Once You're Admitted: Online Orientation and Tutorials
You’ve been accepted; what now? In your acceptance letter, you should receive your Pirate ID and ECU (Banner) ID. With this information, you are able to successfully enter your ECU email account and start the process of registration. Your Pirate ID and passphrase will allow access to your ECU email, ECU OneStop, Blackboard or other course management systems.
Your ECU E-Mail Account
You are provided an ECU e-mail account. Students are encouraged to check their e-mail account regularly for important announcements and messages from campus. As an online student, your primary channel of communication with your professors, fellow students, advisers and means of assistance is via your ECU email (Piratemail) account. Check your email frequently at the beginning of the semester. You have been assigned a PirateID and initial passphrase.
You can check your e-mail from the ECU Web site:
- Go to www.ecu.edu (the ECU Web site).
- Select the icon to go to the E-mail and Phone Web page.
- Select “Access Your E-mail Via the Web.”
- Enter your PirateID and passphrase
Your PirateID (may be referred to as your username/userid is made up of your initials and birth date (MMDD). For example, a student's name is James Frederick Pate, and he was born on May 2nd, then his PirateID would be jfp0502. His email address would be: jfp0502@ecu.edu.You can also find your PirateID by going to www.ecu.edu and selecting the icon. Type your last name and first name and click “Search.” Your e-mail address will be displayed. Your PirateID is the first part of your e-mail address (excluding “@ecu.edu").
Passphrase: This is just a password that you set for your accounts. Your initial passphrase is a dollar symbol ($) followed by your ECU ID. To log into resources such as OneStop and Piratemail, you MUST first register your PirateID and change your initial passphrase:
- Go to www.ecu.edu (the ECU Web site) and select the icon.
- Enter your PirateID.
- In the “Old Passphrase” field, enter your initial passphrase, then enter a new passphrase and confirm it.
Your ECU ID
You have also been assigned a unique “ECU ID” that identifies you as a student at East Carolina University. Your ECU ID—also known as your Banner ID, but different than your PirateID—will be required for very important functions such as registering or checking financial aid. This system complies with the Identity Theft Protection Act and better protects your confidential information. You should consider this ID as confidential as your Social Security Number.
For a Piratemail tutorial click here.
OneStop
The ECU OneStop portal allows students to personalize a single interface for access to internal campus resources such as tuition payment.
For a OneStop tutorial click here.
Banner
Banner is a tool available in OneStop that enables students to easily access course registration, financial aid and end-of-semester grades, just to name a few.
For a Banner tutorial click here.
Beginning your Classes
Course information will appear sometime during the first week of the semester. Some faculty will contact students via the ECU email system prior to or on the first day of class with instructions on how to proceed. You should check both your ECU email account and Blackboard to get information from your instructor. If you are unable to access course information, email your professor. To obtain your professor’s name and email address, go to onestop.ecu.edu and login using your PirateID and Passphrase (same as email). Under the TOOLS menu, choose Banner Self Service. A pop-up window will appear, so turn off your pop-up blocker to access this window. Choose the Student and Financial Aid link, Registration, Student Detail Schedule. You will see a list of your courses; click the envelope next to the instructor’s name to send an email to your instructor.
Blackboard
Blackboard (Bb) is a course management tool that allows professors a way to provide course materials online in a user-friendly environment. Exams, assignments, discussion boards, virtual chat rooms and other forms of contact for all class participants and instructors can be found once the student logs in. If you registered for an online course that is being supported by Blackboard software, you can go to the Blackboard site at http://blackboard.ecu.edu to access your Blackboard course and to familiarize yourself with how the system works. Your PirateID and passphrase are used to access your Blackboard course.
For a Blackboard tutorial click here.
We also suggest that students become familiar with:
Your adviser (advisor listings)
Finding Technical Assistance (Help Desk)
And of course Student Services for distance education students (Student Services)
We wanted to share some important information to help you prepare for your online courses:
Characteristics for successful on-line students
Tips for on-line success
Computer Skills
On-line course etiquette
Test taking
Internet Course Contingency Plan
