Online Learning
​Taking an online course is a great option for people who find it difficult to travel to a physical campus or whose schedule can’t accommodate the prescribed meeting times of face-to-face courses. But the benefits of online learning go beyond the convenience and flexibility to complete coursework at a time and place of your choosing (although that is certainly a great advantage of online learning). Online courses give learners the opportunity to interact with professionals from a wide variety of cultural and experiential backgrounds. Plus, online courses can enhance learning by allowing participants more time to review and reflect on course materials.
 
Online learning is a student-centered and student-driven education model that is rigorous and requires a significant time commitment. This means that successful online learners are self-motivated and self-directed individuals with the abilities to monitor their own progress, prioritize their time and work independently. Participants in online courses learn by sharing experiences and ideas through various electronic forums like discussion boards and e-mail. This means participants must have excellent written communication skills and be receptive to learning from other participants. Every person’s experience in online courses is different, so the best way to find out if online learning is right for you is to try a course for yourself!

Online Course Delivery at UWSP

​The majority of courses in the Applied Master's Program are semi-synchronous. This means that assignments have established due dates, but there are no scheduled meeting times and participants are free to log onto the course anytime that is convenient for them and are able to work on assignments at their own pace (as long as they adhere to the assignment due dates.)

 Online courses at UWSP are delivered through an online course platform called Desire to Learn (D2L). Each course has its own space on D2L where students will log on to view course content, participate in class discussions, submit assignments, check grades, etc. To see an example of how a typical course is set up in D2L click the "View the Demo" button below. 
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Basic Computer & Skill Requirements
Participants should possess basic computer and Internet skills, such as knowing how to navigate the web using hypertext links and sending and replying to email messages. A UWSP email address will be created for all students and they will be able to access this email account through Desire2Learn and UWSP web sites.

In addition to having a computer and at least a 56K modem with Internet access, our online courses will require that you have:
 
  •     Windows 98 or higher (PC) or OS 9 or OS X (MAC)
  •     Internet Explorer 6.0 and up or Firefox 2.0 and up
  •     Java Script and Cookies enabled