The educational community is seizing the opportunity to link interdependent members from distant locations. Universities, colleges, and other adult education media are supplementing traditional classroom settings with virtual classrooms thereby broadening their local and regional markets. The authors argue a virtual learning paradigm can satisfy efficacious autonomous learning more effectively when social support and affective management conditions are available. Based on a qualitative analysis of data from a group of doctoral students required to engage in learning through asynchronous communications, the authors recommend conditions that are most conducive to efficacious autonomous learning
