Employers love it when they have the manpower to get things accomplished. When looking for a new employee, they want to find someone who has the necessary skills to make it happen. Sometimes, a position can go unfilled for months (or years) if the right person isn’t found.
Your educational background can be very important. If you’ve taken some classes during the year, it can help you get a bigger salary during your annual review. If you are going into a new field or industry, but have the right degree, you’ll probably get more interviews than with work experience alone. Having the right education and job experience means being able to move up, faster. Taking classes can be inconvenient, and add additional burden to your budget.
“Get your degree ONLINE.”
Sure, you’ve seen this phrase somewhere while surfing the World Wide Web, but have you thought about what it means to go back to school through an online program? There is probably more to it than you first considered.
Online education, (or distance learning, online learning), is a term that refers to taking classes over the Internet, usually using a course management system. For the most part, if you sign up for an online class, your school has you login to a special section of their web site. After logging in, you’ll have access to a course syllabus, some reading materials, maybe some lectures, and expect to see a discussion room or two. So long as your school and program are accredited, rest assured, you are taking a real class, with a legitimate professor and genuine classmates.
Online education appeals most to working professionals, military personnel, and parents of minor children. Because you can access your class materials through the Internet, you can essentially take your course anywhere. You can login during your lunch break at the office; e-mail your professor from the airport; check your grades from your PDA.
There are many types of online education. One type is called self-paced, which means that, so long as you complete your course within a certain period of time (say, six, nine, or 12 months), you can progress through your work as quickly or as slowly as you’d like. This type of online education is a great option if your schedule varies widely, and it changes from day to day.
“Asynchronous” courses are classes that do not require you to login in at a specific time, but your work has to be completed at a deadline assigned by your professor. This type of class is a great option for someone who has children; they can wait to do their course work after their kids are asleep.
Taking classes online can help you freshen your skills and stay competitive in your industry, which helps you move up the ladder and negotiate a higher salary (or a bigger raise). Online education provides you with a way of keeping your professional goals in sight without disrupting your life.