The recent economic situation demonstrated how much world economies have changed over the last few years, and will continue to change at an increasing pace. And with these changes have come corresponding changes in our work and our lives. Lifelong education becomes particularly important in this constantly changing, highly competitive, environment.

But education on-campus at university or college is not possible for many people because jobs or other commitments make it impossible for them to attend on-campus classes. Online learning provides a flexible solution for such people. Unfortunately, many learners enter an online program without realising the problems they need to face. Thus, all too often they are disappointed with their first experience of this new mode of learning. To avoid this, there are six things that the learner should watch out for.

Just because it is a flexible form of education, it doesn’t mean that you can keep “putting it off”. Procrastination, and then trying to fit it all in at the end, has caused so many failures. Don’t leave it until the last minute to upload your assignment or you can guarantee that your Internet service will go down just at that moment. So manage your time so that you complete assignments well before the due dates.

Living and working in today’s ever-changing world demands life-long learning. And so if you wish to continue to be part of it, you must have a desire to learn and be motivated to learn for the rest of your life. So this means wanting to learn even when there is no extrinsic motivation (e.g., a salary increase).

You shouldn’t only acquire knowledge – you should also acquire the skills to acquire knowledge. In particular, learning online requires that you develop these skills. This means having well-developed critical reading and thinking skills as well as the technical skills of how find books or web sites on a particular subject.

If you are learning online, the materials replace the lectures that students get in a face-to-face course. But they usually does more than those lectures – the courseware often includes questions, exercises and further reading so that your learning can be active rather than passive. And that is the key – ACTIVE LEARNING. Make sure that you complete all the exercises and actively read the text.

One of the good things about learning on-campus is that you are surrounded by other people learning the same stuff and so lots of learning actually happens in informal discussions with those people. So, when learning online, try to find a learning group, either in your area or online. You can then take part in “social learning” – and you will find that you only truly “know” something when you try to explain it to someone else.

Don’t be tempted to buy a qualification from a “diploma mill” – a business that simply prints diplomas and degrees. Such qualifications are worthless in the eyes of employers and genuine educational institutions, so will just be a waste of your money. Always take an accredited program from an accredited institution.

Sophia Peters regularly contributes to the Online and Distance Learning web site where you can find out more about online programs. Visit the web site for details of online learning and online programs.