Navigating U of I Global Campus "Direct2Learn" interface

The first step, even before paying the tuition for my first class, Foundations of Online Teaching and Learning, was “claiming” my online student id and resetting my password. Nope. I will not share, except to say that the requirement for the password forced me to create one that has no numbers related to any of my personal info and no combination of letters that form a word. No shortcuts or easy to remember word/number combinations. I also spoke to my personal counselor, Jennifer, who sounds like she’s 20 years my junior and was sincerely happy to “meet” me over the phone and help me with every question I could possibly have. This personal attention is reassuring and may be the kind of detail that keeps this program from experience the kind of drop-out rate that seems to plague most distance learning.

Armed with my id and password, I logged onto Global Campus, selected my first course and paid for it (by credit card, of course). The interface was simple and intuitive. There was also a link to the textbook for my class, Teaching and learning at a Distance, allowing me to order it through for $53.30 With a shipping charge of $9.99 (for one book!). Amazon.com had a used copy for $48.85, with a shipping charge of only $3.99. And a newer edition. The Global Campus “bookstore” strikes out.

No information available about the class, yet. The syllabus won’t be available until May 7, which, I guess, counts as the official first day of class. I suppose that makes sense, since students in a brick and mortar class wouldn’t get their syllabii until the fist day of class