Just $17

This weeks posting is a blatant commercial pitch for an e-book we are very proud of. And, it will definitely help your course participants get ready to learn online.

Learning online is NOT the same as learning in a classroom. Even though many if not most young people know how to surf the Web and hold an instant chat, no one teaches them how to learn online. It’s an art and a craft unto itself.

Besides, fewer and fewer students today are younger than springtime? As a result, your students may not have the computer know-how we take for granted in the young. They may be mothers out of the loop since before their kids were born. They may be retired seniors with plenty of enthusiasm but no keyboard experience. They may be working adults with jobs that don’t involve computers.

Never assume that your students are ready to excel in the electronic classroom. Even if most of your course will take place in a traditional classroom, if any part of course materials or interactions will take place online, you owe it to your students to prepare them for the experience.

From the time we’re six years old or younger, we know how to be a student in a regular classroom. We know to sit still when the teacher is talking and to raise our hands when we want to contribute. We know how to find our way to the school, look things up in the library, hand in an assignment, take a test. From kindergarten on, we know how.

But, do all your students know how to:

• Write an effective subject line for an email?
• Follow proper etiquette in an online discussion?
• Ask a question, wait their turn, or take the floor in a chat?
• Locate what they want on the Internet (amid a gazillion possibilities)?
• Submit an assignment by attaching it to an email?
• Facilitate a study group discussion online?
• Avoid permanent damage to their arms, hands, back, & eyes from computer use?

Maybe they do know how. Maybe they don’t. Most likely, some will have some of these skills, some will have others, and some will have none at all. Very few, if any, students will have a complete understanding of the process. That’s why we created the FutureU Student Web Book. By exposing your students to the Student Web Book, they can learn all the skills described above and many more. Plus, they will receive dozens of links to valuable resources for use in assignments.

To learn more about what’s in FutureU’s Student Web Book, check out the table of contents for Volume 1: Getting Started with Online Learning and for Volume 2: Mastering the Process of Online Learning.

A Special Price for Your Students

As a special bonus, because you purchased The Bargain Guide to Building Your Course Website, you can offer FutureU’s Student Web Book to your students for only $17.00. That’s 2/3rds off the regular retail price of $49.00 and cheaper even than the largest quantity discounts offered to businesses and schools.

This special discount price is available only to those who own a copy of the Bargain Hunter’s Guide to Building Your Course Web Site because that’s the only place where the purchasing link is published. Here’s the special FutureU E-Store link you can give to your students so they can get this special price:

http://www.futureustore.com/basket.php?quantity=1&product=20&add=1

Do your students—and yourself—a huge favor. Avoid bottlenecks later on. Give every student an equal chance at success. Recommend that every student new to e-learning buy a low-cost copy of the Student Web Book.

You get your own copy free (with special faculty annotations) when you buy the FutureU Faculty Web Book.

Check them both out today.

claude

Next time: Ten Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make When Teaching Online.