This is Part 1 of the Initial Information for your course.

This part is to be completed by registered students.  If you have not yet registered, you should do so before completing these instructions.  If you have not registered you may go on to Part 2 of the Initial Information document, and come back to Part 1 when and if you register for the course.

If you have registered for the course then, not later than the first day of class, be sure to read and follow the instructions through this entire document.

To ensure that you have the correct information, please follow instructions as they are given in this document.

A.  Obtain your VCCS username, email address, password and other information.

Click on the link below to obtain your username, password, related instructions and other necessary information.  Note that if you have registered for the first time, your VCCS email account might take as long as 24 hours after registration to become active.  However it might well be active almost immediately; take a minute and check.  If you already have VCCS email and know how to access it and obtain help, you may skip this step; however you might also want to take a minute to refresh yourself on the latest information.

Accessing Login Information; Obtaining Help; VIVA; Accessing your Student Email

B.  Registered students:  Request your Access Code.

If you have registered for your course, then you should immediately request an access code, according to the following instructions.  All you need is your VCCS email address, and the name or course number of the course for which you are enrolled. 

If you have this information you will be able to complete the form in just a minute or two.

Click on the link Request Access Code and submit a request for your access code.  Be sure you use your VCCS email address in making the request, and be sure your email address is correct.

After submitting your request:

You should receive your code within 24 hours of submitting the form.  If you do not receive your code within 24 hours, email the instructor at dsmith@vhcc.edu , using your VCCS email account, and mention that you have requested the code.

The code will be sent via email to your VCCS email account.

The message will include instructions for viewing your 'Access Site'. 

When you receive this email you should immediately follow the instructions, being sure to read them very carefully.

Also be sure you keep a copy of this email message in the likely event that you will want to refer to it in the future.

C.  You may continue to submit work before you receive your code

After submitting your request, you may continue to follow (or work ahead of) the schedule for submitting Orientation assignments before you actually receive your code:

After submitting your access code request, you may submit the documents in the remaining steps of the Orientation and Startup.  There is no need to wait until you get your access code, as long as you are careful to provide your correct VCCS email address. 

• Once you obtain your access code, be sure to begin including it as requested by the form.
• Except for Orientation documents and work submitted prior to receiving the code, your email address is not sufficient.  Once you have received the code, both your access code and your VCCS email address must be accurately provided.

By the evening of the day following your submission, and often sooner, the instructor will post your work, along with his responses.

• Your work, along with instructor response, will be posted at your 'access page' (which you access with the instructions provided in the email containing your access code). 
• As with everything you submit, you should keep a backup of the original document as submitted.

D.  Use the Submit Work Form to document what you have done so far.

If you are a registered student, then before you continue, take a couple of minutes to confirm that you understand what you have done and what you have seen so far:

Using a text editor (such as Notepad or the equivalent) type a sentence or a short paragraph indicating what you have done so far, and what information you expect to find in the remainder of this document.

If you aren't sure what a text editor is, type your response into some sort of a word processor, add a sentence indicating what word processor you are using.

Add one more sentence indicating what operating system(s) and what device(s) you expect to use for this course (your operating system might be Windows, and Apple product, Linux, etc.; examples of devices would be PC's, IPad's, smartPhones).

Click on the link Submit Work Form .  The form is self-explanatory.

• The form will ask you to fill out identifying information (being sure you include your correct VCCS email address; if you just filled out the Access Code Request you probably won't yet have received your code, and until you do you will leave that space blank). 

• Be sure you have filled in the 'title' box.  The document you submit will be posted to your Access Site under the title you provide.  Any title is fine, as long as you can identify the document based on the title you provide.

• At the end of the form you will find a box into which to paste a copy of your document. 

• Below that box you will see the Submit button.  Click and make sure you receive a confirmation, which should pop up within a few seconds.

• Your instructor will post a response to your Access Page, usually within 24 hours but nearly always by the end of the day following your submission.  This timetable will usually be followed throughout the course, including weekends.

In this course routine communication will be by form and posting to your Access Site.  Unless you submit it, confidential information will not be posted at the Access Site. 

All routine communication will be by forms, with responses posted to your access site.  You will include identifying information in the places requested on the form.  This identifying information will not be posted at the access page; identifying information is used only to be sure your work is posted to the appropriate access site.   Unless you also include identifying information within the document you submit, your posting will be anonymous.  The name, code and email address you provide in response to the form's requests will not be posted.  

If the instructor's reply includes confidential information, that information will not be posted but will either be sent via email or posted in the (confidential) Grade Center (more about the Grade Center later).

E.  Introduce yourself to fellow students and/or instructor (optional).

Optional:  Introduce yourself to your fellow students

You are encouraged to introduce yourself to your fellow students, but you are not required to do so.

If you choose to provide an introduction you may use your real name, a nickname, or remain as anonymous as you wish.

Your introduction, if you choose to provide one, will be posted without your identifying information, at a common location available to all enrolled students.

You may submit an introduction at any point during the course.

To do so, simply use the Submit Work Form and include at the end a specific request to post your introduction to a location which can be accessed by others.

Only information you provide will be posted.  Your personal access code, name, email address etc. will not be posted.  The instructor reserves the right to edit any information deemed inappropriate.

Optional:  Introduce yourself to the instructor using email.

You may have introductory information you wish to share with the instructor and not with other students.

Email is not the standard means of communication in your course, but it does have a higher level of security and confidentiality than your Access Site. 

Whether or not you have chosen to introduce yourself to the class, you are invited to send the instructor an introduction, using email.  Once more this is optional and not required.

An introduction by email will be treated as confidential, and will not by posted anywhere.

At this point:

• You will have completed your Access Request and submitted a brief document about what you have seen and what you have done so far. 
• You should know to begin checking your access side as soon as you receive your code.

In Part 2 we continue with much more information.