e - Education Online Learning Innovative instructors at institutions worldwide are discovering the potential of the online environment to deliver instruction of the highest quality to people who would otherwise have limited access to higher education. This is an exciting and challenging time in education. Simply defined, online education refers to courses offered via the Internet. The minimum requirement for students to participate in an online course is access to a computer, the Internet, and motivation to succeed in a nontraditional classroom. Online courses provide an excellent method of course delivery unbound by time or location allowing for accessibility to instruction at anytime from anywhere. Executives, in particular, find the online environment a convenient way to fit education into their busy lives. The ability to access a course from a home computer via the Internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week is a tremendous incentive for this group to reach their academic and career goals. Quality Education Ignore the Clock Synergy High Quality Dialog Student Centered Level Playing Field Access to Resources Quality Education Your online instructor is an experienced professional in his/her field. Your classmates are colleagues at other institutions like yours and like you, they want to acquire pedagogical and technical skills needed to successfully teach their own courses online. You share common interests and learning goals, and you provide each other with a wealth of information, experiences, and advice on the course topics. You will learn as much, if not more from your classmates as from your course instructor. To this end, participation and discussion are the key to your success. Throughout the course, you will have ongoing, individual and group dialogues with the instructor and the other students, and you'll receive personalized instructor feedback and share insights and information with fellow online students. This online course should be fun as well as rewarding, and it is an exciting new way to learn that is interactive, engaging and stimulating. Top Ignore the clock Your course is conducted according to a schedule, but there are no "live" classes to attend. Instead, lectures, coursework, assignments, questions, and discussion all take place at your convenience - online. Log in whenever it is convenient for you - there's no classroom to go to and no commute. You'll never have conflicts with family obligations, business travel or vacations. There's no chance of arriving late or missing a class because of illness or lack of child care. You can even come to class in your pajamas! You choose the hour of day (or night) to attend class. You choose the place - at home, at work - wherever you have access to a computer and the Internet. Except for turning in assignments when they're due, your schedule is totally up to you. Top Synergy The online format allows for a high level of dynamic interaction between the instructor and students and among the students themselves. Resources and ideas are shared, and continuous synergy will be generated through the learning process as each individual contributes to the course discussions and comments on the work of others. The synergy that exists in the student-centered Virtual Classroom is one of the most unique and vital traits that the online learning format possesses. Top High Quality Dialog Within an online asynchronous discussion structure, you have time to carefully reflect on each comment from others before responding or moving on to the next item. This allows you to articulate responses with much more depth and forethought than in a traditional face-to-face discussion situation where you are forced to analyze the comment of another on the spot and formulate a response or otherwise lose the chance to contribute to the discussion. Top Student Centered Within an online discussion, you will respond to the course material (lectures and online articles, for example) and to comments from other students. Participants usually respond to those topics within the broader conversation that most interest them resulting in several smaller conversations taking place simultaneously within the group. While it is expected that you will read all of your classmates' contributions, you will become actively engaged only in those parts of the dialog most relevant to your needs. In this way, you are in control of your own learning experience and can tailor the class discussions to meet your own specific needs. Ideally, you will make your own individual contributions to the course while taking away a unique mix of information directly relevant to your needs. Top Level Playing Field In the online environment learners retain a considerable level of anonymity. Discriminating factors such as age, dress, physical appearance, disabilities, race and gender are largely absent. Instead, the focus of attention is clearly on the content of the discussion and your ability to respond and contribute thoughtfully and intelligently to the material at hand. Top Access to Resources With the Web as your classroom, you have easy access to unlimited resources to support the course topics. Your instructor has arranged for a distinguished expert to deliver a guest lecture and participate in follow up discussion. You will also have access to resources from all over the world including links to scholarly articles, institutions, and other materials relevant to the course topic. You can use these resources for research, extension, or in-depth analysis of the course content material. Top Tips on Online Learning Following tips on Online Learning are helpful when you join any Online Course Take full advantage of online conferencing Participate! Take the program and yourself seriously Make sure you have a private space where you can study Become a true advocate of distance learning Log on to your course every single day Take advantage of your anonymity Be polite and respectful Speak up if you are having problems Apply what you learn Take full advantage of online conferencing Whatever you can do to avoid feeling isolated is extremely important, and participating in online conferences will give you access to other students who are taking the same course as you at the same time. Top Participate! Whether you are working alone, or in a group, contribute your ideas, perspective and comments on the subject you are studying, and read about those of your classmates. Your instructor is not the only source of information in your course-you can gain great insight from your peers and they can learn from you as well. Top Take the program and yourself seriously Elicit the support of your colleagues, family and friends before you start out on your online adventure. This built-in support system will help you tremendously since there will be times when you will have to sit at your computer for hours at a stretch in the evenings and on weekends. When most people are through with work and want to relax is most likely when you will be bearing down on your course work. It helps to surround yourself with people who understand and respect what you are trying to do. Top Make sure you have a private space where you can study This will help lend importance to what you are doing as well. Your own space where you can shut the door, leave papers everywhere, and work in peace is necessary. If you try to share study space with the dining room or bedroom, food or sleep will take priority over studying. Top Become a true advocate of distance learning Discuss the merits of the process with whomever will listen. In order to be successful in this new educational environment, you must truly believe in its potential to provide quality education which is equal to, if not better, than the traditional face-to-face environment. In discussing the value of online learning, you will reinforce it's merits for yourself. Top Log on to your course every single day ….or a minimum of 5-6 days a week. Once you get into the WebBoard conferencing system, you will be eager to see who has commented on your postings and read the feedback of your instructor and peers. You will also be curious to see who has posted something new that you can comment on. If you let too many days go by without logging on to your course discussion group, you will get behind and find it very difficult to catch up. Top Take advantage of your anonymity One of the biggest advantages of the online format is that you can pursue your studies without the judgments typical in a traditional classroom. Unless you are using video conferencing, no one can see you - there are no stereotypes, and you don't have to be affected by raised eyebrows, rolled eyeballs, other students stealing your thunder, or people making other nonverbal reactions to your contributions. You don't have to feel intimidated or upstaged by students who can speak faster than you because you can take all of the time you need to think your ideas through and compose a response before posting your comments to your class. Top Be polite and respectful Just because you are anonymous, doesn't mean you should let yourself go. Remember, you are dealing with real people on the other end of your modem. Being polite and respectful is not only common sense, it is absolutely obligatory for a productive and supportive online environment. In a positive online environment, you will feel valued by your instructor and by your classmates. Top Speak up if you are having problems Remember that your professor cannot see you, so you must be absolutely explicit with your comments and requests. If you are having technical difficulties, or problems understanding something about the course, you MUST speak up; otherwise there is no way that anyone will know that something is wrong. Also, if you don't understand something, chances are several people have the same question. If another student is able to help you, he/she probably will, and if you are able to explain something to your classmates in need, you will not only help them out, you will reinforce your own knowledge about the subject. Top Apply what you learn Apply everything you learn as you learn it and you will remember it more readily. If it is possible, take the things you learn in your online course today and use them in your workplace tomorrow. Also, try to make connections between what you are learning and what you do or will do in your job. Contributing advice or ideas about the real world as it applies to the subject matter you are studying helps you to internalize what you are learning and gives valuable insight to your classmates who will benefit from your experience. Top