are interested.

If you register for an online course and don't participate or respond to our inquiries, you will be placed on waiting list status only for future online courses.

If you do not post for more than one week at any time during the course, you will be removed from the course and will be placed on waiting list status only for future online courses. If you find that you cannot post for more than one week, please contact your technical facilitator to discuss the situation and your further participation in the course.

A course schedule is posted in each course and also in the course overview. All participants are expected to adhere to the weekly schedule and not go ahead or fall behind their peers. This ensures that the whole group has a chance to discuss each topic before the group's focus moves on to the next issue.

If you would like to look at the current course schedule, please click on the links below for each of our courses.

• Adults and Learning Disabilities
• Adults as Learners: An Orientation
• ESOL Basics
• Beyond Basics: ESOL Lesson Planning
• Beyond Basics: Multilevel ESOL Classes
• Beyond Basics: ESOL Beginning Literacy
• ABE/GED Lesson Planning
• Developing Writing Skills in Adults

 

For those participants who choose to work on the weekends, you will need to complete course assignments the weekend that falls within the assigned week of the corse so that your peers and facilitators may provide feedback during the week on the assignment. This means that you will always be ahead as well!

Naturally, some weeks will cover more material than others, and you may find your own working pace varies some during the timeframe of the course. In general, though, we've found the strongest classroom dynamics and most meaningful discussions take place when participants follow the course schedule.

Make sure that you have read through course overview before registering. If you are in doubt about your ability fulfill the requirements of the course, please contact Lauren Ellington at courses@valrc.org or 1-800-237-0178.

 

Observation Requirements

Some of our courses require that you complete an observation as a component of your course assignments. Please note that you may only observe in an adult education setting to fulfill this requirement. Observations done in the K-12 system or in a class in which you co-teach will not be acceptable and a course completion certificate will not be awarded.

The following courses require a classroom observation in an adult literacy setting:

• Adults as Learners: An Orientation
• ABE/GED Lesson Planning
• ESOL Basics
• Beyond Basics: ESOL Lesson Planning

 

Delivery Requirements

Some of our courses require that you deliver a lesson as a component of your course assignments. Please note that you may only deliver a lesson in an adult education setting to fulfill this requirement. Lesson delivery done in the K-12 system will not be acceptable and a course completion certificate will not be awarded.

The following courses require a lesson delivery in an adult literacy setting:

• Beyond Basics: ESOL Beginning Literacy

 

We have limited space in our online course since we cap registration at 20 participants. With that in mind, please register only if you are in a position to fully participate. Please refer to our online professional development course schedule to plan when will be the best time for you to participate.

**Participants may not enroll in more than one 8-week course at a time.

Please note that these courses are not for college credit.

For any further questions about course requirements, please contact Lauren Ellington at courses@valrc.org or 1-800-237-0178.