NOVA Online Student Spotlight

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Check out our spotlight blog post below from NOVA Online student, Angelique about her experience taking online courses!

There were so many things keeping me from enrolling in college. My time with my family was a big one. I never really considered taking online classes until my sister took a few over the summer before she transferred to George Mason. I decided that if my little sister could keep up her social life, nannying, and tutoring, I could manage a few classes as well. I went through the enrollment process and decided that NOVA Online Student life was for me.

My drive to succeed has really helped me with this new process. Even my coworkers are considering taking a few classes at NOVA, as they can see how this experience has truly enriched me and already helped me better myself in the workplace. My e-mail communications are more clear and concise, my interactions with peers and employees are more fulfilling, and my written reviews are better quality. All these changes are from just a few short weeks.

While online learning has presented some difficulties, such as online textbooks that are more difficult to read than a paper textbook and even scheduling time for exams on campus, I have really enjoyed the flexibility that online courses give me. I can complete assignments when I have time, usually sporadically throughout the week, rather than have to commit to a set class schedule. In between nap time, snack time, and other meal times, I am finally on a path to completing my higher education. I am proud of my accomplishments and I think that shows all those around me that they can do the same.

If you would like to submit a guest blogpost on our NOVA Online blog, feel free to send an email to elistulife@nvcc.edu.

Are you ready for online learning at NOVA Online?

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SmarterMeasure logoAre you thinking about signing up for an online course this summer? Not sure if online learning is right for you? Find out by completing the SmarterMeasure assessment.  It will take you about 30 minutes from start to finish but you may log out and complete it later if necessary.  After you login, you will receive an email from SmarterMeasure with a PIN number that will allow you to log back in later or view your results again.

SmarterMeasure is meant to be an interesting experience by which you may learn more about yourself, online learning, and how to succeed!  Your SmarterMeasure score will not prevent you from registering for online classes. Take your time to rate yourself honestly. It is a tool that will help you assess your strengths and opportunities for growth related to online learning in 6 areas.

1. Life Factors

2. Individual Attributes

3. Learning Styles

4. Technical Competency, Skills, and Knowledge

5. Reading Rate and Recall

6. Typing Speed and Accuracy

You will receive a report immediately following the completion of all areas of SmarterMeasure. You may email this report, print it, or download and save for future reference. It also provides some remedial tools related to each area.

Over the next six weeks we will cover the six areas covered in your SmarterMeasure report. You can also plan to join us for a SmarterMeasure webinar to learn more about the assessment. More information about the webinar can be found here.

To obtain the log-in information for SmarterMeasure, email NOVA OnlineCounselors@nvcc.edu from your VCCS email account.

Upcoming Leadership Series Webinar

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S L Young Profile PictureLooking to develop your personal leadership skills? Participate in our Lessons in Leadership webinar series this spring semester! Our next webinar will be Wednesday, April 2nd from 7-8 pm!

This month’s leadership webinar topic will be presented by NOVA Instructor, Stacey L. Young featuring his presentation “Belief: A Powerful Component of Success”. 

This session will cover the important topic of “belief”, along with the reasons that “belief” is a powerful component of success.

Some of the themes he will cover include:

Why is belief important?

What are the components of belief?

What are the impacts of not having belief (in one’s capabilities)?

Ways to move past doubts, fears, and worries toward actionable goals

Ways to use belief to one’s advantage

Register here!

Scholarship Opportunities

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Leslie Virginia Forte Scholarship

The Leslie Virginia Forte Scholarship is a private scholarship supporting minority students attending Northern Virginia Community College.  Awards will be made with consideration for academic achievement and demonstrated loyalty to NVCC through involvement and extra-curricular activities.
The deadline for applications is April 1, 2014.

Other Scholarships for Northern Virginia Students:

The Community Foundation manages the applications for each of the scholarships below. A volunteer grants panel convenes to determine the winners of each scholarship. See the links below for more details about the purpose and application process for these scholarships.

Research Skills: A Blog Series from your NOVA Online Library staff

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Citing Your Sources

citation neededReally, the hardest part of doing research is finding the best sources and completing your paper or assignment using those sources. Citing them should be the easy part. But students tend to get pretty stressed out when it comes to citations. No worries, though, we can help.

First, why is it important to cite? There are really 2 main reasons:

1) Readers of your paper or research should be able to find where you got your information, even if your information came from online videos, podcasts, or social media. If you use or refer to images, sound, or music, your readers should be able to find those sources. By citing your sources, you give your readers a chance to utilize those same resources out of interest, or even to check your facts.

All citation styles, e.g. MLA and APA, try to include all the information needed for someone to track down that source.

2) You need to give credit to the creators/authors of the information you use. This is key to academic integrity and avoiding plagiarism.

For information on formatting, in-text citations, and reference lists, take a look at the style guides below:

You can also see the following sites for more help:

Upcoming Citation Webinars (THIS WEEK!):

Go to the NOVA Online Webinars schedule to sign up for the following citation webinars:

Citation Basics–APA Style

Make sure you’re citing your work correctly!  This 30 minute webinar will go through the basics of the APA citation style. We will cover general formatting, in-text citations, and the reference list.

Tuesday, March 18, Noon – 12:30 pm

Thursday, March 20, 6:00 – 6:30 pm

Citation Basics–MLA Style

Make sure you’re citing your work correctly!  This 30 minute webinar will go through the basics of the MLA citation style. We will cover general formatting, in-text citations, and the reference list.

 Monday, March 17, 6:00 – 6:30 pm

Thursday, March 20, Noon – 12:30 pm

NOVA Online March Madness Bracket Competition

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Have you signed up for our NOVA Online March Madness Bracket Competition? The tournament begins March 20th!

Join our Tourney Pick’ em through Yahoo.

Bracket group name: NOVA Online March Madness Competition password eli1234.

If this group is full, check out our second or third groups:

NOVA Online March Madness 2

password: eli12345

NOVA Online March Madness 3

password: eli123456

Join our private group here!

Research Skills: A Blog Series from your NOVA Online Library staff

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Evaluating Websites

search1A couple of weeks ago, we talked about using Google for your research. Of course, NOVA Libraries has access to thousands of newspaper, magazine, and journal articles through the library databases. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not good and useful information out on the web as well.  You just need to be critical.

 So how can you decide if a website has good information that would be appropriate to use in your assignments? You’ve heard of the 5 W’s, right? Well, they can also be applied to evaluating information, on the web and elsewhere. 

 WHO – Who wrote or published the information? Is it someone you have heard of? Is it an organization that you are familiar with?

 WHAT – What are the author’s credentials? Are they clear about their experience in the subject and how they relates to the topic they are writing on?

WHEN – When was the information published? Is it the type of information that changes over time (Think: Medical Information)? Or is it the type of information that stays the same (Think: History)?

WHERE – Where did the author get their information? Are they properly citing their sources? Are they clear on where their facts, statistics, graphs, etc. are coming from?

 WHY – Why are they publishing this information? What is the author’s motivation? Are they showing a bias?

Take a look at the NOVA Libraries’ 5 W’s to Determine Good Information for more tips! And as always, if you’re not sure about a website, ask us! NOVA Online-Library@nvcc.edu