I’ve been on a long, slow road to complete my college degree. I had my son young, work full time, and missed the whole traditional college route. I started taking two courses a semester for my AA degree at Tallahassee Community College, but the long hours on campus in the evenings after a full eight-hour day working was really stretching me thin and I was running out of patience. I had very little time left at home, and it seemed more of a waste of my precious time to drive, park, sit in class, drive, get home, get dinner, get my son to bed, and finally crack a book. I was making more of an effort to get to class than I was studying and doing the actual work. I finally finished my AA after four years but got frustrated, so I ended up taking another break to focus on my job and child.
Once I decided I was ready to pursue my Bachelor’s of Science at Florida State University, I knew I’d need to take a different approach. I had completed a blended class previously (a program that is taught partially in class and partially online), and I really loved the freedom the online learning gave me. I build as much of my schedule around online or distance learning courses as I could and never looked back. I get so much more done, and even though there may actually be MORE work to online classes, the time saved driving and the flexibility of working on my school work whatever free time I have has been well worth the extra cost and different teaching style. E-Learning has become a bright beacon to many adult students who have little free time but want to better their careers. Below is a link to an article with similar stories.
http://www.workingmother.com/career-advice/back-school-yes-we-mean-you
However, the allure of online courses is not just enticing the non-traditional students (older, working, back to college group); the fresh from high school and graduate students are also flocking to the flexibility of distance learning. We live in an internet world, and today’s students are quite content with watching lectures online, posting to discussion boards or emailing classmates, and submitting digital papers rather than physical ones. Online courses support one of Francis Cairncross’ Trendspotters Guide theories: through the “death of distance” students can learn whatever they want, whenever they want, from the comfort of their own homes. Colleges have matched this increased interest in internet-based higher education with an increase in e-course offerings. There are a number of degrees you can complete online now. You can take individual classes online, or you can take your entire degree online.
This link has a short video describing their distance learning programs
https://distance.fsu.edu/experience-fsu-online
Check out the link below to see FSU’s current Distance Learning Graduate Programs
https://distance.fsu.edu/students/graduate-programs
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