e-Insights

Five Biggest Myths About Online Learning

Even as online degree programs have become more popular and widespread, misconceptions about what this type of learning entails continue to grow. A recent MSN Encarta article summed up the top five myths about online learning.

1. Online courses are easy. At many schools, including Drexel, online courses cover the same content, are taught by the same distinguished faculty, and are held to the same rigorous standards as courses taught on campus.

2. You need to be a computer technician. For most online courses, the only technical requirements are a personal computer with an Internet connection and some basic software for things like email and word processing. All other required software and plug-ins are available free to Drexel Online students through our software download center, and technical support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

3. Online students are isolated. Online students are connected via email, chat and discussion boards, and many choose to exchange telephone numbers. Instructors and advisors are also just a phone call or email away.

4. Online credits won't transfer. Unlike some online colleges, Drexel Online programs are fully accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSACS), meaning they are equal to any course taken on campus. Because every institution has its own policies regarding transfer credits, students should always investigate to ensure the maximum transfer rate.

5. Employers don't recognize online degrees. As early as 2007, surveys of employers returned a 62 percent favorable response to online learning, citing it on par with campus-based degree and certification programs. In fact, many employers participate in programs like Drexel PRO, which allows working professionals the convenience of taking courses online with the benefit of reduced tuition rates.

If you're considering enrolling in an online program, chances are you've heard one or more of these myths. When deciding whether an online degree or certificate program is for you, the best course of action is to do your own research and draw your own conclusions. Get started today by visiting Drexel Online to find answers to all your online learning questions.

The Online Classroom – A Teacher’s Perspective

In a recent commentary in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Gena Grecco, an English professor with both on-campus and online experience, explains the differences and nuances between the two, and how the online classroom can be just as rewarding—and in some ways even more so—than the traditional classroom.

The students
In online classes, students tend to be older, multicultural, and have work and family commitments. Many are in the military or have a spouse enlisted. Many are single mothers. Some see an online degree as the only format that allows them to achieve their goal of a higher education.

Far apart, yet close
In an online class, students and professors can literally be hundreds of miles away from each other. It’s important to establish a common ground and supportive arena early on. Students need to feel comfortable not just with the professor but with the other students in the class as well. A sense of community is an important component in successful online learning.

Choosing words carefully
Without the benefit of tone, facial expression, and body language, communication takes on a whole new light and can be challenging at times.

- Give careful consideration to word choice so that meanings aren’t misinterpreted and when in doubt, use parentheses for clarity. “It is amazing how even an emoticon like ‘:)’ at the end of an e-mail message can defuse a tense situation,” says Grecco.

- Online conversation, particularly in live chats or discussion forums, doesn’t necessarily have to be proper, and in fact sometimes the most engaging conversations occur when you write the way you speak. Use bold, italics, and even online lingo like “LOL” to relate the feelings behind your words.

Getting personal
In order to parallel the support one might find on campus, it helps when students and professors share aspects of their lives that are not class-related but that may affect their success in class.

Read more of Grecco's insights here:
Teaching Online: 2 Perspectives - A Reaffirmation of Why I Became an Educator (Subscription Required)

Jott It Down

If you're like most students, you probably are a master at multi-tasking. In a typical week you juggle work, school, family and who knows what else. Wouldn't it be great if you had a way to make keeping track easier?

Now you do. Jott is a great, low-cost tool that you can use to manage your appointments, remember important tasks - even remind your kids to walk the dog. You set up an account by registering your cell phone. Once you have an account, you can add contacts by hand or import them from Outlook, Yahoo! or Gmail. To use the service, you dial a toll-free number, wait for "Who do you want to Jott?", and start talking. Here's what you can do.

Want to tell your family that you're running late? One call to Jott and they'll receive text messages letting them know. Want to remember to pick up the milk? Use Jott to send yourself a reminder on your way home and you'll get a text message at the time you specify. You can set reminders days in advance and you can do it from anywhere without finding a pencil and paper. Want to set an appointment? Jott integrates with Outlook and Google Calendar to set your appointments with one call.

If all you want to do is keep notes, Jott is free. At $4.00 a month, you can get all of the other features and the ability to use other great tools that work with Jott. I Want Sandy is a free service that acts as your personal secretary and works with Jott when you get the basic paid plan. I Want Sandy takes those appointments, notes, tasks and reminders that you create with Jott and sends you a "To Do" list via text so you can see what the day holds. You can even use Jott to post to Facebook or Twitter; shop on Amazon; track your expenses and listen to your your favorite feeds from online news, sports and weather.

I could go on and on, but seeing is believing. Go to Jott to learn more and you'll be hooked just like I was.

Taking Note

I love shopping just before Labor Day. All the stores are filled with back to school stuff - row after row of backpacks and pencils and notebooks. I always enjoyed the beginning of a new school year when I was a child. (The thrill would quickly wear off.)

Wouldn't it be great to have a "Trapper/Keeper" for all of your online classes?

Microsoft includes a program called OneNote in Microsoft Office 2007 that lets you organize all of your work in one place. You could have one notebook for all of your classes with tabs that let you quickly access your materials for each course. You can keep documents, photos, parts of webpages - basically anything you might want to access in relation to your courses without the hassle of trying to remember what folder you saved things in. There isn't enough space in this blog to describe everything it can do. Take a quick tour and see for yourself just how powerful the software is.

Drexel's online students get OneNote free along with Microsoft Office 2007 and lots of other software. But what if you don't go to Drexel? What if you use a Mac like I do? (Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac doesn't include OneNote.)

Luckily, there's another package that works on any platform and doesn't cost a penny. Evernote does everything that OneNote does, plus you can use it on the web, on your desktop and even on your cell phone. For a quick overview on how it works, check out this video on YouTube. Just be sure to excuse the narrator's style choices.

You may not look forward to the beginning of a new school year, but using an electronic notebook will make taking classes easier and more efficient.

Feel free to send me a comment to learn more on how to use this tools. Best, Paul

Automating Bibliographies and Citations

Taking an online class usually involves writing papers – some of them major research projects. Tracking your sources and properly documenting them is an important part of an effective submission. Today we would like to share a few tools that will automate the process of creating bibliographies and citations.

At Drexel University Online, our library provides access to RefWorks, an online tool that allows you to keep your own personal “bookshelf” with the works that you access through our library. RefWorks provides online access to the full text of books, magazines, scholarly journals and papers. It allows you to select and store passages you wish to quote and to create and store notes about the material. You can organize the bookshelf in ways that are most effective for you and create a bibliography and citations in MLA or APA style. 

Another more specialized tool to use is GetCited. GetCited allows you to search a variety of scholarly databases and includes those papers and articles that the authors have uploaded into the database. Again, the results of your searches can be exported to create your bibliography and either MLA or APA format.

Finally, there is Biblioscape, which offers a free version called BiblioExpress. BiblioExpress can be used to save sources you find on the internet, as well as to create your own database of references that you can export in ACS, APA or MLA format. With  Biblioscape, you can also record your notes and organize them with tags so you can easily insert them in your research papers.

An online student needs to make efficient use of her or his time. Using one of these tools can take the hassle out of managing your references and lets you concentrate on writing great papers.

Let me know if you have any comments or questions about these tools and I'll be happy to answer!

Paul