Distance Learning makes continuing your education while working full time and raising a family available to everyone. Yes, e-learning makes continuing ones education available to everyone but it’s not for everyone. Before you place your e-signature on the virtual dotted line and commit yourself to paying thousands of dollars, you need to ask yourself a few questions to determine whether it’s right for you. Contrary to what many people believe or would you have, many of these e-courses of study are just as costly as attending the same courses at a local college campus. Some of these e-courses of study are even more expensive, so it’s important to know if this method of continuing your education is the right method for you. Before committing to a course of study ask yourself the following questions:
- Am I comfortable working with computers? You don’t have to be an expert, a computer guru, but you do have to be computer literate. You need to be comfortable working within the Windows environment and conversant with programs like Microsoft Office’s Word, Power Point, Access, and Excel. If you have never used a computer or are just starting out with computers, become conversant with the computer and application software before attempting an online course of study.
- Are you comfortable navigating the internet using IE (Internet Explorer) or Mozilla’s Firefox? With distance education everything from conducting required research to submitting your work is done over the internet so one needs to be able to use the internet in a speedy and efficient manner. One has to be conversant with search engines, online libraries, and other methods of locating information on the internet and the WWW (World Wide Web). Once again, the time to acquire these skills isn’t after committing ones time and finances to an e-course of study.
- Dependable internet connection. It won’t matter how computer and internet literate you are if you don’t have dependable access to the internet. You need a primary connection and a backup connection. I recommend a high-speed digital cable modem as your primary and a DSL (Digital Service Line) or a dial-up connection as a backup. Some people go with DSL as their primary and a dial-up as a back-up but the problem with that approach is that if the telephone line goes out you lose both your primary as well as your secondary or back-up connections to the internet.
- E-mail. There will be a lot of e-mail communications involved, so be conversant with your e-mail client is essential to your success.
- Have I mastered the art of time management? Don’t think that completing an online course of study takes any less time than completing the same course on campus, it doesn’t. For every hour you spend in the e-classroom you can expect to spend another three to four hours in study outside of the e-classroom.
- Are you a self-directed student? With distance learning there isn’t any instructor standing at your shoulder, telling where to go to find the information you need to complete an assignment. Can you see what needs to be done and then get it done without someone constantly checking up on you? There’s no instructor checking you weekly progress toward completing your final project. The online instructors will tell you what you have to complete each week to be able to complete your final project (which often makes up as much as 50 percent of your final grade) on time.
- Do you enjoy reading? Almost all online courses are text based courses. There will be ream of material to download, printout, and read. Many Distance Learners try to avoid printing all the material out and filing it in loose leaf binders because of the cost of the ink, paper, and the binders, not to mention the time involved. Printing everything out is needed for success. It’s easier to make notes on hard copy pages and you will have the text to refer back to in the future. Most text are available as pdf files so save those files to disk and then you can print the chapters out as they are needed.
- Am I comfortable interacting in a chat room situation? Interacting with your fellow students in the e-classroom also contributes a large percentage of your grade, so familiarity with and comfort in a chat-room is essential to your success.
If you aren’t able to answer yes to all of these questions you should think long and hard before undertaking a Distance Learning copurse of study.
