I’m trying to model technology use for my staff by taking an online course myself. Unfortunately, I have a dial-up connection at home, and by the time I type in my response to a question, I am frequently dropped from the Internet before I can save it. I’ve lost a lot of time retyping. What can I do?
I’ve taught a number of online courses, and participants who use dial-up Internet connections often experience this problem. Here’s what I suggest they do. Log into the course site and copy the assignment prompt. Open a word processing document and paste the text so it can be referred to while completing the work. Then log off. Next, type the response into the word processing file and save it. When it’s time to post work, log on to the course site again. Copy and paste the response into the appropriate area.
It’s a few extra steps, but will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. This also is a good strategy to use with a high speed connection that’s a bit shaky or in a course site that ‘times you out.’
Submitted by: Susan Brooks-Young
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