Angela Mullen

Meet Angela Mullen

Name: Angela Mullen

Age: 32

Marital Status: Married

Children: Four (2 boys & 2 girls)

Why she choose distance learning: "Children of course!"

School: National University

Target: B.A. in Early Childhood Education, December 2007

With two boys and two girls under the age of six — "one shy of a basketball team," as she puts it — it's no surprise that Angela Mullen uses humor to balance school and family life.

"You want to know about my life? Can't you just tell everyone that I'm this really cool, collected chick who makes great art?" asks Angela.

Angela Mullen is working to complete the bachelor's degree she started years ago at a traditional university, where in order to get a Master's in Art Therapy she had to choose among three different avenues for a bachelor's; either fine arts, crafts, or education with emphasis on the Arts.

"Back then, I just didn't have the motivation or the confidence to seriously pursue fine art by itself, so I went with art education and thought, 'Well, no matter what happens, at least I'll be able to teach,'" explains Angela.

Then, in 1998, Angela decided to pack up and move to California. For financial and other reasons, she postponed her education while settling into a new life. Before she knew it, she was grounded in a career as an account manager for a magazine and had met her future husband.

After her first baby was born, she confesses, work suddenly took a back seat. "I was kind of turned off to everything for a little while," she says. As her family grew, she quit her job to be at home with her children.

It was not too long, however, before Angela had what she describes as a "total awakening."

"One day I told my husband that I wanted to go back to school and I wanted to go back right now, sooner than now, like yesterday," says Angela.

A teacher himself, Angela's husband had always encouraged her to pursue her original goal of teaching. He had taken a couple of classes at National University, and recommended it highly.

"He suggested that, what with taking care of the kids and the time frame I wanted to finish my degree in, that I should do it online," says Angela. "But I was scared—I hadn't been to school in 10 years!"

Working for a magazine, she'd gained administrative experience but felt disconnected from student life. However, knowing that working in an office wasn't what she wanted to do when her kids grew up helped solidify her decision to return to school.

And with that, her husband was on the case.

"No joke, he did all the legwork," recalls Angela. "He scrambled to get all the materials together and did in about a week's time what would have taken most people three months. The admissions office was amazed."

In no time, Angela was enrolled in National University's teaching program.

But after that, she was on her own. She confesses that it was difficult to resume her education at first.

"I started at National with two babies and now I have four, so I kind of picked up things along the way, and I don't just mean school-wise," explains Angela.

"When I first started, I just did what it said on the screen I was supposed to do," says Mullen, mentioning that she found the online platform to be generally well-organized, defined, and easy to follow.

She knew what her assignments and deadlines were, and the tools and resources available to help. "But after a while I realized that there were actual people behind the computer!" says Angela.

She discovered something else that is all too easy for a distance learner to forget: that the lessons you work with are developed by experienced professors who are generally just as accessible as any other online resource.

Angela developed a strategy of immediately developing a personal rapport with her professors at the beginning of each class, which she feels lessen the problem of anonymity associated with nontraditional classrooms.

"I'll email a professor and let them know a little about me so I kind of stick out. I'm not creepy or over the top about it, but I get a lot more out of each class that way," says Angela.

According to Angela, the motivation and organization required to stay on top of an advanced workload online is not intended for all students.

"I would recommend it to almost anyone but it's not for everyone," she remarks. "You might not know if it works for you until you've tried it."

In her opinion, the flexibility and accessibility of online learning is worth it, so long as one is capable of managing his or her time in order to stay on top of weekly assignments.

"For me, doing everything online makes a world of difference," she explains.

Angela finds comfort in knowing that although she doesn't have the luxury of being away from the house in a classroom, she can be at her computer when she needs to, and just as importantly, away from it when she needs to be as well.

"I can have all the quality time with my kids and walk away from school things when I need to. If I'm not feeling well that day I can walk away and give twice as much effort the next day."

She continues, "I can work throughout the night when I don't sleep well. I just manipulate it so that it works with how I feel and what I have to do."

At National University, Angela is currently pursuing a dual credential and master's in Special Education and is helped by the fact that there is a lot of potential funding/assistance for students in that field. She received an Apple Grant of $19,000, which requires that the recipient spend a minimum of four years in the area of Special Ed.

"Though I may not want to work in the field of special education for the rest of my life, I think it would be gratifying for a while," says Mullen.

"With the degree I'm earning, I will definitely have something to fall back on, either K-12 or, if I go single-subject, it will probably be art."

After all these years, Angela still looks at art therapy as a possible future career and knows that her degree leaves several doors open for her and she can make choices as they come.

She continues to make art on her own time and volunteer locally on top of taking care of the kids, so it's one step at a time at this point. "Right now all I can add is comic relief," she says. "And I'll spare you that!"