Must-Know Facts about Online Degrees

Though the curriculum is largely the same, online degrees have many important differences from traditional education programs. We'll tell you the must-know facts about online classes here.

• Online students learn the same material as traditional students but in different ways. A guide for online colleges will usually emphasize that Internet-based institutions prefer the facilitator model of learning. This method is drastically different from the lecture-based format of most traditional schools. The facilitator model requires a great deal of self-teaching and relies on discussion instead of direct instruction. Your instructor will pose thought-provoking questions and create assignments designed to facilitate the learning process, but you will not be spoon-fed the information. If you have trouble understanding concepts from reading on your own, you may find online learning difficult.

• Discussion is an integral part of the virtual classroom. Online classes heavily emphasize student discussion facilitated by the instructor. The idea behind this is that concepts are reinforced when students apply them to their own experiences and to those of their peers. Students are the primary drivers of class discussion; the instructor is only there to underscore certain concepts and guide the discussion.
• You will have to log in to class most days of the week. Your school's guide for online colleges will specify the specific attendance requirements of your class, but most schools require that students participate four or five days of the week. On these days, you will need to post a certain number of comments that your instructor deems substantive. For instance, you might have to post two substantive comments on four out of seven days of the week. In order to keep up with participation requirements, you will have to log in to your classroom regularly.
• The rigor of online classes is comparable to that of conventional courses. Students often have the misconception that online classes are less rigorous than traditional classes. They sign up for an online degree believing that the program will be easy and require less work. In reality, online courses are quite demanding because they require self-reliance of students. Online students must teach themselves the material for the most part, which adds to the typical responsibilities of assignments, projects, participation, etc.
• In your coursework, you will most likely have to work in virtual groups. Group work teaches cooperation and real-world application, so most online classes will require you to form virtual groups with your peers. Some courses ask students to write a paper in a group, while others have students put together a presentation or other project. Online group work can prove particularly challenging because of the asynchronous environment. In other words, you and your teammates may have to coordinate different schedules in different time zones for multiple people. Your school's guide for online colleges should explain more about virtual groups and their contribution to the learning process. For more information, please check out our types of online schools page.