How to succeed in this class

1. Come to every class. Be on time.

2. Take lots of good notes. Good listeners take better notes. By focusing on the lecture at hand, you can use your notes later to recall information and study for a test. Review your notes every day or so.

3. Check your e-mail every day or two. Please keep your mailboxes fairly empty, especially if you have an ASU or a Hotmail account. Otherwise, messages will get bounced back.

4. Turn off your e-mail when you’re concentrating on a project. Don’t answer the phone either.

5. Do NOT surf the Internet, look at your e-mail, finish your homework, print out your homework or work on other projects during class. Your grade for participation will suffer, and that could make the difference between a B+ and an A-.

7. Master the concepts and skills we cover. Don’t be discouraged if you hit a few rocky spots. When you do, please come see me or Nancie so we can help you.

8. Hand assignments in on time. Assignments must be typed, printed out and turned in at the beginning of class. If you arrive late, your assignment will NOT be accepted.

9. Gather assets (text, photos, video, etc.) outside class. Use class time to work on your Web projects.

10. Use a calendar to record deadlines, office visits and team meetings. Write everything down. Don’t rely on your memory.

11. Save your work often. Avoid computer disasters by backing up everything. You may store work in your students folder on the Cronkite server, but be sure to back everything up to your AFS space or on a CD or thumb/jump/flash drive.

For instructions on uploading your work to your AFS space, go to http://www.asu.edu/it/fyi/dst/helpdocs/afs/access_afs.html. If you save your work to AFS space, you don’t have to remember to bring a CD or thumb drive to class. If you use a thumb/jump/flash drive, be sure to wait until it finishes loading before removing it from the computer. Otherwise, your data might be corrupted.

12. Don’t let paperwork pile up. Handle each piece of paper (letters, memos, snail-mail, whatever) only once. File it, act on it, read it or throw it out.

13. Determine your peak energy periods and schedule difficult or priority tasks then. Plan your morning the evening before. Tackle your easiest tasks when you’re most likely to be interrupted. Set some time aside each week for the unexpected.

14. Set up a work space where you can concentrate. Get rid of clutter. Use colored file folders to organize your projects.

15. Be realistic. Don’t overbook your time or plan an unrealistic amount of work for one day or one week. Break large projects into manageable steps or mini-goals. Learn to say NO! When you shoot at too many targets, you’ll miss a few.

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