Oct 05 2008
More about online courses
So - once you’ve found a reputable online school - in my case, Athabasca University - the next challenge is to succeed in your studies.
I have enjoyed my online courses, although I do miss the actual classroom experience. There is so much to learn from classroom interactions … online courses, in my experience, are pretty boring by comparison. Reading, reading, and more reading….and my experience with the profs/tutors of my online courses has been pretty limited overall.
One of the biggest challenges for me with Athabasca U courses is that they do not set any deadlines for you - at least not in the courses I’ve taken so far (2 Shakespeare and now Adolescent Psychology). You can take up to 6 months to complete all of the course requirements - and if you need longer, you can cough up more $$ and have another 2 months.
So you have to be self-motivated, in other words, or it just doesn’t get done…. or at least not well.
There are, however, other formats. I have also done a couple of online courses through Laurentian University’s online option, which is called Envision. Those ones follow a regular semester and came complete with due dates for all assignments.
For some people that can work a lot better.
Trick is to know your self. Do you need due dates? If so, look for an option that will provide that structure. Or set your own, and commit to following through (good idea; not one I’ve succeeded with though!).
The best advice I could give anyone considering doing an online degree?
Don’t sign on to do a whole program, degree, whatever…. try ONE course first… THEN go from there.
Would love to hear about your experiences of online courses!
