A recent submission to my elearning course.
I have personally found that online courses definitely take much more time to fully participate within and therefore demand greater time management and determination then a classroom base setting.
Classroom based courses tend to have a set amount of reading, homework and in class participation that is fairly standard from one class to another, one year to another. Web based courses on the other hand require a great deal more involvement from the student. There is usually a set amount of reading to accomplish each week of a course. The student often then needs to complete an assignment or participate within a discussion board regarding that week’s topic. Discussions occur one message at a time. A learner may post their message today and then have to check back several times over the next few days to see a response to their thought. In a classroom setting the feedback is instantaneous.
Many times as well, one student will post a link regarding something they have found interesting and relevant to the class discussion. Instead of generalizing it as one would in a face-to-face setting the link is often posted and other learners must follow the link and read about it to see the tie in to the course material. This creates added time to the learning process.
Student must make sure in an online course that they stick to the reading schedule, reading other participants postings, submit comments, and assignments all within allotted time. There is little room for flexibility so it takes great discipline to schedule your time accordingly to cover all aspects of a course.
The University of Illinois sums this up nicely on their “What Makes a Successful Online Student”[i] website saying,
‘The online learning process is normally accelerated and requires commitment on
the student’s part. Staying up with the class and completing all work on time is
vital. Once a student gets behind, it is almost impossible to catch up.
Basically, the student needs to want to be there, and needs to want the
experience.’
[i] Online Education Resources: Pedagogy & Learning, ‘What Makes a Successful Online Student?”, Retrieved June 18, 2007 from University of Illinois website: http://www.ion.illinois.edu/Resources/tutorials/pedagogy/StudentProfile.asp