Your instructor will most likely use one or more of the online communications tools in your course. In online learning, communication can occur in two ways; synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous communication occurs when two or more participants are communicating in real time such as in a chat room or whiteboard. Two or more participants need to be online in order to communicate. Asynchronous communication can occur at anytime. Instructors and students can access an asynchronous tool like the myCourses Discussions or Email tool at a time that is convenient for them to read and post messages. The Announcements and Calendar tool may also be used by your instructor for communication purposes as well.
In your myCourses course, you will be exposed to some of these online communications tools in varying ways depending upon if your instructor has enabled the communication tool itself.
You can usually find these tools in the course navigation bar that resides just to the left of the homepage area.
All myCourses communication tools have an associated icon that also serves as a notification tool. If you see a green check box next to your icon, you will need to check that communication tool for any new communications.
Again, depending upon whether or not your instructor has enabled the tool; you may see the following icons displayed in your course toolbar.
Click on the icon, to view the new communication(s).
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New Announcements |
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New Calendar postings |
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New Discussion postings |
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New Mail |
You can also find a link to the Mail and Calendar tools from the myCourses at UMass Dartmouth portal page. The global view of mail and calendar appears listing all courses and sections in which you are enrolled. You can access the global mail and calendar from the upper right hand corner of the myCourses at UMass Dartmouth portal page.
