Tips for Distance Learners

Are you thinking about enrolling in a distance-learning program?  You need to know what is expected of you before you enroll, and what equipment you need before you get started.  Here are some tips for distance learners:

Tools
Before enrolling in a course, make sure you have access to the tools necessary to complete assignments. A word processor can help you to organize your work and communicate your thoughts more clearly. Access to a fax machine, computer with adequate hard disk space and modem for e-mail transmission are “musts” for many classes.

Schedule
Set aside a regularly scheduled time for study. Schedule your studies for a time when you are mentally fresh and able to devote at least one hour to your work. Think of the hour as “reserved time.” If you miss too many study periods, revise your schedule.

Where to Study
You will find it easier to focus in an appropriate environment for study. Find a place that is free from distractions.

Reading Skills
You must comprehend and retain what you read for real learning to take place. At the end of a study session, review everything you have read, making special notes of important points. Reading a computer screen can be hard on your eyes; it may be necessary to download hard copies of reading assignments and communications from your instructor and coworkers.

Communication Skills
Pay careful attention to instructions and be certain that you understand what is being asked. It often helps to develop a brief outline before responding to questions whether they are submitted in writing, via e-mail, orally, or on video/audio tape. Organization, grammar, and the appropriate style are important whichever medium you choose.

If you stay focused on your program and follow a regular study schedule, you should have success with your distance-learning course.

Tips for Distance Learners

Are you thinking about enrolling in a distance-learning program?  You need to know what is expected of you before you enroll, and what equipment you need before you get started.  Here are some tips for distance learners:

Tools
Before enrolling in a course, make sure you have access to the tools necessary to complete assignments. A word processor can help you to organize your work and communicate your thoughts more clearly. Access to a fax machine, computer with adequate hard disk space and modem for e-mail transmission are “musts” for many classes.

Schedule
Set aside a regularly scheduled time for study. Schedule your studies for a time when you are mentally fresh and able to devote at least one hour to your work. Think of the hour as “reserved time.” If you miss too many study periods, revise your schedule.

Where to Study
You will find it easier to focus in an appropriate environment for study. Find a place that is free from distractions.

Reading Skills
You must comprehend and retain what you read for real learning to take place. At the end of a study session, review everything you have read, making special notes of important points. Reading a computer screen can be hard on your eyes; it may be necessary to download hard copies of reading assignments and communications from your instructor and coworkers.

Communication Skills
Pay careful attention to instructions and be certain that you understand what is being asked. It often helps to develop a brief outline before responding to questions whether they are submitted in writing, via e-mail, orally, or on video/audio tape. Organization, grammar, and the appropriate style are important whichever medium you choose.

If you stay focused on your program and follow a regular study schedule, you should have success with your distance-learning course.

Rumors of online education’s plateau greatly exaggerated

Contrary to recent projections that online course enrollment at colleges has leveled off, a new report states online enrollment that there was a large increase in online enrollment, reports The Washington Post.

The Sloan Consortium, a group of colleges pursuing online programs, published a report that estimates 850,000 more students took online courses in the fall of 2005 than the year before, an increase of nearly 40 percent. This statistic flies in the face of evidence that online learning growth has reached its peak.

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Growth in online learning soars

More students are taking school courses via Internet

Roughly one in six students enrolled in higher education — about 3.2 million people — took at least one online course last fall, a sharp increase defying predictions that online learning growth is leveling off.A report to be released today by The Sloan Consortium, a group of colleges pursuing online programs, estimates that 850,000 more students took online courses in the fall of 2005 than the year before, an increase of nearly 40 percent. Last year, the group had reported slowing growth, prompting speculation the trend had hit a ceiling.

For the entire article, please click here.

Growing Popularity of E-Learning

More students are taking online college courses than ever before, yet the majority of faculty still aren’t warming up to the concept of e-learning, according to a national survey from the country’s largest association of organizations and institutions focused on online education.

Roughly 3.2 million students took at least one online course from a degree-granting institution during the fall 2005 term, the Sloan Consortium said. That’s double the number who reported doing so in 2002, the first year the group collected data, and more than 800,000 above the 2004 total. While the number of online course participants has increased each year, the rate of growth slowed from 2003 to 2004.

The report, a joint partnership between the group and the College Board, defines online courses as those in which 80 percent of the content is delivered via the Internet.

The Sloan Survey of Online Learning, “Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006,” shows that 62 percent of chief academic officers say that the learning outcomes in online education are now “as good as or superior to face-to-face instruction,” and nearly 6 in 10 agree that e-learning is “critical to the long-term strategy of their institution.” Both numbers are up from a year ago.

Researchers at the Sloan Consortium, which is administered through Babson College and Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, received responses from officials at more than 2,200 colleges and universities across the country. (The report makes few references to for-profit colleges, a force in the online market, in part because of a lack of survey responses from those institutions.)

Much of the report is hardly surprising. The bulk of online students are adult or “nontraditional” learners, and more than 70 percent of those surveyed said online education reaches students not served by face-to-face programs.

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Report Shows Online Learning Growing

Students taking online courses account for 17% of the total population of 17 million, the Sloan Consortium says.
The number of higher-education students taking online courses is increasing steadily, with about one in six students logging on to the Internet to get instruction, a report released Thursday showed.

Nearly 3.2 million students took at least one online course in the fall 2005 term, a substantial increase over the 2.3 million reported during the same period a year ago, according to the annual study published by The Sloan Consortium and financed through a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Students taking online courses account for 17 percent of the total population of 17 million.

The more than 800,000-student increase in the fall was more than twice the number added in any previous year, the report said. “There has been no leveling of the growth rate of online enrollments; institutions of higher education report record online enrollment growth on both a numeric and a percentage basis.”

The study, which is based on surveys conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group, also found that chief academic officers believe the quality of online education is equal to or superior to face-to-face learning. Fully, 62 percent rated both forms of learning the same, or online better, compared with 57 percent in 2003. The percentage rating online as superior rose to 16.9 percent from 12.1 percent.

Academic leaders saw the same barriers to widespread adoption of online education as in previous years. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents cited a need for more discipline on the part of online students. Other roadblocks included faculty issues that included acceptance of online teaching and the need for greater time and effort to teach online. Academic leaders did not see a lack of demand on the part of students, or acceptance of an online degree by employers as barriers.

The largest institutions, defined as more than 15,000 total enrollments, were the most likely to have online offerings. More than 96 percent offered online courses, and about two-thirds have fully online programs.

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