03-20-2013, 08:56 AM
Great topics...forced me to organize my thoughts on the subject.
1. What are a few of the exclusive benefits (if any) that you have experienced by choosing distance education?
1. Cost- as an employed nurse, with a retired husband, I do not qualify for any kind of aid. I am able to grab my education in affordable bits, like a squirrel gathering nuts. Even $100 for a CLEP or DSST exam is hard to work into the budget sometimes. I WILL NOT borrow and owe for college, when I get that diploma it will be paid for.
2. Flexibility- I work full time, have a huge yard and garden to tend, house, husband, kids, grandkids, elderly parents and in-laws. I can't put my life on hold to finish something I should have done 37 years ago.
2. From your perspective, what are the three biggest benefits to learning by means of distance education for you personally?
1. As previously mentioned- cost. My workplace would pay if I were to go for a degree in nursing, but I don't want to be a nurse when I grow up! (Says the nurse of 28 years.) I'm going for Liberal Arts.
2. Flexability
3. Availability. This site has opened up a world of options for those of us who are already overworked and budgetarily (?) challenged.
3. From your perspective, what are the three biggest hindrances to learning by means of distance education for you personally?
1. Finding the time to fully concentrate on any given subject.
2. I am my own instructor. When I have a question, the answer is not readily available. I have to work for it. (Which may also be a benefit- as those things that require effort to learn seem to stick better.)
3. Explaining this method to my peers and family. The main questions I get are "How can this possibly benefit you at your age?" and "Will you make more money?"
4. Why are you a distance learner?
See answers 1 and 2 above.
5. Do you prefer distance learning to traditional means of obtaining higher education (i.e. "brick and mortar schools")?
At this point in my life, yes. This whole method merely reinforces the hard-won knowledge that my life and self-education over the last 37 years since high school has had value, and that I am the equal of those who have had the advantage of a traditional education.
6. Do you believe that there any risks associated with being a distance learner?
Flexibility, which can be a curse or a blessing. I have had to drop out of a class due to family crisis (mother and both in-laws critically ill off and on for most of a year. Spent my time working at one hospital, and dealing with 6 others in 3 cities scattered over 100 miles.) Not only being able to stick with it, but to come back after breaks of as much as a year and jump back in. The risk would be how easy it could be to just give up. I am in the home stretch now- with roughly 16 credits to go, and it is still a daily struggle to work this in to my life. If it takes me until I am 60, I want to be able to look back and say I not only FINISHED my college degree, but I did most of it by teaching myself.
I look forward to reading your conclusions! Please publish here when you've finished the class.
1. What are a few of the exclusive benefits (if any) that you have experienced by choosing distance education?
1. Cost- as an employed nurse, with a retired husband, I do not qualify for any kind of aid. I am able to grab my education in affordable bits, like a squirrel gathering nuts. Even $100 for a CLEP or DSST exam is hard to work into the budget sometimes. I WILL NOT borrow and owe for college, when I get that diploma it will be paid for.
2. Flexibility- I work full time, have a huge yard and garden to tend, house, husband, kids, grandkids, elderly parents and in-laws. I can't put my life on hold to finish something I should have done 37 years ago.
2. From your perspective, what are the three biggest benefits to learning by means of distance education for you personally?
1. As previously mentioned- cost. My workplace would pay if I were to go for a degree in nursing, but I don't want to be a nurse when I grow up! (Says the nurse of 28 years.) I'm going for Liberal Arts.
2. Flexability
3. Availability. This site has opened up a world of options for those of us who are already overworked and budgetarily (?) challenged.
3. From your perspective, what are the three biggest hindrances to learning by means of distance education for you personally?
1. Finding the time to fully concentrate on any given subject.
2. I am my own instructor. When I have a question, the answer is not readily available. I have to work for it. (Which may also be a benefit- as those things that require effort to learn seem to stick better.)
3. Explaining this method to my peers and family. The main questions I get are "How can this possibly benefit you at your age?" and "Will you make more money?"
4. Why are you a distance learner?
See answers 1 and 2 above.
5. Do you prefer distance learning to traditional means of obtaining higher education (i.e. "brick and mortar schools")?
At this point in my life, yes. This whole method merely reinforces the hard-won knowledge that my life and self-education over the last 37 years since high school has had value, and that I am the equal of those who have had the advantage of a traditional education.
6. Do you believe that there any risks associated with being a distance learner?
Flexibility, which can be a curse or a blessing. I have had to drop out of a class due to family crisis (mother and both in-laws critically ill off and on for most of a year. Spent my time working at one hospital, and dealing with 6 others in 3 cities scattered over 100 miles.) Not only being able to stick with it, but to come back after breaks of as much as a year and jump back in. The risk would be how easy it could be to just give up. I am in the home stretch now- with roughly 16 credits to go, and it is still a daily struggle to work this in to my life. If it takes me until I am 60, I want to be able to look back and say I not only FINISHED my college degree, but I did most of it by teaching myself.
I look forward to reading your conclusions! Please publish here when you've finished the class.
"The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize!" Clairee in "Steel Magnolias"
BA General Studies COSC 5/31/15
COSC Cornerstone A 10/2013, Capstone A 11/2014
UExel- Social Psych A, Psych of A and A- A, Research Methods/Psych B, Pathophysiology A.
FEMA- 27, NFA-Q118, Q 534, Q137 and Q318
Clep- 2008 Humanities 75, 2009 Intro Sociology 67, US History I 69, US History II 61, American Lit. 71, Analyze & Int. Lit. 75, 2011 Western Civ. ll 58, Social Science 67
DSST-2010 HTYH 463, Ethics in America 433, Sub. Abuse 444, 2011 Art of the Western World 67, Civil War and Recon. 58, Org. Behavior 64, 2010 Env. and Humanity 68, Hist. of the Vietnam War 76, 2011 Intro World Religions 451, 2013 Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union 62, Technical Writing 60, Business Ethics and Society 449.
TEEX- 2013 Cyber Security classes x 3
DACC and IU: Speech, Psych, Rhetoric, Creative Writing
BA General Studies COSC 5/31/15
COSC Cornerstone A 10/2013, Capstone A 11/2014
UExel- Social Psych A, Psych of A and A- A, Research Methods/Psych B, Pathophysiology A.
FEMA- 27, NFA-Q118, Q 534, Q137 and Q318
Clep- 2008 Humanities 75, 2009 Intro Sociology 67, US History I 69, US History II 61, American Lit. 71, Analyze & Int. Lit. 75, 2011 Western Civ. ll 58, Social Science 67
DSST-2010 HTYH 463, Ethics in America 433, Sub. Abuse 444, 2011 Art of the Western World 67, Civil War and Recon. 58, Org. Behavior 64, 2010 Env. and Humanity 68, Hist. of the Vietnam War 76, 2011 Intro World Religions 451, 2013 Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union 62, Technical Writing 60, Business Ethics and Society 449.
TEEX- 2013 Cyber Security classes x 3
DACC and IU: Speech, Psych, Rhetoric, Creative Writing
![[-]](https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/images/collapse.png)