A Lesson in Online Learning

� 2005 By Viki Gardner
All Rights Reserved. Printed with Permission

Welcome! I am so glad you stopped by, as I was just preparing for class. The first thing I do is open my email and collect my messages. You see, my online students know that my virtual door is always open, even if we are not in the classroom at the same time. They know they can drop me a note, either via the message board or email, and I will respond as soon as I can. It may not be immediately, but as soon as I read it and form the proper response, I send it back to them via the same method they queried me. These are actually two of the most important skills you will need as an online learner: how to find your way around a message board and how to send email, including opening and sending attachments, and of course, reading it.

By the way, you have already learned 50 percent of what you need to know about being a student in an online class! As you've been reading this, we have been learning about each other. For instance, I already know you know how to access the Internet, or you know somebody who knows how to access the Internet for you. By the same token, you are also learning about me. You know that I am a writer and I have committed myself to write something here that resembles a lesson about taking online classes. My writing suggests that I am a friendly person, and earlier you read that I am a teacher. So there you go! We have just had an online lesson! Now, was that so hard?

Hmmm, do I detect some confusion? Well, let's review. The last paragraph has two key words in the beginning of it: "reading" and "50 percent." It is a typical "if-then" construction. If you are doing X, then you know Y. So what was the lesson? That if you are an online student, then 50 percent of your time will be spent reading - exactly what you are doing right now.

So, what will you do the other half of the time? What I am doing right now--writing. I know, I know: you don't know how to write, you hate to write, and you can never think of things to write. Well, mostly that's okay, because your online instructor will provide you with a syllabus (outline of everything that will happen in the class for the entire length of the course) that will tell you what to read and write and when. Now, no more groans. You want to learn and it is a class, after all. You will have a teacher, and you will have to participate.

Participation in an online class is mandatory and it does mean reading and writing, and lots of it! In order to participate, you have to be there. "Being there" means that you contribute to the online discussion (reading and writing) a certain number of days a week. Most programs require five days out of seven. If this is a problem, you probably need to consider a different type of learning, or be prepared to have an earnest discussion with your instructor on the first day of class. Then, if your instructor has objections, you will still have time to withdraw.

But, let's assume you are able to be online five days a week. I know you can get on the Internet and obviously you can surf (click on hyperlinks that take you from one site to another) because you are right here, right now, reading these words directed toward you. You are probably thinking about taking an online class but you keep hesitating. You go to the website that contains the enrollment information and you get ready to click that "Submit" button but some pesky, nagging little thought keeps moving that finger away from it.

Apparently, that finger, or more likely, the brain that controls it, comprehends that once you click that button, you are committed. And how can you commit to something as strange as an online class? Getting a diploma online? Geesh, is it really a good idea?

Well, consider this: if the statistics are correct, it's possible that in the not-so-distant future, the big corporations will go to online learning for all of their training and professional development programs. According to Capella University CEO, Stephen Shank, nearly 80 percent of the top thousand largest companies have already turned to online learning for their training.

So what does that mean for you? Chances are that someday you will be faced with the necessity of learning a new skill for your job and your only option will be taking an online class. Oh sure, you could wait until it comes up, a few years down the road. Or, you could try it out now and see what it's like. This web site has links to hundreds of possibilities, so go check them out.

Hey! Would you be interested in an online class for skeptics? You know, one that would teach you pretty much everything you need to know about how to survive in an online class. Would you consider taking it if it only lasted three weeks? I mean, it would be with me, and you already know what I'm like, right? Of course, there would be a curriculum and goals to be met, but we would meet them together. It would be a relaxed version of a real online class in higher education. What do you think? What do you want to learn?

Click here for more information about taking a "Learn How to Learn in an Online Class" class.

*****

Viki Gardner is a freelance teacher, writer, and editor. She holds a Masters degree in Adult Education and Distance Learning, which she earned completely on line from University of Phoenix. She is an E-Structor with Smarthinking.com, where she tutors high school through post-graduate level students in writing. She retired from traditional teaching after 12 years in the classroom, where she was also a mentor to student and new teachers in the district. Her publishing background consists of working for Bobbs-Merrill, Dell, Simon & Schuster, and Warner Books, and being published in Celebrate! Poets Speak Out- Educators 2002 and other publications.

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