Keys to Online Learning

This text is appropriate for online or hybrid Student Success classes, General Education courses delivered online, and as a supplemental resource across the curriculum to prepare students for effective online learning. It addresses strategies specific to the hybrid and online learning environment combined with key components, learning styles and critical thinking, from best-selling Keys to Success to help students be effective across the curriculum.  

Keys to Online Learning addresses though the convenience of online education has enabled greater numbers of students’ access to degree programs, being successful in this environment requires specific skills and strategies. Every element can be fundamentally different for online students (i.e. the presentation of material, classmate and instructor interaction, assessments and activities). Students will learn how to effectively experience the online environment learning process as they decide what, how, and when course materials are accessed.  Reading skills are required for print and onscreen content. Writing is the main form of communication, informally on discussion boards and formal writing skills in academic papers.  Assignments require virtual collaboration, and developing peer relationships requires a different skill set than those used in face-to-face settings.  Online education can make a student more anonymous, so motivation and time management is paramount.  This resource will support online students to develop the aforementioned skills: reading, writing, assignments, and more, infusing learning styles and critical thinking throughout.

Kateri Drexler has been designing online applications for students for over fifteen years. As the President of Global Learning Solutions, Inc. Kateri oversees the creation of interactive and engaging online courses, labs, and simulations.  Prior to venturing into the online world, she was a professor of business administration and has authored or co-authored twelve texts in the field of student success.

Kateri is dedicated to discovering what drives and enables students to learn. When a high school biology teacher challenged her to raise her own standards significantly, beyond what she thought possible, it changed the course of her future.  Since then, she has studied how others can benefit from finding their own driving force and mastering learning skills by making small adjustments in habits and practices. She has traveled extensively around the world; living and working in Africa, Asia, South America and the U.S. helping thousands of students take control of the factors and forces that shape their lives.

She is a consultant with the U.S. Department of State for governmental ministries and heads of businesses in developing countries in terms of strategic development.  Books include: Strategies for the Future Professional, Strategies for Building on Your Best, Icons of Business Volume I, Icons of Business Volume II, Strategies for the Future Professional, Strategies for Active Citizenship, Strategies for Technical Professionals; Pathways to Success Volumes I- III.  She was the Media Director for the Keys SERIES, developed several Instructor’s Manuals, the Student Success Supersite, and media for use with Keys and other texts, online courses for Student Success.  Kateri holds an MBA.

Carol Carter began college knowing she was “behind the 8-ball” in terms of her skills. What she lacked in experience, she made up for with elbow grease and persistence. The work paid off and she graduated college with honors and a desire to help other students. carol's company, LifeBound, is her classroom. each year, she works with ten to fifteen interns and graduates who help her develop ideas whic, in turn, help students in college and school districts around the country. As President of LifeBound, she teaches study, interpersonal, and career skills to middle school and high school students to help them become competitive in today’s global world and to create better prepared freshman entering college. She also trains and teaches faculty in Academic Coaching. Learn more at www.lifebound.com ot follow Carol on Twitter.

    Her first book, Majoring in the Rest of Your Life, launched her writing career and opened the door to her work on the Keys to Success Series. Her blog site is www.caroljcarter.com..

Joyce Bishop has taught college students for more than twenty-two years. After struggling with a learning disability as a student, she went on to earn a PhD in psychology. Right now, she is in her dream job as a staff development coordinator at Golden West COllege, traning faculty in learning strategies and online teaching techniques while still teaching three classes. in 2008 Joyce received the Hayward Award, a state teachinga ward.

    Joyce co-founded the Pathways to Independence non-profit foundation for poor young women from abusive backgrounds. While the young women have come from backgorunds as diverse as prison or extreme poverty, the program has sent 225 of them to college and 195 have graduated into gainful employment. This photo is of Joyce with one of the Pathways graducates, Valerie, who obtained her degree in nursing and is now working at a major university hospital.

Sarah Lyman Kravits lives the strategies for success she writes about. As an author and mother of three children aged 11, 9, and 5, she faces the challenges of managing time and fulfilling responsibilities (not to mention eating right and getting enough sleep). In her writing and research, she works to stay creative and keep up with technology and the growth of knowledge. In her work with colleagues all over the country, she strives for integrity, effective communication, productive teamwork, and flexibility. Finally, in her current role as a breast cancer patient, she uses goal achievement and stress management strategies every single day to get through a host of new and unexpected challenges.