How You Can Get The Best From Online Learning: Six Guidelines

With the globalization of the economy have come many changes. Distance is no longer an obstacle to communication; labour crosses borders; jobs change; and people change jobs frequently. And because of all these changes, lifelong education becomes particularly important in this knowledge-based economy.

But education on-campus at university or college is not possible for many people because jobs or other commitments make it impossible for them to attend on-campus classes. Online learning provides a flexible solution for such people. Unfortunately, many learners enter an online program without realising the problems they need to face. Thus, all too often they are disappointed with their first experience of this new mode of learning. To avoid this, there are six things that the learner should watch out for.

Online education is a flexible form of education, but it doesn’t mean that you can keep “putting off” your learning day after day. All too often, that is what often happens – and this results in failure to learn. So be organised – manage your time. Set aside a regular time in your diary for study of the material and completion of assignments.

Living and working in today’s ever-changing world demands life-long learning. And so if you wish to continue to be part of it, you must have a desire to learn and be motivated to learn for the rest of your life. So this means wanting to learn even when there is no extrinsic motivation (e.g., a salary increase).

Unfortunately, many of us were not taught how to learn. Instead we were only taught to remember things and to apply rules. Somewhere along the way we were expected to acquire the skills to acquire knowledge. In today’s world it is essential that we “know how to learn”. In particular, learning online requires that you develop these skills. This not only means having the technical skills of how find books or web sites on a topic, it also means having well-developed critical reading and thinking skills.

For many of us, our school experience has taught us to be “passive learners” – we were told the knowledge, we learned it by rote and then we repeated it in an exam. Passive learning seemed to be a useful strategy for success. Unfortunately, that is not a useful strategy for success in today’s world, or, indeed, in online learning. If you are learning online, the courseware often includes questions, exercises and further reading so that your learning can be active rather than passive. You must make sure that you complete all the exercises and that you thoroughly interact with the material.

In an online course, real learning takes place when you are interacting with others on the course. So try to find a learning group, either in your area or online – your e-Tutor may well facilitate this. You can then take part in “social learning” – and you will find that you only truly “know” something when you try to explain it to someone else. Make sure that you respond to all the e-Tutor’s requests for feedback and do participate in the discussion forums.

Don’t be tempted to buy a qualification from a “diploma mill” – a business that simply prints diplomas and degrees. Such qualifications are worthless in the eyes of employers and genuine educational institutions, so will just be a waste of your money. Always take an accredited program from an accredited institution.

Sophia Peters writes for the Online and Distance Learning web site where you can get other relevant information about online programs. Visit the web site for other relevant information about where and how to study online.