A lot of effort goes into planning an online course, so it is crucial that students are able to jump right in and quickly access their course content and resources.
Melissa Erskine is a Professor of English at Blinn College who has recently started using MindTap after years of experience with iLrn. Her experiences have taught her a lot over time about acclimating students to external resources so that they are not overwhelmed.
Getting Ahead of Student Concerns
One of the most important tips that Melissa has for teaching an online course with MindTap is to get ahead of any student questions/concerns before class even begins.
Some of the ways she does this include:
- sending an email to the students letting them know they need to log into their class and register for MindTap within the first days of the semester;
- providing a custom-introduction video that introduces herself, her course, D2L, how to register for MindTap and a tour of MindTap resources;
- supplying them with Cengage MindTap tour videos.
You can find all of our Getting Started Resources on the Cengage Training Resources site https://cengage.com/training/mindtap Be sure to use filters to select Student Resources, your LMS, and the Start String Topic.
Tips for Success
Guiding students through how to access MindTap and what to expect when they are on the platform has helped tremendously in easing student anxiety. The Introduction video that Melissa creates is also on the course homepage and in the first week assignment folder to make sure they do not miss it! Sending a quick email to your students telling them where to go can alleviate many questions from students.