Is there a difference between a successful online learner and a successful “off line” learner?  The following article addresses this question.

Wolpert-Gawron, Heather (2/1/2012). Seven Digital Learning Tips for Students. Retrieved 2/1/2012 from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-learning-seven-tips-heather-wolpert-gawron.

Quoting from the article:

Here are seven attributes that should have or need to develop for successful online learning:

1. You have to have a sense of self. Successful learners online have an awareness of metacognition—self-motivation, self-starting, and ownership of one’s actions. In other words, they reflect on how they learn as well as what they learn.
2. You need to be able to manage your time wisely. They must be able to lay out their tasks with a critical eye, plan them accordingly, and follow them through to fruition -- many times without someone looking over their shoulder.
3. You have GOT to know how to collaborate. This is a biggie. More than an understanding of technology, more than a perfection of writing skills, the ability to collaborate is one that must be used comfortably online.
4. You need to be able to set goals for yourself. Being able to see the target and backwards plan towards that target is vital.
5. You need to communicate well in writing. The entire online community is based on the language of words and how to communicate them effectively. One cannot use texting language and expect to be heard. A student needs to use their best level of writing.
6. You must follow the community norms. Just like a classroom has a set of rules, so does an online class. A student must function within the norms and rules of netiquette set up by the instructor (or, better yet, agreed upon by the class itself).
7. You must be your own advocate. As slam poet Taylor Mali once wrote when asked if they would be tested on the material, “If not you, then who?” So does it go with being one’s own advocate. If you won’t ask the questions, take control, and make sure your voice is heard in a positive way…then who will?

Two ideas that seem particularly important to me are:

1. The items in the list are relevant to both online and off-line education.
2. Our current educational system is not strong in facilitating student growth in some of the areas that are particularly important to online learning.

I think that the item 5. about communicating welling in writing needs to be expanded. Teaching and learning require a wide range of communication skills. The issue of writing is much more than just texting versus writing using full words, sentences, and paragraphs. We want students to learn to communicate effectively in our multimedia, connected world. Online education makes use of the media. So, think in terms of the media being an important part of the message in online education.

If you are a teacher at the precollege or higher education level, you might want to sped some class time discussing this list (and extensions of the list) with your students. For example, you might want them to do self-assessment, identifying their on strengths, weaknesses, and what they are doing to overcome their weaknesses.

In my opinion, all students need to be learning to learn in an online environment.