The decision to study online is significant, and an increasing number of people are choosing this route. Why should you consider this mode of education? The answers are different for every student, but convenience and flexibility are major reasons. Online classes could remove obstacles that have kept from achieving your ambitions.
For some folks, geography is a key factor. Is there a fine institution of higher education within reach of your home? If not, and especially if your other regional options are a bit lacking in reputation, you may be better off with a more prestigious online institution.
Is there a college nearby that offers the particular program that you seek? Specialized training is available online almost anywhere around the world, including for professional or continuing education coursework that is often required for ongoing licensure or certification in your field.
For many folks, physical access issues can pose a barrier to on-campus classes. If you have any sort of physical or mental disability, you know that classroom learning can be a tremendous challenge. Online classes eliminate most physical barriers, of course.
Additionally, many problems that people encounter in the classroom, such as distraction, can be eliminated. At home, you can create the learning environment that fits your learning style: whether this includes absolute silence, or a companionable hubbub.
If you have a diagnosed learning difference, it may be less onerous to accommodate your needs in a virtual classroom. Although many online classes include timed tests, it is worth it to find out whether extensions in time for assessments are negotiable.
Alternatively, you may be faced with invisible barriers to classroom learning. Some families may be reluctant to allow their youngster to attend a college, and mix with other students, for cultural or religious reasons. Online courses remove many of these objections.
If you are trying to hold down a job while pursuing a degree or certification, you are a prime candidate for online learning. Most programs will allow you to fit your studying in around your work schedule. Be careful not to overload yourself, however. Reputable virtual college coursework is going to be just as intellectually demanding as bricks and mortar classes.
The advantage of online courses for full or part-time employed individuals is that you can plan how you take your courses. If you need to take only one course at a time, you can find a program that will permit this.
Folks who have responsibility for child care or elder care can also benefit from web-based classes. You can be listening to a lecture while your charges are sleeping peacefully.
Students who are very shy or lack confidence in themselves can overcome this obstacle through online classes. The virtual classroom offers opportunities to shine without having to speak in front of a crowd full of curious pairs of eyes. Some currently very successful professionals once cringed and panicked at contributing to a classroom full of strangers. With the confidence gained in an online course, a shy individual might prepare themselves to eventually enter a bricks and mortar classroom without terror.
Online classes also introduce students to a variety of web-based tools and techniques that will be very valuable later on. Many classes use features such as GoogleDocs to share and collaborate on projects.
The experience of online learning is also almost purely educational. While many students would argue that the time spent hanging out with schoolmates in the dorm, library, cafeteria, or lounging on a lawn, is what makes college awesome, parents paying the tuition might beg to differ. All that down time, whether spent knocking back Jell-O shots or solving the world’s problems over a latte, may be delightful, but it does detract from the hours available for study. Online classes remove at least one temptation to neglect the books.
There are some other efficiencies offered by this method of getting an education. Consider transportation. Even living at home and commuting to a local college consumes relatively significant amounts of time. On some campuses, dorms are so far from the classrooms that the daily commute really adds up. For many students living on campus, there are several days each semester eaten up by travelling home during vacations. All this is an expense in time and sometimes money that is avoided by online learning.
Additionally, students living on campus must take care of all the details of laundry and, sometimes, food shopping and housekeeping. This is an immense distraction and often a major time-waster. Online courses mean you can stay at home where these chores are already being taken care of.
The quality of online courses available is increasing each year. Just recently, a number of top-flight universities have begun offering courses online, some for free. This allows students to pit their brains against some of the best professorial minds in academia. Although most such programs are non-credit, there are plans to eventually make it possible to convert a non-credit course to a full-credit one, perhaps with the payment of a fee.
All these advantages of online coursework warrant a careful consideration!