Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Melissa, BS in Nursing
With today's highly evolved technology, learning has become more convenient. "Location doesn't matter," she says.
Name: Melissa Hinson
Age: 38
Marital Status: Newly married
Kids: 17-year old son, 13-year old daughter
Strength: Working 12-hour shifts as a single mom
School: University of Michigan
Target: B.S. in Nursing, 2006
Melissa has taken 'learning from the comfort of one's home' to a new level.
"I got Wi-Fi the minute it was available [and] I have a laptop; so I put my feet up on the couch and work in a recumbent position."
On days when she has three 12-hour shifts back-to-back, she doesn't do a lot of schoolwork. "I check e-mail [and] post on discussion boards for classes."
Students are expected to complete the reading, post comments to a discussion board, read all the responses and reply to two of them.
"I was spending hours and hours on-line," she says. "Now I don't read them all. Sometimes on a thread there'd be hundreds of posts." Melissa had to look for certain economies.
"Find out who thinks like you do and has interesting thoughts—make sure you read them the next time," she recommends. "So you're not wasting your time on those who don't have it together."
Her rule of thumb when considering how to allocate time is to budget three hours per week per credit hour. She says that may be underestimated for nursing classes, though. In electives such as design, philosophy, and English it has been fairly accurate.
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