is it really possible to earn a college degree online and its actually worth somthing?
Sunday, August 8th, 2010 at
8:23 pm
is there anyone out there that actually has received a online degree and could tell me how that whole thing goes? was it easier than going on campus?
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70% of all 2-year and 4-year colleges in the US now teach online. Online/Distance education is not a new concept anymore – it’s normal.
Some of the finest colleges in the world are teaching online: Oxford, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, and 1000′s more. It’s just not new and mysterious any longer.
Some really bad colleges teach online too; and everything in between. Whether it’s worth the time and effort depends entirely on what school we’re talking about and not whether it’s online or classroom.
Is it easier? Nope – not usually. It’s actually often much harder and most people aren’t able to complete their whole degree this way – most people need to be in the classroom for some of their classes or they just won’t get it. But, some people can do it this way just fine.
It requires that you have a commitment and motivation. While the classroom folks know they have to be in class on Tuesday and Thursday at 2PM, the online folks don’t have to be in class at a certain time but they still have to get the work done. Nobody will remind you every other day to read the book or that your paper is due in x-days. You have to motivate yourself. If you have questions then you have to get them answered electronically – usually email.
The only true advantage to an online course is the flexibility of time and location. You can watch the lecture video at 3AM from anywhere in the world. Otherwise, the history of Rome is the same whether you learn it in a classroom full of other napping students that haven’t read the book, gazing off into space as Joe the teaching assistant rambles endlessly on… or at home after having read the chapters and/or watched the lecture video so that you can intelligently discuss them with your classmates in the discussion forum.
Remember though, it’s all about the quality of the school. An online course from Harvard, Berkeley, or Oxford isn’t the same as one from Penn-Foster, UoP, or AIU (just some examples).