 It's very difficult to be a non-attender online, which is sort of ironic, because the students almost immediately invisible by their non-participation, whereas in a large class a student can miss several lectures and just not be missed. Well I think the benefit of online learning is in part the asynchronous nature of it, so the fact that students can go back and revisit maybe material that we've covered and they have an opportunity to hear the second time. One of the main benefits of an online course is that the materials can be revealed by the students anytime, anywhere, and possibly any number of times. I have received feedback from students saying how much they appreciate that they can go through the materials at their own pace, unlike where they have to go along with everybody in the regular classroom. Another important benefit of moving to an online space is the flexibility that it provides, both for the instructors and for the students. The flexibility not only in terms of geography and the location where they can participate in complete activities that are part of their overall course process, but also any pace, so any place, any pace as well that students can proceed at the pace that's appropriate to them, their previous knowledge either more slowly or perhaps more quickly. We know right now that learners learn best environments where they have a measure of control. Where learning is central to them, and in online learning we've been able to design courses with that kind of methodology in mind, that kind of pedagogical approach. So being able to provide that measure of control to students is appealing to them not only in terms of their own motivation towards the course, but also in terms of ensuring and helping them learn better and more meaningfully and more deeply. Specifically for students who have traditionally faced barriers accessing post-secondary studies and curriculum, online courses simply enable access to higher education. But there's a level of access also in terms of accessing the information, which is very important for students who, for example, have learning disabilities, or even for second language speakers. Online courses allow the use of assistive technology or other technological tools to aid understanding comprehension and expression of learning. Nowadays they're looking for the information that they need on a screen, and that could be on their cell phone, their iPad, their computer screen, or even their television. And we realized this 15, 16, 17 years ago, or at least I did, that this was a very powerful method of communicating with students. They're expecting to find things on a screen, so why not put them there? And this is developed into a way of teaching for me and for others, that I put everything that I'm trying to teach on a screen, and it's available in a multitude of formats. So I think that's a great benefit to the students, because this is how they've been brought up almost from birth, that they find information on a screen. The benefits for students are clear as well. They're used to interacting and accessing things online, so they're very comfortable with it, and in many ways they prefer it. They can learn at their own pace. They can review or study using your materials much easier. Well, I also find with this generation, even though they appear to be tech-savvy with their social networking tools, using those in the service of their learning I find somewhat impoverished. So actually helping them see a social networking tool as a means to learn, I think that can be liberating. For some of them it's just damn frustrating because now it's no longer diversionary, it's learning. The student has to take a certain level of responsibility, as a matter of fact a huge level of responsibility in terms of facilitating their own learning. So the idea that students need to meet the learning objectives in a way in which they themselves sort of navigate through the material and set a path for themselves to achieve the learning objectives of the course, that sometimes constitutes a challenge. I think the other big challenge for students is discipline and time management. I've talked a lot to my students about this and they know how if they fall behind it becomes a challenge to catch up. And for some students the out-of-sight, out-of-mind phenomenon takes place. So because they're not going to a classroom regularly they kind of forget about it and then when an assignments do or a test is coming up they try to catch up, but of course they have other classes. Or if not properly done, electronic online information can be inaccessible for students with sensory disabilities for example.