The course lecture area is where students can find the online equivalent of the traditional lecture that would occur in the classroom. Since the instructor is not present to conduct a live, interactive lecture in an asynchronous online course, other formats are utilized to deliver lecture information to students. One of the most effective and widely used forms of online lectures is the written form.
Turning in assignments in an online course is easy. The dropbox is an area that allows a student to submit an assignment to the instructor. Examples of assignments that might be submitted using the dropbox area are written essays, research papers, tutorials, end of chapter questions or other activities that have been completed offline.
The discussion area is an important component of Open SUNY-Powered courses. Since the instructor and students do not meet face-to-face, there may not be much of an opportunity for real-time interaction on a regular basis. The discussion area within the Learning Management System (LMS) provides an opportunity for asynchronous conversations in which one individual can post a message at one time and another individual can respond at a later date or time.