The human dimension of online education: cyberstudents speak out

This paper reports on a survey of 129 online students at three different universities as to their perceptions of positive and negative aspects of taking online courses. The major categories of positive responses were in the areas of flexible class time, ability to attend class from anywhere in the word and the online pedagogy. The major negative aspects reported were technical problems, lack of face-to-face interaction, and the perception that online classes seem to require more time and work. The authors conclude that the online instructor is the single most important person in making the student's experience a positive or a negative one and suggest that careful training and monitoring of faculty is a necessary early step in taking programs to cyberspace. Faculty performance along with well-oriented students, a help desk available for extended hours, a readily accessible online library system and a good platform for the online program are suggestions offered for maximizing the positive aspects and minimizing the negative.