The Sloan Consortium defines online courses as “All course activity is done online; there are no required face-to-face sessions within the course.” However, this does not mean that students progress at their own pace without the guidance of faculty. Faculty play a tremendous role in facilitating and guiding students to achieve mastery of the course goals through timely feedback and ‘presence’. In the past, online courses were generally taken by the non-traditional student. However, 90% of current high-school students are entering college with some online course experience. Online courses break down geographical barriers and time/day restraints because there is no set meeting day/time.
