Making the Grade: Because of that potential for isolation, it's important to leverage the connections that you are able to make. Some instructors can be good about answering questions and offering feedback, but if your instructor is a professional who is working while teaching, he or she might not be as accessible as a full-time teacher. "I don't expect everybody to be at my beck and call, but I am paying them to help me learn," Durand says. "One of my professors was a full-time consultant, and he was on the road quite a bit -- so getting in touch with him was always difficult."
If you plan to continue to work full-time while you pursue a degree online, Durand suggests that you make the most of your own time. The responsibility for setting and keeping to a work schedule rests on your shoulders. "I made the mistake in one 10-week course of waiting until week 8 to get started, and things got pretty hairy. Procrastination can kill you," he says. "You have to be very self-disciplined."
You can also make your online MBA part of the Brand Called You. Don't assume that your company will reimburse this type of learning -- but if you can sell your boss on the idea, you may become an example to other employees. "I've turned quite a few heads by saying that I'm working on my MBA and that I'm doing it online," Durand says. "It says that you're willing to take a risk, to do something outside the box."
Coordinates: Ken Durand, kdurand@tacticsus.com
Heath Row (heath@fastcompany.com) is an associate editor at Fast Company, where he's always at the head of his class.
The wealth of information on the Web can be as much a curse as a blessing. Where do you start? When it comes to designing your curriculum, Peterson's Guide to Distance Learning Programs, along with its online counterpart, LifeLongLearning, are great starting points. Published in cooperation with the University Continuing Education Association, the book profiles almost 900 colleges, universities, and other schools. Each profile details degree programs, delivery methods, and financial-aid information. The sections on educational financing, academic advising, and program selection are especially useful. Of course, hard-copy guides like this one are out of date as soon as they're published -- despite Peterson's aggressive revision schedule -- so be sure to visit the online version as well.
Coordinates: $26.95. www.petersons.com; www.lifelonglearning.com
The dirty secret of higher education is that where you go to school can be less important than the professors with whom you study. There are plenty of second-rate teachers at big-name universities -- and plenty of great professors at second-tier schools. Ninth House Network wants to create a virtual learning resource that offers lessons from the word's greatest business gurus.
Produced by a team of educators, software developers, writers, and directors, Ninth House Network brings the teachings of people such as Tom Peters and Ken Blanchard to the Net - and to your desktop. If you reach the network via the Web, you can access resources and join discussions about innovation, creativity, situational leadership, and self-management. If you work for a company that subscribes to the Ninth House Learning Network (part of the Ninth House site), you can participate in learning sessions that use streaming video, real-time skills assessment, and personal tutoring.
Ninth House is more than a Web site. Its approach is firmly rooted in storytelling and online community building -- so the learning experience interactive and personal. Its offerings demonstrate that online learning can be a rich, interactive media experience.
Coordinates: Ninth House Network, www.ninthhouse.com
As CEO of Panmedia Corp., the developer of Learn2.com ("the ability utility"), Jason Roberts is working to change how people learn -- and how companies use the Web to teach. Roberts, 36, was formerly an engineer at Apple Computer. He has spent the past six years exploring how people use media to share complex information. Learn2.com offers easy-to-follow "2torials" for hundreds of activities -- from how to write your representative in Congress to how to house-train a puppy. In an interview, Roberts shared some of the principles that he's developed concerning the design of online learning.
1. Get beyond the classroom. The classroom metaphor is comforting to the people who develop online instruction, but it doesn't work so well for the people who experience it. The metaphor carries lots of baggage: immaturity, test anxiety. It also implies (wrongly) that the learning environment is separate from the working environment.
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