Although this short memorandum was prepared for students registered in my on-line courses during the Fall2002 and Spring2003 semesters (and updated from time to time) it is very likely that the information here may be useful for any college course taken in this new century. It is not copyrighted. Feel free to forward or distribute at will. Comments are welcome. Send them to: ansonchong@pobox.com.

On-Line Learning is Different

Please be aware that on-line learning is NOT like traditional classroom learning. The following insights are from my first-hand experience over the past decade while creating and implimenting some of the first-ever on-line courses at the statewide community college distance learning system in Hawaii. I've also benefited from "Learning on the Net" by William A. Draves (LERN Books, 2001, ISBN 1-57722-022-6, and Dr. David Diaz' recent online article on drop-out rates (<--<< Click on this to read it.).

The bottom line here, I think, is to recognize that we have a new paradism. It is important for the instructor to tell the hard truth to the prospective student taking on-line courses: That responsibility for learning the subject matter rests squarely on the shoulders of the learner who is assumed by the instructor to be competent, intelligent and computer literate.

The world's technological infrastructure will continue to expand, and our nation cannot divert educational resources to the dependent learner indefinitely. With due respect to Dr. Diaz and other researchers who have looked at the drop-out issue in depth and have suggested solutions (see link, above), maybe it's time to face the hard facts and admit that the obvious reason for high drop-out rates for on-line courses is that students may not be competent to take such courses in the first place.

Thus, an obvious, humane (and cost saving) solution to the drop-out issue is to give dependent learners the option to self-select themselves out of on-line courses by doing a simple questionnaire before signing up for on-line courses. Links to two of the best pre-test questionnaires that I've seen are noted below.

This focus, it seems to me, would be a more efficient strategy for the nation as on-line courses move into the dominant mode of education in this country.

Online Learning characteristics

1. Learning online is active and self initiated.
2. Learning online requires self discipline.
3. Learning online is results oriented.

Traditional Classroom Learning Characteristics

1. Students are generally passive.
2. Students are guided by external discipline.
3. Students are graded by attendance and activity they do.

Traditional Classroom Mode OK, but ...

Traditional classroom learning methodologies are okay for those who want to hold traditional jobs because workers do need to learn how to show up for work on time and listen and repond to the boss. Traditional teaching systems reflect this need by having teachers take attendance and give lectures to which students need to respond.

21st Century Jobs are Results Oriented

For the 21st century, this kind of teaching is not particularly helpful or useful for many jobs. Why? Because many jobs in the information age are results oriented. Of course, many repetitive, production-line jobs will continue to exist, and workers will be needed for them, but such jobs are declining rapidly relative to overall job opportunities due to increasing use of computers and robots.

What Matters is Knowledge and Skill

For the 21st century, what counts in the job market is what a worker can produce - for him or herself if self-employed or for employers. What matters is knowledge and skill. Simply turning up for work won't cut it in the 21st century. Productivity, competence, and knowing how to do the job or having the skills, attitude and habits to learn how to do the job at hand, that's what counts. Excuses for not doing the job right won't cut it.

What Matters is Knowing the Subject Matter

In like manner, what matters in online courses is that the student must know the subject matter, can pass the quizzes and exams and move on to higher level courses. What matters is what is learned. Having a "good excuse" for not reading the assignments or doing the quizzes won't cut it.

Online Courses are for Self-Starters

Online courses are not for dependent learners - folks who need to be prodded all the time and who tend to whine and make excuses when they miss deadlines or assignments. Why? Because professors doing online courses don't prod. They look only for results. Online courses are for independent learners - folks who have a goal in mind and know what to do to achieve that goal.

Independent Learners do Better in On-line Courses

Research has shown (as expected) that independent learners actually learn more in online courses than in traditional lecture courses, i.e. they learn and retain the subject matter better. Dependent learners generally do not perform as well as independent learners.

A somewhat unexpected finding of recent studies comparing the results of online learning and traditional classroom learning is that students with higher cognitive abilities in general (i.e. higher IQ's) appear to absorb and understand the material at hand better in the online mode.

Howevever, dependent learners should not worry about scoring low on the self-test we recommend (see below) to determine dependent or independant learning tendencies because, of course, there are many folks with outstanding cognitive abilities (i.e. those with high IQs) who may also score low on such a test.

Be assured that a person is not necessarily low in the cognitive ability area simply because he or she is a dependent learner. It is not the intention of this message to damage anyone's self-esteem. Be clear that you are fine just the way you are, and if you are an independent learner, do consider taking online courses.

Click Here to take a self assessment test. To double-check, another self-test that may help you is Here. Good luck!

Hawaii, Nov. 2004