This book provides higher education students with a comprehensive resource to assist them in their academic persistence in an online course or program. It addresses a wide selection of topics emphasizing a myriad of factors that impact a student¿s persistence, and ultimate success, in an online program or course. The book helps students to gain insight into the skills, knowledge, and attributes needed to succeed in the autonomous nature of an online learning environment. Thus, this book helps students to proactively engage in activities to prepare for online learning. Information presented in each chapter is drawn from theory and recent research centered on persistence of online students in higher education.
It incorporates hands-on practical activities to promote application of theory and research, and encourages students to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities through the use of reflective and thought-provoking activities. Hence, this book provides online students with an up-to-date resource they can use to develop an awareness of their readiness and preparedness for online learning. Additionally, this book equips students with information and strategies aimed at helping them to address gaps in their skills and knowledge that may present them with barriers to academic success. The content of this book is aligned with widely used student learning outcomes and objectives of first-year student seminar courses and orientation programs for graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in online programs. Furthermore, it is deliberately organized and structured to support an online student¿s academic journey as they navigate the online learning environment. As such, these features make it an ideal book for use by students, instructors, and academic advisors or college and university academic support staff.

Jacqueline S. Stephen has over twenty years of national and international experience in higher education. She is an Assistant

Professor, Director of The Office of Distance Learning, and Instructional Designer, in the College of Professional Advancement at Mercer University, USA. She has authored, co-authored, and edited peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on topics such as undergraduate and graduate online learner persistence, instructional design, educational technology, effective practices for online educators, and virtual peer mentoring for racial and ethnic minority women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). She has served as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar and a U.S. Fulbright Specialist. 

Chapter 1: Choosing a Program of Study and Modality.- Chapter 2: Understanding the Online Learning Environment.- Chapter 3: Academic Persistence in an Online Course or Program.-Chapter 4: Identifying Support Systems and Resources.- Chapter 5: Student Competencies for Online Learning.- Chapter 6: Academic and Social Integration.- Chapter 7: Study Skills and Strategies.- Chapter 8: Skills and Strategies for Research and Reading.- Chapter 9: Skills and Strategies for Effective Writing.- Chapter 10: Skills and Strategies for Critical Thinking and Quantitative Reasoning.- Chapter 11: Skills and Strategies for Communication.- Chapter 12: Mindfulness, Self-Care, and Stress Management.- Chapter 13: Financial Literacy.- Chapter 14: Career Planning, Professional Development, and Lifelong Learning.