Online Learner Profiles: Jennifer D.R.
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Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Jennifer D.R., Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences
Meet Jennifer
Name: Jennifer DeRosa
Age: 37
Marital Status: Married
Children: Four sons
Current Location: Illinois
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School: Thomas Edison State College
Target: B.A. in Social Sciences,
December 2008
While her dedication is admirable, it leaves her with little flexibility by way of a daily schedule. But Jennifer seems to have it down to a science.
"I know everything gets time, so I don't have guilt about not being able to do everything at the same time," she says.
"I homeschool my kids from 9-3, do housework from 3-5 when I am not teaching at the college, we have dinner and kids' activities until 8, I exercise at 8, put the kids to bed and start my school work at 10. I'm in bed by 2 A.M. most nights."
She points out that time management is key in balancing school, work, and family, and that one must be a "self-learner type person" to thrive on the challenge of distance learning.
"There isn't much hand-holding," she adds. "You should be motivated by the challenge of doing a lot of this on your own."
In fact, she says, it may be all too easy for the distance learner to feel that she is too much on her own. "In one situation, I posted a question about the mid-term exam on the forum (that's the proper procedure)," she recalls.
After emailing the instructor a week later, he referred Jennifer back to the syllabus, which she had already combed through to no avail. With so little face-to-face interaction, Jennifer felt ignored as her simple question went unanswered.
Even so, says Jennifer, though instructors can be valuable to the learning process of theory courses, "I don't think that seeing them in person is a requirement to the process—I know it isn't!"
She thinks the best thing about distance learning is that she can sit in the privacy of her living room at 2 A.M. working on lessons.
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