摘要：This article is based on ethnographic studies following an internet-based online nursing educational program. The article focuses on how online students develop strategies to handle a new online learning context. The empirical background consists of empirical data from observations and interviews conducted in students' homes. The students have been followed through a period of two years.The ethnographic studies and subsequent analyzes show how the online education's e-pedagogical design contributes to the development of active and independent students. However, the e-pedagogical design does not in itself ensure academic success. Rather, the success seems to be ensured through the online students' self-managed development of the study groups into digitized learning communities. The digitized learning communities demand self-management of the learning environment and of the necessary technology acquisition, as well as the ability to be challenged and to challenge fellow students academically in the online learning context. Finally, the article discusses what the introduction of digital learning courses, in otherwise campus-based educations, means in terms of students' learning outcomes.
