General course style: Are these self-paced courses where you read and take tests, or do they engage the learner in discussion and active participation? You need to find a course that meets your expectations of what learning should be ideally. Also, consider whether you will work on your own schedule or schedule your courses with real-time meetings conducted via web conferencing.
Class size: How many students does the program squeeze into the virtual classroom? If you’re one of 20, that’s an acceptable ratio. If you’re one of 50, expect the instructor to be harried and the quality of your interaction to be markedly different.
Completion and retention rates: This is a telling statistic. How many students actually complete the courses or degrees? If only 20 percent of starters reach the finish line, the courses may be poorly designed, too difficult, too boring — you get the picture. This area is worth exploring with a counselor or an advisor.
Faculty background and training: Who teaches at this school? What kinds of credentials do the instructors possess, including technology training? Surprisingly, you don’t need to consider whether the faculty are full-time or part-time, because many online faculty are actually subject matter experts (SMEs), who have impressive professional credentials in their disciplines. The most critical issue is whether these folks know what they’re doing when teaching online.
Student support services available: Who will help you register, select the right courses in the right sequence, and figure out the technology, for example? What if you need accommodation for a disability? Quality schools and programs address these student services from the beginning; you know you have a whole team behind you.
Applying to a program and securing the money you need
If you’re an adult learner, you may remember the lengthy college application process where you filled in forms, wrote an essay, took exams, and so on. Your high school guidance counselor probably walked you through the steps. Some of that process is the same online, just web based. Other processes are slightly different. For example, you may not need entrance exams, such as ACTs and SATs. Transcripts can be sent electronically.
Chapter 6 provides an overview of the whole process. It may surprise you that applying to an online program and then following through with registration still involves a guidance counselor of sorts. In the digital world, this usually involves continual communication with a representative from the school. For example, if you need to know more about a program, you may be asked to fill in a web based form. That form generates a phone call, and you quickly have a personal counselor or advisor working with you.
Scholarships based on academics, demographics, or other criteria: These do not have to be paid back.
Grants awarded by the federal government based on financial need: To qualify, you must first complete the same financial aid paperwork as all other students, available at https://studentaid.gov.
Loans, via either the government or private lenders: When you need to pay these back and at what interest rate depend on the lender.
Getting accepted and preparing for class
After you’ve applied to an institution, your application and supplemental materials (transcripts, letters of reference, and personal statements) are reviewed by the institution. Of course, smarty that you are, you’re accepted. You receive notice of your acceptance via email; however, some institutions follow up with a more formal acceptance letter via standard US mail. If for any reason you’re not accepted, don’t panic: Would-be students may not be accepted for any of several reasons, many of which are merely administrative. In Chapter 7 we discuss in more detail what to do after you’ve been accepted and describe strategies for moving forward if your application is rejected.
After you've been accepted, you must enroll in courses. This process is also completed using the web. Most institutions, even those teaching face-to-face, require students to log on to a website where they access the institution’s course catalog and register for classes they want. These sites also provide you with a list of the required textbooks chosen for each class. If you don’t know which class or classes you should take first or in what order you should take them, contact your academic advisor to work out these details.
Imagine that you’re partway between registering and actually starting class. What’s left to do? Get oriented! Any decent school provides you with an orientation experience. It may be a series of prerecorded tutorials to guide you through common technology processes or an invitation to attend a live webinar to see and experience the same. Orientation in its simplest form may consist of your receiving a document with printed procedures. See Chapter 7 for full details.
Attitude is everything
Think about the last time you had to do something you had never done. What helped you succeed? Your attitude was probably a huge part of the equation. Having a growth mindset means that you’re willing to try new ways of learning, even if it means you might not immediately succeed. And if you do fail, a growth mindset turns that failure around into another attempt. Having a growth mindset is all about taking baby steps toward a goal.
With a growth mindset, you’ll take in all kinds of new terms related to online learning. You’ll experience the learning management system (LMS), and you will work in the cloud. These are exciting new ways to learn!
Most importantly, you have to see yourself as capable. We cover the right mindset in Chapter 8.
Becoming a Star Learner
After you register for classes, it’s time to begin learning. This task can be a little nerve-wracking, especially if you haven’t been in school for a while. However, like most things in life, a little preparation