Does anyone have any myths or preconceptions about online learning that they want to chat about? As an online professor, I was wondering about the perspective from the student side of the fence.

What's keeping you from taking online courses? Have you taken online courses and liked/disliked them? Why?

Yesterday, I was thinking to myself, 'I've never taken an online course,' although once I was going to, but I dropped the class at the last minute (it was an elective).

I have made a point of taking an online course and I'm going to keep a daily journal.

Also, I was thinking if I should get an online master's degree. Is that the same or similar to an online class? Or is that a different can of worms?

You are not alone in this going back and forth over online classes. Some people just don't know enough about it to take that leap.

Here are a few general differences between online and on-ground classes:
--On-ground courses usually meet Monday through Saturday at set times. (There are also Master's degree programs that meet Saturday and Sunday for a set number of weeks.)
--Online classes are open 24 hours (so if you've got an odd work schedule, this is suitable)

--Typical on-ground classes last about 15 weeks (except for summer and accelerated classes that run for about 8 to 12 weeks usually)
--There is no typical online class range. Schools run very short classes (5 weeks) to full-semester classes (about 15 weeks). Always ask about a particular school's schedule. The shorter the term, the harder the course because it's the same amount of work crammed into a shorter time. Keep that in mind.

Advice for taking online classes:
--Polish up on those professional writing skills. Your words on the page will be your primary communication tool.
--Take any class tutorial and orientation sessions seriously. That's when you learn how to navigate the online classroom modules (which are very user friendly but can still vary from school to school).
--Be really good at checking school e-mail. If you get a student account at a school, use it. That's how everyone there will communicate with you.
--Do your research. Some schools are really tough about where you can transfer credit. So if you choose an online school (or even an on-ground school for that matter), ask about this. You want to avoid taking a class and then getting stuck when it comes to transferring to another school.

As for the online Master's degree, the coursework should be the same -- challenging. However, you must be accustomed to working independently and practicing good time management. Cramming never works for student but it really doesn't work for online students. As with any Master's degree, you need to polish up on your research skills, but all schools -- online or not -- have great librarians and resources to help on that front. You just have to make the time to use them. Ah, that's the tough part!

Good luck everyone!

Is it a good practice to mix on-ground and online courses together in one semester?

I think I fear that my on-ground courses will get more attention than an online course. Sometimes my classes can get intense with group projects and extensive, out-of-the-classroom research (like surveying real businesses).

Two years ago I took a very badly designed online course in business coaching. All materials were online and it was not possbile to print them out. Support was either by email or by phone to a call centre. It was not possible to contact any of the academics.

Assessment was by filling in silly little forms. These were marked and some useful comments were made, but I was not able to get into any dialogue with the tutors.

I've ended being qualified, but I don't feel I learnt much.

However my first real break in education was the UK's brilliant Open University - not so much online as materials were sent to us. They did experiment with an early of form of email/ bulletin boards years before the internet was formed.

I think good online education requires well written materials the student can access readily - ie a text book or manual or pdf format web content.

They need to have good quality feedback through a bulletin board or email. The response should be within 24 hours or the student gets demotivated. Feedback does not necessairly be from the tutors - sometimes supportfrom fellow students can be just as good - when I used to teach I often set up an email mutual support network among my students - I would monitor it and respond only when necessary. I would however praise those responding and use this to justify giving them an upgrade in their marks.

Some online assessment is very good. The use of short tests, with instant feedback is good for reinforcing things learnt and for building confidence.

However I feel a 100% online course, without human interaction or some practical work can in some cases be just an extension of browsing the internet. I know a local college teaches Cisco system management, which is just some Flash tutorials. It gives out numerous certificates to students, whose only real skills is learning how to score high on the Cisco training system. The students do not get to use, or even see, a real system and consequently are not able to apply whatever it is they have learnt.

Ironically a better college, that actually gives it students real networks to work on and therefore its students are more likely to get real jobs has been severely criticised by government educational inspectors, as its grades are not as good as the first college.