My Ashford University Experience : as

10 Traps, Pitfalls and Shortcomings of Earning a Degree Online Part II (6-10)

Cajun — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:56:00 GMT

This is part II of a two part series. (Click to view part I.)

6.) Technology. Technology is an inevitable part of being an online student. Using new, unfamiliar software and mastering the art of using it skillfully will become essential. If you are still carrying a pager, use a rotary phone, are afraid of a fax machine and believe scientific calculators are still over $100.00 you may need to reassess your ability to adapt quickly enough to learning via an online format.

7.) Will power. Also called grit, guts, stamina or courage. You must have the ability to get knocked down and get back up. You have to be able to motivate yourself, likely nobody else will do it for you. If you get an “F” on an assignment you really worked hard on, it’ll knock the wind out of you. But you have to get tough, work harder, be objective and keep slugging away. Nobody is likely going to be cheering you on, nobody will beg you to do the work, nobody will care if you drop out or fail other than you and possibly close relatives. It’s up to you to get it done. You have to be able to accept failure and move on. You have to be able to overcome your shortcomings and keep growing. You have to accept the fact that you are nowhere near perfect and get over yourself enough to get better. You have to have will power. Campus based students will have to have some of this but they will also have the support of a peer group and the knowledge that their friends are sharing their experience. You on the other hand are going to go it very much alone by comparison.

8.) Self -discipline. Self-discipline is not will power, but it is a close cousin. The difference between will power and self discipline is that will power is what motivates you. Will power is the voice in your head that tells you go get up and keep going when you’ve been knocked down, the thing that keeps your feet moving underneath you when you don’t think you can run anymore. Self-discipline is the fore knowledge of what you need to do, making a plan and sticking to that plan no matter what. Self-discipline is the ability to delay pleasure in the knowledge that the sacrifice will pay in the long run. Will power is the drive where self-discipline is the map. One without the other is useless. You have to be self-disciplined. You will not have the peer support or pressure to show up to class every day like your campus-based peers will have. You will not be meeting friends in study groups at night motivating you to do so. Your success and reaching goals will depend 100% on your ability to envision what needs to happen and stick to the plan.

9.) Reading comprehension. You will have to read everything you learn likely. Where your peers can sit through lectures and hear the information, you will have to read it. Where your peers can reinforce the knowledge imparted to the class through discussions, you will have to read and write about what you are learning. It is likely that you will be required to have a higher level of reading comprehension than your campus based peers because it is the primary if not the only means of communication in online learning. You likely will not have auditory reinforcement of the information like sitting through a lecture. You will not likely have the visual of seeing the information being demonstrated on a chalkboard. With rare exception all the information relayed to you will be via text and graphics, nothing more. You will have to learn to comprehend what you read. This will include skillful note taking, learning your reading comprehension limits (we all have them) and develop a means of overcoming your shortcomings. For example, I find it hard to concentrate on a text for over 30 straight minutes without a break. Otherwise I am reading, but not comprehending the text. The more precise and dry the material, the shorter my attention span is. As such I take careful, easily referenced notes and take a break of 5 to 10 minutes at least once every half-hour without fail. That is what works for me, you will have to develop a plan that works for you.

10.) Communication through writing. This is a shortcoming for many, many people. I revise reports daily as part of my official duties in the workplace and I continually see people who struggle in the area of communicating effectively in written word. You would not be alone in this struggle. I too have spent and continue to spend minutes upon hours upon years developing my writing skills. It is an art form that few people if any, ever perfect, yet one that must be mastered to a high level of competence in online learning as this will be your primary if not only means of expressing your thoughts and engaging in the communication process. You may have a way with words and wit in person, but translating this onto the page is a struggle I believe most people, myself included engage in.

Well there you have it. I hope this post does not scare you off of attempting a degree online, but there are things you need to be aware of before committing your time and money to such a momentous undertaking as earning a degree online.

I welcome any comments, questions or suggestions you may have here or email if you prefer.

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Are you about to ask a question on the forum? Read this first

Cajun — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 01:14:00 GMT

In reading a lot of forum posts I am always encouraged by people who have found a website such as eLearners in order to gain information about furthering their education. Often times, however, many of these people ask about 1 or 2 schools specifically and have done little to no research or they are not even sure what it is they want to do.

This is not their fault, of course, as few things in life are as convoluted, complicated, and permanent as getting a higher education. So below I will answer a couple of questions I see most frequently on the eLearners forum and others like it.

1.) What do you think of (_________) school? Fill in the blank with whatever school it is that you are considering.

A.) Often people will ask about the University of Phoenix, Kaplan University, Capella, etc. The answer is that there is no real answer. For me to give advice the factors to drawing an individual opinion are generally as follows:

Ø Is this school accredited?
Ø What is the general reputation of the school?
Ø What degree programs do they offer in your particular area of interest?
Ø Do they maintain a professional accreditation (for example ACBSP)?
Ø Does anyone on the forum have personal experience with the school?
Ø Do I know anyone with experience with that school and what have they said about it?
Ø Will this school meet the goals you have told me about?
Ø How much is the tuition for the school? Is it comparable to their competition?
Ø Do I consider the school a good value based upon tuition vs. benefit? For example I would be willing to pay more to obtain an MBA than an MSM for reasons of average return on investment.
Ø Have I read anything about the school from a RELIABLE source and not from someone who simply has a bone to pick?
Ø Based upon my professional experience, educational experience and of course mistakes I have made what would I do?

These are the factors I will always consider before giving my opinion on any school. My advice then to you would be to ask these same questions yourself before posting on the forum as nobody knows your criteria and personal desires and needs better than you. Picking a degree and school is a highly personal process. It would be better to instead look for people to make suggestions of schools you may not have considered to further your research or to possibly warn you off of a glaring mistake.

2.) What do you think about (___________) and what will recruiters and hiring managers think of it? Fill in the degree you are considering.

A.) As you may have guessed the answer is more often than not highly dependant upon the following factors:

Ø Will this degree meet your stated goals? For instance if you want to become a nurse, an MBA may not be the best option for you.
Ø What does this degree look like against its counterparts? For example I strongly considered getting a Master of Science in Management before pulling the trigger on an MBA. The primary determining factor was that the MBA has a much higher average return on investment (money wise) than most MSM degrees. Which leads me to ask...
Ø Why do you want the degree? Is money the primary factor? Personal satisfaction? Change of careers or moving up in your current job?
Ø What are the average earnings of a graduate with this degree in my area?

To answer the second part of the question, "what will recruiters and hiring managers think"? In actuality this is an impossible question as recruiters and hiring managers run the full gambit from education savvy to complete morons and everything in between. I am personally in a position to hire so I have to base my opinions off of my criteria and conversations I have with my peers (who are also hiring managers) and of course our bosses and human resources personnel. In my limited experience, most recruiters and hiring managers will usually consider the following in order of importance:

Ø The degree level. If they posted a minimum qualification of a Bachelor of Science, it would generally be futile to apply with an Associate of Science and expect a positive result.
Ø The degree major. Is this major in an area related to the job or one that demonstrates a desirable skill? For instance a BS in Nursing will likely not be of much value to a manager hiring an Accountant when your competition likely has a BS in Accounting.
Ø Where did you earn the degree? As much as I hate to admit it, school reputation does play a factor. It's better to have no reputation than a bad one. Some schools, such as University of Phoenix, elicit a strong response in recruiters as many have drawn personal opinions (positive and negative) of the school based upon their own personal knowledge or lack thereof. More often than not I will see resume listing a degree from a school I have never heard of or know little about, such as Western New England College. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it is relatively easy to research the school's accreditation, which is really where accreditation plays the biggest part. If they are regionally accredited, most hiring managers and recruiters, myself included, are pretty comfortable with educational portion of the resume. If it is a school I am familiar with, such as Boston University then I generally have a good feeling about the educational portion of their resume.
Ø Do you have the professional credentials needed for the job outside of education? For example, if 10 years experience and a BS are the minimum qualifications, likely someone with a BS and 5 years experience will not be considered. The only exception is if the person has a higher than minimum education, such as an MS and a reasonably close margin of experience, such as 7 to 8 years, I might consider them. Certainly I would weigh the option.

Try to consider these options when doing your research and be open to suggestions but realize that ultimately the decision is yours to make and it is a highly personal decision. Nobody can make it for you but perhaps we can provide you with new avenues to explore. So do your research and then be prepared to do a little more.

I hope this helps.

---Cajun

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