Guide to Online Education
Guide to receiving an online degree
Going Back to School
So you’re ready to go back to school. You’re thinking about completing your degree online. However, you are unsure of where to get started, whether degrees are offered in the field you are interested in, or whether it will be beneficial to you at this point in your life.
The reasons for leaving and/or returning to school are countless. Some people can’t afford to continue going to school; others find what they are studying to be tedious or unimportant. Whatever the reasons, many will often find that without a degree they cannot be promoted to a higher level of responsibility within their company, or that their sudden change in lifestyle requires a career change and more money. All of the sudden being competitive in the work place becomes imperative, and in most of the working world this means having a degree.
Benefits of Online Learning
One of the greatest benefits to online education is the flexibility of learning when and where you want to, on your own time. It is never too late to complete that degree you started years ago, or to start that which you never had the opportunity to pursue. Since online courses can be tailored around your scheduled distance learning is especially beneficial to students who work full-time, have families, or busy lives.
Taking courses from an online college or university gives the student the flexibility to study when he or she has time. Online education is available to practically everyone. No doubt a student living in Los Angeles has more options when it comes to college programs than a student from Billings, Montana. However, with online education this is no longer true. With so many online degree programs being offered by various traditional and online schools, students are no longer limited to attending their local community college. Geographic boundaries are a problem no more!
With the increased availability of online courses, more and more new students are enrolling in online classes each year. They are learning and becoming more competitive in the work place. As a result, online education is gaining more and more acceptance. In fact, 85% of employers in a range of different industries think that online degrees are more applicable today than they were five years ago1. Studies also show that students generally feel that distance education courses compare favorably to those of classroom based courses2.
- Vault.com. (2005). Online Degrees Survey.
- Phipps, R., and Merisotis, J. (1999). What’s the difference? A review of contemporary research on the effectiveness of distance learning in higher education.
