Critical Success Factors for the Online Learner

Abstract

For this work we define an online course as one where the students have no face-to-face contact with the instructor and all instructional exchange is conducted online. In such a course, contact with the instructor is the same for off-campus and on-campus students. We are excluding courses where on-campus students would circumvent the online requirement because those students would not have the same critical success factors.

One of the attractive features of an online course is its convenience. However, this convenience and the associated perception that the online course is easier than a traditional course can be misleading. In this work we will discuss the critical success factors for the online learner. In the process of defining the critical success factors, we will propose a framework that allows separation of the critical success factors from issues that apply for enrollment management purposes. For example, while writing skills are critical, informing prospective students that they need a computer and online access is an attempt to prevent inappropriate enrollment in an online course.