Jennifer Buchholz's Archive
One of the best parts about being an online student is getting to know students from all around the world. Students can choose to really get to know their classmates or just be an independent learner.
I found that in a class of 20-30 students, it was easier for me to select 5 students to really interact with and get to know. I picked people who had qualities or characteristics that I was looking for, whether it be the industry or company they worked for, other experience, proximity to where I live, etc.
Once I identified those folks, I really worked to learn more about them through reading their posts and interacting with them in class. Additionally I would contact those folks offline and chat about the class and other topics to build those relationships.
Finding ways to connect with classmates really helped sustain me through the classes. I found students that I was in several courses with and we continued to connect with each other during and after courses.
I don’t have a fear of tests, but I don’t mind avoiding them when possible. My traditional learning experience consisted of few tests and many, many papers. That worked for me. I didn’t mind writing a lot of papers on my own terms. When I enrolled in classes online, I asked about we demonstrated our mastery of the subject, and was told that I’d be writing a lot of big papers (approximately one 30-page paper per course), that suited me well.
In the classes that I teach, I find that students are assessed frequently with shorter written assignments. There are also some courses with short quizzes or exams, but none of the courses have a major final exam. The students are given a number of opportunities to demonstrate their mastery of the subject in discussions and short written assignments.
No matter what, it’s essential that a prospective student ask how they will be assessed and that they are comfortable with that approach.
I know myself. I know that I need deadlines in order to get things done. I know that if I were left to my own devices, to complete the work at my own pace, I would not finish. So when I chose Capella, one of the features I was looking for was structured courses and deadlines.
The coursework I completed was generally done on a set schedule. There were discussion questions and participation due each week. There were required readings for each week. But, within these timeframes, I could do my work at any time of day and often on any day during the week. That was very convenient for me. I found that I would often check my online class during my lunch hour so I would know what was going on, and then spend some dedicated time on a few nights during the week to finish up the work. I found that the asynchronous environment worked best for me. I could do the work at any point in time during the day.
For the most part, in the PhD. program, I only found that there were major assignments due at the end of the term. Due to my nature to procrastinate, I did often have to take 1-2 days off work to finish the major papers (often 30 pages long) in order to finish the work for the class in a timely manner. But otherwise, I was able to keep up with the classwork without much time off work.
I also found that I have been able to have a life while attending classes. By being able to attend class at a convenient time, I have been able to find and maintain balance.
FINALLY - I will share that now that I’m in the self-paced part of my program, I am struggling. I still procrastinate, and that is really hurting my overall progress. I do use self-imposed deadlines, but then I ignore thme. SO, if you are a natural procrastinator, do consider a program that has more deadlines so you can continue to make progress!
I think the most suprising cost of a college education is the cost of textbooks! 90% of the classes I took required a textbook purchase. I had to come up with a method for finding books at a reasonable price. Here’s my secret..
1) Register early: I made sure to register for classes in advance so I had plenty of time to find out the books that were needed for the class.
2) Use the school bookstore: I always made sure I was looking for the same book the bookstore carried. Sometimes instructors will use editions that are newer or older than those carried in the bookstore - it’s best for all students to use the same material.
3) Use the internet: Once I was sure of the books that were needed, I started Googling the book/ISBN. There were some sites like AMAZON, BN.com, EBAY, or HALF.com that were good starting points. Also if you just look for used or cheap textbooks, you will find other sites.
4) Comparison shop: I generally bought different books from different sites, trying to get the best price. There was not one consistently best site to buy from.
5) Purchase wisely: Make sure you consider shipping costs when making the final comparison. Also review the return policy - in case you drop the class, you’ll want to be able to return the book. There’s no guarantee that same book would be used for a future class.
6) Sell books back: Once the course has ended, you may want to re-sell the book. Consider starting with the same place you bought the book from.
If you shop wisely, you can buy books for less than half the cost than if you bought from the school bookstore.
Considering that I have been an adjunct faculty member for several universities throughout my time as a student at Capella, I will likely be a pretty tough judge on the subject of the faculty.
In my work, I’m required to be online 5 out of 7 days a week, to respond to student questions within 24 hours, and to engage in substantive conversations with the students. My job is more of a facilitator than a “teacher” but through the facilitated discussions, the students learn and grow.
As a student, I found faculty to be basically absent. In 90% of my courses, faculty were not actively visible in the online classroom or the discussions. They took exceptionally long to respond to questions. They did not add to the material or bring their experiences or expertise to the discussion. This is not to question their qualifications, but to recognize they did not really bring much to the table in terms of our learning. There was 10% of the faculty I had that were excellent, but they were so outnumbered.
Rarely was additional material suggested to help the student achieve the course goals. Considering this was a graduate level program, students should be self-sufficient learners, but some support from the faculty would have been appreciated.
Throughout these years at Capella, they have changed online learning platforms numerous times, and it’s hard to remember where it all started.
Overall, the courses used either a standard or proprietory online course management system. The common areas are announcements, materials, discussions, and other topical sections. Each course had varying requirements for frequency of logging in, posting, answering questions, responding to classmates and the instructor, etc.
As long as we had access to the internet, it was basically easy to attend class, but back in the days of dial-up, some of the technology took longer to load and access. Additionally, not every system was consistently reliable - there are still many times when I go to log into class and find that I cannot access the classroom. That is a major challenge for people who are trying to complete classes during our limited time available.
It was helpful that most of the online learning platforms were intuitive. It was very easy to navigate through the learning systems, and I always found technical support to be very helpful as well.
I enrolled in the PhD program in Organization and Management at Capella University in 2000. I had been working in business/finance, but my bachelor’s degree was in communication and my master’s degree was in Human Resource Development.
One of the best parts of Capella is that all my master’s degree credits transfered in as electives, so I was required to complete only the core courses of the program to earn the degree. This certainly helped shorten the required timeframe for degree completion.
For a while, I was also working on a specialization in leadership, but I found that specialization added to the required timeframe for coursework, and in the end, I would still have a PhD, whether there was a specialization or not. So eventually, I dropped the specialization even though I had completed some of that coursework.
What I did find is that if I had an MBA rather than a MA, these PhD-level core courses would have been a lot easier to navigate. I had never taken an finance class, or a graduate-level marketing class. I found that compared to many of my classmates, I was way behind on the core business concepts. If I could go back, I don’t know if I would have done anything differently, but it is certainly something that I was aware of. I had to invest a lot more time in those courses and had to solicit help from experts in those courses to get up to speed swiftly.
I did think that my MA prepared me sufficiently for the PhD coursework. I do wish I’d have endeavored to write a Master’s Thesis, which was optional for my degree program, now that I’m working on the dissertation. That experience would serve me well at this point.
Time management is an oxymoron. We don’t manage our time, we manage our tasks to fit the time available. In doing so, we often are trying to fit more tasks into that finite amount of time.
When I started school, I convinced myself that it was the perfect timing. I was young(er), single, no kids, settled in a job, etc. My plan was that I would start and finish my PhD by the time I was 30 (in 2003).
I was determined not to let school get in the way of my life - I didn’t want to change any habits. I still wanted to work full time (plus overtime), hang out with my friends, date, spend time with family, etc. I actually didn’t talk much about being in school, keeping it quiet meant that it wasn’t intruding into anything.
I found that I was able to plan ahead for my classes. I often spent lunch hours doing reading or participating in online class discussions. That way I was able to enjoy my free time.
As time went on, school took up more time. I found that when the end of the term came, I needed to take 1-2 days off work to finish the final projects for the term. That process actually worked well for a while.
I really needed (and appreciated) the structure of the coursework. I needed deadlines.
As time went on and I progressed, the work became less structured and required more self-discipline. That’s where I’ve fallen short. It is now 2009. I finished my comprehensive exam in 2006 and officially became a PhD candidate. For the last 2-3 years, I’ve been working on TDD (That Damn Dissertation). The self-paced nature of this work has been a real challenge for me, and I hope to make significant progress with this throughout this year.
I would encourage everyone to become aware of how you best accomplish tasks and try to make the most of your time.
Capella does a great job getting their students started with the online degree program. There was a course for professional development that really helped me plan out my strategy for degree completion. The class really delved deep into getting the students ready for the intensity of an online PhD program.
First, we developed a Degree Completion Plan. We looked at all the requirements for the degree program including the coursework, residencies, and other requirements. Then we considered our lives and work schedules and came up with an anticipated timeline for completion. This created a master plan that we could work from.
Then we figured out the support we’d need to be successful. This was our chance to look at the personal, professional, and academic support network that existed and to identify any gaps. This process also encouraged dialogue with those resources to help “rally the troops” when it was necessary.
Finally, we worked with an advisor/instructor who has been through the coursework and who could provide relevant insight into the demands of the program. We were encouraged to become committed and dedicated to the process to ensure we were able to complete it successfully.
In my experience, many schools have some such “getting started” first course. It’s more intense than an orientation, but more personal than traditional coursework.
The steps we took in this course were helpful, essential really to any new student to work through. Identify a plan. Set realistic goals. Evaluate the support network. Be open to help. Identify study strategies and techniques that will work best for your learning style and available time. Create a disciplined approach to your studies. Getting off on the right track from the beginning is essential to long term success.
Once the application process was complete, the enrollment process seemed quite straightforward and streamlined. Capella has enrollment periods, so all applications needed to be in by a certain date in order to enroll for the next term.
From a scheduling standpoint, there was not a lot to consider. Scheduling the course was easy - I worked with my counselor over the phone to get scheduled for the first course. There was a course that all incoming students take, so that was the course I was enrolled in. For this course, there were no books to purchase, so it didn’t take much time to get up and running.
Every school will have a different process for getting students into classes, but generall these steps need to be complted: application, financial aid, enrollment. It’s important to find out how long the school expects that process to last and use that timeframe as a guide to ensure you’re applying in time to start classes when you plan to.
Once all the application and financial aid is in place, the enrollment for courses should follow pretty easily. Most schools will have counselors that work with you to ensure that you’re getting the courses that you need in the proper timeframes to complete the degree within the anticipated timeframe.
