Modern technological development has enabled the greatest experts around the world to share knowledge on a global level, helping young people to improve their skills in many spheres. This applies to numerous students, but also employees who are interested in attending an online degree program with the aim of professional development. They often remain confused by listening to the rumors of those who don’t support this type of education.
On the other hand, many enroll in online courses thinking that education from home won’t require much effort or time. In this way, misconceptions spread among people, which usually leads to giving up this type of education and strict adherence to traditional methods. In this case, it’s very important to separate facts from fiction, and that’s why we’ll try to help you and break down prejudices through this article.
The online degree program is too easy
In the first place comes the most common misconception that often implies bad results because from the very beginning it makes you think that everything will be very simple. Alright – it’s not like you’re going to take a nuclear physics course (in most cases!), but it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Don’t let a warm blanket, a cup of tea, and a laptop in your lap relax you too much.
If you start with this attitude, don’t be surprised if you get slapped by reality quickly. Even though the instructor isn’t in the room next to you, they’ll expect the same quality commitment. Besides, the duration of the program is generally not long enough, which is why it’ll move faster from lesson to lesson. You’ll be required to actively participate and study regularly, probably even more than with traditional educational methods.
Poor quality
The quality of online courses often has a bad reputation for no reason. It may not be comparable to a year in college, but that doesn’t mean you won’t gain knowledge. We agree, when the idea of online courses was just beginning to develop, classes were held at much lower standards than today. However, with technological improvement, things have changed.
Of course, you can still expect to find some poorly organized courses on the internet, but, let’s be honest, you can also bump into quite unprofessionally done traditional classes. Practice shows that today there are many more carefully and well-organized ones, as there’s a whole design process that includes the selection of adequate literature, class preparation, presentations, exams, and everything else. Global practices today provide an even better learning experience.
Getting in touch with a professor is impossible
Contact with the professor during online degree education is crucial. It’s the main source of explanations for all your doubts. When we attend virtual classes, we get the impression that all the answers are far from us or that the instructor will take their role lightly. Then we conclude that it’s still smarter to turn to traditional methods because it seems more reliable.
In all of this, you forget the fact that you paid for this degree program and that it’s in the best interest of the instructor to do their job responsibly. Only then will you want to come back again to gain knowledge in other areas. And money isn’t their only motive, but most are aware of the importance of this contact, which will contribute to your excellent results and thus mutual satisfaction.
Don’t worry – you’ll surely be offered countless communication channels you can use, starting with e-mail through forums, social networks, or phone numbers. This means your teacher will be at your disposal whenever you need their assistance.
There’s no contact with other students
There’s always a way to get in touch with others if you think it will make it easier for you to overcome obstacles in learning and master the material. Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions that prevent people from enrolling in the course is the feeling of loneliness and lack of socializing.
Once you turn your room into a classroom, the truth is – you can miss a discussion with others and that well-known and authentic atmosphere. Having this in mind, you can take advantage of countless communication tools available on the Internet. Activate the Zoom app, skype, social networks, forums, or simply email correspondence. Maybe the organizers themselves will provide you with regular interaction channels you can use, so there you go – we broke this myth too.
It’s easier to cheat virtually
Although there’s no person in charge of controlling you nearby, that doesn’t mean that cheating is simplified – but we can definitely understand why anyone would think that. Many would probably try to take advantage of doing the exam from home. However, the practice didn’t show a higher number of cheats in this case compared to the traditional way of doing the exam.
You have to keep in mind that technology has advanced in the meantime. Therefore, it left numerous opportunities for instructors to protect their programs from abuse. There’s usually a time limit for doing certain tests, which doesn’t leave you much space to flip through your notes and search for answers as you’ll run out of time more quickly than you think.
This aspect will also depend on the teacher. Some have a stricter teaching policy and will require a lot of effort on the way to graduation, while others will be more liberal for the success of the project.
Success is guaranteed
This doesn’t have to be the rule. Whether you’ll succeed will largely depend on you and your personal organization and motivation. Among other things, the key to successful program completion is time management. If you plan to snooze the alarm in the morning, losing some precious time for studying due to poor organization, you can easily go in the wrong direction. You’ll be expected to send the completed tasks on time – and if you’re late, you won’t be able to achieve everything.
Just think of busy people who would be happy to align their work commitments and try to get organized for a higher goal. For example, one of the sectors that are gaining special popularity is online marketing. The number of people who would like to retrain using such courses is huge, but their business obligations prevent them from getting additional professional development. Yet, there are still ways to achieve this. For example, anyone who can visit this website will realize that in fact, this platform has developed numerous flexible programs which definitely meet the needs of employed people too.
Consider the opportunity for education from home as a great advantage, because it leaves you the opportunity to plan your own time according to daily obligations. On the other hand, you must be sufficiently motivated, have good work habits, skills of quick understanding of the subject as well as communication skills. Nothing different from the skills you would need in a traditional classroom – but use them wisely to progress further in this sphere as well.
