Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Ann Marie, Master of Healthcare Administration
Why did you choose Seton Hall University?
What I like about Seton Hall's approach to distance education is that students are required to meet face-to-face at three different times during the 23-month program—at the beginning, middle, and end.
Name: Ann Marie Paul
Age: 45
Location: New Jersey
Occupation: College Professor
Advice to New Students: Anticipate that going back to school will demand a lot of time.
School: Seton Hall University
Target: MHA, Fall 2008
Therefore, my fellow students are not simply user names on a screen; they are real people and I have already spent a weekend getting to know them. In some online programs, the only time students might meet is at graduation if they choose to attend.
Additionally, Seton Hall is an actual place that exists in South Orange, NJ, and is not something that exists only in cyberspace.
Getting a degree from an actual university with a longstanding reputation for academic excellence (rather than one that was created for the sole purpose of online education) is important to me. The Seton Hall name and reputation are at stake when it comes to its distance education offerings in addition to the on campus, traditional offerings.
What do you think sets distance learning apart from traditional face-to-face education?
Distance learning allows for a diversity of instructors, thus allowing us to be taught by the best people in their fields, no matter where they are located in the country.
Because class participation is not only expected but essential to online learning, I believe that distance learning requires a greater time commitment than traditional classroom learning. There is never a time that I can sit in the classroom and absorb what is being said without responding, because I'm expected to contribute according to rubrics set up for the threaded discussion of a particular class. However the educational rewards of the increased effort and participation are exponentially greater.
It is significant that I believe distance education to be beneficial, because I am an instructor in a traditional classroom and have always believed in the power of such education. I don't think that online education will replace classroom education completely, but that it will help to transform higher education as we know it in the United States.
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