Discipline Is the Key to Success

Posted by Sharon Cece on October 28th, 2008

Discipline is the key to any success in life, but especially in regard to an online education. For those attending college on campus, degree seekers receive notices to arrive at campus locations where information is provided immediately by a campus representative. Books are purchased in line at the bookstore, student fees are paid at the Bursar’s office, and social activity takes place en route to any of these destinations in addition to the Student Union. Coursework is learned in classrooms according to the university’s and the professor’s schedule. Discipline of course is required; however, guidance and information are more easily obtained and identified on campus comparable to the online milieu.

Online learning is a wonderful and innovative way to obtain your degree, and certainly the primary benefit is flexibility. Yet, success occurs most often when flexibility on one end is pared closely with discipline on the other. Since specific schedules are not set by the professor, the student must set them and be diligent in keeping up with the coursework and classroom discussions and virtual class participations. Financial aid as well as billing is handled exclusively online, and while this is convenient it sometimes requires a bit of e-sleuthing to locate the information and websites you are seeking. Often there are no reminders of testing and projects ongoing as might happen in a campus classroom; for this reason the student’s best friend is a good planner.

The first semester online can be a bit daunting, as the student will discover that much of the information must be located online and with perhaps a bit more work than just walking into a building and asking questions. It takes time to learn to navigate “Blackboard”, the e-Education platform, as well as the threaded discussions and virtual classrooms. However, after the first semester or two, the student finds he or she becomes quite adapt at online navigation. The technology can be challenging but is also very exciting and opens the student to a new world of learning. One college graduate, Francesca, shares this experience:

“My college had more and more distance learning.   Having had done it, I say that it is actually harder in some subjects.  It is accelerated and a lot of the learning is your own understanding of the discipline.  If the discipline is one you are interested in - like psychology - then you do well.   If it is statistics, then some on campus or tutoring can help.   My son does distance learning with MIT and now they have chat rooms and the teacher may have a web CAM and you can see her and if you have CAM they can see you.   Sometimes the teacher has a white board and can draw diagrams for the class.  It’s really neat. In any and all events, you have to have discipline, discipline, discipline”.

For the student who wants to attend college but needs more flexibility than the campus can offer, online learning is a wonderful alternative. Discipline in study and scheduling will ensure the success that is necessary to complete curriculum goals.

 

Tags: college, coursework, Degrees, Education and Technology, online learning, Success in college

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Colleges and Universities, My Online Experience, Online Diploma, Online Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.