Next Steps

Follow these steps every semester to help get you off to a successful start:

• Check to see if the course you have registered for has an orientation (click here). If it does, you are expected to attend it. If it does not, then you must sign on to Canvas on the first day of class.
• Visit the ELAC Bookstore webpage to make sure you have obtained all required books and course materials before the first day of class.
• Some instructors send out a syllabus by the school email. Make sure you have a valid LACCD student email registered with the school.
• There are courses that use Canvas, but link out to a publisher site. In Canvas, you may find a web page link in the syllabus or other spaces within Canvas.
• Write down important information such as the instructor's phone number, email address, and office hours. Keep this information somewhere safe and accessible, so you will still be able to contact your instructor if you cannot get into your online course site.
• Take note of the instructor's standing weekly due dates (days of the week by which assignments need to be posted). Enter these running dates into your own personal calendar system.
• Read the course's Introduction and look over all course Orientation materials.
• Take note of the course project(s) & assignments, their due dates, and any intermediary dates when project components are due (a literature review, an outline, a first draft, etc.). Note these dates in your own personal calendar system.
• Post your first assignment.
• Determine whether, at any time during the semester, you have plans (vacations, business trips, holidays, religious celebrations, etc.) that might keep you from participating in your online course for more than two consecutive days. If so, notify your professor on the first day of class. Include dates and other specific information, and be sure to include a plan for how you will complete your coursework in a timely fashion to cover your absence.
• ELAC offers a 1 unit online class titled: How to Succeed in an Online Course: CAOT 133. This course is an advisory course, and for students wishing to enroll for the first time in an online class. It covers the basic navigation of the online environment including how to post to forums, take quizzes, submit assignments, and other common online skills focusing on, but not limited to Canvas, as well as the soft skills needed to be successful in an online environment.