How to Succeed with Online Learning

Planned and mediated or spontaneous and self-directed, online learning fits both formal and informal learning and teaching tactics. Places of learning around the world, that is to say schools, colleges, universities, government, public and defense services, and businesses, have adopted online learning to make learning more open and accessible to all, and especially to those who might otherwise be denied access to education. In this sense printed materials are a central component of online learning. In the academic world, flipped classrooms describe the phenomenon of combining online and offline learning. This chapter shows how online technology can cater for very much larger numbers than the concrete campus alternative. In asynchronous mode learners are using podcasts, video streams, slide-casts, tutorial based e-Learning, forums, and collaborative group-working tools such as mind-mapping and post-it note canvasses. The rise of online learning is closely linked to distance learning.