1. Survey your textbook or workbook before you read. Take a couple of minutes to find the glossary, index, study questions, and other important information. Then, when you sit down to study, you’ll know where to find the answers you are looking for. Make sure you read any study questions before you read the chapter. These questions let you know what you can probably expect in any upcoming tests, papers, or projects.

2. Attack your textbook with sticky notes. As you read, summarize (write down the main points in just a few sentences) each section of the chapter on a post-it note. After you have read the entire chapter and summarized each section, go back and review the post-it notes. Reading the post-it notes is an easy and fast way to review information and, since each note is stuck in the section it summarizes, you can easily find the information you need.

3. Use a graphic organizer to take notes when you read. A graphic organizer is a form you can use to organize information. As you read, fill out the form with important information. Then, use your graphic organizer to help you study for the test. Try using the Cornell notes worksheet (you can download an example). Not only does this organizer let you record important terms, ideas, notes, and summaries, it also lets you quiz yourself on that information by folding the answers upside down.

4. Make your own practice test. After you finish reading, pretend you are a professor who is writing a test for the chapter. Review the material you just read and make up your own practice test. Include all vocabulary words, study questions (they’re usually at the beginning or end of the chapter), and highlighted words you can find, as well as any other information you think is important. Take the test you’ve created to see if you remember the information. If not, go back and study some more.

5. Create visual flashcards. Flashcards aren’t just for primary students. Many college students find them useful as well! Before you take a test, make flashcards that will help you remember important terms, people, places, and dates. Use one 3x5 index for each term. On the front of the card, write down the term or question you need to answer and draw a picture that will help you remember it. This will help ensure that you grasp the study material as you’ll find that it’s almost impossible to sketch something you don’t really understand. On the back of the card write down the definition of the term or the answer to the question. Review these cards and quiz yourself before your actual test.

The answer is known – and it may surprise you.

In reviewing 355 research studies and reports on distance learning, Dr. Thomas Russell of the University of North Carolina, discovered that when campus learning is compared to distance learning there are "no significant differences" in learner outcome or satisfaction. While many factors affect the overall quality of an educational experience, delivery method alone is not one of them.

Two recent university studies have compared distance MBA students to their residential peers. Both studies have found more similarities than differences between these groups in learner satisfaction and educational outcomes.

Researchers at Colorado State University’s AACSB-accredited business school compared distance students to their campus counterparts and to executive MBA students along a set of 12 academic competencies. Since all three groups took virtually the same curriculum, having the same instructors, with the same AACSB-accredited degree being awarded at conclusion, researchers sought to determine if delivery method alone made any significant difference.

All students were being awarded the same degree, but were they all really receiving the same education?

At degree conclusion all 3 groups reported higher scores on 7 of 12 competencies. Distance students, however, self-reported higher scores than the campus group on 3 measures: technology, quantitative skills, and theory skills.

Mark Kretovics and Jim McCambridge, the study’s authors, concluded: "…the results not only support the notion that distance learning is effective, but they also challenge the ‘no significant difference’ research findings by indicating that distance students may, in fact, learn more than the traditional classroom based students.

"In 2001 Canada’s largest, government-approved, distance learning university, Athabasca University, released the results of a study that compared their non-residential MBA students to campus learners at the highly-regarded University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business. The study assessed several levels of learning: social, procedural, explanatory, and cognitive.

The results: online learning allows for greater explanatory and cognitive learning, whereas residential study accentuates and improves social and procedural learning.

Athabasca operates Canada’s largest and fastest growing executive MBA program. The university served more than 1,100 MBA students in 2001 – all at-a-distance.

Asking which is better, brick and mortar or virtual venues, may be akin to asking which is better, Ford or Chevy? The answer is that some people may prefer or require one venue over the other. Each delivery method enhances different, but equally valuable, academic skill sets.

Public Acceptance?

But how do people "feel" about distance degrees? Does the public accept them? More importantly, will your boss feel an online degree represents an inferior education?

Distance learning suffers from a long history of non-accredited providers offering degrees via magazine clip-out coupons. The existence of diploma mills, unaccredited colleges that crank out diplomas, continues to cast a long shadow on all forms of non-residential learning.

GetEducated.com began surveying employers and students on questions of perceived quality in 1989. Thirteen years of research indicates [a] solid trend.

Public Acceptance of Distance Degrees has Increased Sharply

Since 1996 there has been a sharp increase in the acceptance of distance degrees. This appears to be related to the rise of the Internet as a delivery method: Americans trust the Internet, and therefore tend to trust degrees delivered this way more than those delivered by older technologies such as cable TV, radio, and mail correspondence.

In 2000, 79% of corporate managers rated a distance degree "as good as" a residential option. Fewer than 50% of corporate managers held this opinion in 1989.

A sharp rise in the number of established brick and mortar educational institutions that offer distance degrees has also heightened public acceptance. Provided an institution is accredited by a recognized agency, greater than 85% of those surveyed in 2001 believed that quality should not be an issue.

While Americans generally love new products and services, higher education is one area where historical longevity breeds consumer trust and confidence.