Opportunities And Challenges Of Online Degrees
Distance learning has created a whole new world of opportunities
for students of all ages and incomes to finally obtain a college
education and get an online degree. You have the opportunity to
learn new skills and abilities, the opportunity to improve
yourself and your earning power, and the opportunity to join
that the elite rank of Americans who call themselves college
graduates.
Along with the opportunities come a number of challenges and
obstacles that you have to overcome. The first is isolation. Not
surprisingly many online students experience varying degrees of
isolation in getting their online degree. That is
understandable. You learn and study alone without the human
interaction of your teacher and fellow students. But there is no
reason that you cannot develop relationships and even
friendships with some of your online classmates and many people
do just that. Remember that learning alone is not bad, it has
been proven to work, but it is different and expect to have some
difficulty adjusting to it.
Another part of online learning that people find difficult is
that there is no direct communication; everything flows through
your computer modem onto your computer screen. You may miss the
chatter and personal communication with your classmates but that
too is just part of the process and most people grow at least at
ease with this aspect of online learning.
Some people also find it difficult to learn online because they
miss the nonverbal communication that a teacher normally brings
into the real classroom. Gestures and body movements don