A Distance Learning Handbook

Compared to a traditional lecture class, students who have taken Internet based classes on their computer report both advantages and disadvantages.

Reported advantages include

• flexibility in scheduling work for class 
• flexibility to study in any convenient location 
• ability to skim over materials already mastered and to concentrate time and effort in areas containing new information and/or skills 
• within the framework of the class, flexibility to study materials at a personal speed and intensity, without having to wait for slower pace of the average classroom 
• flexibility to join "conversations" in the bulletin board discussion areas at any hour, and to catch up on everything that has been "said" by others since the previous visit. 

• the ease to procrastinate - to wait until later 
• difficulty of staying on track without the structured classroom 
• feeling of isolation - alone - without the direct interaction with classmates 
• inexperience or reluctance to fully use email capabilities
• occasional difficulty to immediately reach other classmates and/or instructor through technology
• inability to quickly clarify ambiguous or unclear instructions and poorly written assignments. 

In addition to reading the helpful information below, be sure to take the Is Distance Learning For Me? online quiz that diagnoses how well a Web-based course fits your needs and lifestyle.

In the past, the most significant factor helping students to succeed - or not - in Web-based classes has been their ability to manage time. The more successful students reported spending 2 to 3 hours regularly each week for each hour of credit for a class. For example, a 4-hour credit class required a minimum of at least 8 to 12 hours of work each week of the semester to complete all requirements. 

Without class lectures to spur that quick burst of activity to complete the project or to bone up for the test, some students procrastinated through weeks of the semester, only to find themselves so far behind that they could never catch up. The following is information developed by students who successfully completed the CIS Independent Study classes:

Experienced on-line instructors strongly recommend that students work out their typical weekly schedule - on paper - so that you will have a general guide for fitting your time to study into your other activities. A typical plan for scheduling: 

• Set up a grid with 1/2-hour time slots down the side, from waking to closing the mind for the night, and with all 7 days of the week across the top. 
• Fill in your nonflexible times (work hours, scheduled classes, etc.) with specific information 
• Fill in your flexible times related to those nonflexible ones (travel time to work or school, lunch, break, etc.) 
• Fill in your other activities - clubs, choir, meetings, etc. - that happen less than once a week 
• List special must-do for family etc. (pick up the kids, etc.) that occur regularly. Some find that taking a book along can ease the time spent waiting and can help accomplish study time needs at the same time. 
• List DEDICATED TO STUDY TIME. This will be time that you will reserve for study, and nothing less than a major emergency will be allowed to disturb it. One student suggested that this be set in 1/2-hour segments - 1 segment per credit hour - and before or after this segment a 1/2-hour or hour TRY TO STUDY TIME be scheduled. 
• List TRY TO STUDY TIME. This will be time that you are planning nothing but study, but recognize that it may be interrupted. If interrupted, remember to grab some catch-up time. 

• Use a semester calendar to lay out your deadlines. If your instructor did not provide specific deadlines, set your own and meet them. 
• Arrive a bit earlier to work and use that 20 minutes for study. 
• Have your lunch hour away from the "gang" with the textbook and syllabus. 
• Review the syllabus, study guide, or notes while waiting for the kids at the dentist (school, dance lesson, etc.) 
• Find a corner at school to work on a project between (before/after) other classes. 
• Get up a half hour before the kids and use that time for the "heavy" or new stuff. 
• Set mind to work solidly for 1/2-hour - and keeping to that 1/2 hour limit as close as a reasonable stopping point occurs. Using a timer with a bell or tone alarm set to the time to stop can be very useful and productive (you don't have to guess or keep looking at the clock but can totally concentrate on the work). 
• Do not puzzle for days on a problem. Get together with a fellow student in the class or with the instructor for help early in a problem. 
• "Setting a particular piece of study material or project work aside the first time or a second time and returning was fine, but when it reached 3 to 8 times I was just stuck and frustrated." Lay aside a problem piece of work and go back with a fresh look later. However, if that does not work after a second try, get help from somewhere reasonably early in the game. 

URL  http://victorian.fortunecity.com/vangogh/555/dist-ed/dist-ed-test.html
Bloom http://www.eecs.usma.edu/cs383/bloom/bloom2.htm

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