Susan Manning - Online Learning For Dummies

Online Learning For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020946839

ISBN: 978-1-119-75686-6; 978-1-119-75687-3 (ebk); 978-1-119-75688-0 (ebk)

1. Chapter 3
2. Chapter 6
3. Chapter 9
4. Chapter 13
5. Chapter 16

1. Chapter 3
2. Chapter 4
3. Chapter 6
4. Chapter 7
5. Chapter 8
6. Chapter 9
7. Chapter 11
8. Chapter 12
9. Chapter 13
10. Chapter 16
11. Chapter 17
12. Chapter 18
13. Chapter 19

When I think of the sixty online instructors that I have supervised since 1996, at the top of the list are Dr. Susan Manning and Kevin Bowersox-Johnson. Both are award-winning online instructors with over twenty years of experience designing and teaching online courses and certificates using a consistent application of proven best practices in online learning.

Above all, the authors understand how to coach and mentor newbie online students in becoming proficient online learners.

As a Coordinator of Online Professional Development, I have watched technology tools dramatically improve and advance. Yet I continue to hear instructors and trainers say the same thing today as in past years: Instructors wish remote learners understood the expectations of learning online and had a step-by-step success guide.

This book is a valuable compilation of lessons learned and provides a resource for new virtual learners to navigate the complexities of online learning. It answers questions about how to make the experience produce meaningful learning that sticks for life. Also, it includes how to locate legitimate online training and avoid scams.

Following the steps in this book will help result in the completion of an online micro-course, boot camp, certificate, virtual corporate sales training, or employee onboarding, as well as a full degree program.

Yes, you can Google and get the same stuff online, but this book provides specific strategies to leverage learning now and in the future as adults find themselves changing careers and retooling for the future.

Online Learning For Dummies is a book that will guide and motivate you to continue learning conveniently from your tablet or laptop or even your smartphone!

Joan Vandervelde

Online Professional Development Coordinator, University of Wisconsin-Stout

Owner, InstructOnline.com LLC

According to the Babson Survey Research Group, online enrollments had grown for 14 years consecutively. Nearly every college student accesses course documents and resources via online portals. One in three learners in higher education takes at least one fully online course. Thats a lot of online learning! And, considering that college is no longer limited to advantaged 18- to 22-year-olds, that means a lot of those online learners may be older and less familiar with the tools that come with the territory. Thats why weve written this book for the many learners who find themselves in school, online, and confused.

And then theres the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Overnight, brick-and-mortar schools had to shift to online options. College students were told to finish the term online. Though this kind of emergency instruction was not ideal for faculty or students, it brought about a sensitivity to how different online learning is from face-to-face models.

Furthermore, the ups and downs of the global economy have sent more learners back to school to retool or add credentials to their rsum. However, balancing work, family, and civic commitments with school is an arduous task at best. Online options allow learners to address their professional development needs at a time, and in a manner, that may be more flexible with their lifestyles. This may be part of the reason that online enrollments have mushroomed over the past few years.

Fifteen years ago when we tried to explain to people that we teach college courses online, we were met with, How does that work? Today, we hear stories of family members or colleagues taking courses online, but many questions still remain. Theres a bit of controversy, too, in that students may not have a choice but to take a course online, and too often theyre left to flounder, with inadequate guidance from advisors and faculty.