http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/ Preparingstudents.htm
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by Jennifer Cowley, Sharon Chanley, Stephen Downes, Lisa Holstrom, Dawn Ressel, George Siemens, Mitchell Weisburgh

This is an excellent reference generated after four weeks of online discussion by a group of seven e-learning insiders and academic experts in the area of online learning. Among them is Stephen Downes who is a well-known Canadian researcher who publishes a very rich and interesting daily news blog at:
http://www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm

The report includes sections on role of the learner and the instructor, as well as interesting and valuable recommendations relating to the "Role of Learning Styles", "The profile of the ideal online student", and a list of important tasks to be carried out before an online course is started.

One of the key points reiterated and clarified in this report is the need to understand that taking a class online has nothing to do with taking a traditional classroom-based course.

"Online, students do not receive information in lecture format.
Information is acquired through exploration...".

Find other valuable resources referenced in this article at:

Matters of Style
http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/ felder/public/Papers/LS-Prism.htm

Preparing to teach the Web
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/ articles/prepare.html

Recommended reading.