Roberto: Hometown Summer Job
Roberto’s family business is in Eau Claire, WI. He returns home each summer, working about 40 hours per week to earn money for the school year. During the spring semester an enrollment limit prevented Roberto from completing a very popular required class in his in Life Sciences communication major, but he found it available in an online format during summer; this was a three-credit course condensed into eight weeks.
Starting the Course
Roberto invested 15-20 hours per week to complete the course. The course had a consistent pattern each week, and leveraged real world events for instruction. Each Sunday at 12:00 AM, required text readings, video based lectures, quiz questions, and a PDF case study became available. By 11:59 PM on Tuesday Roberto needed to upload a draft PowerPoint analysis of his assigned weekly case study.
Course Requirements
Wednesdays and Thursdays were Teaching Assistant and peer critique days in the course. Roberto was responsible for critiquing two of his peers; in total, he had exposure to three case studies, with feedback due by 11:59 PM Thursday evenings. Upon receiving feedback, the presentation was refined and uploaded for grading by 11:59 PM Friday evenings. Each of the case studies also had an accompanying scholarly article that filled in supporting details. Roberto also completed a weekly quiz that was due by each Saturday at 11:59 PM.
Course Completion
Roberto did not enroll in the course looking for an "easy A." He worked hard and passed the class with an acceptable grade; however, satisfactorily completing the amount of work required was a challenge for him given his other priorities, including work and vacation plans. Knowing the rigor involved, he wished he had trimmed his work schedule by a few hours each week. Still, he found this course to be of great value because he fulfilled necessary credits and had more flexibility to schedule other courses in the next academic year.
Giulia: Internship in Washington, D.C.
Giulia is excited for summer because she will participate in an internship program in Washington D.C. She knows the internship will take between 30-40 hours of her week, so she made an appointment with her academic advisor to explore the possibility of some options for fulfilling credits in order to make progress toward her degree.
Her advisor recommended one of several UW-Madison online courses that would give Giulia an opportunity to meet a general education requirement. While somewhat apprehensive about what an online course would entail, Giulia considered her options and eventually enrolled.
While Giulia found the online course considerably different than the face-to-face courses, she came to appreciate the nice balance of flexibility, interactivity, and rigor. In a typical week, Giulia would log into the course's Desire2Learn (Learn@UW) site as soon as practical on Monday to review a message from her instructor that introduced the content for the week and outlined all activities, expectations, and deadlines. Giulia used that opportunity to proactively plan her intership schedule, which followed a similar pattern from week to week.
Starting the Week
On both Monday and Tuesday, Giulia read chapters in the assigned textbook, articles from the web, and listened to a series of podcasts in which her professor covered foundational material for the unit. Just like her face-to-face class, Giulia took notes as she read and listened because it helped her better remember key ideas and facts that would become useful for other activities later in the week.
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Mid Week
In the middle of the week, Giulia logged into the course frequently to respond to the questions posed by her instructor in the course discussion forum. The discussions were organized using small groups of 5-6, which allowed Giulia to get to know other students and make contributions without being overwhelmed by a large number of posts. Since the discussions were an important part of Giulia’s grade, she took care to make a thoughtful post by referencing her notes to incorporate ideas from the readings and podcasts. During this part of the week Giulia also checked into an online forum where students would post questions from the readings or podcasts. While she did not always have a question to ask, readings these posts was helpful for her to feel connected to the other students and read responses from her Teaching Assistant.
Finishing the Week
The two remaining tasks for the week were a journal submission and a quiz due on Sunday. The journal submission helped Giulia track and develop a personalized interpretation of course topics. She found the exercise useful because the concepts sometimes overlapped with her internship and the feedback from her TA helped prompt new ideas for her. The 20-question quiz caused Giulia a bit of anxiety because it was strictly time limited. However, whenever she studied her notes and reviewed readings prior to taking the quiz, Giulia was largely successful. In retrospect, Giulia prefered the weekly quiz to a typical course that has a mid-term and final exam.
How much time should I devote to my online summer class?
On average, one 3-credit, 8-week summer online course will require 15 hours of your time each week. This will be time spent on course material, activities, readings, assignments and exams.
You may spend more or less time than this depending on...
- your familiarity with Learn@UW;
- the depth of reflection you bring to course exercises;
- the degree to which you engage in the assignments, activities, and/or suggested readings/resources outside of your lectures.
The big takeaway: Make sure to balance your summer activities with your summer course load, just as you would in fall or spring!
"Take time to study more seriously for exams."
- Previous Summer Online Student
"Keeping up with assignments is essential."
- Previous Summer Online Student
Syllabus
The course syllabus generally includes everything you need to know about your course, from activities to assessments to virtual office hours.
Study your syllabus to get an idea of how the course is structured. Also note any conflicts (like those summer vacations) to make sure you download the course content ahead of time (if you won't have Wi-Fi) to complete assignments while you're away. Or note days when you might need to adjust your work schedule to prepare for an upcoming project.
Weekly Rhythm Diagram
If your instructor provides a weekly rhythm or weekly flow diagram, use it! This shows you how to structure your week to be successful in the course. Here's an example. In this course every unit or module is one week long and opens on Tuesday each week. Independent, self-directed work is expected of the student early in the week, Tuesday through Friday. Assignments and activities are due every Monday at the end of the unit.
| Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon |
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| Weekly unit begins 8AM |
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Weekly unit ends 12AM |
| Complete required readings | Work through web-based content |
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| View lecture presentations | Complete required activities |
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Student-to-student interaction: group & class discussion | ||||
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Peer graded writing assignments, reflection & assessment | |||
Online Course Format
A typical online course at UW-Madison uses Learn@UW to provide a virtual classroom environment. Online courses tend to be organized into modules. Modules might be organized based on time or subject matter. One instructor might have four modules each 2 weeks in length for an 8-week summer course. Another instructor might have 8 modules each dedicated to a different topic area for the course.
Tools like podcasts, discussion forums, and webpages enable students to engage with course materials, participate in online discussion activities, communicate with the instructor and other students, and submit assignments or exams for assessment. You may come across the following in your course:
- Podcasts created by your instructor about specific subject matter
- Discussion and interactive activities to learn and apply concepts
- Webpages describing concepts and principles with links to external resources, multimedia, or visual elements
- Readings from peer-reviewed journal articles, publications, and other reputable sources
- Real-world examples from UW-Madison courses, faculty, or instructional staff
- Supplemental resources for more information and strategies
"A detailed syllabus is the most helpful tool to an online summer course."
- Previous Summer Online Student
Online Interactions
Even though your summer course is online, you will still interact with your instructor, TA, and peers. However, it is important to manage expectations about that communication. You may not be able to email your instructor a question at 11:30PM expecting a response by midnight.
Make sure to read the syllabus thoroughly to see when your instructor/TA office hours will be held and what the average response time is for emails. If that information is not listed, contact your instructor/TA at the start of the course.
Most online courses will have four communication and interaction components:
| Component | Common Interactive Tools | |
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| 1 | Private communications: student to instructor student to student |
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| 2 | Informal class communications: student to instructor student to student |
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| 3 | Learning activities: student to content student to student student to instructor |
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| 4 | Feedback: instructor to student student to student |
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"Communicating with classmates and the instructor is a
lot different in an online course."
- Previous Summer Online Student
Tips for Summer Term Success
Summer is a more relaxed atmosphere for students to be in school, but the pace of classes can be two to three times faster due to the condensed nature of summer term. Online courses require a lot of discipline and time management to fully engage the materials.
Below you'll find a series of ways you can succeed in a class with an intensive pace:
- Students need to give summer courses top priority. Although there are many fun things to do during the summer, students need to make sure these don't become a distraction from their classes. To be successful in summer term, use activities as incentives to finish your schoolwork, not as a reason to avoid it.
- Mental preparation is key. Review course basics and buy your books prior to the first day of classes.
- Block off time in your schedule every day for your online class. Because the summer term format is so intense, getting behind one day can be detrimental. It is important to plan work schedules and trips around your course schedule.
- Study and form a study group (or hold a weekly chat/Skype™ session).
- Personalize your experience! Upload an avatar, introduce yourself, and don't be afraid to interact online.
- Ask questions often. There is no such thing as a bad question. Asking questions can help clear up any confusion and verify that course material is being understood.
- Physical wellness is a must. Compressed, accelerated classes can be tough to power through. Make sure you are getting enough sleep, eating well, and giving yourself breaks from staring at the computer screen.
- Manage your workload. Make a conscious effort to manage your time. Students who are aware of how they spend their day can maximize productivity, which makes staying on top of schoolwork (and saying "yes" to that beach day) easier.
"Take the course just as seriously as a face-to-face course."
- Previous Summer Online Student
"Much faster paced than a regular 15 week semester."
- Previous Summer Online Student
