Distance learning programs provide great advantages for students who want to earn their degree or certification online, but the online learning program may not fit every students. While some students thrive on the freedom and independence offered through online learning programs, others may find themselves have hard time to adapt to online learning environment and regretting their decision to enroll into a distance learning program. Therefore, you should check yourself to make sure distance learning is right for you.

Successful and happy online learners have a few characteristics in common, below are the common 5 qualities that you should have if you want to success in a distance learning program.

1. Successful online learners have good reading comprehension skills

As most learning materials for distance learning are in text format, students need to read the text instead of listening to the courses to understand the content of their learning materials. Hence, if a student wants to success in distance learning, he/she needs to master the reading comprehension skills and understand the information through written text format.

2. Successful online learners are able to self-motivate themselves

Most distance learning programs have some sort of flexibility for students to plan their learning schedule and study at their own pace. This feature will become disadvantage for students who need teachers or instructors to keep them motivated and on-task, they may drop behind schedule or progress very slowly in their learning making them give up at the end without completing the program. Whereas, successful online learners know how to self-motivate themselves to progress through the program and they don't need other to encourage them to complete any task or assignment. They are able to set their own goals and arrange their learning schedule accordingly so that they can complete the distance learning program on-time meeting their goals.

3. Successful online learners never or rarely procrastinate

A successful distance learner won't putting of their assignments or waiting until last minute to start working on their assignments. They will arrange their schedule and arrange time effectively to work on their assignments and attending online classes while having time for their other obligations. These successful distance learners enjoy the freedom of studying at their own pace and they never or rarely (if any) procrastinate because they understand that you need to work according to schedule in order to complete the distance learning program so that they can earn the certification or degree they were planned for when sign up the distance learning program.

4. Successful online learners can resist constant distractions

Most students will logon into online classes either from home, workplace or internet café where there will be a lot of distractions around. Successful online learners know how to handle and resist constant distractions that may affect their learning progress. They will focus on their study and follow their schedule accordingly; they will reject any invitation that crash with their study time and let the phone answering machine to pick up incoming calls while they are studying.

5. Successful online learners feel alright about missing social activities

At campus-based schools, there will be a lot of social activities such as dancing parties, school elections, homecoming game which distance learners have no chance to involve with. Successful online learners know that they will miss these social activities out, but for them, they still feel alright as their goal is to complete the distance learning program.