Most of the courses and programs started up within the last five or six years, simply because that is when the technologies have been available to try out. Online learning is still very new. And it is not for everyone. For all its convenience and flexibility, experts warn that online learning requires plenty of self-discipline, organization, responsibility, support from family and friends, and perseverance. Only motivated self-starters who can get working on a lazy Sunday morning need apply.
Many programs emphasize participation and the exchange of ideas via e-mail and chat rooms.
She is earning her master's in online teaching from the California State University in Hayward. It helps if the student is an adult learner, someone who has already completed a degree and has the maturity and desire for further studies. After all, thousands of teenagers are enrolled in distance-learning universities all over Asia. Not that a conventional distance school can automatically transform itself into a virtual university. Converting existing hardcopy into electronic format and making it available through a browser is not online education.