The chat between sessions and exercises is pretty light and fun. It gives you a good chance to get to know the other people in the class in a way that you might not get to know people at an in-person class. I know this may sound weird, but it does seem a little more intimate. Even someone who is somewhat shy like myself has no hang-ups about jumping right in with both feet (or hands, as the case might be).

I do have one major gripe, though, and it's aimed at LearningSpace Live rather than the LifeCycle course itself. The chat applet that LearningSpace uses doesn't allow you to copy or otherwise archive the discussion. This means that if the instructor or somebody else makes a good point, you'd best write it down because there's no way you're going to be able to go back and get it later. Also, I found it particularly frustrating that I couldn't copy a URL somebody posted and just paste it into my browser. It's downright aggravating. I hope Lotus realizes what's being lost in the discussion and fixes this in a future release.

Suggestions for making the most of the class
Here are my suggestions for making the most of the LifeCycle class:

Prepareth thy computer
By all means, be sure you spend the time in advance getting your computer configured properly. You need to know there are specific browser requirements, as described in the documentation as follows: "Internet Explorer release 5.01 or Netscape Communicator release 4.08." There are links provided to test your browser beforehand in order to make sure your system is configured properly, so be sure to take advantage of this and make sure everything is in order before you start the class. All the details you need to configure your computer properly are provided for you.

Gutenberg the lessons
In other words, print them out. Yes, you'll be callously killing a tree, but this way you won't have to keep toggling between the Live parts (such as chat and whiteboard) and the online lessons. You're probably more used to taking a class this way, so I recommend that you keep doing it this way until you can feel your need for paper disappear. It's also a much more convenient way to review the course at a later date.

To time's own self be true
Keep an egg timer near you to keep track of how long you have for exercises. This will help ensure that you don't spend too much or too little time on each of the exercises and get back to the discussion on time. One of the enhancement requests the students suggested was to have a bell sound to ring the people back into class.

Maketh the most of thy monitor
One of the biggest barriers to effective learning online is having to switch windows. Again, this is why it's important to print out the course materials ahead of time, so you won't have to switch screens as much. Remember, you aren't able to see the instructor's screen on an overhead projector the way you are in a regular class, so make sure you have a big monitor (or two) and the lesson materials in front of you on paper before class starts.