Current Students

Are you currently a student with us? Great! We have pulled a few resources to this page for easy navigation for our degree, non-degree, and visiting students. See the links above. Is there something you need that you cannot find here? Let us know! engineeringonline@virginia.edu.

How To Be an Excellent Online Student

Since you will be engaging in online courses, it is important to think through proper online behavior or “netiquette”. 

The purpose of live (synchronous) sessions is that they allow engagement with one another in a “face-to face” setting via our computers, laptops, etc. In order to ensure that this learning experience is both productive and enjoyable, students are expected to follow rules of online etiquette, or netiquette, when participating in a live session. While these are best practices, we recognize there may be students who have limited internet bandwidth or may experience temporary slow internet during class. In these situations, it may require the video to be off for a better connection.

Please keep the following in mind during live sessions:

• Find a quiet area, free from things that may distract others (pets, people, television, phone, doorbell).
• Do not drive (or be a passenger) while you’re in class -- not only is this dangerous, but it is also difficult to be an engaged student.
• Be presentable, consider your surroundings and attire for the live session.
• Help members of your family or support system understand your need for quiet during live sessions.
• If you need to eat or drink, please do so when you are not “on camera."
• Log in a few minutes before the live session starts.
• The session may be recorded for review.
• Follow the instructor's guidelines for participation (e.g., raise your hand if you plan to talk).
• Use the chat box to engage in a back-channel discussion about the class content (but be careful not to get too distracted and be sure to remain professional in your chat messages). Also, be aware that the chat transcript is available to the instructor
•  Always connect via video and leave it on for the duration of your class - (only turn off video when absolutely needed).
• Be sure to connect in a location that has strong internet connectivity.
• Make sure your face can be seen on the camera.
• When in breakout groups, stay on task to what was assigned by the instructor.

In cases where classes are recorded (asynchronous), it is helpful to stay up to date on the classes. This means that you should check Collab often for any added assignments and any added documents or presentations. The lecture capture system that UVA uses is known as Panopto and is located in the Lecture Capture Tab. Once launched a useful Help tab is in the upper right corner. Videos and recordings can be viewed right from the main page. Also, be aware that instructors will be able to see the length of time that was spent on each video as well as the number of times that you accessed it.