Online Works! Transcripts

1

Suno is the greatest place in the world

Suno is the greatest place in the world to work; one place that allows you to reach your fullest potential...as a student, as a faculty member and as a staff person, if you choose to do so. It is a great atmosphere to work in and play. If you want to get involved in a program here at SUNO, its as close as your finger. Pick up the telephone and call 504-284-5478 and speak to Karen Rogers...we would be delighted to get you involved with a program here at SUNO.

2

Online Learning is the Future

With the availability of online classes that our university offers, I think it enables a lot of students that are displaced, whether you're in Houston or Atlanta or across the United States , and gives them the opportunity to be a part of the university again and to continue their education. And also, I think online learning is pretty much the future of education.

3

Online Classes

I think it's really good that they offer online classes. If I was somewhere else, I was going to take online classes. Actually, they didn't have them offered for us in the fall. I actually brought that up. In the fall, I was trying to get back into school, but I wanted to come back to SUNO. It wasn't available to me in the fall. But this semester they were available. But all my classes were available in class too. So I came back and did my in-class classes. But online is a really good thing. If I had to be somewhere else, I would have chosen to do all my classes online with SUNO versus sitting in another university.

4

The Future is Right Now

As it relates to students who may be interested in matriculating to SUNO, we now have the opportunity to let you do so via the internet. Online courses are becoming the wave of the future. And the future is right now. We invite you to take a course or two online. We know that many of you are still displaced around the country and around the world for that matter. But if you wish to continue in that SUNO spirit this is a tremendous opportunity to enroll online. We invite you to do that. It’s a way of keeping abreast of current trends in various areas as well as a means of remaining connected to SUNO. Online, we invite you. Come and take a course. You can stay right in your bedroom, living room, or den. You don't have to leave the house. You can do this: work at home, study at home, and still have the advantages of doing those other things. We invite your participation.

6

Greatest Weapon

Education is your greatest weapon. I mean, when you lose everything else . . . And for us, the Katrina victims, we've lost material things, but education is the thing we don't lose. Don't be discouraged by things that go on. We all have to go through something. And this will make everyone stronger. Don't lose your focus. Stay focused. Continue your education. Get everywhere you want to be. Because with that, you definitely can.

7

Easy To Use

I'm taking an American Government course online. It is very user-friendly. We have communication back and forth with the instructor. It's very helpful. Lots of information. It directs you to the places you need to go to find the information. And it's very easy to use. Convenient.

8

Take Online Classes

Interviewer: So, it doesn't really matter if you're in New Orleans for that fact right? Teacher: I would strongly encourage the students to enroll in a class online regardless of where you are. Whether you're in Houston , Atlanta , or even if you're in New Orleans and you're busy, and you're trying to get your house back together. Take out a few hours at night and take some online courses and you can work at your own pace and continue your education. New Orleans will be a different place to live now. If you're living in New Orleans now or living wherever you are, you're going to need your education so why not take advantage of the online courses that are being offered here at SUNO.

9

Working Mother

Student: My experience with online class... I'm a working mother, and it gives me more freedom that I don't have to be at a class at a certain time. I can go online at my own convenience and I do like that. Now an online class is challenging and you have to be disciplined because you do have deadlines. You have to dig in and get the material on your own. But that's a good thing because you learn more and I like that.

10

Take Classes Anywhere

Interviewer: What do you think of online courses? Teacher: Great, First of all I think students should get in classes somewhere so that there's not too long of a break within their studies. Once you've stayed out for one or two semesters and get a job and do all these other things, it's hard to come back. I recommend they take one or two classes wherever they are, or even come back to SUNO and take the class or take online courses here. But they should get back into their studies because once you stay out for a while it's just tremendously difficult to get back into the groove of studying.

11

High Standards

SUNO competes with the best of the universities in the metro New Orleans area. And also universities on the outskirts like Southern in Baton Rouge, LSU, and also, I think, we're very competitive with different curriculums over the whole United States. We're not just a university focused on the mediocre or smaller curriculums. We're very competitive. The university has high standards. Any student has a load to carry, and that's expected of them.

12

Convenience

I would encourage anybody, if you ever get the opportunity, to take an online class. Like I said, it's convenient. If you really don't have the time to get to campus every day, you can just go online at your leisure. The only thing I don't like about it is the tests: sometimes the tests are longer than a normal class. But for the most part, it's just as helpful as being in the classroom. So I would recommend taking an online class.

13

Get It Done

I think it's perfect when it comes down to having classes online. Everybody doesn't have access to vehicles. Everybody is pretty busy throughout the course of the day. I feel it's perfect to be on your job and be able to go online, if you have access to a computer, and handle what the teacher gives you, do what you have to do, and get it done. You have killed many birds with that one stone. And then you're going to make a passing grade in that class. And that's beautiful.

14

Individual Initiative

What I like about SUNO this semester is that due to the major crisis in the city I'm able to do my classes online, which really hasn't taken me away from my job as much as previous semesters. But overall, I think SUNO allows you to have the setting to gauge your learning on an individual basis. Not based on any pressure or anything like that. Online classes allow you to be accountable for your actions. In traditional classes you sit down, the instructor has to teach you, you listen and pay close attention. But in online classes you have to take the initiative to learn more.

15

A Lot of Online Classes

I highly encourage you to come back to New Orleans and to attend SUNO. Like I said, it's a wonderful school and you can succeed here. The staff is wonderful, and they make it easy for you to succeed. You don't have any problems. It's just all-around wonderful. There are a lot of online classes, and even if you can't attend here, you can take the online classes and be able to graduate. That shouldn't be a problem. And there are a lot of them here.

16

Uniqueness

I guess another uniqueness to offer are online programs and courses so that individuals that are employed or are in the military have the opportunity to continue their education at one of the most unique universities, I think, in the country. All of this can be done online, 24 hours a day, regardless of where they are located. And there are a number of avenues that can benefit those individuals especially when you look at the uniqueness in the types of services that we provide to those customers.

17

After Katrina

Interviewer: So, do you think you're going to take anymore online classes? Girl: Yes, if it'll work out with my work schedule, yes. Interviewer: And from what I understand, this is SUNO's first time offering online classes, right? Girl: Yes. Interviewer: And do you think it's a plus that the university is offering this type of service to students? Girl: Yes, it's a plus because after "Katrina" lots of students are scattered, so it's definitely a plus.

18

Application Process

The first step is the ACT, the standardized test. We're open admissions, so whatever your ACT score is, you are more than welcome. The next step is getting us your high school transcript. And the next step is filling out the application, and we only have a five dollar application fee. And then that's it. You're enrolled!

19

My Experience

You send emails in where you have courses. They respond within 48 hours. Most of the time, the assignments are placed on the internet on time. The course outline and the assignments are actually given it to you ahead of time. So if you're an actual go-getter you can go out and start ahead on your assignments and have them completed before the due date. My actual experience with the instructors has been well-received.

20

Online Resources

Interviewer: Would you recommend online classes? Student: Yes I do recommend it because you are able to study and read information at your own pace. But at the same time, you still are able to learn. You have interactions with other classmates and you have other resource sites that you can go on to help you with the assignment that are listed on the internet for your online course.

21

Online Makes Networking Easy

Online learning puts networking on a much faster track. For example, if you had to actually go some place and physically meet someone, you would be limited to a conference or by chance meeting someone in the city. With this, you have the opportunity to make the initial contact and you can support that contact if you go to a conference or something like that. The networking in museum studies is the life blood of the industry. It's still a very small field and a very close-knit field. The American Association of Museum's conference is coming up in Boston; it's the 100th annual conference. I'll be going to the conference and I probably won't see everybody I know, people that I know are going to be there. It's an opportunity to have met someone or communicated with someone, to go to a large conference. If you don't know anyone, you'll be able to touch base with someone you do, and if you do know people, you will probably be still communicating by email or text-messaging just because there are so many people there.

22

Door Is Always Open

Interviewer: What type of encouragement do you give a student who has dropped out of SUNO? How can you encourage them to come back and start networking the students and faculty again? Teacher: One way is not letting physically being here stop you from getting an education. There is the website, there are online classes being offered. We are constantly offering more and more courses because of the circumstances that we're in. The other thing I want students to know is that it is never too late to get an education, never ever. And SUNO's doors are always open.

23

Blackboard

You have a discussion session you have with the entire class or you can speak directly to the instructor because he provides a cell number if you are having problems with the online course. There is also a link where you can email him directly and he will respond to you in a matter of minutes. It's almost like a live chat with the instructor.

24

Goals

Faculty: This year was a first year trying the online courses and it was a success. We have 1500 students plus dong classes online. From what I'm understanding, the students that I recruit, one of their questions is, "Do we offer online?" People don't like to get up early and come to class, so online is a good thing. As for SUNO, only having this their first year, it's really turning out nice. Hopefully by next year, the chancellor wants us to have at least 2000 online students and we're going to try to get over that.

25

Email Professors

When they're online, professors make themselves available on the discussion board. They're available anytime you need them, and they give you their email addresses them if you need to contact them on anything pertaining to the class. Sometimes instead of coming to school I'd rather just send an email.

26

Distant Students

I feel very stimulated because I'm teaching students all over the country, literally! I have ex-SUNO students who are in Texas, Tennessee, and New York. I have one student in California who is taking my class and two online courses, History 410 and History 210. So I'm really excited that my course material is being shared by people all over.

27

Non-Traditional Students

This is the first year that we've offered - in the substance-abuse curriculum - full-time online courses. I've used Blackboard-enhanced courses in the past. And I was really pleased with the level of communication that takes place, particularly for the student who is not able to take classes. Most of our students are non-traditional, which means that they work and they go to school. So for those students who had problems with attending classes, it was a way to access content that they missed. And so that improved their grades. Now that students are taking classes full-time, I do find that it has assisted us to bring back students who are not living in a local area. But I personally like the face-to-face contact with students. So even though classes are online, those students that are in the community, I offer the opportunity to chat with me during office hours, person-to-person. But if they are not able to do that, the online resource is a great opportunity to complete their education.

28

Financially Friendly

What I like about SUNO the most is the fact that you can get an education and it's not going to break you financially.

29

Full Time Job

With me working full time, it was more convenient for me to take online classes because I'm not able to come to campus every day.

30

Online Registration

Basically, what you can do is fill out the application and enroll. Really that's all you have to do. Our website is about to be more hands-on to where you can apply online and you can pay your fees online. So that will be much better for students that want to come to SUNO. But we don't have any dormitories to house them, so they can take classes here online instead of if they did at the Southern University of New Orleans. Not physically, but online.

31

Encouragement

Student: If you're interested, I encourage you to come back or at least try to take online classes to further your education.

32

Convenience

Interviewer: What would be your recommendation, or your advice to students who are displaced in different cities? Teacher: I would advise the students to enroll in at least two classes, or three or more classes online because they are available. That will allow them to work at home, communicate with their instructors, and test online. This will keep them updated and they can continue their education while in another city because the resources are available.

33

Attitude

Student: It's pretty easy-going, laid back here [SUNO]. If you don't do anything to anybody, nobody will mess with you. Everybody here's got the same attitude especially after the strenuous circumstances of Hurricane Katrina. Just get your education and keep moving because you never know what's going to happen tomorrow.