Online College Course Forum

I've just got details of some of my online courses for my PhD that I'm starting this year. Oh dear, I am really enthusiastic, but this means that I've got to put some serious thought into how to organize my professional life to make sure that I can study on a regular and routine basis. I need to plan my diary so that I can guarentee two sessions early morning, and make sure that I have sufficient reading time so that I will be able to formulate my studies in the context of previous research and current thinking in the topic.

Actually I'm spending my weekend this week to be sure that I'm really prepared and to plan my studies as well as my life. I find that going through this process not only makes my studies easier, it can also make my life easier too.

One of the great advantages of online college courses is that you don't need to be in the same country to study for an online degree or other online qualification. This can be really useful if you need to spend some time abroad, or if you travel for your job. I have a friend in New Zealand who is studying an MBA from a college in California. He enrolled for a traditional MBA degree, but within two months he was posted to New Zealand. His college ran the same program both online and through traditional classes, so they were very pleased to simply change his mode of study and continue with the degree. This kind of flexibility makes sense in today's fast moving world where careers can take you anywhere across the globe. You needn't miss out on your education, and you can fast track your promotional prospects.

I've been talking about programmes that have a mixed content of taught and online courses in the last few weeks. Today I saw the perfect example of how useful this kind of flexibility can be. A former student needed to update his knowledge in his specialist subject as he had just been given promotion but needed to be absolutely au fait with new developments. He can reasonably allow himself half a day a week for training, but this does not allow him to get up to speed fast enough. So we sat down and worked out a one-off program consisting of online courses, plus half a day a week's tutoring for four months. He has a perfect custom-made personal training course; the educational institution simply has to find time for a one-to-one tutorial every week for four months. It's made possible by the incredible flexibility of online learning.