Coming into my fourth term at Kaplan I am finding that online learning is almost ideal for me. I say almost ideal because I still have some issues with time management, but the fact that I don't have to find someone to watch my kids and I don't have to take the time to drive to school works out for me perfectly. The flexibility is ideal with four kids in the house (especially during their summer break from school). I find that I probably spend more time with my schoolwork now than I did when I went to traditional college and it's showing in that I've gone from having a GPA of around 2.5 to a 4.0! Call it maturity or determination or whatever, it's working for me this time :)
I do think it would be nice to have a closer class community. The anonymity of online classes makes it more difficult to connect with fellow students. I have found that even connecting on a social networking site like Facebook hasn't helped, nor has connecting on AIM or exchanging emails. This could possibly be because I don't care for chatting much whether it be online or on the phone. I'd much rather talk to someone face to face. Maybe that's because I like to be able to read a person's body language as well as hear what they're saying to me. It makes it so much easier to not have misunderstandings that way.
I think online schooling too has a lot more flexibility. I love being able to spend more time at home with my girls, plus I really do not enjoy driving all that much. I'm so glad your GPA has gone up so much. I think this type of schooling will make us more independent in the work world. Sometimes it's hard to figure out exactly what we are suppose to be doing but we figure it out and make the best decision possible for the task at hand. I hope you are enjoying summer break with your children, I would be a crazy person with four. I have two little girls and sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with them.
ReplyDelete