Students with physical disablities and/ or chronic illnesses may also prefer the convenience of online classes.
Online classes are great for someone like me who has an erratic schedule teaching, including weekends, and a very busy life. It allows me to access the course at any time of day when I'm bright eyed and fresh minded to absorb the new material, whether it be early in the morning as now, or mid-day, or late at night.
Laurel,
Good point - the same benefits that students receive!
Jon
I do agree, some times people have to much on their plate, to even go to school
Having alternative choices in learning benefits everyone. Learning should not be a one-size-fits all commodity. There are times when my schedule will allow me to attend a class regularly and other times when it is impossible to commit because of uncertainties. Having options allows me to continue pursuing my goals by not having to take a leave simply because of scheduling conflicts.
I agree: online courses allow those of us who have full-time jobs to continue with our education. It does take some time-management as one must allow time to do the discussion questions and the weekly assignments, as well as be up-to-date in the reading of the modules. However, it allows the online student to schedule their time for doing so, be it 10PM or 6AM. The other great thing is that the information is accessible; you can review the modules, discussions, assignments,etc. as needed.
The options are what make online learning a benefit. Being able to make our own schedules as to when we do the work, knowing the deadlines in advance, truly help those of us that cannot attend on-ground classes that are pretty much set in stone and may not work with out work schedules.
Great point - flexibility is a real benefit! - Jon
I agree with this statement. Studies show that most online students are female, non-traditional students who are working and often parents. Many online students have been out of the classroom for a period and currently have many roles, employee, citizen, parent and perhaps more. The online environment offers convenience, an asynchronous schedule, and less pressure from the "live" classroom. The environment also offers students a chance to take a "time out" and brush up on key concepts or research additional information to support topics in which they feel they need more study.
Olga, you have made a key point about allowing a student to assess their education. I think the keys to online courses are the interactivity. Students must be able to gain feedback on their comprehension of key concepts. This can be done through discussion board forums, team projects, quizzes and even homework assignments if instructors participate actively in these forums and in providing formative feedback to all work. I also think it helps if there are convenient online libraries available for students to do research and additional study.
Stephen, your comment about discipline is key also. Others have mentioned motivation. This is a key difference between onground and online courses - the level of personal discipline required for success. It is important for students to understand how to schedule their time, and that the time required is the same as for onground courses. It is even more important for instructors to reach out to struggling students, or non-participating students than in the onground model as there is no set class schedule and it is easy to procrastinate or forget about due dates. Constant reminders, announcements and emails are useful to keep these students on track. It's a bit more work for the instructor, but necessary for student retention and success I think.
I do think that much of the advantages of online courses depends on the subject matter, as you allude. For example, I don't know if speech class could be conducted as effectively online, as one of the key objectives of these course is to ease students over the challenge of actually speaking in front of groups, often cited as one of the most stressful activities we can engage in. It could be done online, but I don't think it's the same, at least not until technology increases bandwidth appreciably to allow video conferencing in real time.
Great thoughts - thanks! - Jon
Olga,
What is the key to fully engage online students? In my experience the majority seem to do as little as possible to pass the class. They rarely take part in an asynchronous environment and continually hand assignments in late, ask very few questions and submit papers full of grammatical errors.
The key here is motivation. What can motivate a student in a 5 1/2 week course to access as much information as possible to help them successfully complete the class?
Joseph,
Good points but many students in an online course that is 5 1/2 weeks in length take two or sometimes three courses at the same time. Some schools allow this and it is not fair to the student. Using motivational techniques don't register because of the workload.
Online classes are great and serve a means to continuing your education when you cannot complete your degree in the classroom. However, you must be committed and discipline to take online courses. It is so easy to put off what you need to do for your class because you don't have a set time in your day to complete it. If you are not focused, you will tend to overlook it all together. The next thing you know is that you have missed your deadline for the assignment due. My recommendation for anyone taking online courses, is to make sure you are focused and committed. I would also suggest that you not wait til the last minute to complete an assignment. You never know what might happen to interfere with what you need to do.
Gardner,
It's really just a matter of expectations then - I find that students generally rise to the expectation (even if it is the minimum expectation).
Jon
