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Online Learner Profiles: Chris

Profiles of Real Online Learners

Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Chris, B.A. in Liberal Studies

In your opinion, what would you say is the best thing about distance learning?

It offered me so much flexibility with the coursework. For me, this is essential because I'm a full-time working adult. You can work hard, finish up a section and move on to the next. I like this aspect of online learning, as I was able to manage my studies so I could have free time with my family. My son is now 31 and my daughter is 29.

Everything is there right in front of you on the website: you know what is going to be required of you. This was reassuring for me when I first entered the program after being away from college for so many years.

Having been in both traditional on-campus classes and online classes, how would you compare them?

I found the online curriculum to be highly creative and intellectually engaging and the visual content draws me in. It always perks my curiosity. The course websites have suggestions for optional continued research and have made me want to research deeper into whatever I have been learning.

Being an adult student, I am self-motivated and have a high desire to get the most out of my education, and online learning gives me the tools to do so. When I was in college before, I had to spend hours at the library but now I can click into the library with my mouse and there it is. Everything is just way more convenient.

Do you miss interacting with other students, in a face-to-face manner?

At first I thought I would miss not interacting with other students in person. But many of the classes use Desire2Learn, a program that allows you to communicate with other students. We post comments and then talk back and forth with this program. In some classes we post our journals and essays, and we write messages commenting back and forth about our ideas.

This works really well, as I am able to learn from each student in class. Everyone has a different take on the way they go about their research and writing. So I feel like I am learning from a lot of perspectives and it enhances the learning experience.

Do you ever feel as if you're just teaching yourself, without a professor there to instruct you?

No, because the content is developed by a content specialist and the class professor communicates in-depth in writing with you.

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