The next step is to become familiar with your online class. Most instructors are using BlackBoard as a platform for their classes. You can find great resources for students on the BlackBoard Support page.

For questions about specific classes, please contact our Transfer Center counselor, . You may also check Assist, a statewide student transfer information website for California colleges. You can visit this site to look up course and check their transferability to other campuses. Please note that not all courses may be listed.

For example, Maria Smith whose student ID is 555552956 would logon as:

Username: ms2956
Password: student

If you registered for the class prior to the Wednesday before classes start, you should be able to access your class on the first day of the semester. Students registering later will be able to log-in 24-48 hours after the instructor is notified of their enrollment. Please contact the Help Desk if there are any problems logging in to your BlackBoard class.

The system will not allow anyone not properly registered for a class to access a course. If you believe that you are enrolled, but cannot access the course, contact your instructor by email.

For classes not using the BlackBoard platform, contact your instructor for course access information.

Once the class has started, there could be several reasons why you are not hearing from your instructor. The number one problem is having an old or incorrect email address listed in your college contact information. You need to call the PC Admissions office to update your address.

If you are using a web-based email account (Yahoo!, Hotmail, MSN, etc.), your inbox may be full. All of these services offer a limited amount of space for mail storage. If you are full, incoming emails are bounced back to the sender. Make sure to frequently delete old messages and empty the Trash file. You might want to consider setting up an account just for your online classes.

It is best if you have the most current version of your favorite browser. This will allow you to take full advantage of any multimedia files your instructor may use. You can use the links below to upgrade your browser if needed:

• Internet Explorer: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/ie6/
• Netscape: http://home.netscape.com/computing/download/index.html
• Opera: http://www.opera.com/download/

*Navigate the Internet
*Use email, including how to attach a file to an email message
*Download a program from the Internet and install it
*Do a search on the web

If you have trouble with any of the above, all of these skills are covered in the Online Student Survival Guide [pdf / zip].
(Adobe Acrobat Reader required - if you don't have this software, you may click here to download it for free.)
You may also want to consider taking the Successful Online Student class. This 1 unit, 2 week course will prepare you to succeed in your online classes.

Most basic model computers sold these days have more than adequate features for taking an online class. You must have your own equipment - the college will not supply a computer.

Porterville College students, faculty, and staff are able to sign up for discounted Internet service through SOSiNET for $10 a month. This account includes unlimited Internet access with dial-up numbers throughout the state of California. Proof of student status is required. Contact SOS at 559-789-9434 or sign up online.

A proctor may be required for tests and exams. Your instructor will provide details on how to set this up.

Written assignments can be submitted via e-mail. The drawback is that that e-mail will not retain the formatting of the original file. This can be serious problem when you are expected to present your written materials in a particular file format or style. One way around this is to submit your writing assignment as an "attachment" to an e-mail message. In this case, if your instructor has the same word processing software as you, then he will see your writing assignment in exactly the same form as it was written. An alternative is to send the file as a Rich Text Format document. The Rich Text Format has the advantage that most formatting is preserved and can be viewed on a variety of popular word processors.

The following instructions were written by Corey Marvin, Professor of English, to help guide you through the process of sending a written assignment as an e-mail attachment:

• From your email program, begin a new message addressed to the person(s) you are sending it to and type in whatever beginning message you want (i.e., "Here it is!" or "Treat it nicely!").
• All e-mail programs are different in the kind and quality of features they support, but most allow you to send whole documents by clicking on a button or pulling down a menu that says "Add an Attachment" or "Attach a file" or some variation of that.
• You will probably then be presented with a box or line that allows you to put in, or browse for, the file-name of your document you want to attach. For example, if your paper is stored on your hard-drive at c:\msoffice\winword\paper1.doc, this is the file-name you would enter. If it's on a floppy disk, it might be something like a:paper1.doc.
• You then press OK (or whatever your program uses to accept data).
  You should see in the body of your e-mail message not the document but a message indicating that the document is attached.
• Send away.

For information on searching, subscribing, reading, and posting messages to newsgroups, visit LearnTheNet.

PDF files were supplied courtesy of SOSiNET.

If you have a technical support question (how to set up email, how to log in to BlackBoard, etc.) contact our online Help Desk. Live support will be available through AIM (PirateSupport), ICQ (139952393), and telephone. Check the Help Desk page for hours. Questions submitted through our online help form can expect a response within 24 hours on weekdays and 48 hours on weekends.