TECHNOLOGY AT STLCC The “Big 3” technological resources that will help you at STLCC
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JACOB POLITTE ONLINE EDITOR
TLCC uses a variety of technology resources in order to make handling all college matters, from schoolwork to signing up for classes, as easy and seamless as possible. One faucet that STLCC uses is Blackboard. Blackboard is where the vast majority of your coursework in each class will be turned in, and if your class is held online like the majority of classes have been during the pandemic, all of your coursework will be exclusively done on Blackboard. Some teachers admittedly do not like to use the service, but as the past year or so has necessitated, the majority of STLCC professors and instructors now incorporate it into their course in some fashion; admittedly however, with the return to faceto-face courses they might elected to once again not use the service. Oftentimes, your professor will attach a copy of the course syllabus and the tentative schedule for the course on Blackboard. Your instructor will also most likely post discussion board topics that are mandatory to respond to; they are especially popular in online courses. While they’re often not worth that many points, they are important to do, as they may be the only interactions you’ll have with other students involved in the course. Often, they will have specific provisions attached, like a specific minimum word count, a certain number of students that you’ll have to reply to, and etc. Recently, STLCC announced the adoption of Microsoft Teams, effectively replacing Blackboard Collaborate starting with the Summer 2021 semester. Effective fall 2022, Blackboard itself will be phased out of usage in favor of a service called Canvas. In case you’re worried about it though… relax, as an STLCC student, you are entitled to free
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usage of all of these programs under your student account. Another Microsoft program already in use by STLCC is your student “Outlook” email account, which was created the moment you signed up to come here. It may be tempting to ignore it, but don’t… vital college information is sent through this particular channel. When it comes to handling other college business, Banner Self Service is a page that must be visited, but it can be a bit tricky to navigate if you’ve never used it before. “Banner” is where all of your STLCC information is stored for your convenience. On Banner, you can sign up for classes, check your grades and your transcripts, and either set up a payment plan to pay for your classes or just pay for them outright. Banner is used by both students and faculty college-wide. In particular, final grades for each semester are uploaded on Banner; you’ll have to access the site to see how you ultimately did. Banner also has an interactive class schedule that helps you search for the classes you’re looking for. You can use this interactive feature to search for the classes by professor, campus, time period, or the type of class (online, independent study, or in-person). If you’re looking to address how to pay for your classes, especially if your don’t benefit from FASFA aid, Banner is your ultimate destination. On Banner, you can either set up a payment plan that is the best fit for your financial situation, or you can pay for your classes outright. If you are a paid employee of the college, it’s also where you will go to submit your timesheets for approval, find important tax documents and more.
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