1. Characteristics of Online Learners Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence

2. Learning as Life  Education shares elements of the rest of the learner’s online life.  Understanding online behavior in general provides indications of online learning behaviors. Paloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2003). The virtual student. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

3. Openness  People active online have a high need to be known balanced by the anonymity that comes from not being in a face-to- face situation  Instructional strategy: Make use of student homepages and discussion forum for student self-disclosure

4. Flexibility and Humor  Online communicators have a higher tendency to be informal and use slang, abbreviations, and emoticons.  Instructional strategy: Have explicit rubrics for when formality is required and be lenient in other times.

5. Honesty  The anonymity shield of being online makes it easier to be honest.  Instructional strategy: Provide multiple opportunities for student feedback in multiple ways (surveys, forums, email).

6. Willingness to Take Responsibility for Community Formation  Online communities already arise spontaneously around shared interests (groups on Yahoo!, Google, and MSN)  Instructional strategy: Create community building opportunities for the students to seize (online study groups, team-based projects) on their own.

7. Willingness to Work Collaboratively  File-sharing has become commonplace; digital files have become a medium of exchange.  Instructional strategy: Design assignments that allow students to build work together with the course as the exchange point.