Dear Students,
One of the greatest challenges of running an online program is providing the cohesion and collaboration necessary to make the material interesting and to offer a sense of community. All too often, I see a highly-qualified, hard-working student start a course with high expectations just to learn that the discussion forums have little or no activity. This is discouraging for the student. So, this letter is to offer a few pointers:
- If you are a program enrollee and feel that your course has limited activity, it's ok to enter other courses to look to see where the majority of the USAM participants are working. You will not lose the effort you invest in the 1st course, and when the 1st course become more active, you will be notified immediately in the form of participants' discussion posts to your email.
- Peace I, Peace II, Philosophy I and Philosophy II do not have to be taken in any order. They DO NOT build on one another. Hence, if you find collaboration in Peace II and have not finished Peace I, go for it! Join the activity when you find it.
- Finally, in an effort to generate more discussion, if you have a friend, colleague or family member who you'd like to invite to the program, you may do so for free for a limited time. Building bonds, sharing ideas and creating collaboration is that important!
If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact me.
Best,
Lori E. Musa
