Having a proper education is key to your survival in the corporate world, where everyone is fighting tooth and nail to find a job with a good company. A college degree will set you apart from the crowd. This isn’t meant to offend those who don’t have that luxury, but it’s a harsh reality.
More job opportunities are springing up every day, but employers are becoming pickier with their candidates. They want someone who is equipped with relevant knowledge, a good attitude towards work and who is actually good at what they do. Thus, those that have a deeper level of understanding; for example, if a financial company is hiring then an economics major will have a better chance of being hired than almost anyone else.
The Importance of College
Being able to go to a university and afford it is a huge blessing in itself, and shouldn’t be underappreciated. The road to completing a college degree and gaining a diploma is full of many different challenges, which will push you to your limits. You may even need to stop and take a breath of fresh air just to avoid feeling like you’re drowning, with so much to accomplish in such a limited amount of time.
You need to remember that not everyone is given an opportunity to experience something so bittersweet. You have to face all your problems head on, with the belief that completing your course will lead to a better future. College will be one of the most important experiences of your life. Opportunities come in the form of the connections you make there, which can literally come knocking at your front door. That is only one of its many perks.
Expenses
Universities are expensive, and affordability is one of the most important things you need to consider when you’re about to make big, life-changing decisions. It’s not a pleasant experience to have to think about funding your college education. You might have to look for a job and save some money to pay for it. If you can’t find one, then you’ll have to check for available scholarships just to get you in the gate. But there are other options aside from these; face-to-face classes are not the only ones which the world of education has to offer.
Are you fond of surfing the Internet and interacting through social media? At some point, aside from all the social media activity, you’ve probably even done engaged in such productive activities as learning a new skill, or reading through research studied to find out more about certain topics, right? These activities are actually processes of learning, in case you haven’t figured that out yet.
Technological experts have made many innovations in the last couple of years. Along with having everything go digital, they’ve been able to optimize educational accessibility by establishing online platforms through which you can enroll in different courses, earn certificates and even full college degrees.
If you can’t afford to go to a physical school, given other considerations such as travel expenses and accommodation, you can enroll in an online course. This is usually cheaper, because it requires minimal effort from the facility in preparing the student.
Online Class
Online class is the process of studying or completing a degree or certificate course over the internet. Just like attending a physical school, online classes also offer a range of programs from which students can choose their specialty. Surprisingly, some of these programs aren’t even available in physical institutions. This means you can enroll in different courses that might interest you. Don’t limit your imagination, and ask yourself this question: what do I want to learn today?
Online classes can be done synchronously and asynchronously. In synchronous classes, you will be meeting your teachers together with your classmates through online video calling platforms such as Zoom or Skype. These platforms will allow you to interact with each other in real time. Likewise, you can easily ask questions in case there are things which you don’t understand during the lesson.
Asynchronous learning, however, is quite the opposite. Everything is pre-recorded and uploaded to the platform by either the institution itself or specific professors. The materials you have access to may contain things such as a set of videos which are divided into lessons, PDF files from which you can read, transcriptions of videos, PowerPoint presentations briefing you on what you’ll need for the class, as well as links to journals that will help you to understand your lessons better.
What Are the Benefits of Attending Online College?
A lot of people are quite hesitant to enroll for online college because there’s always the question of whether you’ll be getting your money’s worth or not. Without taking the leap of faith in trying it out, you’re never going to find the answer to this question; however, you also won’t have a degree so it isn’t exactly taking the safer bet. As you can see, there are a great many online graduates at present, reaping the benefits of what they sowed a few years ago.
Before deciding to enroll for an online course, it’s important to establish that these are some of the best options for people who are busy with a job, or for those who cannot afford to go to a physical school. The preparation to shift to the online platform is not a walk in the park. Considerations like your mental and physical health need to be checked, as you could easily wind up in poor condition if you aren’t prepared for how big a commitment you’re undertaking.
Weighing up all of your options is important, and knowing the benefits of your decisions versus the possible downsides is a key factor in making the right choice. There are many benefits to attending online college, some of which are explained below:
- You don’t have to wake up early.
Physical schools will ask you to make a lot of effort, such as waking up obscenely early in the morning to prepare for your first class. Imagine having to wake up to attend 8 or 9 o’clock classes every day, with enough time to shower, breakfast and travel. It’s exhausting, and most especially when you spent the night before finishing off your assignments or getting ready for exams.
In online learning, you’ll be able to save a lot of time, effort, and money. Once you wake up, all you have to do to prepare for class is to wash your face and put on a shirt. It’s really just the few steps from your bed to your bathroom, and a seat at your desk.
You don’t have to go out and wait for the bus to arrive. This also means no paying for travel expenses, or spending a good deal of time making the trip to and from school. Also, when you’re late, you won’t have to run around a big campus trying to find your classroom. All you need to do is fire up your computer, access the platforms that holds all the information you need and start learning.
- You save yourself the hassle of moving to a new home.
Usually, when looking to attend the best school to complete your college education, you need to move across the country and find a place to live in. You will also have to share this new space with a complete stranger, and adjust to a different environment. Attending an online college will remove the anxiety of having to deal with this extra commitment.
You won’t have to move out, or buy stuff for your new apartment. You and your parents can save a lot of money this way, and reassign it to your tuition. Also, the money you would’ve had to spend on groceries and living alone may be redirected to your savings, assuming you continue to live at home and possibly enjoy the comfort of a rent-free life with your parents.
- Improvement in critical thinking.
Online classes can be quite difficult when done asynchronously. You’re essentially left to understand the lessons by yourself; you cannot simply ask questions directly to your teacher, like you do in a physical school. You can send an email, but there’s no guarantee that this form of query will be answered in time, so you’ll need to do some research on your own.
The online community is so vast, and offers unlimited resources which you can access with just a few taps on your keyboard. However, some information on the Internet could be false. Thus, you need to practice your critical thinking in distinguishing between what you can trust and what will lead you to failing an assignment. It will take some time, but being a better critical thinker will be a strong asset to have in your favor when you’re looking for work later in life.
- Online certificates will look better in your resume.
In hiring candidates and applicants, employers go through hundreds of profiles and evaluate each and every one of them. One thing that can set you apart from others is your being a graduate of an online course. Online courses and online education require a lot of dedication, and show a great deal more independent strength than regular ones. The experience teaches you to be patient, hardworking and critical. These are the most important traits that employers look for.
Someone who can work without much supervision is a dream come true for companies. They will need someone who can work hard and produce stellar results. As mentioned earlier, your online college experience will require you to be critical, which you can apply in the future. You’ll be the perfect candidate for any job in your chosen field of study. Your dedication to progress will earn you the respect of your employers, because it brings value to the company.
- You will be more computer-literate.
Through navigating the online platform and attending classes, you will also be exposed to various applications that you need to learn how to use. These require technological understanding to operate efficiently.
Many things can go wrong online. Your computer can crash, your camera and audio might not work; sometimes you simply won’t be able to access the Internet. All that these problems will do is push you to learn how to solve them. Thus, you will need to do a lot of research to be able to fix the issues that come up most commonly. In your future company, you won’t need to call for the tech guy to help you with problems, because you’ll already have experienced them yourself.
- Better time management.
When surfing through the Internet, you can be taken to a lot of different places. You could be researching your homework at one moment, and at the next doing a Google search for photos of cute puppies. It’s easy to get distracted, so you’ll have to learn how to manage your time efficiently.
You’ll also need to make a schedule that you can easily follow. Input all your daily tasks, and set alarms so that you are constantly reminded of the various things you have to accomplish. If you don’t follow this schedule to a fault, you’ll end up feeling sorry for yourself for not being organized.
Your schedule should be precise, and you should know which tasks to prioritize. The most important items should always be at the top of your list, and the lower-priority ones at the bottom. This way, you can achieve maximum productivity and make better use of your time.
These are just some of the things which you should keep in mind when considering enrolling in an online course. They offer a great many lessons and expertise which you can utilize in the future, and some that physical campuses just don’t provide. Weigh up everything before you make your decision, and don’t choose hastily; education is a big part of your life, and you don’t want to end up regretting yours. There’s no objectively correct path, but always remember that the online option is there for you if you decide to take it.