Posted by Sharon Cece on January 22nd, 2009
The advent of online educating was, to me, what the invention of the remote control was to couch potatoes– the answer to a prayer. For the longest time I wanted to go back to school but I could not find the time or the energy to physically work it out. So, I stared at college catalogs and brochures and thought about it but never took the next step to get to the front step.
Fortunately, I never had to take that step. Leg-wise, that is.
It was a brilliant notion to have college “come to me”; everything I needed to partake in the cup of higher learning right from my bedroom office. Thus, the beginning of my online education was convenient, time-saving and close-at-hand. It also was at times frustrating, overwhelming and confusing. I’ll elaborate.
I had never participated in online study before. I just assumed to go to college you had to drive your car to university, sit in class, drive home. Do your homework, drive back, take your test. Ok, so now here I am and I can do everything from my computer. Wow. First, login. Oh wait, I need a student password. Which I didn’t have. So I have to contact a rep at the college, leave a message, someone calls back in a day or two. They refer me to someone else to whom I leave a message. That person is on vacation, so I contacted the next person on the list. This went on a little while.
Here you have a perfect introduction to online learning. Never expect an immediate reply; sometimes it’s a day, sometimes two, sometimes even a week. Often you are corresponding by email and emails have issues just like any other electronic medium; as well, computers hiccup, servers burp and e-programs take coffee breaks . As with any process, expect the unexpected.
Ok, now you have all your logins, student id numbers, passwords and sites. Next, you have to navigate. For me, this was the most confusing as a “freshman online”. At FSU, you had to find your online college site, then your specific course site, and then any other site that was an extension of your course site. There’s also the student information sites and main FSU webpage, the bookstore sites, financial information site, all the necessary emails and contact information, etc. and so on. I consider myself pretty adept at site navigation but I did feel overwhelmingly inept until I had all the sites bookmarked for easy retrieval.
Moreover, since you rarely if ever speak to your professor, TA or even advisor face-to-face, as referenced above, communication is seldom immediate. This can be a tad frustrating when you are stuck on an issue. Therefore, as a freshman, gather all the relevant contact info right away and keep it in a handy spot for reference. Also include as many students as you can; become friendly with seniors or veteran online students who have been in the program awhile as they will give you great advice. This is no time to be shy; in fact, online students need to be more bold than traditional students due to the lack of physical interaction. Be sure to contact your advisor or professors with any questions or concerns, and try not to get too frustrated if you don’t receive an answer to your question right away. Sometimes it takes a little while, but you will get an answer.
Finally, give yourself a break. As with any new adventure, time is the best teacher. Sooner than you think, you will be navigating the course sites and course work like you’ve been doing it all your life. You’ll understand how to operate Blackboard, Java, virtual classrooms, threaded discussions (don’t worry, I didn’t know what any of that was either). You’ll even know it so well that you’ll be helping other confused freshman coming in asking you for help. And you’ll do it all from the privacy of your home, office or the great outdoors, even from a friend’s house or beach house. You’ll go to college without ever having to “go” to college. You know, online educating might even be better than the remote control.
Well, unless you happen to be a very cultured couch potato–then it’s a toss up.
Posted by Sharon Cece on January 12th, 2009
Enrollment to an online course of study, in my case, involved four specific steps: Desire, Action, Reaction, and Finalization. Desire was the part of the enrollment process where I asked myself, “Do I want to return to college to get my degree”? Most of the time, my answer was “I’m not sure” and so, this part of the process took the longest and was the most challenging stage. Without desire, my commitment simply wasn’t going to stick and the effort wasn’t going to be expended in a worthwhile fashion.
Once my desire question phased into “Yes, now is the time”, however, the rest of the enrollment process went quite smoothly. It took just a few minutes to inquire about a program, and a few minutes more to fill out an application. At this point, the Action step was engaged. Once I was ready, it was just a matter of gathering my information and submitting forms. I realize that for some people, filling out forms falls somewhere between the seventh and eighth circle of hell in Dante’s Inferno; yet for myself it was not too difficult and the forms were submitted fairly quickly. Which led me to the third step of the process, Reaction, or Response. This was the step whereby, once I was accepted, I had to submit additional information for the program in order to officially enroll. This included my prior test scores, SAT results, transcripts from all other colleges, etc, to my advisor. Let me point out, that locating all the other transcripts turned out to be an unexpected speed bump in this process since I had attended three other colleges by the time I enrolled to FSU’s online program. Yet, by taking one school at a time everything was submitted in a timely fashion.
Finalization was the last part of the enrollment process where I tied up any loose ends and worked on payment plans and logistics. At this point I knew where I was going, what program I would enroll in, and where everything was that I needed to turn in. Now, I had to find a way to pay for it. Next to Desire, financing was the more difficult part of the process since now I needed to fill out financial aid forms, both federal and local. I also had to decide how many classes I would take per semester and the costs associated accordingly. Give yourself a bit of time to get this part finished.
Which leads to time. A prospective student should give him or herself plenty of time from program search to program login, ideally one full year. This would allow for all of the steps above to be carried out without too much Sturm und Drang, with a moment left over to breathe between stages. Enrollment can be completed in less time of course, perhaps even a semesters breath, but there is certain to be rush and hassle on the part of the student which could lead to errors in processing and even placement in programs that might not be the student’s primary choice. A college education is important and getting the program you want is essential. So give yourself about a year if possible to work out all the details of online study, to turn in the all the required forms, to know where you’re going and how you’re going to get there (and how to pay for it). Inevitably, unexpected issues will arise but you can address them in a fairly relaxed fashion and with time on your side to begin your online program exactly when you planned.
