Online College Course Forum

I'm setting out my work program for the Christmas holidays. I am taking nearly two weeks in holiday leave, to get together my in-depth proposal for my thesis. This is a major task, and I want a good and long run at it so that I can concentrate on the topic and get the documentation finished by the time I return to work.

I have been working on my online PhD for just a year now - it seems incredible that this time has elapsed, I feel that I am really just beginning. But in fact, when I look at what I have achieved in this time, I am amazed at the results.

Most of all I am amazed at how much I enjoy studying. There are plenty of times that I loose enthusiasm - many of them documented in this blog - but I haven't lost my desire to do this work, in fact it has increased over the year.

Studying online is one of the best parts of this process. It allows me to work in the way I work best, and it also gives me access to people and resources that I would find very difficult to have contact with in any other way. So all in all, this has been a very good idea.

I've just attended a graduation ceremony for the educational institution that I work for, and I'm delighted to say that 25 percent of the degree students that graduated studied at least part of their programs online - and some 10% studied online programs. Nursing was a particular triumph, and the online program allowed a large proportion of the people who had enrolled to gain a degree that they could not have studied for any other way.

I talked to one student who lives in a really rural environment, with no settlement of more than 8,000 people nearer than 50 miles. She has a family of four, and her husband is a fisherman so is not at home for a large proportion of the week. She graduated this year, and has been offered a community nursing job in her rural region. She now has the chance to work without having to relocate the whole of her family. She told me that this at last gave her the chance to seriously contribute to the family budget, and would transform the lives of the whole family. She is also taking a job that no-one else in the area is qualified for.

Did you know that you can build up qualifications by taking short courses and selected programs? Many people wish to get qualified, but they cannot necessarily commit to prolonged periods of study. With creidt transfers and cross crediting, and by selecting educational programs that have good provision for this method of study, you can find that you study subjects and gradually build up your credits for qualifications.

This is particularly useful if you want or need to study online, as you can select defined subjects or relevant courses, and use the credits you gain from assessment to be used for academic awards. You need to talk to your online school or university about how this works, and the programs they offer on this basis so that you can make the best possible use of this credit accumulation.