Online Class Formats

Online courses at COD are administered through Blackboard, the learning management system used at COD. Blackboard is where you will be able to find your course syllabus and calendar and access your assignments, tests and course discussions. You will be expected to log on to Blackboard frequently--every day in many cases and sometimes over the weekend.

Each course is different, but the majority of online courses are structured just like traditional courses. Work must be completed by certain deadlines (you can't wait until the last week to do it all), which are usually spaced week-by-week. You will need to log on to look at new lecture material and to complete any assignments that the instructor has put on the site.

In many courses, you will also be responsible for participating in weekly discussions. These are done through online discussion boards, where you will be graded on your responses to questions and engagement with other students.

With the exception of not going to a physical classroom each week (some online courses do require occasional campus visits), your online course will operate just as any other course you've taken, with several different types of work and participation counting towards your grade.

Hybrid Courses

A hybrid course combines 50 percent face-to-face classroom time with 50 percent online instruction. While students taking a hybrid course spend half as much time in the classroom, these courses have the same requirements and workloads as traditionally-delivered courses.

Online classes are no different than traditional courses. The coursework is essentially the same, as are the expectations. You will receive the same amount of credit and online courses do not show up differently on your transcript.

Of course, not everything about online learning is identical. In an exclusively online course, you will not be going to a physical class location and can learn where and when you'd like. This has some advantages and some disadvantages, as it is more convenient but will require you to be more proactive about completing course work and ensuring you stay on pace with the class.

The majority of online courses at COD are delivered entirely online and will not necessitate students coming to campus. However, there are some online courses that will require you to come to campus for placement testing or for proctored exams or to outside locations for clinical practicums.

To learn if a course requires a campus visit, check in myACCESS.

Yes and no. You can complete your work any time of day or night that you want. This is part of what makes online classes so great for working adults.

However, you will have to meet weekly deadlines. This means that you will have to keep pace and ensure that you are completing work regularly so that you will not miss these deadlines and fall behind in the course.

Many of the things that will make you successful in an online class are the same things that make you successful in a traditional class: completing course reading assignments, asking questions, watching lectures, and studying on a regular schedule.

But because online courses are student-centered, a lot of your success depends on your active participation. For each credit hour you are taking, you will need to spend three to four hours completing the requirements of the course. So for a three hour course, you can expect to commit anywhere from nine to twelve hours a week.

If you are the type of person who needs face-to-face interaction to thrive, then, yes, you might feel isolated in an online course. But if talking with your classmates and professors over email, discussion boards, and other methods of online communication works for you, you should be fine, as you'll get a lot of this kind of interaction. You can expect that participation and serious engagement will make up a substantial part of your grade.

In fact, because everyone must post to a discussion board in an online class, you can get to know your teacher and classmates very well – sometimes even better than you would in a traditional classroom.

If you need help with your online courses, you can contact tech support, faculty members, and staff working in every department in the school, from registration to the library.