Online College Course Forum

I've been longing for this weekend. I don't have a family, so usually I plan my weekend so that I spend some time doing household things, and some time either pursuing some of my outside interests or alternatively visiting new places - I'm living in a new country, and it's all fascinating to me.

However this weekend I decided that I should start to do some real thinking about what I've been reading for my online degree. So this morning I took all my notes of the books that I've been reading, and started to analyse the opinions, information and other references. I ended up with two pages of precis, and so I went off to the mountains to sit in the sun and think thoughts about the whole subject.

I found that I really started to think differently out there - I suppose it was because I was in a different physical environment than the one that I normally work in. Because of this I think I might have a different slant on my research and the final dissertation I write for my online PhD. Studying outdoors could be a new variation on online learning.

OK, so yesterday lunchtime I was doing some background reading for my online degree, and I found a couple of chapters where I started to feel some real emotion - I was really angry at what was being said, and I got absolutely judgemental about the situation. I simply had to ring up my supervisor, and I started to rant and rave about this stupid book, and if this was what the subject was about then I really had made a bad choice.

He said some soothing words, and suggested that I go away and start to read another book that gave a different perspective on the subject. After I calmed down, I felt silly - why had I allowed myself to get worked up about something that I was studying? I then realised just how important this is to me, and that I have invested a lot more than just time and money, this is going to be a piece of me for some years to come. So of course I was emotionally involved. But I don't need to be quite so passionate about everything I read!

Confidence is the name of the game when you're trying to study, and there is no doubt that studying online can really help you to gain confidence. You don't feel like you're in competition with other people in the same way as you do when you'r in class, and you can take as much time as you want to go through your class material to absorb it and begin to understand it.

If you are thinking of studying, do consider an online course. You can really gain ground and give yourself an excellent basis for all kinds of career advancement by making sure that your study skills are good.

James' comment a couple of days ago touched on an aspect of online study that I'm quite interested in. For many people, going back to studying is a difficult task. It means not only do you have to relearn the study skills that you have not used for many years, you also need the confidence to study with people of different ages - something that can be difficult if you are older.

Online programs can allow you to engage in study at your own pace, and make mistakes that are not necessarily visible to other people in your study group. If you are older you are also likely to have more self-disciple, so making time for study is a matter of routine.

I've just started the first course of my PhD, which is a refresher study course. I have studied on and off all my life, although this is the first mainly research programme I have undertaken.

Actually I'm enjoying the how to study and research course. Most of the material I'm reasonably familiar with, so it lets me slip effortlessly into the stream of study, and also allows me to take a little time to look at the new material that the course has presented me with. Quite a luxury, and I'm really enjoying studying this stuff online.

Online courses do allow you to pace yourself, and as I'm studying with an institution that I haven't studied with before, I'm becoming familiar with both the new Learning Management System and with the quirks of a new academic regime.