Andy West asked:


With today’s Internet, you can practically stay in your house 24 hours a day, seven days a week for years and still be able to survive and stay in touch with the outside world. The Internet makes it possible to shop online, research an endless amount of topics, check the latest sports scores and chat with other individuals. Those interested can also pursue an online degree with a scroll of a mouse and a click of a button. The online world opens an endless amount of opportunities for individuals all across the world, and online education programs, both degree seeking and non-degree seeking, continue to grow.

One of the advantages of pursuing an online degree is the fact that you are not limited or held up by students in your class or the environment that surrounds you. Students have the ability to work at their own pace and complete the work on their own time schedule. Many individuals have to continue to work while they take educational courses online and some have children that they have to care for during the day. With an online program, students can make their own hours and do the course work when they have the time to do so. This makes it easy for working individuals, single parents and busy individuals to continue their own education.

Another advantage is the fact you can complete the course work in the comfort of your own home. If you are at your best when you first wake up in the morning or complete more thorough work when you’re planted in front of the television, online degree programs make it possible for you to do so. Students can also save money by completing work at home and not having to commute. With the rising gas prices, many are trying to find ways to drive less and save money and an online program makes it possible. And for those who are environmentally conscious, completing course work at home puts one less car on the road polluting the environment.

With the expanse of the Internet entertaining people from all walks of life, individuals who pursue an online degree program have an added benefit, which is cultural diversity. Even though students are not in the classroom setting, they still have the opportunity to interact and communicate with others from all different countries. Not many Americans get to hold a conversation with someone from Russia, China, Italy or other countries located throughout the world. Having this opportunity opens many doors for students, as it is important to be well rounded and know important cultural differences between the United States and other countries.

Many colleges and universities offer numerous degrees and programs that students can pursue in an online degree program. Students can either pursue an associates, bachelors or masters degree. Those who also opt to participate in a certificate program and become certified in a particular career field either in addition to a degree or in place of a degree. With these different degree programs, many colleges also offer a variety of areas of study. This creates endless opportunities for students and provides programs that students can tailor to fit their own needs.

There are plenty of benefits associated with pursuing an online degree. Convenience, cost and cultural diversity are just a few that students are afforded. The Internet opens so many doors for so many people, making higher education that much more obtainable. Now there is no reason to put off getting a degree or taking a few classes.



Bill Reinhard

Amelia Turner asked:


Online education has become so popular especially among working adults to earn as many degrees as they like to help bringing their career to next higher level without the need to quit their current job or interrupting their current lifestyle. The advantages of online education have made it the best option for you to pursue your career related degree online, but the question is: are you the right candidate to be an online student? Before you even consider pursuing your degree online, this is the first question you need to consider and here are some guides to help you find your answer.

Try to evaluate yourself whether you have mindsets or behaviors below:

1. You think pursuing a degree online is easy

Online education has advantages of flexibility to plan your learning schedule and convenient because you can attend the online classes from your comfort home. But, it does not as easy as you think because your need to manage your time between your work, family and study. In many time, you may lose focus on your study if you are too busy with your works or you are unable to mange your time probably to allocate enough time for your study. If you are in this situation, your priority on work and family may cause you to drop or delay your degree program.

If you decide to pursue your degree online, you must be prepared to face the challenge during the online learning process and be consistent to stay in focus on your online learning.

2. You have less self-motivation

Online education allows you to study at your own pace, which means that you must be self-motivated to plan your learning schedule and push yourself until your complete the whole program. If you are a kind of person that prefers motivation from other persons to push you to complete a certain task, then, you might be at risk of potentially unable to complete your online degree program.

If online degree program is your ultimate option, then your need to change your behavior meet online student characteristics, or you can get help from your family members especially your spouse as your mentor to motivate you along your online learning process.

3. You Prefer To Listen to the Lecture

In the traditional campus-based classes, when a lecturer is teaching, you are listening to it. If you are comfort to this learning environment, then you might have problem to adapt to new online learning media. Although, there are material in audio or video format, but most of online learning materials are still in text formats which require you to read it instead of listen to it. You must adapt to this learning environment if you want to success in your online learning.

4. You Prefer Face-To-Face Communication

Online chats and discussion forums are the key communication media for online learning. If you are not comfortable to discuss or ask questions through these media, then, you might have difficulties to convey your questions if you face any problem during online learning process. Although, there are some learning and discussion sessions may involve video conferencing, but you still need to familiarize and adapt yourself with the key communication channels which are mainly text format.

Summary

If you find yourself have thinking and behavior above, you may face problem in becoming a success online student to complete your online degree program. What you can do if you are deciding to earn your degree through online education is change your behaviors and mindset so that you are integrated with the success characteristics of an online student and earn your degree finally.



Sansi Collen