Distance Learning Programs Requires Hard Work
Posted by Nick Roy in MBA Advice Monday, 29 December 2009 16:27 No Comments
After making the decision to continue with my career change to Psychology by pursuing a second Master’s degree, I realized that doing the program online is going to be much more challenging than on campus. Liberty University has had a lot to offer and provides a very stimulating and challenging program that I highly recommend to anyone seeking online eduction.
The start of my first semester was at the same time that my dad past away from liver disease. However, from a personal standpoint I knew that it was time to move on and press forward no matter how difficult it is. In fact, it was being my dad’s caregiver for two years that caused me to make this career change to Psychology in the first place.
Having come from a business background in the undergraduate and my first masters program which were on campus and full 16 week terms, I had an idea of what to expect from a compressed acadmic program in the distance learning arena. Liberty University’s Online program consists of the standard semesters with three sub-terms that last eight weeks. This is great for someone that wants to get their program done quickly, and is working in a position that will allow them to apply the concepts to their work environment. Many of the students in all of my online classes are mostly stay at home mothers in their twenty’s. There are a few in their fourty’s. In each of the classes, it was mostly women, maybe three or four men in the class. This begs the question if women are more suited to be self-regulated learners.
I have now completed six course totalling 18 credit hours towards my name with a 3.0 GPA. I actually got a C in my Human Learning class this past semester for the simple fact that I forgot include a section of the paper. The paper was already 16 pages long. The professor said I could have received the full 115 points if included it.
Besides that little mishap, I found a lot of useful and insightful information in all of the courses in the program and enjoyed the way instructors organize the course and interact with the students in the class. Five of these course had multiple choice exams that were a mixture of vertabim recall and applied situations. The final course in Human Learning, all of the questions were applied situations. Had to know the concepts by reading and re-reading and summarizing my notes in my own words.
Much like I approach my assignments at work, or any other major life decisions, I took an analytical, quantitative approach to deciding my approach education. To be able to succeed in a distance learning program requires discipline and hard work. You have to keep up with the readings and if you fall behind in an 8 week course it may result in a borderline grade. Many students at LU have started off on campus and switched to the online programs. This experience got them acclamated with the 8 week format so that they can transfer what the learned to the online program. If you are in the online program and you have to take a course that you are not particularly strong in, such as a math class, you can take it on campus. That is one of the benefits of a university offering both residential and distance learning programs.
If you are in a predicament where you started taking a distance learning class and found out that it is too overwhelming, start off with some courses on campus before taking them online. At least you will have the support and in-person interaction with the other students in the class. It can be difficult to make decisions like this and to decide to move on when you are enjoying your instructors, the program concept, and the people you are meeting in class. My family is valuable to me and the time, stress, and money that is needed to sustain the program with Liberty is more conducive to owning my own company knowing that my desire to become a licensed pyschologist is in sight.
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