Determine if your learning style is compatible with a distance learning format:
Distance learning classes require a computer with Internet access. It would be better if you have a computer at home.
If you have taken classes at Virginia Western in the last three years, meet your advisor, and decide which classes you need to take for your curriculum. If you don't have an advisor, contact the Admissions Office at 540-857-7231.
Your next steps:
If you are a student who has never taken a distance learning course, you must either attend an orientation session on the VWCC campus or complete the online general distance learning orientation session.
Check your course description; most classes require a textbook.
You automatically receive an email account when you enroll as a Virginia Western student. Your email is sent and received via the Virginia Community College System student email system.
To access your VCCS email account:
The possibile causes are:
The course syllabus is usually located on the Syllabus button of your course's main menu in Blackboard. You may also find useful information about the course structure and requirements under the Course Orientation button.
Often double clicking on the link of the file causes problems when you try to open or view the file. Try to right click on the link and then save the document to your computer. To open the file, go to where you saved the documents on your computer and double click the saved document.
MS office provides a compatibility pack for users who only have MS Office 2000/2003 installed on their computers and try to open documents created using MS Office 2007. Click here to download the Microsoft Compatibility Pack.
To access the instructions about how to use discussion board for students, please go to this page.
You need to contact your instructor immediately.
To prevent this, you should not browse to other websites during the process of taking a test. You need to use Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explore to navigate through Blackboard. Here is the free download for Mozilla Firefox.
Review your course syllabus on Blackboard. Many exams are given in the Learning Technology Center located in the Brown Library.
You are able to take exams outside the VWCC campus. In addition to Learning Technology Center, VWCC also offers two additional testing sites: Franklin Center and Greenfield Center. For detailed information, please visit this link.
If you live outside Virginia State or not near these three testing sites, you can contact the instructor before classes begin to inform your instructor that you need to have your exams proctored elsewhere. This will give the instructor enough time to complete paperwork before the first exam. Once you have contacted the instructor, he or she will send you the proctor form which you complete some of it and then take it to the proctor who will complete the rest, sign it and then the proctor (not you) will send it back to the instructor.
Click here to download the Proctor Test Request form.
In your Blackboard Course menu, locate your grade under the My Grades button. Clicking on the actual grade will allow you to see feedback from the instructor. Also look for attached files in the instructor feedback section. Attached files will be your original assignment with instructor's comments.
The exclamation point means that you have submitted the assignment but the instructor has not evaluated and entered a grade for the work.
If you receive an error message on the Blackboard login screen ("The Username and Password you specified were incorrect or you do not have access to this resource."):
If you were working on your course content within Blackboard, such as clicking on Reply button to post a response within discussion board and suddenly the discussion board page disappeared and you were pushed back to the Blackboard login page or the Internet page just shut down, this symptom indicates that you need to delete the Internet files from your browser. The instructions to delete Internet files are available on this link: Click here.
Click here for instructions for verifying your version of Java and upgrading if necessary.
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