Go to online college

the same way as if your were in class just over the internet

With online college work you do a great deal of work independently. You can have online contact with the instructor and with other students.

Here is a link to a university that has done distance education for many years, since long before online schooling became popular. It is a reputable school and if you browse their site you should find much of the information you need. Best of luck with it.

There are a variety of formats for online courses. Generally, they can be:
1) totally online, no campus meetings or face to face contact with other students / faculty.

2) mostly online, a few campus meetings (often for exams), minimal contact with other students / faculty.

3) about 50-50 online and class contact time (often the case with schools transitioning to the world of online courses).

4) mostly class with some online (these schools are way down on the low end of the online course transition curve).

Key considerations for online work….having a Plan B, and Plan C or more. The use of the internet is the sticking point…ISP goes down, your computer system goes down…what is the back up plan?

In some online classes, materials are posted for download (sometimes for a limited time)…you snooze, you lose. If they don’t archive the materials, and you didn’t get to download them (for whatever reason), what’s your back up plan. In class, you can ask for notes from a classmate. Online, most folks have no idea who is taking the class.

Contact options: Check out the contact options you have to interact with the instructor and/or other students. Some online course systems have group chat sessions, a discussion page where you can post questions/answers. Some instructors welcome e-mail, some don’t. If you are close enough to campus, does the instructor have office conference hours? Is it possible to call the instructor by phone for clarification of assignments or other questions you have about the materials.

Submission of work online can have a few potholes as well. When you send an e-mail, most times you don’t know if and when the person got it. So be clear about how “deadlines” are set and enforced when it comes time for your to submit your work. For example, you type and send an e-mail to your friend. When they get it…if they aren’t in the same time zone as you…and they reply….can you figure out exactly when they sent the message to you? Some ISP time/date stamps originate from really different time zones from mine. It is very much like mailing a bill payment….the due date is 9 Sep…does that mean if it is postmarked by 9 Sep you are on time? or does it mean it is on time when the company can process you payment in their office on 9 Sep? Be sure you know how the instructor is determining when submissions are on time or late.

Worst case scenario: you are on your own….the book, the online materials and assignments….and you figure it out yourself. For some, this is student freedom and heaven. For others, a nightmare in the haunted woods of uncertainty.
Payments also vary: some accept credit cards, some don’t. Checks and cash are often used.

Is it worth it? Wow….million dollar questions as the perceived value is different for different folks. If you can figure the numbers simplistically….cost of the course vs pay back in terms of a pay raise or a new job with a higher salary….then it is a simple matter of buy low to get more pay than the course costs you. For a more complex equation, factor in a value for your time….time to do the study…as opposed to doing something else with your time to 1) earn more money; 2) enjoy yourself…but then you need to assign a $$ value to your relaxation.

In the end, you determine the quality and value of the education. The school, instructors, instructional mode…are less significant factors. Some of the greatest minds and some of the most successful people on record were self-taught or were drop outs from school (if they even went to college).