Online Learner Profiles: Marie
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Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Marie, Ph.D. in General Psychology
Meet Marie
Name: Marie Andreoli
Age: 56
Title: Instructor, Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Employer: Keystone College
School: Capella University
Target: Ph.D. in General Psychology, 2008
"I knew then that they all couldn't be wrong," she adds.
Marie is now a believer in online learning.
When Keystone began to put their courses online, they asked if anyone could teach Psychology 101 online and Marie jumped at the chance. During the summer, she teaches two sections of Psychology 101 online.
Marie has used her experiences as an online learner to improve her own teaching. She makes an extra effort to be available and accessible to her students after having had "a few instructors who were hardly in the courseroom and gave little or no feedback."
However, she doesn't feel that problem is specific to online classes. "I don't hold this against online learning however, because there are poor instructors in face-to-face classes also," she says.
Her experiences have also taught her the importance of organization, a fact she emphasizes with her own students. "Develop top-notch organizational skills," she advises. "Just because the class is online does not mean it does not exist or that it is easy."
Between teaching classes, advising students, and spending 15 to 20 hours a week on her own classwork, Marie's schedule is so full that she says unequivocally, "I have no personal life." Luckily, her summer schedule is considerably lighter and more flexible, since the classes she teaches are online.
"I find I have more personal time in the summer because I am teaching two online classes and I can do that from my couch or front porch," she says. "I am also an avid gardener during the summer. Teaching online allows me to stay home and garden."
Marie expects to begin writing her dissertation this fall and hopes to finish by December 2008.
With her energy and persistence, there seems to be no doubt she will succeed. "I firmly believe you get out of a school what you put into it. If you are going to work hard and not expect a ‘free ride,' then you will come out a winner," she says. "I'm really glad I did it and I am looking forward to my letters."
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