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HELP!!

WGU on January 16, 2009

I found this article to be interesting. 40% of online students never seek help before dropping out! As a classroom teacher, it should not surprise me. So many of my young students do the same thing. They give up, they “drop out”, when they don’t get something, but they don’t ask for help. It does, however, surprise me with adults. (Now, in all fairness, this study only had 150 respondents, but it still has some great information to ponder.) Here are the main reasons that were given:

Financial challenges (41 percent) proved to be the main contributor to student attrition, followed by life events (32 percent), health issues (23 percent), lack of personal motivation (21 percent), and lack of faculty interaction (21 percent). Nearly half (47 percent) of students who dropped out did so even before completing one online course.

I can certainly relate to the first three! During the course of my online Masters work I have struggled with each of them. (“Life events” contributed to my dropping my first attempt at a Masters program at The University of Georgia several years ago.) I have gone through several surgeries during my program at WGU, and it has been tough, but having a great mentor has helped.

When asked to select the resources that online institutions could have provided to improve the online student experience, 53 percent craved more online student services and Web-based academic advising. Self-help, time management, and organizational advice also ranked as coveted offerings among students who dropped out (46 percent).

Academic advising and student support services are crucial to a successful online program. When you are looking at what is out there, THAT should be a major consideration to you. One of the things that attracted me to the program at WGU was the mentor aspect of it. (Along with the competency based approach, as opposed to the course based approach.) When I start looking at going back for my doctorate (after taking a little breathing time), those are the things that I will look for. NCU in Prescott, AZ appears to have the type of program that I am looking for.

As you wade into the waters of online learning, don’t go in alone. Plan out the finances with someone to make sure that you can see the course through. Look for programs that talk in depth about their support for students and find out what need to do when you have questions or concerns about the program that you are considering. But you know what? By being here, at the Online Student Survival Guide, you have already found a place for support and answers. You are on your way. Just don’t forget to come back here to ask for help if you need it.

Tags: asking for help with online school, help with online learning, online college, online course, online school support, online students, Western Governors University, WGU
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Your Study Environment

WGU on June 17, 2008

Where are you going to set up your work area? And how will this impact the rest of the household? With dialup connections, the PC is almost always right next to the telephone; with cable broadband, near the TV. Both are very poor choices as you can see. Improvising at the dining room table won’t last long. The height is all wrong, and no dining room chair will be comfortable for extended periods.

You’re going to need space for your books, a printer, and other office supplies – like ink-jet or laser cartridges, paper, file folders, calendar, etc. and a good reading lamp. In short, you need a home office. If you have a spare bedroom, that’s ideal, but you may have to shoehorn something into a few feet in a corner of a room. (I do more printing than most people I know, so I switched to a monochrome laser and cut the cost per page nearly in half over color ink-jet. The trick with either one, though, is to do your printing in batches once every two or three days.)

You can cram in a lot into minimal space with a well-designed computer workstation; or you can buy a folding 5- or 6-foot ‘banquet’ table and an office chair for about the same price. Any of these are much closer to the proper height for keyboarding and reading than your kitchen or dining room table.

Next, you really need a comfortable office chair. I’ve been very satisfied with the one I bought in the middle of the pack as far as features and price. The problem here is that you’ll have to physically go to an office supply to really find an assortment and put each to the test; so much the better if you can buy the same make and model on eBay or amazon or somewhere else cheaper.

My smartest investment was a reading lamp from Ott-Lite. In fact, I was so impressed with the one I originally bought for my piano, that I bought a table model for my desk and a floor model for my favorite reading chair.

All these can break your budget, but they are things you really need and all of them have a service life that should take you beyond undergraduate and graduate school. The real test, though, is whether what you set up makes you eager to go back for your next session because the environment you have set up is pleasant and comfortable, or not.

Tags: distance online learning, education online, how to study, online college, online college degree, online masters degree, online university, studying at home, studying online, what to expect with online learning, where to study, your study environment
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Technology for Online Learning

WGU on June 3, 2008

When it comes to having the right technology for online learning, check the computer requirements for your school and program. If you have the essentials – a fast microprocessor, lots of RAM and disk space, a sound card and speakers, a monitor capable of high resolution, and the obligatory anti-virus software and surge protector – you may be ‘good to go.’

Depending on your program, you’ll almost always need to read Word documents and sometimes need to create a database, spreadsheet, graphic or PowerPoint presentation, so an office suite is almost always a requirement for you to be successful. Unfortunately, that almost always means an additional $150 expense. (Occasionally, this has been available to students much, much cheaper with student ID.)

Many programs require a videotaped “presentation.” For this you can use a $20 webcam or camcorder. There is no need to go overboard! You’re NOT auditioning for Hollywood! They’re simply giving you a subtle nudge to help you get over the fear of public speaking -because that is an important skill to have in the 21st century, regardless of your major.

One of the primary characteristics of all college writing is forming it to the required style- usually APA or MLA. You can get all the information on how to do this from a number of sources on the Internet. The printed manual may not be required, but, like a collegiate dictionary and thesaurus, it is a sound investment – but only if you’re going to actually read it and use it.

Otherwise, almost all communication during the course will be asynchronous – via phone, e-mail or online forums.

Tags: online accredited degrees, online college, online degrees, online universities, technology, technology at home, technology for online degree, technology for online learning, technology requirements
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What to Expect with Online Learning

WGU on May 30, 2008

To the over-worked adult looking for a convenient way to fit education into an already busy schedule, online learning seems like a dream come true. You can study in your PJ’s at any time you want, complete assignments when and how you want to, create a schedule that works for you, and never engage another human being…right? Well, sort of. You may not know it, but there are many things about online learning you can expect to be exactly the same as a brick-and-mortar school:

You will have homework, and probably lots of it!
You will be challenged—“Online University” does not mean “easy”!!
You will use real textbooks, not just e-texts.
You will complete your work to meet regular deadlines.
You can expect to engage with your fellow students regularly online—no sitting in the back of the classroom!

Okay, so maybe not as freeform as you imagined. But hold on—there are tons of things about online learning that you might not have expected and will probably love!

You will learn to be self-motivated and independent—you’ll be driven by your own goals and expectations, not that of a professor you barely know in a class of 300.
Learning resources, communities, e-texts, etc. will be available 24/7, so you should be able to fit study time into your schedule conveniently. Take that laptop to soccer practice!
You will not feel alone! You will have access to support via mentoring or advising (depending on your University), online learning communities, and many resources at the touch of a mouse-button.
The only distractions to your learning will be those that you allow—no more noisy students bothering you from the back of the class or paper airplanes flying down the aisles. You can create your own study oasis.
Academic authenticity is a top priority. Use of technology allows online institutions to closely monitor students’ work to ensure its originality.

If your school has similar policies to that of WGU, you will be able to accelerate your studies to move at your own pace (within parameters), and use your knowledge and experience to move through your assessments much quicker than if you had to log “seat time” at a traditional institution.

It takes a dedicated individual to succeed in a solely-online educational environment. But with the right attitude and expectations, online learning really can be the perfect way to fit a degree into your life.

(Also contributing to this post was Catherine Endicott, a Mentor for the Teacher’s College at WGU).

Tags: adjusting to online learning, attending an online university, getting a degree online, getting an online degree, going to school online, how do you get an online degree, online college, online colleges, online degree, online learning, online school, online schools, WGU, what to expect with online learning
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The Fear of Going Back to School Online

WGU on May 20, 2008

I’m 53 years old. I’m a father of four beautiful girls ranging from 13 down to a year and a half. My life changed drastically 6 years ago when I got married for the first time. I went from being single to a family man. My wife says, “change is good.” I started into a Masters program 4 years ago, but it became too difficult to manage the time. I wanted to be at home at night with my kids. (What was I thinking!)

My wife started back into college at night, so now I have to watch the kids. The longer I taught school, the more I knew that I need to go on for my Masters and, eventually, my doctorate. Two years of scrambling with the time management of work, kids, and school was daunting, but my wife said to me, “The next two years of your life are going to go by whether you are in school or not, so you might as well go back now.”

And so I write this to you as an on-line learner. I was anxious at first but now, not so much. What was I anxious about? The online element? I teach computers. I maintain a website for my students. I love exploring new software. This is the ideal place for me to be. The content? I’m an educator. I love to learn about new things. The writing? Apparently not.

So it comes back to change. That, to me, is the number one deal breaker for many of us. Can I change my life and lifestyle to accommodate taking classes? And when it comes to deciding about going back to school, many people stick with the traditional classroom and lecture taking familiarity of education because the idea of change is frightening enough without adding the technology and on-line component. Having done both, I can now say that, for me, on-line is the solution that I was looking for.

What scares YOU about going back to school? What are the things that are affecting YOUR decision?Let’s talk.

Tags: earn a degree online, fear about going back to school, fear of online learning, nervous about online learning, nervous about starting school, on line university, online college, online degree, online school, online univesity
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