Almost every class is reading-intensive, and many students have commented on needing more than one class hour a day to complete their work. Our students' mentor now suggests to prospective students that two hours a day to complete the required reading and assignments is a typical amount of time. Students need to be able to be wise in their communications with their instructor. This allows the professor to understand immediately the nature of the e-mail, and the student's communication will not be perceived as rambling and unfocused. While students enjoy the World Wide Web, chat rooms and e-mail, these do not guarantee that students learn more or learn better.
Distance education is no exception.
The quality of a student's learning experience appears more directly related to the skills and commitment of the instructor, not the speed of a microprocessor. Many excellent teachers and high schools are participating in distance education by forming consortia to build a pool of providers and consumers for online high school classes. This is an outstanding option. High school faculty can now help students make that difficult transition to college level studies. When students who take advantage of this opportunity graduate from high school, they are more confident in their abilities.