Are there any advantages to taking an online class?
Traditional classroom-based courses are examples of synchronous, or real-time learning experiences: all students attend lectures and discussion groups at appointed times, or they miss out. While some online learning courses have some synchronous features–scheduled online meetings within electronic chat rooms, most online learning courses allow you to work on course and complete the assignments at your own time and pace. Lectures and assignments are posted to a class Web site, and students come to them when it’s most convenient. Class discussions are still a part of many online courses, but they occur over the span of hours, days, or weeks. And a transcript of the online discussion is recorded for later review.
