New User Orientation

Welcome to our orientation area - a place where first-time users can learn how to start their adventure in online education. Included in this section is an overview of the VCampus environment and a step-by-step guideline for taking an online course.

Let's get started. The key to successful navigation around the VCampus is to familiarize yourself with the virtual campus environment. However, before you begin taking any of the hundreds of available courses, you must first enroll to the particular VCampus where you will take your online courses.

Once you enroll and login, you will find the following "virtual" buildings inside:

The Registrar Building
-- where you will register for available courses. This is the place where System Administrators will add new courses and admit students into selected courses. Please note that some VCampus sites are set-up for Open Enrollment so that your enrollment process will be completed automatically without human interaction. Once registered for a course, you will proceed to your course through the Classrooms Building.

The Classrooms Building
-- where you will enter your registered course and/or check your grades. Administrators and course instructors can also enter each of the available courses in progress and check on student's grades, download progress reports, and perform other management tasks.

Most courses will have one or more Supplemental Course Functions which may include a prepared syllabus, pre-test, mastery test, student gradebook, glossary and various reference documents. Some online courses will use a Conference Messaging Board that will be moderated by your instructor. You will have the opportunity to post your questions, add commentary to other discussions and communicate with your classmates whenever you wish.

We should discuss a couple of points about our online courses and the occasional requirement for Internet browser plug-ins. Some courses utilize interactive multimedia elements that require a special piece of external software (a 'plug-in'). If you are not sure whether you already have a particular plug-in, or if you wish to install it now, you can visit our Plug-in Resource Center. You will have the opportunity to take these identical steps from within the VCampus Information Building (see below) Further explanation on how to navigate the course system is given in detailed Step-by-Step Instructions.

The Faculty Building
-- where students can leave personal messages for instructors and receive information relating to faculty office hours.

The Commons Building
-- where enrolled members of the VCampus can interact with other students or instructors and access additional lifestyle information.