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It’s a thriving industry today, mostly because of the number of people signing up for degree and diploma courses to further their careers or achieve a personal milestone.There’s no doubt that without online education and the conveniences it offers, it would be very difficult for working people to achieve their academic dreams and professional ambitions. However, online education today is not what it used to be a few years ago. No, it’s not that the quality has fallen; rather, it has improved by leaps and bounds because of the fierce competition from all quarters – even highly reputable traditional institutions like MIT have jumped into the fray by offering courses online
Even so, people are finding online education more difficult than ever before. It’s not that the course material has suddenly become much more challenging, just that there are too many distractions that make it hard for them to concentrate on their lessons. Most people who sign up for online courses usually juggle work and their personal lives along with their classes and assignments instead of quitting work or taking time off to pursue their education. It’s a tough ask, but most people manage to do what’s expected of them.
Today however, the Internet is proving to be a very distractive medium – if you’re online, it takes a great deal of self control to avoid activities that waste time; there are social networks where people seem to be doing or saying something all the time, there are online games that are so addictive that people need therapy to stay off them; and then there are the millions of sites that you can surf even as you’re supposed to be studying or preparing for an assignment.
So if you’re the kind who has trouble concentrating, if you’re not disciplined enough to focus on what needs to be done, you could end up continuing your degree longer than necessary. Some people start out with enthusiasm, but as the months go by, they find that they’re unable to keep up the pace because of other commitments or because they find that they are swayed by distractions.
Today, it’s the distractions that have taken priority – you find that responding to a random comment on Facebook or a tweet on Twitter take precedence over your work, your studies, your friends, and even your family. It’s like the only people who matter and the only things that are worth paying attention to are related to the web.
It’s not the Internet that’s the villain here; it is the way we use it that is detrimental to our lifestyle and inner satisfaction. However, there are people who are clever enough to use the all-pervasive nature of the web to further their education – they use social networks to make their lessons easier, they learn more from websites that provide information, and they search for tools that will help them study more efficiently and thoroughly.
So yes, even though the distractions are many, it’s the people who know how to tap the potential of the Internet to enhance their academic pursuits who emerge winners.
This guest post is contributed by Debbie Owen, she writes on the topic of online doctoral degree programs.
About OnlineDoctorateDegree.org
OnlineDoctorateDegree.org is a nonprofit website devoted to providing students who are considering entering into an online doctoral degree program with unbiased information which they can use to assess the pros and cons of such decisions.
Created by Debbie Owen in July 2010, OnlineDoctorateDegree.org was created as an outgrowth of Debbie’s frustration with trying to research online doctoral programs and finding nothing but promotional materials or incomprehensible public interest websites. To help fill the gap, Debbie has created OnlineDoctorateDegree as a straightforward non-profit site which discusses the relative merits and drawbacks of obtaining your doctoral degree online from someone who has actually been through the process.
She welcomes your comments at her email id.
Many thanks to Debbie Owen.
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