Introduction to Online Learning

Welcome to the Australian Defence Force Academy's Online Learning Page for students. This is the page where you discover how to make the most of your online studies by using the resources, links and advice presented here.

Online learning at ADFA

WebCT is the platform for online learning at ADFA and offers many features and tools that support the online learner. To get started visit the ADFA site for tips on how to use WebCT . This index helps navigate WebCT and use its many functions.

WebCT and other online environments can utilise a range of teaching and learning features and tools. These allow students and lecturers to create or supplement the interaction and collaboration that takes place in the classroom or seminar group.

Here are some course design elements that may be used in an online learning course:

• Course announcements and reminders from instructor
• Course information documents (syllabus, schedules, outlines, grading procedures and policies)
• Information about assignments and instructions for completing them
• Course instructional/content documents and materials (handouts, PowerPoint slides, Internet sites)
• Personal and contact information for instructor
• Direct linkage to posted Internet sites for completing assignments or independent study
• Communication with classmates and instructor via asynchronous and synchronous discussion boards and virtual chat
• Email linkage to classmates and instructor

Source: Ausburn, J, 2004, 'Course Design Elements Most Valued by Adult Learners in Blended Online Education Environments: An American Perspective'.

Here are some of the communication tools used in online course:

• E-mail for submitting work and communicating with lecturers other students.
• Message boards where students post messages relating to class content and group activities.
• Chat rooms, audio conferencing and videoconferencing for real-time communication.
• Screen-sharing, which allows students to see what an instructor demonstrates on his or her computer screen.

Even more are predicted for the future including:

• Data visualization tools
• Real time collaboration tools
• Better blogging
• Sophisticated Search technologies
• Private and public file sharing networks

While some course sites are sophisticated, multifaceted sites, you will probably find that most sites fall most strongly into one of the following categories:

• Class support site - provides access to course documentation which is available to students by other means, such as a course outline document, lecture notes and PowerPoint slides, and particular class handouts.
  
• Assessment site - provides the ability to do online assessment activities and/or submit electronic assignments. This usually includes the ability to view the grades allocated for each assessment task.
  
• Resource site - provides access to electronic resources and activities that are used in the course. This can include resource links to other global web resources; short term discussion activities such as role plays; resource lists that extend those referred to in class; self-help tutorials or quizzes that are optional class activities; animations or simulations that demonstrate or model processes which would otherwise be inaccessible, difficult to conceptualise, or impossible to experience; the ability to share or co-develop student created resources.
  
• Interactive site - enables and supports meaningful communication among course participants and academic staff associated with the course, in the overall conduct of the course (beyond just clarifying administrative arrangements).

The exact design of each course site is decided by the lecturer with due consideration to the nature of the subject and the value they perceive for online components in supporting the objectives for the course.

Studying Effectively Online

Successful online study can be achieved by selecting and using the tools and features of the online environment effectively and by applying study skills such as planning for assessment, time management, note taking and summarizing and reviewing material, searching, retrieving and evaluating information, and in some cases storing your files.

The sites below offer tips and practical advice for the online student:

Study Skills

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - study skills self help information
• Regents Online Degree Programs - tips on how to study online
• Coping.Org's Tools for Coping Series - onsite manuals for coping with a variety of life's stressors.
• University of Western Sydney - Orientation to online learning
• University of Southern Queensland - study techniques site

Using online tools and features

The University of Southern Queensland's excellent resource Communication and the Computer discusses how to make to most of email, chat, bulletin boards and discussion forums. This resource, although created for USQ's customised WebCT environment, is a thoughtful and thorough introduction to these powerful communication tools.

USQ also offers a number of other resources which, although written for the USQ's WebCT environment, are worth reviewing:

• Managing your computing environment
• The Internet as a study tool

Library Services at the University of Technology, Sydney has two online tutorials that are well designed and presented. They offer a very useful introduction to research and information retrieval online.

• Library research and information skill tutorial
• The Web

The University of NSW Library offers an online tutorial MARGARET to help students develop their information literacy.

The Academy Library has a series of guides on using online databases and referencing and a number of handouts on using the library services.

The California Virtual Campus an American community college network, has a survival guide for the online student that's worth a look.

The Illinois Online Network although a resource for teachers, has some tips and strategies that are of use to online learners participating in discussion forums.

Netiquette

Netiquette (online etiquette) is about how to conduct and protect yourself during online chats or while using email, discussion forums and other communication tools. The virtual classroom exists without the nonverbal clues available in real classrooms and it is easy to be misunderstood or to offend others in this environment.

Here are some sites that explain the rules of netiquette:

The Netiquette Home page takes a serious look at behaving better online

Net Manners is a light hearted site with useful tips and insights into net behaviour

Business Netiquette International is a site with a business focus for users wishing to develop a professional online style.

 

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