| The dream of completing your
college education or furthering your studies is no longer elusive. The World
Wide Web boom has brought education to your key board. Many established and
renowned universities are offering degrees in varied disciplines through
online courses. Studies done by the Distance Education and Training Council
in Washington and other regulatory institutions indicate that over 2.25
million people are registered for online courses at universities in the US.
Before registering for a course you need to spend some time thinking. Do I
want to do a course that will further my career or learn something that I
have an abiding interest in? Will I be devoted and complete the course work
in time? Take a look at your schedules and find out where you will slot in
time for study.
Online courses offer great conveniences,
flexibility, and a world class education brought to your computer. While
choosing a college consider the following: • What are the basic
qualifications you need to be eligible for a course are there any tests you
need to take. • Is the college reliable? Does it have the required
accreditations? • How large are the classes? When the class strength is
smaller then each student will receive more time from the instructors. On
the other hand a large enrollment indicates success of the course. So you
need to carefully weigh all the different aspects. • Research blogs and
other online messaging centers to find out about the opinion and experiences
of students who have satisfactorily complete courses or are disgruntled.
Read surveys and analysis about online education. Ask the college for
referrals. Examine alumni success. Find out what percentage of students
successfully complete the program and how many work professionally in the
field of study. • Study the online curriculum as well as suggested
time-frame carefully. Find out how many students have been able to complete
the course work within the given time. Determine whether the coursework
meets your educational needs and career goals. Check how current the course
work is and whether the textbooks and study materials are relevant. • Ask if
the university has a 24/7 customer service program and whether you will be
eligible for any technical help regarding the software or programs you will
need to use. Many universities assign a personal advisor to students one who
will answer questions willingly and take care all nitty gritties like
enrollment procedures, course work submissions and so on right until
graduation. • Check out the credentials for the faculty, their
qualifications and training to conduct an online class room with ease.
Otherwise it may be a question of the “blind leading the blind.” • Read the
offer document carefully and ensure that the course is 100% online. Some
universities are known to use mail, videotapes, and on-campus programs as
part of “online course” work. Ask how long the online program has been in
place and are there any rough spots they have encountered. Read carefully
the institution’s ethical standard document, most reputed schools have a
policy readily available for review. • Check thoroughly the institutions
financial history and current position. Make sure you are not registering
with a fly-by-night operator. • Find out what the accreditations of the
university are. In the US accreditations come from Middle States, New
England, North Central, Northwest, and Southern Western. They have a
membership program as well as a system wherein each others accreditations
are acknowledged. • Most important ask about fees and financial aid. Find
out what the tuitions fees are and whether any other costs like lab fees,
technology fees and so on are to be paid. You will also have to cost
expenses towards maintaining your computer and its peripherals like
scanners, printers, and fax modem, as well as Internet costs and provider
fees.
Surf the World Wide web and visit directories
like : http://www.collegenet.com/ ; http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php
; as well as http://www.forbes.com/online_colleges.html among thousand other
sites. See official sites like http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool/ and http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/educ/edlinks.htm
and http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml . It is an important decision to be made
and should be made with knowledge and concrete facts |
