While online courses may provide you with a workable alternative to campus courses, the end result of your courses may not be as successful or satisfactory as you hoped it would be.
This usually happens when the student does not put the needed focus and attention to the lessons or takes until the last minute to complete the courses.
There are several other factors that can affect the outcome of your online courses and these should be carefully considered first before enrolling in courses offered on the internet.
Now having read all this, you may be wondering, are online courses for you?
Qualities of an Online Student
There are several sites on the internet, including online portals of universities across the United States that conducted their own surveys as well as formulated questions to help individuals determine whether online schooling is for them or not.
Polk State College in Florida for instance, has a guideline for online students, The Successful Online Student which they uploaded on their website for everyone to see and benefit from.
The guidelines pretty much state the qualities that an online student needs in order to become successful at this particular endeavor.
Discipline
First of all, an online student should be disciplined. This is actually one of the most important qualities that an online student should have because without it, the student wouldn’t be able to successfully complete his courses.
This is also one of the biggest challenges of an online learner – having the discipline to follow-through the courses from start to finish and to do the assignments and complete the projects as required by the online instructor in a timely manner.
The biggest downfall of online learners therefore is not that they do not have the time to complete the courses but that they lack the discipline to stick to a schedule in order to successfully finish the courses they signed-up for.
Communication Skills
One other thing that online students need in order to be successful at their online schooling is effective communication skills. You need to be able to communicate as clearly and as accurately as possible with your online instructor so you can properly discuss the lessons, talk about assignments and projects.
You need to be able to read and write as efficiently and accurately as possible in order to be able to come-up with assignments and written projects that have depth; which is critical to passing the course.
Time Management
Finally, knowing how to manage your time in a way that you will not feel stressed with having to do so many things simultaneously is essential in online learning.
If you sit down in front of the computer to take your online classes, you should concentrate on what you are doing and not suddenly get up to cook dinner for the kids or to make a quick trip to the grocery for something that you forgot to buy this morning.
Time management actually goes hand in hand with self-discipline.
Considering the given premises, now you can truthfully answer your question of “Are online courses for you?”