Online B.A. New Student Orientation

The Digital Classroom

Like in in-person classes, attending your online course and being ‘present’ can lead to a successful semester.

Your classroom just happens to be iCollege.

iCollege is the name of your learning management system platform (LMS). It is where you will review coursework, view lectures, join in class discussions, and so much more.

Start Strong

On the first day of the semester, demonstrate your attendance and desire to stay enrolled in your online courses by logging in to iCollege, finding each course, and completing the assigned introductory activities. Possible activities:

• a required assignment
• discussion posting
• syllabus quiz

These activities help your instructors complete the roll verification process. As part of this, if a student doesn’t complete the introductory assignments within the first week of the semester, they risk being reported as “never attended” by the instructor, dropped from the class, and losing access to course materials.

Continue Strong

Once you have logged in to all your courses and completed the introductory activities, you are ready to start learning!

It is vital that you regularly log into iCollege AND participate in the course content you find there. We suggest logging in at least twice a week. To not participate, even if you are logging in, is like going to your classroom, walking in, looking around, and walking right back out. You must go in, settle in for a bit, and engage with the course to be fully present in the class.

Now, let’s head into your classroom and learn about logging into iCollege! Use the menu tabs on the left to get going.

Accessing iCollege

To access your course content, you’ll need to log in to iCollege. To start:

1. Go to icollege.gsu.edu
   Go ahead and bookmark this page in your preferred browser for easy access in the future.  Read these instructions for bookmarking pages.
2. Click on the log-in button.
3. Log in with your username and password (same for all Georgia State accounts).
   You may be prompted to authenticate with Duo.
4. And you’re in!

Next, you can go to iCollege for more information, or you can get started finding your course by using the tabs in the menu to the left.

Technical Support and Guides for iCollege

My Course Widget

Widgets are sections of content that provide different types of information to you. The main widget on your iCollege home page is the My Courses widget, which should appear directly below the iCollege menu prominently on the left two-thirds of the page. Other widgets in your courses include Announcements and the Content Browser.

Course Search Tool

If you do not find your course listed in the widget, you can also use the search feature to find the course.

To start, scroll down and click to select ‘View All Courses’ at the bottom of the widget (left-hand side).

Then you will see the ‘All Courses’ search window where you can search by (A) keyword, (B) filter your search, and (C) set the sort for your search results (Each item is along the top of the search window running left to right in the order they are listed).

Now that you’ve found your course, we’ll see how you can favorite or ‘pin’ your course to make it easy to find every time you log in.

Full Getting Started Step-by-Step

iCollege Getting Started knowledge base article.

Favorite or ‘Pin’ Your Courses

After you have located your courses for the semester, you may find it helpful to pin your courses. Pinning is like favoriting or saving a social media post to find it more easily later. Pinning a course is especially helpful if you have other courses lingering from previous semesters.

After you have located your courses for the semester, you may find it helpful to pin your courses. Pinning is like favoriting or saving a social media post to find it more easily later. Pinning a course is especially helpful if you have other courses lingering from previous semesters.

Pinned Course

A pinned course is denoted by a push pin icon layered on the course thumbnail (upper right-hand corner).

Pinning & Unpinning

To pin a course, hover over a course that doesn’t have the pin icon, and you should see a ‘…’ icon in the upper right-hand corner. Clicking the ‘…’ icon will reveal the option to ‘Pin’ in the menu below. Simply click the word ‘Pin,’ and you will have pinned that course.

To unpin a course, all you have to do is click on the push pin icon, and it will unpin that course.

Showing Only Your Pinned Courses

To modify the My Courses widget view to show only pinned courses, click ‘Pinned’ at the top of the widget. This way, you can focus on just the courses you need for this semester.

Now that you can find and pin your courses let’s head into a course and look for that guide to course success – the syllabus!

Finding Content in your iCollege Course

How do I find the syllabus?

While the course layout varies by instructor, most courses have a Welcome or Getting Started module that contains important course information like the syllabus.

To Find Your Syllabus:

1. Go to Content in the top menu bar of your course.
2. Select the ‘Welcome’ module along the left-hand side. The module may be named differently but should stand out as the place to start.
3. Then you should find your syllabus among the items on the right!

To Search Content:

If you have difficulty locating the syllabus in the ‘welcome’ module, there is a search option in the Content section of your course. The search bar is at the top on the left-hand side above the modules for the course. Click the search box, type ‘syllabus,’ then press enter or click on the search icon.

The search should locate the syllabus file for you to open and review.

Ready to get started? Head to your classroom located at iCollege.gsu.edu!

What Courses Do I Need to Take?

Access to Degree Works

Degree Works is a web-based advising tool that enables students to monitor progress toward degree completion. Degree Works looks at the degree requirements of the Georgia State catalog as well as coursework. It also displays transfer credits, waivers, exemptions, and academic standing.

To access Degree Works, log into your PAWS account at paws.gsu.edu. Under the Academic Evaluation tab, select the current term and your desired program, then click on Generate Request.

Instructions for Degree Works

Degree Works instructional videos and a how-to document are available at Georgia State’s Advisement Center website.

If you have questions about your coursework, please contact your academic program advisor in the Sociology Department.

You will find your advisor listed on the Home page of your PAWS account under the Academic Advisor Section.