Vital Online Education & Distance Learning Info You Need to Know

Don't Get Ripped Off by The Distance Learning Schools

In the 21st century, online education and distance learning is becoming more and more common. As the needs of a diverse and increasingly taxed workforce continues to go forward, the need to be more competitive in the marketplace will become more and more important.

This is where online education comes in. It's competitive today, but will be more so in the future. Each worker in the workforce needs more and more training, education, and skill enhancement.

What is online education or distance learning? It is the method of educating people through the Internet. Some of the tools are discussion threads in Outlook Express, video recorded classes, and of course various assignments. Currently, a growing number of physical universities, colleges, and technical schools offer some kind of education online - even a prominent Ivy League school has partially enterered the fray. Additionally, there are also virtual online colleges.

Fundamentally, online education or distance education enables a person to earn a bachelor's, master's, even a Ph.D degree sitting at home.

Truly, the once scorned concept of education online via the Internet has brought a significant change in the lives of many. In addition most online universities also offer student support services including online counseling and registration, financial consultation, and purchasing of textbooks online (most are in ebook format).

With the increasing demands of work, online education is a great benefit to those who want to educate themselves but are not able to go to a traditional college because they cannot afford to attend or afford to spare the time to go. Undoubtedly, traditional education is more time-consuming. (Or is it?)

While it is true that online education is free from time and space constraints to a certain extent, there are certainly negatives. I feel I can add something to this discussion as I got my master's degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix. (It's now called a master's in marketing.) I did the entire program online. There are plusses and minuses to getting our education online. Let's talk about some of the positives.

A wide range of educational tools and resources are available on the Internet. Additionally, the school you go to usually has a number of resources available to you as well. The University of Phoenix certainly did. These resources are more than adequate to serve your needs as an online student.

Another core component of the online learning experience is that you can reach your proctors or professors and fellow students through e-mail, which is the main means of correspondence usually with online programs. Students also can take part in online forums with their fellow students who are studying the same course. The promise of online education and distance learning is that a prospective student can learn at their own pace. That's not entirely true.

The demands of the course usually require work be done in a timely manner. Otherwise, the work and grades will suffer. True, some proctors or professors are easier than others, but some are as demanding as in traditional programs. That brings me to the next point: fundamentally, the biggest hangup with the online education programs is its faceless, one-dimensional element.

You never see the faces of your fellow students and rarely do you see your professor. I literally never saw any of my fellow students during the whole 2 1/2 year program. I missed that type of interaction and it is in my opinion a core problem with online education.

With the increasing demands of work, online education is a great benefit to those who want to educate themselves but are unable to attend a traditional college or because they cannot afford the cost or the time to go.

Yes, you have that type of interaction as required by the program (with the University of Phoenix it was done with threads the proctor sponsored and with which the student was required to respond). Still, it wasn't ideal. The cost can be just as expensive as well. I spent over $25k for my master's. Needless to say, it was costly.

Overall, I am glad I did my online degree. It also wasn't as easy as some people think it is. I counted the number of pages I had to write with papers alone and it exceeded over 1,000 pages -- and that didn't include other writing elements of the program. It was demanding and took a lot of time.

I was willing to invest that time and it showed in my GPA -- a final of 3.97 out of 4.00. I also had good fellow students almost all the way through. A key element of the master's programs are the learning team environments. Sometimes, you do get those who expect others to drag their feet, but surprisingly, I had very good teammates. Everyone seemed to be as motivated as I was.

There are thousands of online programs listed online and I'll try to include them here in this site in time so bookmark it if you would. From there, you can choose the best and the most appropriate schools for you. 

Lastly, overall, I'd have to rate my experience as a positive one. Not that it was all peaches and cream -- it wasn't. I also had a very lazy proctor but he was the exception. Almost every professor was superb. The cost still stings, but yes, overall I feel it was worth the investment.

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web www.your-a-to-z-online-education-guide.info