13 Huge Advantages To Taking Online Classes |
Posted: August 28, 2017 |
13 Huge Advantages To Taking Online Classes Are there advantages to taking classes online? It’s such a different experience from the traditional classroom environment. Why would someone want that? And why are so many people saying that online classes are a great alternative to in-person attendance at a class? Believe it or not, there are some enormous advantages to online classes. Some of these are obvious while others may surprise you. Here are 13 big advantages to taking online classes. #1 - It Costs Less
It’s no secret that college costs a lot of money. You pay for the classes, a dorm room that smells like old stuff, cafeteria meals, activity fees, massive text books and a host of other random expenses. It adds up really quick. There’s a reason most students have to take out loans. The average graduating student has a staggering $37,172 in college debt. This can be a huge burden to someone just trying to launch a career. With online classes, you’re only paying for the university credits. If you’re trying to save money, this is a perfect solution. You’re only spending money on the things you want to spend money on. #2 - Less Intensity Taking classes usually means showing up on class at a particular time, sitting through a somewhat lengthy lecture and then going directly to your next class. Or, if you’ve spaced your classes out, you may be able to take a break in between, but you still have to stay on campus. It can make for really long, really intense, really exhausting days. Then you have to come home, do homework, sleep and do it all again the next day. It can easily become a grind. With online classes, you do all the work at your own pace. As long as you meet your deadlines and participate appropriately online, you’ll be fine. This means much less pressure and intensity. #3- Easier Attendance
If you live where it snows, you know how difficult it can be to get class when there’s been a storm. You have to get up early, shovel your way out, navigate the icy roads and trudge across the freezing campus. Even if you don’t live in a cold area, there are plenty of other conditions that can make it tough to come to class. If you take classes online, attending is as simple as opening up your computer or tablet. No rain-soaked walks or hypothermic marches for you! You can learn from the comfort of your home or favorite coffee shop while sipping on a steaming beverage. Additionally, you can be flexible about when you get your work done if something comes up, like needing to take a child to soccer practice or attend a meeting for your job. #4 - Improve Your Self-Discipline Succeeding in online classes requires self-discipline. You don’t have a teacher to tell you when an assignment is do. Your best friend won’t call you on Monday morning to make sure you’re working on that group project. You actually have to login and participate in the discussions to get participation credit. Being lazy or undisciplined will cause you to quickly fall behind. By taking online classes, you develop stronger self-discipline, which often translates to other areas of your life such as fitness, work ethic, and even relationships. #5 - Easier Access To Teachers In some ways, the distance is greater between you and your teacher because you’re not sitting in class with them regularly. But in other ways, you have much easier access. When you ask a question in class, the professor has to consider other questions that need to be answered, the time it will take to answer the question, and whether they even want to answer the question at all. In an online class, you can email a teacher questions directly. When they answer, they can take as much time as they need to give you a thorough answer. They also don’t have to worry about getting to someone else’s question before class ends. So in this way, you actually can have more of your professor’s attention. #6 - Location, Location, Location
Normally, your choice of university is significantly narrowed by location. If you live in Pennsylvania, it can be really challenging to attend UCLA due to the cross-country difference. But with online classes, location doesn’t matter. If you live in Alaska and want to take classes at Florida State University, you can! If you want to travel the country while simultaneously getting an accounting degree, you can make that happen. All you need is a computer or tablet and an internet connection. This location independence is a massive, often underrated benefit of online classes. #7 - The Comfort Of Your Home There is absolutely no dress code with online classes. If you want to do you work in your PJs or velour track suit, you can. If you want to lie on your couch or your bed while watching a lecture, you can. If you want classical music on in the background while you chat with your classmates on the forum, you can. You may remember that there’s a scene in Seinfeld where Jerry tells George that wearing sweatpants is a sign that you’ve given up on life. That was before online classes were invented. Now sweats can be a sign that you’re successful! #8 - Easily Transferable Credits There may be times when you will need to transfer your credits. For example, let’s say a class requires prerequisite but you can’t fit it into your schedule. Or, maybe you need to take a prerequisite class over the summer and your university doesn’t offer it during the summer. Because online credits are usually transferable, you can take the needed class online at another university and then transfer the credit to your university. It’s the perfect solution if you’re trying to move through school quickly or need to make up lost time. #9 - A Huge Variety Of Options
No matter what your desired field of study, you can almost find an online program, whether that’s nursing, mathematics, science, accounting or just about any other program. And more programs are being added by schools every day. There truly is an option for almost everyone. If your program is not offered online by your school, ask if there are any similar options or transferable credits you could get from other school. #10 - Easier To Focus It’s not always easy to focus in class. Sometimes you’re tired. Sometimes the person next to you smells like they need a shower. Sometimes there’s construction going on right outside the classroom. Sometimes your study group wants to talk about The Bachelor rather than a chemistry problem. And sometimes your mind just wanders. It has been repeatedly shown that studying in a loud or noisy environment makes it much more difficult to concentrate. With online classes, it’s much easier to focus on what you’re doing. You can put yourself in the right environment. You can wear headphones if your surroundings are noisy. Your interactions happen online, meaning they won’t easily wander off topic. And you can choose to study at a time when you’re freshest. If you struggle to concentrate, online classes might be the ideal solution. #11- You Can Keep Your Job
Many times, getting a college degree requires quitting your job. After all, it can be difficult to juggle the demands of school and work simultaneously. But if you’re organized and self-disciplined, it’s often possible to do both. Because you don’t have to attend class at a specific time, you can fulfill the functions of your job and study during your free time. You can also use weekends to get additional work done that you didn’t have time for during the week. Yes, it’s demanding. Yes, it’s a lot of work. But if you want to keep working while getting a degree, you can make it happen with online classes. #12 - Easier To Fit Learning Into Your Day With traditional classes, you have to work around the university schedule. If your class is at 4 p.m., you have to be in the classroom at that time and you have to attend the entire lecture. Failing to do those things will result in missing valuable information. Online classes make it so much easier to fit things into your schedule. You can listen to lectures on your drive to work. You can watch videos on the train or bus. You can respond to comments while sitting in the coffee shop. You can even watch part of a lecture, pause it, and then come back to it at a convenient time. If you have an already full schedule, online classes are the perfect solution. #13 - Learning Tech Skills If you’ve never been tech savvy, online classes will force you outside of your comfort zone (in a good way). You will have to learn to navigate the course lectures, download materials, interact with others online and communicate well digitally. Yes, this may be scary for some people! However, in the information age, these are essential skills and will allow you to keep pace with others. The most important skills that employees are missing are computer and technical skills. Of those reporting that they needed skills for their current job, 33% reported lacking technical skills, including computer skills. Conclusion Online classes aren’t for everybody. Some people just want the tried-and-true traditional classroom. But online classes offer some really unique benefits. These benefits allow people who might not normally be able to get a degree to attend college. Whether you want to study from the comfort of your bedroom or increase your computer skills, online classes are a fantastic option.
Reasons More Adults Are Going Back To School What comes to mind when you think about college students? Young, fresh-faced, wide-eyed high school grads stepping onto campus for the first time? The freshman fifteen, where kids away from home for the first time put on 15 pounds from eating cafeteria food? Homesick kids in dorm rooms? While those certainly represent some of the college experience, you may be surprised to learn that the college demographic is changing in some major ways. While high school students still make up a large portion of college attendees, adults are also finding their way to campuses. In 2014, there were approximately 12 million college students under the age of 24 and 8.2 million college students 25 and older. Clearly, things are trending upward.
Of course, this raises the question: why? For years, college education has been associated with young adults who are trying to prepare for a career. Yes, there have always been inspirational stories of older people returning to school to complete their education, but those stories have been few and far between. In this post we’re going to try to answer the, “Why?” behind the upward trend. Here are 7 reasons more adults may be returning to school. REASON #1: Early Retirement
Unfortunately, many individuals find themselves retiring earlier than expected. The reasons for this are numerous, including downturns at their companies, economic recession, health complications, family complications and more. It puts the early retirees in a difficult situation, forcing them to confront a reality they never expected. A recent study by Voya financial found that a whopping 60% of Americans have to retire earlier than planned: Among the 1,002 recent retirees who were surveyed, 29% said the timing of their retirement was somewhat unexpected, while 31% said the timing was very unexpected. And 33% of those respondents said they left their jobs involuntarily. The largest number — 16% — had to retire because of health challenges, while 11% stepped away because they lost their jobs, 3% had to stop working because they needed to care for a spouse or dependent, and another 3% retired involuntarily because of their age. An individual forced to retire early often must acquire a new skillset in order to secure another job. This can be particularly challenging if they’ve been in a single industry for their entire lives. It is this particular conundrum that often forces older adults to attend college and boost their marketability. Reason #2: To Launch A Second Career For many people, “retirement” doesn’t actually mean retirement. It means launching a second career. Take those who have been in the military for years. Typically, after 25-30 years of service, they are able to retire with a full pension. If they entered the military at age 18, they could theoretically retire between the ages of 43-48, giving them ample time to create a second career. A 2014 study by Merrill Lynch found that an incredible 72% of retirees over the age of 50 want to continue working in some fashion. Two specific items stand out in the study: Five years before retiring, 37 percent of pre-retirees who want to work in retirement will have already taken some meaningful steps to prepare for their post-retirement career; this rises to 54 percent among those within two years of retirement. Most pre-retirees do not seek to go directly from pre-retirement work to retirement work. They want a break, a sabbatical: they need some time to relax, recharge and retool. More than half (52 percent) of working retirees say they took a break when they first retired. These career intermissions average 2.5 years. It seems that the idea of spending retirement at the beach doesn’t appeal to most people. In order to prepare for their second career, they go back to school. REASON #3: Increased Finances
It’s not uncommon for people to wait until they have adequate finances to attend college. This is often the case with those who don’t want to take out substantial loans to fund their tuition or those who must save for several years before they can afford to attend school. With college tuition increasing at rapid rates, it shouldn’t be surprising that we see more individuals deferring college for anywhere between 3-5 years. And for many, this is the smart choice. Americans currently owe $1 trillion in student loans and absolutely can’t afford to pay them back. Additionally, some students simply have no idea what they want to study and don’t want to waste thousands of dollars on a major only to discover that they hate it. As Kelly Kehoe writes at Wisebread: This isn’t to say you should never go to college, but what about waiting a few years to decide what you truly want to do with your life (and get a little traveling or work experience in while you’re at it)? Making a major life decision at the relatively young age of 18 isn't easy, and taking time off from school to delve into your true interests can help you avoid a major career change in the future. REASON #4: To Breathe New Life Into A Career Many older individuals simply burn out after a number of years in a particular industry. They want to start something new, to take a new journey, to enter a new path. Or maybe they want to start their own business but don’t have the necessary knowledge to do so. Western culture is increasingly pushing the idea of finding your passion, which is starkly different than the “graduate and get a practical degree” message of the 1950’s-1980’s. With Generation X individuals reaching their mid-40’s, it’s no surprise that many of them are fed up with their careers and want a change. Usually, making a dramatic career change requires training. It’s difficult to go into a completely unrelated industry without some of schooling, which is why many adults find themselves headed back to college later in life. Ann Hynek tells her story of switching from journalism to marketing, saying: I didn’t want to take on any student loan debt, so I opted for part-time education, working during the day and going to class at night. Yes, this was a big commitment, but the supplementary expertise helped me get up to speed more quickly, made me a better asset to my new team, and—as a bonus—gave me greater confidence that I was right where I belonged. REASON #5: To Finish What They Started
Many adults find themselves returning to college simply to finish what they started. For whatever reason, they were forced to end their college education early, leaving with a handful of credits and no degree. Perhaps they were immature and had academic issues. Perhaps a health crisis forced them out. They simply couldn’t finish what they started. Finishing a college education provides enormous satisfaction. It often increases self-worth and allows people to feel confident in the work world. Plus, it usually opens up new career opportunities. Numerous athletes, including Ben Roethlisberger, Brandon Jacobs, Emmitt Smith, Leon Lett and Troy Polamalu have returned to school after retiring from professional sports to finish their education. REASON #6: More Skills Needed As our economy becomes increasingly global, more workers are finding their skills sorely outdated. In order to keep their jobs or climb the ladder, they must add to their already existing skillset. This is particularly true for rapidly changing industries, like technology, where employees could potentially lose their jobs to younger, more skilled workers. The pressure to acquire new skills often sends older individuals back to school for certifications or continuing education credits. REASON #7: Flexibility
Online education offers older individuals education opportunities that previously never existed. Even 10 years ago, getting a degree almost always required a physical presence on a university campus. Now a degree can be obtained from the comfort of the home. If a person is even feeling remotely dissatisfied with their career, they now have a wide array of options at their disposal. Conclusion Increasing numbers of adults going back to school is indicative of several shifts that have occurred recently, including:
This trend doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. If anything, we should expect to see even more adults returning to school in the next decade.
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