Some online course material is given as supplemental material or as part of a face-to-face course. The use of educational tools, such as Blackboard, can be counted in this category. Almost all American college professors use Blackboard, not only to upload their students' reading materials but also to post lecture notes or images used during class. Blackboard also has an area for topic discussions, and professors will sometimes assign, as homework, participation in a Blackboard discussion on a topic covered in class.
With some online academic programs or software, lectures are delivered on the class site via video; that is, the lectures are posted on a website, and students watch the lectures. The experience is thus only one way as the students are not interacting with anyone, via video or Web discussion. Academic Earth is an example of such a method. On the Academic Earth website, staff posts videos of lectures on all subjects from professors teaching at a wide variety of American universities. The site is free, so anyone who wants to watch all of the lectures in a given course may do so. Some of the course lecture videos even come from Ivy League schools, such as Columbia and Yale.
Active online learning is another online academic model. An example of this learning model is a program that requires students to learn material via live Web chat or discussion with an expert. In this way, students are not limited by traditional classroom education; all are free to participate. A student who is shy might feel more comfortable asking questions online. Aside from that, not all students speak in every classroom session; in an online session, students do not have to be called on to speak.
A fourth online educational model deals with simulations. In this venue, students might take an entire course or part of one online via simulation software. All students may be interfacing with each other at the same time or not. For example, elementary school students studying the Gold Rush and pioneers play the Oregon Trail game. This game can be solo or interactive; either way, students can get a taste of the perils of the wagon trip west. Another example of a simulation experience is a health care course in which students interact through a patient management simulation.