On a whim or on the clock? What's your ideal learning pace?

When you choose online education, you'll want to make sure that your school offers courses that mesh with your learning style and goals. Online instruction can be synchronous, meaning that you learn in a group with others at the same time, or asynchronous, which means that you access your learning materials any time and learn at your own pace. This is also called self-directed learning.

Asynchronous learning is not for flakes

With self-directed learning, instructors provide materials, lectures, tests and assignments that can be accessed at any time. Students may be given a time frame -- say, a one week window -- during which they need to log in at least once or twice. But overall, students are free to contribute whenever they choose. While the idea of studying only when you feel like it may appeal to the free spirit in you, asynchronous learning requires much more self-discipline than traditional classes. The University of Georgia reviewed several studies of education methods and found that self-directed studies are ideal for adult learners who are "highly self-directed with an accumulated wealth of knowledge." If this does not describe you, beware -- the university found that students in asynchronous courses were 20 percent more likely to drop out than those in traditional classrooms because there is less accountability.

4 steps to successful self-directed learning

1. Select a program which offers mentorship or support from faculty, administrators and fellow students. Self-directed learning works best when the school creates a sense of community in which the students and instructors know each other as individuals and communicate regularly. That helps you remain accountable and focused while off doing your own thing.
2. Give your studies high priority. The great thing about online classes is that they offer flexible schedules. The bad thing about online courses is that they offer flexible schedules. It's one thing to position your studies around your job; it's something else to give coursework the same priority as sorting your sock drawer.
3. Stay in touch. When you work asynchronously, the responsibility for staying in contact is all yours. Log in several times a week to read your professor's e-mails, engage in student discussions and keep up-to-date with any changes that may take place. Keep in mind that some professors offer helpful tips or extra credit opportunities hidden in e-mail messages to see who's reading them.
4. Choose an appropriate course of study -- some of the most popular online asynchronous college degree programs are information technology, business administration (including MBA programs), criminal justice, psychology, accounting and health administration. Public speaking or surgery don't lend themselves to asynchronous learning models.
   

Getting it together with synchronous learning

Synchronous online classes require students and instructors to be online at the same time. Lectures, discussions and presentations occur at a specific hour, and all students must be online at that time in order to participate. Synchronous learning doesn't let you take your classes whenever you like but does allow you to attend classes in your jammies. Synchronous programs get you access to highly-specialized or hard-to-find instruction no matter where you live. Many prefer this learning method -- a 2009 study of asynchronous and synchronous online classes found that while both methods were equally successful at imparting the desired information, students expressed significantly higher satisfaction with the synchronous learning experience. However, not everyone agrees. Students who prefer to deliberate before responding to questions, or those who are two-fingered typists may be more comfortable when they have time to compose responses. They participate more fully when they have the choice of an asynchronous forum, where people read comments and leave responses, than they do in a real-time chat room discussion.

6 elements of synchronous courses

Synchronous instruction is best for classes in which there is a lot of brain storming, demonstration of complex procedures, presentations for the whole group or intense discussion requiring immediate feedback. It takes a lot of technology to bring the classroom to you. Here is some of what you might encounter in your virtual classroom:

1. Chat (text only): Synchronous chat rooms allow multiple users to log in and interact.
2. Voice (telephone or voice-over IP): Sometimes you'll be asked to dial into a toll-free number, or to log into a website where you'll speak through your built-in microphone or a headset.
3. Video conferencing with either a live feed from a classroom or a presentation of slides and graphics, with a question and answer session at the end.
4. Web conferencing, which is like video conferencing only more interactive. You may be asked to respond to questions (survey, poll, questionnaire). Web conferences usually incorporate chat and they often have a question and answer session at the end.
5. Internet radio/podcasts are great when there is insufficient bandwidth to broadcast live video of an event. Good opportunities for audio streaming include concerts or political speeches.
6. Virtual worlds like Second Life are effective learning environments for students to meet "live" and to interact. They're ideal for learning languages because it's possible to speak with each other through headsets and VoIP.

Best of both worlds

Many online schools combine both self-directed and synchronous experiences; for example, you may complete your work online at your own pace but make a scheduled presentation to an entire group. When choosing an online program, make sure the prevailing teaching style meshes with your preferred learning style.

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