> Having said that, I want to add, that in my experience, > on-line course are much harder to stay focused. It takes > much more self-discipline to do the work and put in the > attendance. Much too easy for someone like me to > procrastinate and get distracted, especially with work and > family. If you try this path, just make sure you set > yourself up for success. Create a time and space to do the > work and stick to it just like one would do if they attended > a live class. Don't fall into the trap of because the course > is on-line, one can do it any old time when one has a few > minutes. Set the time aside ahead of time and keep to it.
I already chose Strayer and am currently 3 classes away from my Masters degree. I knew that it was going to be different from the traditional on-campus experience but that did not bother me. I knew I had to set time aside each day or certain times during the week so I just did it; just as if I was scheduling the time to be on campus and in the labs, etc. I made myself turn off the TV, turn off the cell phone, etc and did the work. I found I got a lot out of the courses with the exception of 2 of them, which was not necessarily the fault of the instructor but rather the material was boring and not a class I would have chosen to take had it not been required for the degree. The conclusion I have come to is that I do feel I got a good masters education but at a huge cost, that being having to defend and explain the choice to go with Strayer over another school (on campus) to people who are ignorant to the fact that you get out of school based on the effort you put in. Bottom line is this: you can go to a big name school and walk away with a great education; you can go to a big name school and walk away with a crappy education; same holds true for lesser known/recognized schools. The deciding factor is the effort you put into wherever you go. My main objective with pursuing the masters degree was to allow myself to move up into positions that require a masters degree; to build on my undergraduate studies (specifically with systems analysis and design / modeling / architecting / simulation); and finally to make myself more valuable from a billability standpoint when being used on gvt contracts where the bill rate for me goes up as my level of education does. I am confident that I met my goals; time will tell! The main concern I have is that until distance learning becomes more mainstream I will have to defend and explain my choice to people who have negative opinions on the topic which just sucks. I was hoping that IT people for one would be more open to the distance learning idea, but many are not. Mike ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=17 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:133199 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
