About SWIHA Online Learning

Our online classes are built around the concept of community & serve as an extension of the spirit found on our campus. Through a combination of our online community, course designs based on learning communities, & dedicated individuals to help you along your journey, we are creating an online learning community like no other. A community that emphasizes connection, spirit, service, & transformation.

Faculty Connection

Unlike many programs, in our online courses you will have a dedicated instructor with you, to guide you, for each class. Whether you choose a self-paced or fully structured course, they will help foster connected discussions that raise everyone’s level of understanding. You will also be able to receive support from dedicated student services and advising staff.

Expectations

As part of your experience with SWIHA Online, we want to ensure you are prepared to learn in our environment. So, you will need to complete an online orientation class prior to beginning your first online course. This orientation will not take long, but it will ensure you are able to use the learning environment in every way necessary to fully participate in your new course. Even if you have taken online courses in the past, you will still be required to complete our orientation to the FirstClass learning management system.

As mentioned above, our courses are facilitated by experienced practitioners. This means there will be an instructor with a thorough understanding of the course material guiding you throughout your course. During a typical week in our courses you will read and explore resources, participate in discussion forums, and complete independent projects.

Read and Explore Resources:
Throughout your course you may explore a variety of resources. Many of these will be given to you by your instructor (i.e. documents, internet resources, Adobe Acrobat Files, short videos exploring a topic, or narrated PowerPoint presentations). Some could be text books or materials you will need to find and purchase. Others may be new resources you discover and share with the rest of your class and/or instructor. In all of these cases, the key is to read or view the resource with your objective in mind. This will help you critically analyze the information, allowing you to create and express your own opinion to your classmates and instructor.

Discussion Forum:
In an online course, the discussion forum is where you will work with your peers and instructor to build a conversation about a key concept. In structured courses, each week every student will post a response to one or two questions provided by the instructor. In order to answer these well, you will need to read and understand the materials given to you. A good response to these questions will demonstrate analysis and comprehension of that key concept. After making your original post, you will then need to respond to one or two of your classmates in a constructive and meaningful way. Often, since each student has more time to critically think about their responses before submitting them, online discussions like this can be more fulfilling and substantive than traditional classroom conversations. They also have the advantage of being in writing - so you can go back and study them again at any time.

In self-paced courses, the only difference is you are working on your own time line. You will post responses into the discussion board as part of each unit. Then, your instructor, and in some cases other students, will respond to your ideas in a constructive way, challenging and encouraging you to deeply and thoroughly explore the material.

Independent Projects:
If discussion forums represent the in-class conversations you used to have, you can think of independent projects like the homework you used to complete. Unlike the discussion forum, you complete these projects on your own and turn them in to the instructor for evaluation. In some longer classes you may have a small learning community of 3 or 4 people to bounce ideas around as you work. Of course, even if there is not a formal learning community in your class, you can always reach out to your fellow classmates, you instructor, and your online team if you are having difficulty.

As a student, you need to be dedicated to the learning process. Online coursework takes self-discipline and motivation to be successful. (This is especially true in self-paced courses!) In structured courses, you should expect to login at least every other day to participate in class discussions, chats, and access course materials. Also, for each class you are taking, you should expect from 6 to 12 hours of work per week depending on course requirements and personal work habits.

In self-paced courses you may work more quickly if you can. However we encourage you to take your time and ensure you are understanding all of the material in a unit prior to moving to the next.

How do you know if you are ready for Online education?

Online education is different from traditional learning, but many students find it to be more engaging and rewarding. We suggest you take our Online Assessment to determine if you are ready to take an online course. After you receive your results, please do not stop there ~ whatever they are. Give us a call or drop us an email, we are happy to talk to you about any anxiety you may have.

So don't fret. We want you to know we are committed to being with you throughout your entire journey … and help will always be a phone call, an email, or a chat away.

Sincerely,
Your Online Team

Michael Dye
Academic Advisor and Online Specialist
480-994-9244 x122
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Brad Boute
Director of Online Education
480-393-1399
SKYPE: brad.boute

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