Taking an Online Class

Many college students will take an online course during their academic careers. They often choose these classes for convenience’s sake or because of scheduling challenges. Others find the discipline-based focus of many online classes very helpful to their studies. Many who are shy also find online classes easier to engage. Some earn full graduate or undergraduate degrees or certificates completely online. Some only going to campus physically for the graduation (if even then because there are online graduation events).

The Nature of Online Courses

Online courses come in many variant forms. They are created with different levels of information availability.

Some are wholly “automated”. These are short courses (usually) that people go in and experience briefly. It’s just the learner interacting with the computer—with all sorts of experiences scripted.

The most common type in the college environment is human-facilitated or taught by instructors. Instructor-led courses may offer more support to learners and more flexibility to accommodate students’ different interests and learning styles. Human-facilitated learning enables more complex learning. However, large online courses may often be mediated by graduate research assistants (GRAs) or teaching assistants (TAs).

Some online courses are “blended.” This means that they combine some face-to-face sessions with some online ones. Sometimes, students meet face-to-face early in a semester or quarter and then maybe at the end of class. Or some blended courses include field trips. Some science-based courses may include an end-of-term hands-on laboratory experiences in physical locations where there may be various types of equipment.

How They Work

Online courses taught during a regular term involve deadlines. Most online courses are “asynchronous,” or they often do not require scheduled time periods for live learning. The lectures may have been captured ahead of time; the student interactions may involve postings of text messages and digital files to the message board. Students may submit homework in dropboxes. They may take tests online (with or without human proctor presence, based on the setup of the courses). The strategies for taking online classes may differ from face-to-face strategies.

Online instructors “present” differently in the online courses. Some are highly interactive and will engage in depth with students. Others may be more hands-off. Some define assignments very well and even offer detailed student work samples (with student permissions)…while others may offer open-ended and less-structured assignments.

Some professors expect students to interact a lot with each other. Others will not. One challenge for students transitioning to online classes is the difficulty of not being as easily able to form friendships and study groups in online courses.

Self-awareness of Preferred Learning Methods

As students take more classes at the college level, they often become more aware of the teaching and learning methods that work for them. They’ll connect with some professors and not others. They’ll be drawn to particular subject matters and not others. They’ll find that they may have preferred learning styles—such as enjoying learning through reading, lectures, hands-on assignments, images, or simulations—or other methods. “Meta-cognition” or the self-awareness of one’s own learning methods and preferences has been found to strengthen people’s learning strategies and methods. This awareness also may be applied to the question of whether to take online courses. Some may prefer to take online courses for some subject matters that they’re very comfortable with, or if they’ve already taken some courses with the professor on campus.

The Right Equipment

To be successful in an online class, distance students will need critical equipment such as computers with the required specifications and capabilities. They will need software to create the types of files required by their instructors—such as word-processing or image creation or slideshow creation software. (Often, students can get student discounts on most technologies). They will need internet connectivity, whether through landlines or wireless.

The Pace of the Work

Online students need to remain highly disciplined in order to keep up with the pace of the work. They will not have the regularly scheduled meetings of face-to-face classes to help them “pace” the work, so they’ll have to do more work to keep up. They’ll have to handle their own calendars and balance their various life commitments with the study. Sometimes, students say they “forget” about their online classes because they prioritize other aspects of life ahead of the studies. Online students will have to ensure that the work they submit meets the requirements for the assignment. This may mean taking initiative in doing some extra research.

Students will need to self-regulate their work. Having strong study habits is important. This means knowing how to read a text, take appropriate notes, and extract meaning from it. This also means knowing how to view a lecture or video…or take part in a digital lab…and learn from those experiences. They’ll need to know how to synthesize information by bringing together like ideas and contrast dissimilar ones…and coming to informed conclusions.

Online learners may also have to adjust to the different types of homework due. By the time most reach college, they’ll have written essays. Some may have made slideshows. Others may have created audio files…and many have created videos for sharing on video sharing sites. Various online courses will require these types of “digital artifacts” to showcase their learning. Another way to demonstrate learning will be to post appropriate messages to the instructor and to peers. If they’re expected to do “peer reviews” of each other’s works, students will have to practice offering constructive and substantive feedback.

And finally, there may be required participation in live Web conferences or real-time meetings that are carried out through a website or the learning / course management system (L/CMS). (A learning / course management system offers a range of course functionalities—the delivery of digital contents, inter-communications, web conferencing, grade recording, and so on).

The Need for Social Supports

Many online learners create comfortable work environments for themselves to study from home, the local library, the local campus, or the local coffee shop. They’ll also structure their family commitments and social lives around their online study commitments. Many online learners will connect with their fellow students on social media sites; others form physical study groups and will meet in person.

A critical element of support involves student communications with the instructor. Students do need to take initiative to reach out to their instructors, and instructors generally should do the same. Many online instructors are highly responsive to their students and will provide supportive feedback.

The first steps in exploring whether an online class will work involves learning what these are about and whether that method of teaching and learning will work well for the particular individual student.