Philosophy 33

Be realistic about yourself.

If you have a tendency to procrastinate, do not take an Internet course because the chances are that you will keep putting things off until you are too far behind.
If you are not already sufficiently comfortable working with computers (especially email and search engines), do not take an Internet course because there is too great a risk that you will get bogged down just in the mechanics.
If you are not strongly motivated and able to see things through on your own, definitely do not take an Internet course.

Be realistic about the course.

If your high-school or college GPA is low, it's quite likely that you should work on other subjects (English, for instance) to bring yourself up to the level you need to be at for a college course of this type.
If you are uncomfortable with individuals who express beliefs and values sometimes quite different from your own, you should probably not take this particular course since one requirement is that your comments are shared with everyone else in the course.

Know what you do need otherwise.

Internet access. This is available to all students through the Learning Center at the college or in the computer workrooms in the Instructional Building.
Become familiar with the ETUDES portal that we are using for the course. The link and directions for access are at the opening page for InternetLogic.org.
An email account is not necessary but is very useful. I recommend using one of the free Internet accounts available through Hotmail, Yahoo, Quepasa, College Club and many other sources. These are accounts you may access from any computer. An account from your ISP (Internet Service Provider)--Compuserve, for example--may not be something you can access when you are not at your home computer. When submitting material make sure you are working from the right account (important for individuals who might share computers with other members of their family).
Early and continuing contact with your instructor. It is a good idea to send an email note to the instructor as soon as you enroll in the course. Check your email routinely (and delete unneeded messages or move things you want to save to a separate folder).
Watch your dates. For full credit, assignments need to be sent in according to a definite schedule. Also, watch your school calendar for important deadlines, such as the date to petition for a course to be credit/no credit or the last date to drop with a "W."