1.What kind of students often gets permission to take an online course? Those with ... needs.

2.Why are some teachers wary of online course? They think ... are an important part of learning.

3.What do two-thirds of schools surveyed agree? It takes more ... in an online course.

Many schools, like in Washington State and Arizona State, let individual departments and academic units decide who can take an online course. They say students with legitimate academic needs — a conflict with another class, a course they need to graduate but is full — often get permission, though they still must take some key classes in person. In fact, the distinction between online and face-to-face courses is blurring rapidly. Many if not most traditional classes now use online components — message boards, chat rooms, electronic filing of papers. Students can increasingly “attend” lectures by down-loading a video or a podcast. At Arizona State, 11,000 students take fully online courses and 40,000 use the online course management system, which is used by many “traditional” classes. Administrators say the distinction between online and traditional course is now so meaningless that it may not even be reflected in next fall’s course catalogue. Then there’s the question of whether students are well served by taking a course online instead of in-person. Some teachers are wary, saying showing up to class teaches discipline, and lectures and class discussions are an important part of learning. But online classes aren’t necessarily easier. Two-thirds of schools responding to a recent survey by The Sloan Consortium agreed that it takes more discipline for students to succeed in an online course than in a face-to-face one.