Making the Most of Your eLearning Experience

Interact with the instructor and other participants during your eSchool and webinar sessions
Class discussion is an important ingredient in the mix of online learning. It is highly recommended to interact with the instructor and other participants to gain the full learning from the session. Participation lets you share ideas and resources with other learners, which can enrich your online experience and broaden your knowledge.

Opportunities for interaction include:

• A chat board at the bottom of your screen
• Group discussions and exercises throughout the session
• Polling questions that ask your opinion on a variety of topics
• Opportunities for posing questions via the audio bridge.

You should fully expect to interact during the live session, and you should expect to be called on by the instructor. This is not a passive learning experience!

Create an effective learning atmosphere
Many participants find the following suggestions helpful in creating an effective learning atmosphere in their office:

• Let your co-workers know that you will be in the eSchool or webinar to minimize the chances they will interrupt you
• Post a sign indicating that you are training and on a conference call
• Use a telephone headset instead of your handset to assist with your typing capabilities. (Speakerphones often cause an echo for other participants.)
• Turn off e-mail and instant messaging alerts
• Remove all other tasks and distractions from your workspace
• Implement the "100 Mile Rule.” The 100 Mile Rule means that you should not be interrupted for any reason unless it is an important enough issue that you would be called if you were 100 miles away from the credit union.

Your goal should be to eliminate or reduce distractions that prevent you from maximizing your learning in the eSchools and Webinars.

Abide by basic “Netiquette” principles
Netiquette is the term coined to refer to proper conduct, or etiquette, in a computer environment. Because there will be no face-to-face contact with your instructor and class participants, it is critical that certain basic netiquette guidelines are followed to avoid unnecessary conflict.

Here are some examples:

• Avoid typing comments in all capitol letters as it is considered "shouting" and should be avoided unless you are truly excited or upset about something that has occurred in the eLearning environment.
• Share useful information with your fellow participants by posting a web address where the information can be viewed. Avoid e-mailing copyrighted materials of any kind to class participants
• Remember that the chat area and e-mail messages that you exchange as part of you session are extensions of eLearning. As such, comments are subject to moderation by a classroom facilitator, just as you would expect comments made in a traditional classroom to by moderated by an instructor.
• Just as you would expect an instructor in a traditional classroom to correct inaccurate and/or offensive comments, insults, profanity, complaints, political grandstanding, advertising, and other off-topic messages will be deleted and a note of warning will be sent to the person posting the inappropriate message.

Practice good eLearning “ground rules”

• Participate and prepare to be called on by name.
• Remember that the instructor needs to be able to call on people without physical cues as to who may have a response, so please offer up your comments in the chat when you have something to add.
• Raise your hand (virtually of course) if you have an immediate question or comment. The instructor cannot look at you to see if you are confused on a particular point.
• Be patient waiting for a response to your chat message. The instructor may need to finish a point before the answer can be typed.
• If you leave the program, please send a message to the instructor when you leave and when you return. The instructor needs to know if you can be called upon, and also needs to know you are not having technical difficulty.
• It is important to mute your phone until you are being called upon to share (*6 mutes the phone, pressing *6 again un-mutes the phone). This will ensure that cross talk and distracting background noise does not interfere.
• Do Not put the phone on hold. This will broadcast your credit union's hold music or on-hold messages to everyone and will disrupt the presentation.

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