The past decade has seen a large increase in the number of students who are distance learners. During that time the characteristics of distance learners has changed in some ways.

Read the article here:
Characteristics of a Distance Learner

Do you have a heterogeneous mix of students in your classes? Do you find advantages to that?

I've never done distance teaching, but a lot of distance learning.

The first was an Open University (UK) degree in their early days when the technology needed was a television, a radio, an alarm clock, postage stamps and knowing where a mailbox was! (The clock was because before video recorders were common, the lectures on the TV were at unsocial hours.) Hurrah for the Internet!

Hi Mona,
That must have been fun - getting up at all hours to watch your course on television!

I never took any courses that were televised. Before the internet, the ones that I took were mailed out to me and the lectures for the course were all on audio tapes. That was rather boring - not nearly as interesting as seeing the lecture on television and maybe some video or pictures that matched the topic at the same time. But at least it was a chance for me to take a course and at least I didn't have to get up too early to watch during the night or early morning.

This is a really interesting topic to me. So thanks for all the enlightening discussion. What do you think some of the differences are between managing the success of online and traditional classroom students? Do you know if these issues are being discussed anywhere?

In my opinion, technical skills are the first component of learner readiness for e-learning that occurs to many people. Whereas technical skills are certainly important, research and opinion reported in the literature indicates that readiness for self-direction in learning, or the ability to manage one's own learning, is even more important.

I like that the fellow students are primarily people in their 30s and 40s who have experience in life. I get much more out of a discussion about "health business practices" with people who have been in business for a while, vs with an 18 year old who has never worked anywhere yet. So I do appreciate that my fellow students are "mature" experience individuals.

I also agree that they need to be self-starting.

Lisa

It is a motivation topic to everyone. I thing Students who do not give up easily when faced with challenging materials and are able to prioritize their workload will more likely be successful distance learners.

Yes absolutely self discipline is key. If I don't do the homework, there's nobody here to make me. I would simply fail the course.

Wow, I feel like I fit all those categories - rural area, woman, over 25 and self-disciplined. Thanks for the post.