Are You a Good Candidate for Distance Learning?

Characteristics of Successful Distance Learners

Independent Self-assessing Learner Mature Organized; good time management
Asks for help when needed Shares ideas with others Accepts and applies construtive criticism
Persevering Inquisitive, Intellectually Curious
Willing "to explore new worlds" 		Will work on improving necessary skills

Are You a Good Candidate For Distance Learning?

  1. Distance learning courses tend to have higher dropout and failure rates than classroom instruction. Be certain to consider your choice seriously. Avoiding the classroom is NOT a good reason to sign up for an online course. However, distance learning also has many advantages. Ask youself the following questions.
  2. What is your maturity level? Independent distance education is most difficult for first-year students, who are already busy learning major changes from high school to college. Juniors and seniors and adult returning students, with more experience under their belts, will probably do better. However, maturity and the ability to adapt is not strictly linked to your year in class. A mature, focused first-year student will do better than an immature senior.
  3. Are you organized? The distance learner must be organized. You must perform multiple tasks to complete an assignment. You must read online and printed sources and analyze their content. In many cases you must do additional Internet research. You must construct a good essay, edit and revise using your grammar and spell-checking tools, and send it to me as a file attachment. You must read and apply the suggestions and corrections that I make to each assignment in subsequent assignments. All this takes time. Are you mature enough to manage responsibility with little oversight?
  4. Can you ask for help when you need it? Unlike the classroom, distance learning does not allow me to see a "raised hand." You must be willing to seek out help when it is needed, ask questions, and understand that asynchronous learning means some delay between when you ask and when you get an answer. Just remember, there are NO dumb questions. Be brave and ask. That's how we ALL learn.
  5. Can you embrace independent learning? Distance learning requires more autonomous, self-reflective learning by students, as we don't have F2F classroom communication. See this brief page on the intellectual stages of the semester.
  6. Can you share your ideas and analysis with others through online discussions? We will do ten online discussions in which you will be asked to agree or disagree with statements about historical events. You will also be asked to agree or disagree (respectfully) with one another. Can you develop, support, and share a position on an issue and not feel hurt or threatened even if someone else disagrees?
  7. Can you persevere? Working for a full semester mostly by yourself is a long haul. You have much more writing in this class than in a regular one, because we must replace all classroom discussion and interaction with writing. Can you hang in there and keep going? Think of this as a marathon. If you're a sprinter, beware. Effective time management is crucial.
  8. Are you inquisitive, intellectually curious, willing to "explore new worlds, seek out new life forms"? Well, the course isn't exactly Star Trek, but you will explore new cultures and people that most of you have never encountered. If you find new things interesting just because you don't know about them, you're a good candidate for this course. If you only like to study a narrow range of topics, you should consider dropping, unless a central interest is the history, culture, people, and problems of Latin America. Student motivation is a key component of success in any course.
  9. Are you willing to work on improving your computer skills? Because we do everything via computer and the Internet, you need to develop an appropriate level of computing literacy. I will help you. You must be skillful with a word processing program, including the use of grammar checking to establish percentage of passive sentences, reading level, average sentence length, and other elements that affect clarity. You must be able to attach files to emails. You must learn to post comments using WebCT software. You must be able to search the Internet and find good, solid historical references.
  10. Are you willing to work on improving your writings skills? Clear, accurate written communication of historical events is as important as the actual intellectual analysis of those events. Your writing as well as your content will be graded. However, 15 out of 16 students in my first online course reported that their writing improved during the semester. Whatever your major and interests, writing better will help you.
  • If you answered NO to more than half of the above questions, you are NOT a good candidate for distance education. You should consider another course.