Turning the Tide With Virtual Buddies

By: Emma G.

Do you ever wish that you could start over? Begin a new time of life? Often, people start thinking about self-improvement during New Year festivities. For me, back to school time is always more “powerful”. I get the tingling realization that this year, I can transform myself into someone different, someone better, in all areas, but especially in school. You make new goals that fit the new you. When you start an online course, it is a great time to start changing the way you think about school.

Since online classes are not taught face to face and you don’t have someone constantly reminding you to do your work and turn it in on time, they require a lot more self-motivation. You have to really work at being responsible so you can stay on top of what needs to be done. For a lot of people, this is where they struggle with online courses, especially if they’re new. They don’t understand the layout at first, they don’t know how to do specific things, and it can be very overwhelming, which stresses them out, and causes them to fall behind. Lucky for you, then, that the Virtual Buddy program was created!

A Virtual Buddy is a student who is familiar with NCVPS and Blackboard. They can help you understand how to navigate the website, walking beside you and giving you that extra push you need to be motivated. Virtual Buddies can also give you great tips on how to study the material you’ve been given. However, these tips don’t just work for NCVPS courses; they work for every class you take! And who knows? Maybe the support you receive from your Virtual Buddy will help keep you motivated in every area of your life – just because you know that they will be there whenever you need them, and even when you don’t.

So are you interested? It’s super simple to gain the help and support of a Virtual Buddy. All you have to do is tell your teacher that you want to be involved, and he/she will contact the Peer Tutoring Center. Within 48 hours at most, your personal VB will contact you in whatever way you feel is most efficient. Remember, you don’t have to do this alone. If you aren’t the type of person that can get all their work done before it’s due, consider the Virtual Buddy program. I promise it will make your online classes so much more enjoyable when you don’t have to worry about being alone.