Skip to main content

Semester Start-Up: eLearn Help at Your Fingertips

Welcome to August 2022! 

As I write, convocation is less than two weeks away. Classes start in less than three weeks on August 22. Many of you are creating new learning resources, assignments, and assessments. Some of you are preparing to teach courses you've never taught before or are preparing to teach a familiar course in a new way. Certainly, our work lives are quickening to the increasing rhythms of the academic year as Fall Semester approaches.

When it comes to your eLearn sections, hit the "Don't Panic" button if you find yourself feeling a little stressed. Help is at your fingertips. The Department of Distributed Education will help you solve any technical problems you have with eLearn or help you brainstorm creative ways to improve your online classes (well, the brainstorming may need to wait until beginning-of-semester chores are done).

The best way to request eLearn support during this busy season is to email:

        elearn@volstate.edu

You can call us at (615) 230-3665 (M-F 8:00 am to 4:30 pm) or reach out directly to your friendly neighborhood DE team members Star, Bryan, or Trisch. But using elearn@volstate.edu is best so we can get you to the right person posthaste.

If you have eLearn questions, it's always a good idea to check out the Faculty eLearn Support Knowledge Base under the Help tab in eLearn. This resource is available 24/7 and has easy-to-follow articles that will help you solve eLearn problems.

Faculty help is under the Help tab in eLearn

While we're not quite at the office 24/7, you can book an appointment with a Distributed Education team member on the eLearn Support Microsoft Bookings page.

Finally, we have a nice set of thirteen articles to help you prepare for the semester and keep up with your great teaching work throughout the semester in the Online Teaching & Course Development section of the VSCC Knowledge Base. I find the article, "Best Practices for Online Teaching: Expanded Version" particularly helpful so I provide a brief tour of it in the video below to familiarize you with our Knowledge Base articles.

So, remember, hit the "Don't Panic" button and reach out to the Department of Distributed Education if you need help.

Have a great semester!


Bryan Saums is an Instructional Design Specialist in the Department of Distributed Education. Reach out to him by emailing bryan.saums@volstate.edu... of course, for general tech questions, elearn@volstate.edu is best! 🙂

Popular Posts

The Only Thing to Fear is Fear Itself: How I Overcame My Anxiety About Student Evaluations of Teaching

I had never been speechless and embarrassed in my professional life until that Thursday evening.  After class, one of my students said something to me that I never forgot: “Ms. Jean-Francois, I don’t mind reading about technology and all, but who wants to hear the same topic over and over again for three and a half months.” Translation—my class was boring. Yes, at some points, talking about the same thing repeatedly could become repetitive and mundane. His honest statement stung because he said it in front of other students. Some others probably felt the same way, too. With my wounded ego, I tried to defend myself. I told him that we were examining the topic from different angles. My explanation did not work. I went home wounded because I did a lot of leg work to prepare for the semester. I was five years deep teaching in higher education, so I thought I was on top of my game. Who wanted to be called “boring”?  After stressing over it for a few days, I realized that my student...
Read more