Academic Advising - Graduate

• Academic Coordinator
  The Academic Coordinator for your program is the best person to help you develop a degree roadmap, monitor your progress, and make recommendations. Your Academic Coordinator can provide advice on:
  • Course selection
  • Course equivalency substitutions
  • Course prerequisites
  • Academic requirements (university, school/college, department)
  • Graduation checks
  Although you will receive academic advising primarily from your Academic Coordinator, your success will depend upon the coordinated efforts of each member of your online community, including you. Read the descriptions below to understand what you can expect from them, and what is expected of you.
  
  Contact your Academic Coordinator now

• Mentor
  Some online degree programs use the assistance of mentors. Mentors support students' progress through the course by fulfilling several roles:
  • As a learning coach -- clarifying course content and giving you feedback
  • As a communicator -- contacting you regularly about your progress and concerns

  In graduate courses, the mentor may be a teaching assistant (TA) on an advanced graduate level, an adjunct instructor, or a faculty member.
  In all cases, mentors are carefully selected by the lead faculty, trained in student support skills, supervised during the facilitation of the course, and evaluated.
  Your mentor will introduce him- or herself to you via email just before classes begin. Ask your mentor course-specific or general questions whenever you want more information or clarification.

  Contact mentors by threaded discussion, live online chat, email, fax, or telephone (and voice mail). Each mentor has the responsibility for no more than 25 students, which allows for personal attention.


• Lead Faculty Member
  The lead faculty member has full responsibility for the course. Faculty members ensure that course content and materials reflect the respective discipline's standards and that grading is consistent.
  Faculty members create learning opportunities through:
  • Explicit instruction on goals of the course
  • A schedule to follow in completing course activities
  • Access to expertise in the content area
  • Instruction organized into activities
  • Guidance in completing activities and assignments
  Lead faculty may schedule specific telephone office hours, or specific chat room hours when groups of students may go online at the same time to type questions and receive answers. Faculty also respond through threaded discussions or individual email, and they make general announcements through the course website.


• You, the student
  

  As a member of the FSU community, you may be asked to introduce yourself through email or by creating your own Web page. You will never feel isolated if you participate and use the resources provided. Online-learning students often report that they feel more connected than in a traditional classroom. That's because they're drawn into the online community through discussions with their coursemates, instructor, and mentor.
  To ensure that you derive the most from your online education, you should develop certain habits.

  • Be an independent learner -- An online classroom, one that is open at all times, can lead you to focus on other aspects of your life at the expense of your course work. To avoid anxiety and possible failure, maintain a schedule. Staying on task will not only benefit you but also your coursemates. Many of your courses will have group projects in which your coursemates will depend upon your thoughtful and punctual attention, just as you will depend on theirs.
  • Be an active member -- Build an online educational community by joining with your coursemates, instructors, and mentors. Your online community's strength and value depends on the thoughtful and regular attention provided by its members.
  • Be prepared to work online -- Participating in a web-based course requires you to have basic computer skills. You must be able to:
  • Use a word processing program to create or change document files
  • Access the Internet to receive and send e-mail with attached files
  • Use a Web browser to locate websites and to download/upload files

  If you don't possess these skills, take courses through your local community college, vocational/technical school, adult education program, or private computer-training companies.
  

Return to Attend the University