Online college classes have been gaining massive popularity in the recent years. And the hype makes sense, especially here in Boston, where some of the schools are sort of out of reach for many people. Why pay 30-40 thousand dollars a year for an average university, when studying from a bedroom could cost hundreds of times less? Online degrees are disrupting academia, however, I still believe that traditional education is here to stay. And in my opinion, online education is probably going to be an additional alternative that some could prefer.
To demonstrate my way of thinking, I will give you a personal example. I find myself passionate about software development, and after studying for my bachelor's in business administration at a private school makes me reconsider many aspects of paying money for a degree. I am simply not certain that I will like it enough to earn required money back. Therefore, online IT degree seems to be a great option. Not necessarily a degree itself, but courses in general for the sake of knowledge could do. However, after trying to take numerous online classes on Coursera and Udemy, I realized that it is not my cup of tea. Not IT, but online courses in general. I desperately need human interaction when studying, otherwise, I grow bored of what I am doing, and it leads to me giving up on what I have started.
On the other hand, I know people who have no problems studying on their own, and would actually prefer not to be destructed by others. A story a friend of mine told me about a friend of his always comes to my mind. That guy’s mom disowned him when he was 16, and some other family let him live in their house. After emotional shock passed, they told he needed to be making money for himself somehow, and as some help provided the kid with a book on Java. He spent about a year reading different printed materials on Java and other programming languages, and then become confident to get a job in the field. So at 17, he was earning more than enough money to support himself, and he reached it by reading books. No formal degree, boot camps or anything like that. I always find that story very motivational, it especially tells how much a human being can do when they do not have many other options. However, I also think he did like the learning approach he used, or at least he could easily tolerate it. Otherwise, would a 16-year-old spend a year buried in books without seeing monetary results immediately?
This made me think, that approaches to education should be as personal as possible. And while very personal approaches can be very expensive, people probably should study the way they want. I think of that internet meme describing the school system where different animals are lined up, and required by a teacher to climb a tree and get a banana.
The absolute benefit of this ebola-like widespread of online degrees is that it gives us an extra choice option. And if you do some little research, you can see that many people prefer this type of education. For example, Boston University states on its website that 3,200 students are currently enrolled in the university's online programs, and 8,486 people are BU graduates with degrees earned online. Harvard and MIT offer videos online for free from some of their courses, and many other follow their example. Good thing is that education is getting more accessible, and you it can be anything from education degree online to IT, or rocket science (would not be that certain about the last one though).
If you already have some degree, you probably know it already. If not, look at as many options as possible when choosing what and how to study. See what educational format suits best for you, so that you would not have to regret thousands of dollars spent on something you do not like, like my friend who studied at Suffolk for three years and dropped out a year before finishing with $100,000 in debt, because he did not want to get another $34,000 in debt for something he realised he disliked.
