 Hello my name is Bethany Winslow and I'm the director of online learning at the School of Information at San Jose State University. My role at the iSchool is somewhat behind the scenes but I do work closely with other colleagues and our faculty to make sure our students are well-prepared to get the most out of their time here and to really become part of the iSchool community. I work with new faculty to help them get acclimated to teaching here but I'm also the course coordinator for the first course all new incoming students take in their first semester. The online learning tools and strategies for success course covers everything you need to know to get started out on the right foot here. I also recruit and train the peer mentors who take on a teaching assistant role in that course. Peer mentors are some of our very best students about to graduate and they're an incredible resource for our new students. Being an online student can be uniquely challenging but it offers tremendous opportunities as well. I know of what I speak because I'm a lot like many of our students here and that's what makes me so passionate about what I do. I went back to graduate school later in life. I completed a master's degree in education that was specific to online teaching and learning and my program was a hundred percent online and I was also working full-time as an instructional designer in the higher education field and all the programs and courses I worked on were also a hundred percent online. So I've seen things from a lot of different angles but as Oprah says here's what I know for sure. As with all things in life you get out of it what you put into it. So being truly mindful is critical. I would encourage you to be particularly attentive to where you invest your time and energy. One of the best places to invest those things is in improving yourself and another place is in cultivating deeply authentic relationships with others both personal and professional. Whatever path you choose for yourself I wish you all the best.