How Does Online Learning Work?
Courseware tools turn your home or office desktop or laptop into a
virtual classroom, where you study texts and online resources,
complete assignments and exams, and actively engage with the
instructor and fellow students in threaded discussions and chats,
at times that are convenient for your own demanding schedule.
St. John’s University uses Blackboard CE courseware. Icons
on the featured pages within the virtual classroom direct you on
what to do next. Clicking on these icons helps you to
navigate within the courseware tool to participate in the
course.
How Does an Online Course Differ From a
Face-to-Face Course?
In an online course, the student is a more independent but
collaborative learner (learns by sharing ideas with fellow students
and the instructor). The student reads text supplemented by online
resources, and then actively engages in detailed discussions online
with classmates. These discussions take place by posting messages
on a conference board within the virtual classroom, where each
student is required to submit a certain number of responses over a
period of days. This is called a threaded discussion. The
instructor monitors the discussions and gives feedback to the
group.
You can enter your response messages at any time (asynchronously)
during an assigned period of two days to a week; hence there is
more time to reflect on your comments. However, online courses
require more work and preparation from both the learner and the
teacher. In order to be considered "in attendance", an online
student must post a response and keep up with the discussion. This
means logging on almost EVERY day to participate in the ongoing
discussions. On the average each online course requires
anywhere from 8-10 hours of time commitment per week for reading,
posting and assignment completions.