What do students need to know about on-line learning?

The first question I am usually asked is "How do I learn from an on-line course?"

The first thing I tell them is that it is no different than learning in a classroom. You have to want to learn. I know that is a rather obvious statement, but you would be surprised by just how many students "forget" that learning is not a passive activity.

That being said, I will tell my prospective students that on-line learning requires a lot more discipline in terms of study habits and attention than in-class or traditional distance education courses. The latter two usually have some visual cues that there is a course to work on: i.e. textbooks, papers, binders. The Internet courses on the other hand, may not have any visual cues of that nature. Most internet courses have all the content on-line. It is also very easy to become distracted when on-line because the ability to "surf" is just too tempting.

It requires students to set aside specific times to do on-line study and commit themselves to staying focused. That is the most difficult thing to get on-line students to do. This is not to say that it is any different than in-class learning, but without facilitators / instructors that are also on-line monitoring the students, we will find more students just dropping from the class because they forgot they were taking it.