ELI 80 - Advanced Listening Comprehension
ELI 82 - Advanced ESL Reading
ELI 83 - Writing for Graduate Students
ELI 100 - Expository Writing: A Guided Approach

However, some of these courses may not be offered every semester. See the schedule of classes at myUH for course availability.

* Many students taking only courses say that it feels like there is a lot more "homework". This is because online courses do not have a regular meeting time -- all the time devoted to the course is done online. A typical classroom-based ELI course involves 3 hours per week in the classroom, plus 3-6 hours of homework each week. An online course has a total of 6-9 hours of work to do each week. Since the online courses have no "class" time, it feels as if there is more homework, but in fact, the total time is approximately the same.

Is Online Learning Right for You?

• Online sections are NOT easier than in-class sections. They are designed to be equivalent courses, and are equally difficult (and for some people, they may actually be more difficult, because there is no opportunity for face-to-face contact with the teacher and other students.)
• You need regular access to a computer that has strong internet capabilities (and, depending on the course, you may be required to have access to a computer that has additional equipment, such as a web camera, or specific applications, such as a RealPlayer). If you do not have regular access to a computer with these capabilities, you may not be able to take the online section.
• You need to be very good at using computers, including: You should be quite skilled at using the world wide web for searching and other purposes
  • You should be fairly fast and accurate at typing.
  • You should be famliar with navigating websites and using common features of course websites, such as a "digital drop box" to submit homework assignments.
  • You should be familiar with downloading and installing necessary equipment and applications.
• You should be good at reading in English, online. All the instructions and some of the materials will be in written form online, so if you are a slow reader, or have difficulty with reading online, you may want to think about whether or not an online section is really right for you.
• You should be comfortable and familiar with appropriate norms for email and discussion board communication (that is, appropriate levels of politeness for these forms of academic communication)
• Online sections require a higher degree of independence and self-discipline, as well as excellent time-management skills.
• You should be the type of person who can learn easily on your own -- that is, if you are the type of person who learns much better through classroom discussion and face-to-face interaction, you would be more successful (and, most likely, happier) taking an in-class section rather than an online section.
• Each ELI online section has an instructor who is available to guide and assist you. If you are having difficulty, the instructors are happy to help wherever they can. However, please keep in mind that the instructor's main job is to teach the course, not to help students get used to the special requirements of online learning, so it is important to learn quickly how to "do things" online.