Last year, a survey of online Learning found that more
than 1 in four students are taking classes online- that is
almost 6 million students!
Here to talk about the secrets to
staying motivated and on track when your class has no classroom
is Provost Dr. David Harpool from Northcentral University.
Good morning.
Alright, so let's talk about online learning.
Give me some advice for perspective students.
What do they need to know?
Well, it's not for everyone.
That's true.
It's difficult.
Um, but if you like technology and you can learn technology,
and you have a place you can do it at home, you're a
self-starter, and you're self-disciplined, it's a great
way to earn an advanced degree without ever having to walk into
a college campus.
I like that, alright.
Here's a statistic, that I want to share with you.
According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, more
than 25 percent of online students are raising children,
that's a lot.
So I'm assuming it must be very
difficult to online, children, making money, it's a lot to
balance.
Well it's a natural trend out there right now,
we're seeing in our own university, we're seeing 75
percent of our students have a partner and multiple kids at
home, 65 percent of our students are women, so it's telling you
that there's a real access now to higher education, but you
have to have family support.
Somebody's got to take care of the children, and we hear
stories from everyone, neighbor, pastor, mom, dad, brother,
sister, boyfriend, girlfriend, it seems like everybody finds
somebody who's committed to their degree.
And you have great tips on staying on track and
motivated.
The first one you suggest is, find a mentor.
That's big.
Absolutely, we have a system in which you're
one on one and in online learning because you're on
your own, you have to have one on one.
There's no group work so it's you and a faculty
member and it may be as many as twelve faculty members over your
entire degree.
Secondly, you absolutely have to have a place
to study.
You've got to.
Next, imperative here.
Create a schedule.
You gotta get a schedule that matches your place
to study.
And we've heard it in closets, in garages and in
bedrooms, where people say this is my study space they put do
not bother me on it.
Leave me alone.
They do the same time, every time.
And we have people who tell us that it's two to
three in the morning, we'll hear those stories.
Because they can make time at that hour.
That's when they make time and that's when the house is
quiet.
Alright so let's hear from one of your recent NCU
graduates, her name is Shandra Rodriguez Conti, we're going
to talk to her via skype, she's 55 years old and she just
got her PhD in education.
Good for her!
Let's see what she has to say.
For me, I had a very strategic support team, my
family and Northcentral, my family would just jump in and
take care of all the creature comforts, issues of the day, and
Northcentral develops, um a team, of experts, a team to
strategically move me through that dissertation.
So motivated she is, congratulations to her!
Right, she's great.
She's a great example to me who always
wanted a doctorate and man the students in her classroom are
going to really benefit from the fact that she's willing to do
this.
Now I know you touched upon this a little bit, but the
next tip it, it's really hard when you've got lot of kids in
the house, if there's somebody cleaning the house, you have to
have that private area.
That's a good tip.
You're right and to be engaged you have to not
make sure you're not being distracted, and to not be
distracted you have to find some ways to do that.
Some people actually study for example when
their kids are at day care, sometimes they do it when they
are at play dates, sometimes they do it during baseball
games, um when their kids are at sport events, they build around
when their kids are busy and lots of times the spouse or the
significant other just takes the kids during that time.
Okay, we're going to hear from
another recent graduate.
Her name is Regina Weatherford she
just received her doctorate, last year, in psychology.
Let's see what she has to say.
For me, I made sure I accomplished one thing a day, no
matter what it was, reading articles, taking notes, jotting
down my own thoughts, but I made sure I accomplished one thing a
day.
A great success story, I love it.
Right and again, someone who always wanted an
advanced degree in psychology, could not have done it on a
traditional campus, found an online option, because we
don't require residencies, there's no flying anywhere
having to be someplace.
And we're asynchronous which is
kind of a strange word but what it basically means is anytime,
anyplace, 24 hours as long as you have internet connectivity.
Okay, so we have the tips now let's talk about implimenting
those who want to do it and taking online classes with NCU.
How do we do it?
Well the key to online learning is to have a
flexible environment.
NCU offers that flexible environment, for
example we start every week instead of waiting a semester.
We also have one-on-ones, so you schedule individually with your
faculty member when it meets your schedule.
And most importantly, we have the
technology that makes us easy to communicate back and forth with
your faculty member, which is key when you're earning a
graduate degree.
So again, anyone who has internet
connection, ready to go.
Right.
We have over ten thousand students right now, they're
over all 50 states, they're in multiple countries, we have
stories of people finishing their doctorate degree for
example in the middle of major disasters.
But they find internet connectivity and
they're so committed to finishing it, that they complete
their doctorate.
You seem so proud when you talk about this.
I am proud, we've been doing this now 20 years.
And this is not first generation online
learning where it was bad lecture notes posted to the web.
This is high quality, interactive internet and it's
the quality of the experience, employers tell us, recent
studies indicate, is as good, if not better than regular
classroom and hear this you're learning all of these skills,
while you're taking the class, that's how modern corporations
and other institutions communicate with one another.
And an online degree is just as comparable as to a traditional
degree right?
Absolutely!
Every study says, that some employers
may even prefer it because it shows self-discipline and it
shows comfortableness with technology.
And for our viewers out there who'd like more
information, where do they go doctor?
They can go to ncu dot edu slash tba that's ncu dot
edu slash tba and they can find all the information they need
there.
Thank you so much, thank you for your passion.
And of course if you'd like more you
can go to our website that's the balancing act dot com and
don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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