NVU Online Courses: Formats, Coursework, Support, and More
NVU Online Course Formats
Most NVU Online courses are asynchronous learning experiences. This means that while you will have deadlines for completing tasks and are expected to check the course page regularly, you are not required to be online at one specific time during a day or week.
Some courses require a synchronous component, such as a required online meeting during a certain day and time. If a course does include a synchronous online meeting, discussion, or lecture, the days and times will be listed in the course schedule or the instructors will work with students to determine an agreed-upon time.
Please note: NVU Online courses are not correspondence courses or self-paced courses in which you set your own deadlines. Most students find that the asynchronous or synchronous course formats explained here provide them with the degree of flexibility they need to fit the coursework into their busy schedules.
NVU Online Coursework
NVU Online courses are divided into weekly modules that lay out clear deadlines and learning objectives for the required learning activities you will need to complete. As with face-to-face courses, depending on the course, you may be asked to submit a variety of assignments, including online discussion posts, quizzes, essays, short reflections, projects, and other tasks appropriate for the specific academic subject.
NVU Online Semester Length
In the fall and spring semesters, NVU Online offers a mixture of more traditionally paced 15-week courses as well as 10-week and 7-week accelerated courses. In the summer semester, courses are typically 10 weeks in duration.
NVU Online Student Support
NVU Online offers the following types of support for students:
- Email support from instructors.
- Online access to NVU library services.
- Disability Services.
- 3 hours of online tutoring assistance per semester.
- Student Administrative Services including but not limited to billing, financial aid, transcript requests, and Veterans Affairs.
- Bookstore access.
- Email, phone, or videoconferencing academic advising from NVU Online advisors.
NVU Online Courses and Challenge Level
NVU Online courses have the same learning objectives as their NVU on-campus equivalents. Therefore, NVU Online instructors hold their students to the same standards using the teaching methods they view as most effective.
Because the challenge level of a course delivered online versus a face-to-face course may vary depending on your own learning preferences and prior knowledge in the subject area, it is hard to generalize about the difficulty of online versus on-campus courses. Reach out to the instructor and your academic advisor to sense of the type of challenge to expect.