The makeup of the student population of the online class is expected to be similar to that of the existing traditional class. Anecdotal evidence indicates that this has been the case for other courses that have been converted to online format at Kishwaukee. Obtaining a more precise analysis of the expected student demographics before the course starts would require time and expense, but time is short and there is no budget (nor interest in creating one) for such a study. Once the course is underway, online student surveys can provide a more accurate view of the demographics.

1. A large percentage of the audience (over 50%) is expected to be traditional college students (or close to it). Their ages range from sixteen to mid-twenties, with a roughly equal mix of males and females. Most of these students take this course because it is a requirement for a certificate or degree, sometimes for a program outside of the CIS department. Their range of computer skills will vary, but the overwhelming majority have the basic technical skills needed to proceed with an online course. Those students who don't have such skills are redirected to other CIS courses where those skills may be learned. These students usually have access from home to computer hardware, computer software, and an Internet connection sufficient to take an online course provided that the course does not contain excessively large files (since many of these students do not have fast Internet connections). A small, but significant, number of these students will not have access at home to the software applications required to complete the application part of the course. For students who are lacking the proper hardware, software, and/or Internet connection, these are provided by the school at no charge in our on-campus public access computer labs. The drawback, of course, is that the student must travel to campus and do their work within the hours the labs are open (until 9:30pm Monday through Thursday).
2. Some of the students will be returning professionals seeking to expand or update their skill set. Some will be taking this course as a refresher, or because it is required as part of a certificate or degree program. These returning IT professionals are likely to have ready access to recent hardware, recent software, and a fast internet connection. This group is more likely to be accessing the site from multiple machines (work and home), and have less time available to work in the on-campus labs.
3. The ethnic makeup of the students in this class is expected to be somewhat diverse as it is with most Kishwaukee classes. The ethnic groups which comprise most of the student body at Kish include African American, Asian, and Caucasian. It is not obvious to the developer of this course what difference this would make in the design of the course. A more useful differentiation may be the culture the student was brought up in. Students raised in some Asian cultures have tended to be more reserved than average. This could pose a problem in an online course. One suggestion is to try to get all students participating right from the outset by requiring an "ice-breaker" activity during the first week. It also makes sense to require some level of participation throughout the course.
4. It is likely that some students will be hearing or sight impaired. The course materials should be available, when reasonable, in formats that are accessible to these students.
5. In recent semesters a few students have stated that they are using Linux as their primary operating system. While these students must still gain access to Microsoft's proprietary Office application suite to complete assignments for the applications side of the course, every effort should be made to ensure that course materials are as cross-platform accessible as possible. Toward this end, the following formats are preferred:
   • MPG preferred over AVI or WMV for video clips
   • MP3 preferred over WMA format for audio clips
   • PowerPoint (PPT), Word (DOC), and Excel (XLS) formats should be avoided
   • Web documents (X/HTML) should be used when possible
   • PDF files are OK and should be readable on most platforms, but it is still best to use an even more common format such as X/HTML and have the PDF versions available as an alternative for printing purposes
   • Flash animation is OK, but should be used sparingly since it is not installed as frequently on Linux machines as on Windows machines
6. The students will typically have a mix of learning styles, so it is important that the course materials address that need by being varied. Course materials should include visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile versions when possible. The problem here could be the auditory versions which would be second nature in a traditional setting, but may not be readily available by the time this course begins. One possibility is to record audio and/or video from the traditional class lectures and have that available online. There is a possibility that a few of these lectures might be available for the start of this course in Spring 2005.