What is College Reading Internet? College Reading Internet offers the opportunity for students to learn and apply college level reading comprehension skills. College Reading Internet is designed to help improve reading and study skills so students can be more successful in other college courses.  College Reading covers 16 online instructional modules in Active Reading, Vocabulary, Main Ideas, Supporting Details, Patterns of Organization, Purpose and Tone, Critical Thinking, Inference, Reading Textbooks, Outlining and Summarizing, Graphics and Visual Aids, Memorization and Concentration, Note Taking and Textbook Highlighting, and Test Taking.  Students need to complete all 16 modules by the end of the 16 week semester in order to earn credit for the course.  College Reading is offered four times during the academic year and starts in August and October during fall semester and in January and March during spring semester (see Kirkwood course schedule for specific start dates or call the Anytime/Anywhere office (319-398-4958).

What kind of assignments will the student do?

There are three types of assignments in this course:

• Reading assignments and exercises in the textbook.  The reading assignments and exercises in the textbook help students understand the reading skill they will practice when they go online to the course web site and do additional work.  Students are mailed an answer key for the textbook exercises so they can check answers and monitor their learning. 
• Online Exercises and Mastery Tests.  Once students finish the textbook exercises, they login to the course web site to complete Exercises and Mastery Tests that provide additional practice on the reading skill introduced in the textbook.  A score on each Exercise and Mastery Test is given.  Feedback on correct and incorrect answers is also provided for all questions to help students understand the reading skill.
• Online Module Final Exams.  When the online Exercises and Mastery Tests are completed, students next take the online module Final Exam to determine their grade for the module.  The student sends an email to the instructor requesting the password for the Final Exam.  Final Exams are taken from home and consist of 10 questions.  Students have one hour to complete the Exam, and a score is immediately given at the end of the test.  There are 15 Final Exams worth 10 points each and the last Final Exam is worth 20 points.  Students may retake three Final Exams if they are not happy with their first score. 

How are grades determined?

The grade for the course is determined by the average percent score on all the Final Exams (100-90% = A’s, 89-80% = B’s, 79-70% = C’s, etc).  Scores on the Exercises and Mastery tests do not count towards the final grade.  There are 15 Final Exams worth 10 points each and the last Final Exam is worth 20 points, for a total of 170 possible points.  Points earned out of the possible 170 points determine the grade for the course.  Students can see their scores on all Exercises, Mastery Tests, and Final Exams in the online Gradebook. 

When are assignments due?

Assignments are due very week.  Students have 16 weeks during the semester to complete all 16 modules, so completion one module per week is required to keep pace with the course syllabus.  Students may work ahead of the syllabus schedule.

What kind of credit do students earn? 

College Reading is worth 3 U credits.  Students earn a letter grade that is computed in overall grade point average (GPA), and the 3 credits counts towards credits needed for financial aid and the degree.

Who should take College Reading Internet?

Students who are self-starters, motivated, and disciplined, and who want to improve their college level reading comprehension skills, should take College Reading Internet.  Since this is an Internet course, students should be capable and confident they can work independently and should be disciplined enough to set a regular work schedule in order to complete all of the assignments by the end of the 16 week term.  This course is an Internet course and is not like a regular face-to-face class where the instructor will continually remind students to complete assignments.  Students must be capable of working on their own and guiding their own learning.  Students should also have regular access to a computer with an Internet connection and a personal email account.

What kind of computer and Internet connection do students need? 

Students need a computer with Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6.0 and an Internet connection (dial up, DSL, or cable connection).  Students should not use the AOL or MSN browser.  Students also need a permanent email account for the duration of the course.  Any personal email account is OK, i.e. Hotmail, Yahoo, or AOL email.  Kirkwood also provides free email accounts for students. 

For additional information or questions about College Reading Internet, please email Rich Edwards at: rich.edwards@kirkwood.edu