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Online courses can be quite varied in their overall
approach to the teaching and learning process, but they often have
certain characteristics in common. In most online courses, students
use a computer to connect to a course site on the World Wide Web.
Standard classroom books and printed materials are typically used
in combination with online lectures, assignments, and supplementary
course materials. Some courses have formal lectures, similar in
length and content to lectures given in face-to-face classes. Online
lectures may be entirely text-based or consist of some combination
of text, graphics, sound and video. Other courses break the content
up into smaller units or abandon the lecture entirely, instead relying
on group discussion and others types of learning activities.
You will communicate with your professor and other
students via e-mail and electronic submissions. The course is designed
so that you receive course assignments, complete them on your own
time, and then return them as electronic documents. Your instructor
will evaluate them and provide feedback. Many courses will also
use, as an integral part of the course, a threaded discussion forum
which you can use to share information, collaborate, and interact
with other members of your class.
Depending on the course design, you may take your
tests or exams online or come to a testing room on campus or at
a local community college. Additionally, some courses and programs
may require predetermined trips to campus, which you should plan
for before registering.
You should expect to spend as much time for study,
or perhaps more, as a classroom course since you are managing your
own learning using the online information and materials. This requires
that you be self-disciplined, motivated, and have some skills using
a networked computer and a Web browser. The content and rigor of
the online courses offered by the University of Illinois is generally
equivalent to the on-campus version of the same course. In fact,
in some cases, on-campus and off-campus students are combined into
the same course section.
To find out if online learning is right for you, proceed
to the next Web page in this section.
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