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Student Online Academic Readiness (SOAR) Workshop

The MiraCosta Student Online Academic Readiness (SOAR) 1-hour workshop is offered multiple times each term in person and online. This is MiraCosta's primary means of enhancing student readiness for online learning, and prior to 2022 was known as Student Orientation to Online Learning (SOOL). The list of SOAR sessions is available on the MiraCosta Online Education site.

The SOAR has the following outcomes:

Students will learn habits and attitudes of successful online students
Students will be able to effectively select and get started in online classes
Students will be able to navigate and use basic online education tools (primarily Zoom and Canvas)
Students will be able to access key online technical and academic support resources

Students who attend SOAR are enrolled into a Canvas course that includes extensive information to support student success in online education. The course remains available to the students indefinitely. The Canvas SOAR class is open for anyone to self-enroll in, and the main Online Education page also includes a recorded version of the online SOAR which is open for anyone to view.

Through spring 2025, nearly 9000 students have participated since the SOAR began in 2014. Research shows that from 2014 to 2018, 72.8% of those who attended this in the same or a previous term successfully completed DE courses vs. a 65.9% DE success rate for students who had not attended one.

Faculty who wish to give extra credit or other incentive to students who attend the SOAR may use SURF to learn which students have participated. Simply self-enrolling and/or watching the recorded version does not make a student eligible to have their attendance recorded in SURF; attendance at a live in-person or online session is required.

What Faculty Can Do in Their DE Classes

Additionally, as described previously on the Informing and Preparing Students for DE Classes page:

Most DE classes incorporate some orientation to the class and to the DE environment, e.g.:

Sharing a welcome video that includes a walkthrough of how to navigate the class.
Encouraging/rewarding students to attend student success workshops (especially SOAR) .
Incorporate Canvas support resources such as the relevant Canvas student guide as part of Canvas assignment/activity instructions.

Tech Help button

Additionally, it's important to reinforce for students their access to multiple options for tech support simply by clicking the Tech Help button at the bottom of the Canvas global navigation menu.

And, to remind students of all the incredible online student support resources accessed in our Canvas Student Support Hub, by clicking the Student Support button, just above the Tech Help button at bottom left in Canvas.

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