It seems as if almost every school is offering a course, program, certificate or degree online.

But how do you know which one is for you?

The first step is to think carefully about how you learn best.

Do you have the self-discipline to work on your own? Do you like reading, writing, speaking or doing hands-on assignments? Do you like speaking up in class or do you prefer taking time to think before posting an Internet response? Does the program provide the help you need?

Community College of Allegheny County offers a 10-question quiz on its Web pages to help students determine their chance of success. The quiz can be found at www.ccac.edu by clicking on "Distance Learning" and then on "Self Test."

Ross Donehue, acting director of distance learning at CCAC, said that students who already have some school or work experience tend to be more mature and are more likely to be successful.

For students right out of high school, he said, "Sometimes what seems like a lack of structure can throw them off."

Thomas Russell, director emeritus of instructional telecommunications at North Carolina State University, said, "Distance education in general requires a lot more discipline. It's too easy to goof off."

Some potential students may not be comfortable with online learning.

"It's just not right for them. They need the human interaction. It isn't a matter of quality. It simply doesn't feel right," said Janet Poley, president and CEO of the American Distance Education Consortium, made up of state and land-grant institutions and based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Make sure to find a school approved by a federally recognized accrediting agency. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education has a searchable database of accredited institutions at www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation.

Beware of diploma mills out to make a quick buck. They require little or no work, take your money and give you a worthless credential. They do not have a federally recognized accreditation.

The next step is to find high-quality courses and programs within accredited institutions.

"The best chances of finding good courses are at places that do it well in the classroom," said Gene Maeroff, author of "A Classroom of One" and senior fellow at the Hechinger Institute on the Media and Education at Columbia University.

The quality of courses within schools and between schools can vary.

Those in the field advise looking for courses with small class sizes and lots of interaction among the instructor and the class. High-quality courses involve more than just lectures posted on the Internet.

"I think putting your computer notes up and not changing anything and not personalizing it can be terribly deadly," said Dr. Poley.

Mr. Donehue said, "What makes for a quality online course is the amount of interactivity and the amount of active learning that takes place. That is something that varies from course to course. That is largely dependent on the subject matter and the instructor."

Dr. Poley said some of the worst courses are just rote. "Here are your objectives. Read this stuff on line. Take an almost memorization-type quiz. Then read some more.

"It doesn't take advantage of the wonderful opportunity of the Internet to have interaction and see things and have motion and animations and discussions and build community and that kind of thing."

Mr. Russell said, however, that there is not research to prove that interactivity improves learning.

Dr. Poley said online courses should be continually evolving.

"Just like face-to-face, you can have somebody who is still bringing their old yellow notes to the classroom, somebody in online who designed the course way back in 1994," she said.

Dr. Poley advises looking closely at the objectives of the course and the reputation of the instructor.

"Are they well-stated? Is it clear what you're expected to learn? Are the assignments clear? Does the instructor have a reputation? I wouldn't take a course I didn't look up on the Web and see who these people are and what they have done before," she said.

Dr. Poley also wouldn't recommend a course the first time it's taught.

"If you have a new faculty member who is doing this for the very first time, teaching in the online environment has some complexities to it," she said.

Once the right course has been found, don't expect it to be easy. Some have been surprised by the amount of work required.

"It's still a degree and obviously requires study, requires sacrifice," said Todd Cunningham, director of the Pittsburgh campuses of the University of Phoenix.