Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Thomas, Master of Information Systems Management
In his decision to return to school, Thomas reflects that he chose online education because "it gives me flexibility," and it allows him to "strike a balance" between his duties as a husband, a musician, an engineer, and an activist.
Name: Thomas McKeithan
Age: 31
Marital Status: Married
Current Location: Washington, D.C.
Personal Quote: "I make it a point to speak with each of my professors sometime during the semester. It's not just on the schools; I have an obligation, too."
School: Keller Graduate School of Management
Target: Master of Information Systems
"An online, or term, environment is intense. You can easily get behind, whereas in a campus or semester environment, you can slip a little. It's a slower pace." With strong conviction, he adds, "Anything worth working for is worth the energy and investment."
When asked what kinds of challenges he has encountered in regards to pursuing his education, he comments, "[In 2001] Keller really made an effort to make sure things were done," though it was clear that there was "not a cohesive accommodations strategy" in place to provide him an other students with disabilities the tools they needed to optimize their courses. "It has been perplexing."
He goes on to say, "You have to convince folks to comply with the law. Accommodations is not simply extending the time allocation for students to take exams and quizzes, but it is the implementation of an effective strategy that insures that the student with a disability is able to grasp the material and navigate the program successfully."
After beginning his courses, he took some time off, but started back up again in March 2006. "I made it clear to my academic advisor that I wanted an accommodation strategy that mapped to the program's requirements."
He began all the necessary paperwork in mid-February; but it was not until mid-April, after classes began, that anything was approved. The result was that "I essentially had to complete the March 2006 term's tasks in May which caused me to get behind with the May 2006 term's work, but with God's strength and by working collaboratively with Keller, I survived the storm!"
Thomas had taken time away from work in order to ensure that he would be able to receive proper accommodations: "It was a really stressful time for me. I needed a reader for my courses [in order to] manage and get through this."
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