Education: Going Back To Class Online

The first step in choosing an online course, says Fathom's Kirschner, is picking a topic you're likely to stick with. "Though you're taking it from your home on your terms, an online course requires some level of commitment," she notes. "Start with something that is your greatest delight." Once you know what you want to study, Kirschner suggests, find a teacher with some expertise, not just anyone who puts up a website and offers to read your poetry. You'll find that the more substantive the course, the more likely you'll pay. Often a free class will be offered effectively on a fun topic like finding love online or a one-shot seminar like learning to test your cholesterol. But for a longer-term course on a serious subject, expect to pay $30 to $200 for a class for personal enrichment, like writing personal essays or improving your golf swing, and up to a few thousand dollars for a degree-granting class.

Online writing teacher Davis advises prospective students to look for clues about the instructor before signing up. "Take a good hard look at the course description. If it's poorly written, the course may be poorly organized. E-mail the instructor. She should get back to you promptly and be approachable." Also, find out in advance if the course takes full advantage of the Internet medium, says Acadio CEO Steve Sperry, and make sure you're equipped to take full advantage too. "Online courses have gone beyond slapping up a Web page and exchanging e-mail," Sperry says. "Now we can broadcast live lectures over streaming media. It's like a real classroom environment. But it's not going to be satisfying on a 28K modem."

Once you've enrolled in a course, getting the most out of it isn't rocket science, says instructor Davis. "Just do the work. If you paid only $30 for it and if no one's going to notice if you don't show up, it's easy to lose your motivation after the first couple of weeks," Davis says. "But stick with it, and you may really surprise yourself with how meaningful it can be."

Two and a half years after she took that first online course in improving her Web skills, Brenda Andradzki Elliott is still finding meaning in the subject and the medium. She's teaching her own online class on alternative medicine at ThirdAge.com