1 ISSUE YEAR VOLUME

Education focus ADD R ESSI NG T H E N EED S O F IN D I V I DU AL ST U D E NT S AND

PL ANT I NG T HE SEED S F OR A FUT U R E .

Helping you achieve

your Educational goals

from Home

Online learning has surly made its

mark in the world of education. No

longer does a student have to get

dressed and go to class, they can do it

right from their couch if they so de-

sire. However, it takes an enormous

amount of self-discipline and initia-

tive to be an online student. You

have to sign in regularly and spend

hours sitting in front of your comput-

er. This is not something that every-

one can do, as optimistic as I would

like to be not everybody has the self-

discipline to complete online classes.

This is evident due to the higher drop

rates for online students as compared

to traditional students.

EDUCATION WATCH There is still a major discussion on why this is the case but Dr. Sylvia Cochran states that

“the dangers of seeing a student become an online college dropout fall into any one of

three categories which are, Lack of socialization, Lack of familial support, and Lack of

vision”. (Cochran, 2010, p. 1)

Getting the most from your online Experience

These areas can easily be

overcome but actually require

instructor support. The more

the instructor gets involved in

the students training the more

likely the student is to feel

part of the team. Dr. Cochran

states that instructors play a

major role in this concern as

well. She explains that

“While the peer contacts sat-

isfy the one on one contact

need, the peer groups satisfy

the need to be a part of some-

thing bigger.

Lastly, the team

concept allows for healthy

competition between the

groups when entering the

online college environment.

All of this fosters persistence

and even commitment”.

(Cochran, 2010, p. 1) The

last of Dr. Cochran’s con-

cerns are Vision. Although a

lack of vision, by itself, is

not a vital component in the

cause of dropouts it is a prel-

ude. Without this vision the

student may waver in their

commitment to education.

The desire isn’t there so the

student may easily choose

the easier path of no educa-

tion.

As mentioned earli-

er, online learning is not for

everyone. Although anyone

can be adapted to online

learning there are specific

characteristics of the online

learner that will allow them

to be better equipped to

achieve their vision in online

learning. Dr. David Diaz

explains that “Online stu-

dents are generally older,

have completed more college

credit hours and more degree

programs, and have a higher

all-college prior GPA than

their traditional counter-

parts”. (Diaz, 2002, p.1)

some of the other traits of a

good online student are their

independent learning style.

SMARTER LEARNING:

Experience vs. Discipline

These characteristics are not

a must for online learning.

And with the assistance of a

teacher or instructor with a

little ingenuity any student

can be successful as an online

student but most of it would

be instructor dependent. As

future generations meld with

the online experience these

traits will become more prev-

alent and online learning will

grow as well

References

Cochran, S. (2010). Solutions to Reduce the Online College Dropout Rate: A Message for Online Instructors. Retrieved

June 26, 2011, from http://www.brighthub.com/education/online-learning/articles/33550.aspx

Diaz, D. P. (2002). Online Drop Rates Revisited. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from http://technologysource.org/article/

online_drop_rates_revisited/