Online Class Misconceptions

Article
Common
Misconceptions

Lifelong learning staff must have technical skills!

It won't be necessary to utilize any computers in the offering and administration of online classes through Growth Strategies. From a promotion, registration and administration standpoint, online classes are no different than a traditional instructor-led, bricks and mortar class. Growth Strategies provides all of the technology.

It will put will require more staff hours to administer!

Online classes require less maintenance than a traditional face-to-face class. Students register for the class from your course catalog in a traditional manner. The name and email address of each student is forwarded to Growth Strategies and we handle the rest. No worries about classrooms, equipment, minimum enrollments, instructors showing up or weather cancellations.

Staff will be getting questions that we don't know
how to answer!

There's lots of help at the student resource site at www.gsinet.org. If the web URL is in the course description in the course catalog, students will be encouraged to get their questions answered by Growth Strategies, rather than by your staff. We pride ourselves in having people available to answer our phones. We publish home phone numbers of our instructors and encourage your students to call.

Students must have special equipment or software to participate!

All that students will need to participate in our classes is an Internet connection. They can access the site from AOL, Macs, PC's, Mainframes, Laptops, work, home, from a library, a rented computer at Kinko's, from Internet cafes, while traveling, in the middle of the night, etc. Any modern computer works just fine for accessing our classes.

While our classes are not high-tech, an online class is not the place to learn computer skills. We expect students to have basic knowledge of operating in a Windows environment, including skills for opening and saving computer files. In addition, they will need to know how to access the Internet and have basic browser skills. Novice computer users should be encouraged to take a basic Windows class, prior to enrolling in an online class.