Getting Your Education Online (Ask Me!)

[Novelista]

I know Pookies and some others have talked a little bit about online education, so I thought I'd make a thread...

 

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My credentials: Bachelor of Science, Alternative Medicine -- Everglades University (2010) | certified pharmacy technician (ExCPT) -- 2013

 

I've also had experience with various correspondence schools and taking community college classes online. I'm familiar with both the Blackboard and Angel course delivery systems. I did my bachelors degree with dialup.

 

 

I'll spare you the accreditation rant unless (A) you want to hear it or (B) plan on going to graduate school with your online degree.

 

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As they say on reddit: Ask Me Anything!

[Pookies]

Let's hear your rant! ;o

 

Alternative medicine also sounds neat! What do you do with it?

[Novelista]

Absolutely nothing. Basically, unless you want to go to medical school (any medical school, although becoming a Naturopathic physician or a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine is more advised), don't bother earning one. (It would make you overqualified to work for a chiropractor and most vitamin stores do their own training. Although you can get into grad school with it if you have good grades.)

 

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I'm not going to go into the whole story with accreditation...it will make me pull my hair out.

 

 

To be very succinct, make sure your school is regionally accredited if you plan to transfer or go to grad school. (I can't emphasize that enough, unless to put it in bold/italicized/underlined 48pt, like I did the other day.) If it isn't, admissions officials will treat you like a second class citizen (or worse, a scammer, if they've had some bad experiences with your school) and be so cruel as to basically tell you that your degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

 

(Except for career schools, brick and mortar schools pretty much have to keep regional accreditation to keep running, so that's why you never hear much about it.)

 

If you're American and you ever have a question about whether your school is accredited (and I mean "you reading this"), look here. If the government doesn't have it listed, it's not accredited. In that case, run far away as quickly as possible. (Unless you're doing something like becoming a cosmetologist or something else at a career school. Then it doesn't matter.)

[Pookies]

Awe, that is a shame. I think that combined with an anthropology degree would make for some really interesting research! but i am biased, and I think anything combined with anthropology is a good idea haha

 

aaahh... that is true. I think anyone looking to go in any field should research it first, along with researching the school they are applying to. I know some degrees from non-research colleges are regarded as pseudosciences so they won't get you anywhere...shame for those who spend their money on them only to realize later it wasn't worth anything :(

[Shelley]

I've currently been enrolled in online classes due to a medical condition. Since I cant physically make it to class it's really been amazing. The only problem is, is that I'm an art major and only have about a year left until I get a BFA....and I don't know of any online art related degrees lol ...I'm really hoping I can make it back to school, but if not it makes me happy to see you can still succeed with an online degree.

 

also I feel your pain with dial up :/ I just got satellite internet this past summer lol

[Ranaki]

Yup, my school wasn't accredited T-T At least I couldn't find it on your linky site there.

Sanford Brown Institute

5701 E Hillsborough Ave, Tampa, FL 33610

I went for Massage Therapy, did my 100 hours of hands on, learned A&P, some other modalities, some business and made a nifty diagram on how cells look like (not in that exact order) =3

Went to go find a job and NOTHING, no one would hire me, said I wasn't experienced enough \o.O/ So, 8 years down the line, license LONG expired, and stuck with a student loan that is now $11k+ Gotta say, pretty... peeved (for respect of ToS/regulations of TDN ^_^).

[passiflora]

Hmm... this seems like a good topic to make a plug for Coursera. It offers online courses for free! You can earn certificates for some courses but I'm not sure how useful they are in the "real world." I haven't taken a course but I hope to soon; I think it's great for anyone that wants to do some extra learning. :)

 

 

I went for Massage Therapy, did my 100 hours of hands on

 

That's interesting. Does the online program help you set up getting those 100 hours of experience? I struggle from time to time with the idea of online courses for some types of programs because it was my perception that there wasn't enough in-person experiences. I feel like over half of the learning in my degree was done "in practice" and it would not have been feasible to teach online.

[rntracy1]

I also have experience with online learning. I did my Associates degree in human services and transferred to a university for a bachelor's in Psychology. With no jobs for a simple bachelors degree in Psych, I did my A.S in nursing in a traditional brick and mortar school and became a registered nurse. Working as a school nurse, I was required to obtain a bachelors degree in nursing. With a full time job, going back to school was the last thing I wanted to do. So I did my research of online schools because I needed an affordable program, yet a degree that would be accepted if I chose to pursue further education. As Novelista said, you want Regional accreditation. There is national and regional accreditation. National sounds better, but regional is what you are looking for. It is what is accepted by every college and university. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I am currently studying for national certification as a school nurse. I am also certified with the Mass. department of elementary and secondary education as a teacher. (all school nurses in Massachusetts are required to be teacher certified--but teachers aren't req. to be CPR certified, go figure, but that is another topic--LOL).

[dawnshine]

I've done a mixture of online learning and in-person stuff. I believe that online education is great and when combined with in-person it can give you a well-rounded experience and it can also help you manage your time more wisely. That being said, the flaw with only online education is because college is also about getting real life experience. Interacting with other people, doing internships (this is SO important I cannot stress it enough), articulating ideas to professors & strangers, working with others, these are all things that your higher education implies you've done, but that isn't exactly the case if you've done it online.

 

If you're trying to get a career that involves people or interacting with others, I would highly recommend trying to do some on-location education. If you don't, whether you're accredited or not, it's not fulfilling the "experience" that college gives you. If your chosen profession is more individual and research based, online may suit you better.

 

I also would agree with others to do your research and make sure you go to an accredited school if you have future schooling plans.

 

I'm not against online education. When I shattered my wrist and dislocated my elbow cheerleading my freshman year of college I went home and did a semester online. I actually feel like I was less distracted and learned so much more with my online classes. But my courses didn't sharpen a lot of interpersonal skills that employers are looking for from college graduates, so if I hadn't mixed that with some on-location classes, I feel as if I wouldn't have gotten the same skills and experience that I got from in-class discussion, critical thinking, problem solving with others, etc. People want to know you can work well with others to accomplish a task, in person.

 

Just my two cents(:

[Novelista]

Shel: Yeah, we didn't get satellite ourselves until August 10, 2012. (Of course you're going to remember the moment that changed your life!)

Ranaki: I am so sorry to hear that! Yeah, I'm not sure Sanford Brown is one I'd trust for massage, whatever they say. It's not accredited because it's a career school--you're right on that one. I would've gone to your local community college if I were you. The bills would've been higher (even though it's cheaper per semester) because you'd be getting an associates as opposed to a certificate (most of the time), but I bet you'd get plenty of practical hours! (I'm not sure what's considered "enough" where you're from, but I've seen some programs that have 500-1000 hours.)

Passiflora: Yes, I've heard of Coursera and some of the others. But those are just for fun...you can't get degrees with them. (I've been meaning to ask...Passiflora incarnata? Like the passionflower? ;) )

RNTracy1: I think most people are going on with the online BSN completion these days, because it's just so much easier to do with a full nursing schedule. Even in one of my books that I'm working on, the nuns that are sent to nursing school eventually do their BSN on the computer in the subprioress's office, so they can maximize their time in the clinic.

Dawnshine: Except if you're taking online classes while you're working in a people-oriented job like cashiering or other retail (like I did). Then you pretty well have interpersonal relationships covered. :D

 

)O(

 

Sorry for being unusually slow in getting back to all of you...was out with my Oma all evening. <3

[agrinwithoutacat]

I've taken a few classes online before, and I'd only recommend it if you're highly self-motivated. It's very easy to fall behind when you don't have a class to go to every week and are on your own to budget your time and get your studying done. I also wouldn't recommend it for math classes unless you're very confident in your math skills. I've found that math is just so much easier in lecture format than when reading through the book or slide presentations on your own, but maybe that's just me.

Overall, though, I think online classes are a good alternative. Especially when your schedule is too crazy to make it to class, or you have medical problems, or whatever other reason to not attend traditional classes.