Chapter 1. Launching a Digital Mindset and the Learning Site

Chapter 1. Launching a Digital Mindset and the Learning Site

ACE 100 is a free, self-paced orientation to studying online. You may read every page, use the self-check questions, and take the open-book exam without a proctor. Passing the exam issues an electronic certificate of completion. That certificate does not award semester credit and is not a degree.

What changes when class is online

In a classroom, the bell, the instructor’s voice, and the people beside you mark the start of work. Online, those cues are gone. You open the course when you decide to, and you stop when you decide to. That freedom only works if you replace the missing cues with a plan: a start time, a written goal for the session, and a place where you save your notes.

Asynchronous study means the lesson does not require everyone to be present at the same minute. You can read a chapter at 6 a.m. or 11 p.m. It does not mean the work is optional. A discussion, a draft, or an exam still has a purpose: to show that you can use the idea, not only that you opened the page.

How to move through this course site

Start with the course home. Read the title, the non-credit notice, and the list of eight chapters before you open Chapter 1 in depth. Then read one chapter at a time. Use the self-check at the end of the chapter before you go on. If you miss a self-check, reread the section named in the answer. Do not skip ahead to the exam until you have read all eight chapters. The exam is open-book, so you may return to any chapter while you answer, but you still need to know where each idea lives.

Keep three files for yourself: a weekly calendar, a running list of questions, and a folder for drafts. Name files with the course and the date, for example ACE100-notes-2026-10-04. When you write to an instructor or to support, include your full name, the course code ACE 100, and one clear question. Do not send a password, a payment card number, or a photo of an identity document in a course discussion.

Digital isolation

Many new online students feel alone in the first two weeks. The feeling is common and it is not proof that you cannot do the work. Reduce it with small, scheduled contact: one message to a classmate or to support, one written summary of what you learned, and one short walk away from the screen after 45 minutes. Isolation grows when the only activity is scrolling. It shrinks when you produce something: a sentence, a schedule, or a question.

Worked start

On day one, do only this: confirm you can sign in, open Chapter 1, write a three-line introduction (name, time zone, one goal), and block two study hours on your calendar for the week. Stop there. A short, finished start is better than a long session that never begins.

Self-check

1. What does asynchronous mean in this course? Answer: You do not have to be online at the same minute as everyone else, but the work is still required.
2. What belongs in a message to support? Answer: Your name, ACE 100, and one clear question. Not a password or an identity-document photo.
3. What is a useful response to feeling isolated? Answer: Produce a small piece of work and schedule one human contact, then step away from the screen.