Taking Online Courses

Last updated: 9/5/03
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Taking Online Courses
David Bowen, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies
Wayne State University / Detroit, Michigan

Contents:
A. Why Think About Taking an Online Course?
B. Questionnaire: Are You a Good Candidate for Taking an Online Course?
C. Practical tips for working in an online course
D. Motivating yourself

A. Why Think About Taking an Online Course?
I am not going to beat around the bush here - I think online courses are great, and will open up education to many more people. I would like to see "mix and match" where you can put together courses of your own design, courses that are not just 1, 2, 3 or 4 credits but 2.234 credits if that is what you need, courses that have some face-to-face meetings but not 100% face-to-face and not 100% online, courses with multimedia where we can talk together face to face over the Internet, and on and on and on. I am convinced that this and more will happen, including things that we cannot imagine today, even if it does not happen immediately. One "fringe" idea is that of a group of people that get together and teach themselves (with oversight as to form and process), because an improvement, say in corporate practice is needed right now, even though there is no fully-formed body of knowledge developed yet. Another fringe idea is that the threshold of starting a University course is set too high, and people should be able to start at a low level and (perhaps) build up to a full course and then (perhaps) to a degree. JIT (Just In Time) education, and OWYN (Only What You Need). All of this, I am convinced, will come to pass, and I do want to be part of it.

Even if I fully believe that online courses will be very popular, they will probably not be for everyone, or possibly not for every topic (although I do feel that such arguments about subject matter are often used to avoid change).

When I first started teaching online, I thought the typical parts of online courses were pretty much direct substitutes for classroom or grounded courses: web pages for handouts and lectures, email for turning in work and getting it back, and computer conferencing for class discussion. While this idea does work, I have come (perhaps too slowly) to recognize that online courses are very different from the student's point of view. Expect an online class to "feel" different. Not necessarily better, not necessarily worse, but certainly different. If you look for exactly the same experience, or do the course work in exactly the same way, you will be disappointed, and perhaps severely so. Appreciate online courses for what they are, but do not expect that they will be a direct substitute for live courses.

So what am I really saying here?

In many online courses, the basic goal is (i) to become familiar with thinking and writing in the area of the course, (ii) to formulate your own informed view about the subject, and (iii) to understand how the grand theories work out in real lives. No doubt about it, this is work (or at least "serious fun"). To accomplish this requires discussion, argument, compromise and understanding each other. For this purpose, if you go at it the right way, the computer conference is far superior to classroom discussion. Of course, you may at the same time miss the friendly faces or angry faces of the other students in a live class, but why not have live classes as often as anyone wants to ask for them? However, you will be able to participate in the online computer conference discussion in much greater depth and detail than in a live discussion, but only if you make the effort. You can "blow off" an online discussion just as easily as a live discussion, or even more easily, but that will be your own loss. But participants often cite four advantages for online discussions:

You will have more time available to "speak" at length and in detail, and to respond to the comments and criticisms of others. In fact, as an instructor in a live class I am used to speaking about fifty percent of the words, more or less, but online, students can "speak" such a large fraction of the total words that I often feel that the class isn't paying attention to me. Even if I speak as much as I would in a live course, as a percentage I contribute much less, and students sometimes voice the opinion that they are out there on their own because the instructor is not dominating the discussion. (No need to feel sorry for me or feel that you won't have any guidance - I have learned how to make myself heard!)
You can formulate your words to say exactly what you mean, whereas in a live discussion you usually have to be ready to "go" instantaneously when the instructor calls on you, not a situation that allows for careful thought and phrasing. Not that live discussions can't be exciting, just that they cannot be as thoughtful and substantive. Online, you can even edit what you "said" after you have said it. In fact, many students take their postings online very seriously, and while my standard practice is not to grade online discussion with regards to form or content, the quality the discussion can be so compelling that perhaps a few should be graded this way. When students are so obviously serious about and proud of their work, I think that should be recognized.
If the others have gone on to a new topic before you are done with the earlier topic, you can go back and pick it up, in a way that you never could in a live discussion. Online, there are often several lines of conversation going on at the same time, by means of quoting or excerpting previous messages to keep the lines clear. In a live discussion, this can only be accomplished if the group breaks up into subgroups, but online the whole group can be carrying on what are in fact several conversations at once. Try and do that "live!"
There is a record of the discussion that everybody has access to for review and to request clarification from others.

So give this a serious try and expect it to be different. And remember, the technology will continue to evolve. Another year or two and we will be hearing and seeing each other online as well. (Here's a challenge - anyone up for trying video communications this semester?) One of the experiments that I would like to try is to connect several small groups together with Internet videoconferencing, so that a class that could not attract a critical mass to a single location can attract that critical mass in several places and link them all together. Not that that will always be popular either; taking the course in your jammies and bathrobe, without that damned electronic eye, will remain a distinct pleasure of a text-based online course such as we have today.

But there are two other large differences between an online course and a live (some say "grounded") course.

If you are used to being able to sort of "float along", usually coming to class but not doing too much, especially at the beginning, until you see what is going on, and then catching up, perhaps at the very end, forget that! It is much easier to tune out of an online class, but since outside work substitutes for class time, the backlog piles up very quickly and can easily become overwhelming early in the semester. It will primarily be up to you to set a schedule and keep to it. I have considered requiring each participant to write down a schedule, but even though some of my colleagues think that would be a good experiment, I feel it would be overly controlling to do this. I may still do it, though, especially for those that seem to be falling into this trap. I am usually send out weekly emails, and I also assign weekly course progress reports, that are part of the course grade.
An online course does not come after you; you have to go after it. If you do in fact "drop out" there is less there to pull you back in, so that can much more easily become permanent. There are ways to fix this (what about being paged if you are more than a week behind?), but so far, this has been another stumbling block along the way to finishing an online course.

Clearly in online courses, as in most other aspects of life online, the control of the experience shifts toward the user, or in the case of online courses, the student. You can open up aspects of the discussion in a way that you can't in a live class, and work much more on your own schedule. Students can do a lot to help other students, with technical questions and help with the readings. Suppose that I log on to the computer conference three times a week. There is probably a 50-50 chance that a student will answer another student's question before I get to it. Should I chime in, either to confirm or correct? I will, of course, chime in to correct, or even just to nudge, if I feel that is needed. But I think it is a good thing if students can help each other, and generally I won't say anything if, as often happens, I feel that the response was correct. Online courses will give students much more control, and I am interested in learning how that works, and in working with it, not working against it. We are all adults here, right? Other faculty, of course, will have different goals.

So those are some of the advantages and problems with online courses, as they currently exist. Here is an analogy. My wife and I have moved a lot. We have always enjoyed where we live at the time, and part of that is because our approach has always been to find out what there is in the new place, and not expect it to be like the old place, or to complain that the things we enjoyed in the old place aren't the same in the new one. To come back to the topic of online courses, we will all be going to new places more frequently, and I urge you to adopt the practice of looking for what there is in the new situation that you can enjoy. Otherwise you are sure to be unhappy about several aspects of online courses, and many other things as well (just try getting older!). But also, if there is something that you keep on missing no matter what, it may be there for you the next time.

From Students:

Here are unedited messages from three students in my earlier online courses, all of whom have enjoyed them, been successful, and taken more than one! Two of these students are taking this course.

Wiley Crawford
	Subject: online comments Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 19:37:48 EST From: Wiley Crawford To: d.r.bowen@wayne.edu Hi Dr. Bowen, Here are some of my thoughts on taking on-line courses: first of all, how else can you take a university course, stay at home and avoid the bad weather and long distance travel time? Second, the classes give an opportunity to participate in a class anytime day or night. Of course within given guidelines. I personally found it challenging because it helped me to be able to use my computer in a professional way. It gave me the opportunities to learn things that I would not have been able to do otherwise. The class that I took, Creativity, was one of the most interesting classes that I have taken on or off-line. This class challenged me to look at my own creativity as well as looking at others. It was not just about making things, it was about the whole realm of Creativity. It is important to understand in an on-line class that it is not just point and click. There is required reading and any other reqirements in a class that is taken on campus. But you don't have to be there. And working all day, I don't want to spend my evening looking for a parking spot on the WSU campus. Wiley P.S. Thanks Dr. Bowen for asking me, I enjoyed your classes and hope that I can take more on-line courses in the future.

Sharon Finch
	Subject: Re: Online courses Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 21:58:11 EST From: Sharon Finch To: d.r.bowen@mail2.wayne.edu WHY I TAKE ON-LINE COURSES I have taken several courses in ISP with either total or partial on-line components. I enjoy them very much, obviously, since I keep taking more. Why is this? First of all, there is the total luxury of working at my own speed, on my own time, without regard to winter weather or having a cold or time pressures from other parts of my life. When I want to work, I sit down in front the keyboard, a place I love in any event, and I do as much as I want and however I want. I can work very early in the morning or very late at night. With my laptop, I can work anywhere in the world (and have). Turning in assignments as attachments to email is terrifically easy, and removes all the dreaded "printing problems" which always seem to occur when a paper is due. Generally, when at home, I print and then edit on the printed page and then correct the screen version. However, there have been times when I have been away and have written papers and exams totally on the screen. This has been doable, if a little more challenging. And I must say, being able to travel without missing class is also a real luxury. I enjoy the WebBoard computer conference, but I notice a lot of students don't use it much. I like to discuss what I am reading and thinking, and that is a very easy way to do it. Also, no one interrupts you or cuts you off! The only downside to the online class is the lack of IRL interaction, but that is cured by having a few class meetings where we get to meet each other. All in all, I think it is a wonderful adjunct to the traditional classroom education mode, especially in bad weather! My bottom line about on-line classes: "Try it, you'll like it!"

	Subject: Re: Online courses Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 22:03:00 EST From: Sharon Finch To: d.r.bowen@mail1.wayne.edu In a message dated 11/15/00 3:00:36 PM, d.r.bowen@wayne.edu writes: << And how did you feel about the topics, e.g. Creativity. (I am not counting eCommerce and Computers, the Internet, and Society as fully online - that was never my intention. >> Forgot to speak to this. Addendum: I enjoyed the Creativity class immensely. The reading list was terrific and the reading was fascinating, the WebBoard discussions were lively, and luckily I picked a topic for my paper which I really got into and enjoyed researching and writing. I learned a lot about some very creative people, about the topic of creativity itself, and about my own mental processes. The topic really lent itself to the online process -- cyberspace seemed to be just the place to think about creativity.

Carolyn Mills
	I decided to take an online course because the idea of completing a class from the comfort of my home appealed to me. I think that I, like others, believed that it might be an easier way to get through a class. What I found out was that it required every bit if not more time than any class that I could attend physically. There were benefits, too, that I had not anticipated. These were the ease of contact with other students and the instructor. I felt as though I were attending a class where I was able to get help from someone for any question I might have. Dr. Bowen's weekly requirement that I post a comment helped me to overcome any shyness I had about posting. After I had posted for the first time, I realized that it was no different than talking to my neighbor in class, it was helpful and it put me in touch with everyone painlessly. I also realized that when it came to questions about the course, I was one-on-one with the instructor. It was an aid to the learning process. My method of attending was this, each day when I arrived home from work, the first thing I did was sit down at my computer to see whether any messages had been posted to "our" site. I would answer if I could, but I might just post a "hello" to everyone. Then, I would go about the business of coursework. That might be reading or composing a paper, but whatever, I would do something. I might have plans or have to clean or do laundry, but first I would do coursework. It was important for me not to put it off, because if I did, it became easier and easier to do so. I have much experience in procrastinating and have learned that the more I put it off, the more I feel guilty about it, and the more I put it off. I need to police myself. I need to keep myself in the work and do something each day or it becomes easier to quit acting. I begin talking myself into quitting. Internet classes were the most enjoyable classes that I took at WSU. I know that they're not for everyone, some prefer the interaction of a classroom. I prefer to settle down at home and work. I like the personal contact with the instructor as well as the students. We're all there to learn something and we all do!

B. Questionnaire: Are You a Good Candidate for Taking an Online Course?
This basic questionnaire is available in many places, with variations. This version is taken from Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace, by Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt pub 1999 Jossey-Bass, pages 154 and 155. My own comment is that this questionnaire is specific to a specific time, and many of the concerns underlying the question (see "Scoring" and "Explanations" below) will be dealt with and overcome, to be replaced no doubt by other issues, hopefully not as serious. "Distance Learning" includes but is not limited to online or Internet or web-based courses. Distance Learning also includes correspondence, newspaper and FAX-based courses.

' How well would Distance Learning courses fit your circumstances and lifestyle? Circle an answer for each question and score as directed below. Answer honestly - no one will see this but you! (Adapted from "Are Telecourses For Me?" and printed in the PBS-Adult Learning Service The Agenda, Spring, 1994, this questionnaire was developed by the Northern Virginia Community College Extended Learning Institute.)

My need to take this course now is:
1. High - I need it immediately for a specific goal.
2. Moderate - I could take it on campus later or substitute another course.
3. Low - it could be postponed.
Feeling that I am part of a class is:
1. Not particularly necessary to me.
2. Somewhat important to me.
3. Very important to me.
I would classify myself as someone who:
1. Often gets things done ahead of time.
2. Needs reminding to get things done on time.
3. Puts things off until the last minute or doesn't complete them.
Classroom discussion is:
1. Rarely helpful to me.
2. Sometimes helpful to me.
3. Almost always helpful to me.
When an instructor hands out directions for an assignment, I prefer:
1. Figuring out the instructions myself.
2. Trying to follow the directions on my own, then asking for help as needed.
3. Having the instructions explained to me.
I need faculty comments on my assignments:
1. Within a few weeks, so I can review what I did.
2. Within a few days, or I forget what I did.
3. Right away, or I get very frustrated.
Considering my professional and personal schedule, the amount of time I have to work on a Distance Learning course is:
1. More than enough for an on campus course.
2. The same as for a class on campus.
3. Less than for a class on campus.
Coming to campus on a regular schedule is:
1. Extremely difficult for me - I have commitments (work, family, or personal).
2. A little difficult, but I can rearrange my priorities to allow for regular attendance on campus.
3. Easy for me.
As a reader, I would classify myself as:
1. Good - I usually understand the text without help.
2. Average - I sometimes need help to understand the text.
3. Slower than average.
When I need help understanding the subject:
1. I am comfortable approaching an instructor ask for clarification.
2. I am uncomfortable approaching an instructor, but do it anyway.
3. I never approach an instructor to admit I don't understand something.

Scoring:

Add 3 points for each "a", 2 for each "b", and 1 for each "c." If you scored 20 or over, a distance learning course is a real possibility for you. If you scored between 11 and 20, a distance learning courses may work for you, but you may need to make a few adjustments in your schedule and study habits to succeed. If you scored 10 or less, distance learning may not currently be the best alternative for you; talk to your counselor. [DB Note: you cannot possibly score less than 10 if you answered all of the questions.]

Explanations:

Distance Learning students sometimes neglect their courses because of personal or professional circumstances. Having a compelling reason for taking the course helps motivate the student to stick with the course.
Some students prefer the independence of Distance Learning; others find the independence uncomfortable and miss being part of the classroom experience.
Distance Learning courses give students a greater freedom of scheduling, but they can require more self-discipline than on-campus classes.
Some people learn best by interacting with other students and instructors. Others learn better by listening, reading and reviewing on their own. Some Distance Learning courses provide less opportunity for group interaction than most on-campus courses.
Distance Learning requires you to work from written directions.
It may take as long as two to three weeks to get comments back from your instructor in Distance Learning classes.
Distance Learning requires at least as much time as on-campus courses. Students surveyed say that Distance Learning courses are as hard or harder than on-campus courses.
Most people who are successful with Distance Learning find it difficult to come to campus on a regular basis because of their work/family/personal schedules.
Print materials are the primary source of directions and information in Distance Learning courses.
Students who do well in Distance Learning courses are usually comfortable contacting the instructor as soon as they need help with the course.'

Practical tips for working in an online course - not every suggestion is for everyone
1. From David Bowen
  1. If you are having trouble finding time to do the reading, here are some suggestions:
    1. Always have a course textbook with you.
    2. Put a bookmark in the book so that there is no doubt where you left off.
    3. Read at the doctor's and dentist's offices (those magazines are really old, anyway).
    4. Try to read some before going to sleep. This is a regular opportunity that comes along every day.
    5. Read at lunch. This is also an opportunity that comes along every day.
    6. Watching TV? Read during the commercials. Muting the TV helps here.
  2. Schedule time for the course in large chunks. Blocks of two hours minimum are much more efficient than shorter blocks of time. If your schedule is chaotic, schedule a backup time, too (but this does not work for everybody - see below).
  3. Are you reading the textbooks, but having trouble thinking about what messages to post? See "Use you internal dialog" below.
  4. Are you reading the textbooks, and have ideas about messages you would like to post, but can't remember them? One student I know did her reading at the computer. Or, if you have a laptop computer or Personal Digital Assistant, keep that with you to make notes on. Another idea: keep a card in the book for making notes on, as a basis for conference postings and essay ideas. You can also mark up the book, or simply dog-ear the pages, but I find that while this can remind me about a topic, it doesn't do well in reminding me of the specific content I had in mind.
  5. If you are having trouble getting to work on the course, think about why you are having trouble working on the course - what are the reasons, the causes. That's a posting topic, and something that you can ask me for help and support on.
2. For posting in an online discussion forum, from Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace, by Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt, Perseus 1999:
  1. Use your "internal dialog" - how you talk to yourself about the course for postings. (pg 22)
  2. Set a specific time each day to read and respond to messages rather than doing it throughout the day. (this next group from pg 51)
  3. Wait to respond to a message that upsets you and be careful of what you say and how you say it.
  4. Never say anything that you could not tolerate seeing in print on the front page of your local newspaper.
  5. Establish clear priorities for dealing with messages and categorize messages by important and need to respond.
  6. Log on to the course site [we don't log on to the course site, but substitute "go to] with the intention of downloading and reading only. (This next group is from pg 53. I find these puzzling, but hey, if some of them make sense for you...)
  7. Print new messages, if possible, to allow time to review them in a more leisurely fashion.
  8. Once messages have been read and reviewed, formulate a response to be posted. Do not feel as if an immediate response is necessary in an asynchronous environment.
  9. In order to be more thoughtful about responses, prepare them on a word processor and then copy and paste them to the course site. [This can be a problem, as MK discovered. This will work if you save the Word processor content as text (txt)] If hard disk space is at a premium or if a lab computer is being used, copy your responses to a floppy disk.
3. From Distance Learning Online for Dummies by Nancy Stevenson (IDG Books, 2002), pages 200 to 201
  1. Make to-do lists and check off items as you do them (this also helps with motivation for some people).
  2. Use sticky-notes and other types of notes to yourself to remind you about what you should be working on. Try emailing yourself about this, or leaving a voicemail at your home phone while you are at work.
  3. Set your priorities. This can be very important for an online course, which can otherwise get pushed out of the way by face-to-face classes or other items.
  4. Don't try to do everything that you did before - put off small things.
  5. If someone else can do some of your tasks, let him/her.
  6. Choose study times in advance, at the beginning of the semester.
  7. For an online course, the Internet is often very busy in the early evening in the middle of the week. Try to avoid these times since you will spend more times waiting for the information from the server.
  8. Check your email and the course computer conference regularly.
  9. Don't do all of your studying at once. Break your time up into several blocks during the week, so that you can think between times. Also, feedback from the instructor or the computer conference can take several days.
Motivating yourself.
1. From David Bowen. I have recently had to learn quite a bit about how I can motivate myself. This happened when I was diagnosed as a diabetic. Everything is under good control, but I found that my self-motivation was necessary to achieve this. And actually, many of the suggestions below are well-known within the community of diabetics, so look for help from others. There wasn't anybody that was going to motivate me, except me. So maybe this applies to finding time to work on an online course, as well. Not everything here may apply to you, since I strongly suspect that individual differences are a strong factor here.
  1. Someone else's methods for self-motivation often won't work for you. You have different priorities, a different style; you are a different person. You can get suggestions from others, but you have to design your own program.
  2. Negative motivation won't work with me. I won't do things, at least not things that take real time and effort, just because something bad will (may) happen if I don't. So I have to find a way to make positive motivation work.
  3. Rewarding myself when I do the right thing is effective for me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a big reward, just some little thing, but sometimes a private little ceremony helps. Letting those around you know of your goal can also help, especially if they will also say "good job" along with you. Wanting your partner to succeed in that partner's own terms is, I think, a sign of a very good relationship.
    
    For example, with diabetes I shouldn't really eat candy to reward myself, but I can have a little, and I can look for healthy equivalents.
  4. Keeping my goal in mind is important. My motivation for good control of my diabetes is very specific. If I don't keep good control, one of the most common things to happen is amputation of one or more toes, and most people don't think this is a big deal, but toes are important for balance, and balance is important in windsurfing, and I love windsurfing. So I will often think about windsurfing, and reward myself by promising that I will buy myself some new equipment in the Spring. Plus I have to exercise as part of my control, so that will mean that I will be able to start the windsurfing season off with a bang, instead of having to waste a month of the all-to-short summer getting into shape.
    
    Now, your motivation will be something else, but try to find a way to "think positive." And if you get in that habit, pretty soon it comes naturally, and even becomes a source of pride in itself. I mean, how many people reinvent themselves in their 60s? That has become a source of pride, that I was able to do that.
  5. Another thing that has been important to me is, each time I don't meet the goal I set, to think about why I failed (here, to exercise good control over my diabetes). How did I rationalize it that time? Did I say, "well, it's only this once" or was it more like "hey, it wasn't that bad." And then to figure out a way of not saying that excuse to myself next time. I divide myself into the good me and the bad me, and it is the bad me doing the rationalization abut why it wasn't so bad, so the good me has to figure out how to stop it next time. That is, if you fail to live to your expectations for yourself, don't beat yourself up over it - that just demoralizes you, but try to prevent it from happening again, at least in exactly the same way. And this has also worked very well for me.
  6. Don't set goals that you won't meet. This is tricky. Setting goals that you won't meet is again just sure to demoralize you. Set a goal that you can meet, and reward yourself for meeting it (but not in a way that will take you backwards), but then once you have met the goal, ratchet the goal up another step. You have to really be pretty honest with yourself here. If you set the goal too low, you won't get any satisfaction from meeting it, and if you set it too high you won't meet it. I have brought my weight down to where I am in pretty good control. I really should lose some more, but it is not a real serious situation now. So right now I am going a little easy on myself, but sooner or later I should go after the next step.
  7. If you need to accomplish a large task, divide it into smaller tasks and take those on one at a time. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" (Mao Tse-Tung).
  8. If you can't fully meet your expectations, don't let not being able to do a perfect job, stop you from doing a good job. And promise yourself that you will improve it next time.
2. From Distance Learning Online for Dummies by Nancy Stevenson (IDG Books, 2002), pages 203 to 204
  1. Imagine yourself meeting your goals as a result of academic success; goals for career, income, growth, new career and achievement.
  2. Picture graduation day, and how proud you will be, and how your friends and family will congratulate you.
  3. Put a picture that represents your goal near your study area.
  4. Sometimes a break, even for a whole day, can increase your motivation and efficiency.