Going back into education

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by: David Rates
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I’m now going back into education, swotting it out in a virtual learning environment. I’ve enrolled on a Distance Learning course, with my computer as the primary tool, with coursework, research and even classes conducted via the Internet. I wouldn’t call it exactly the e-learning revolution, because I don’t get carried away with the swishy image of online learning, but it is useful and far more practical than having to beat the traffic and grab time off work to go into a college every day. My online course is an ideal way to extend my post graduate diploma into a masters degree, and it costs miles less than actually going to college, because most of the work I’m going to do from home.

There are lots of pros and cons about online learning but it’s all hypothetical. I simply told my employer that I would benefit from work-based learning. My boss got the budget for it and we worked out that I would spend more time commuting than actually attending classes if I’d physically gone into a college. Employers look for learning that benefits the work of their staff, obviously, but it’s a win-win situation because it increases my knowledge and skills – I hope.

My subject of online study covers sales management and marketing. The main advantages of covering these subjects in a virtual learning environment are flexibility and saving time. Because I’m going into work each day anyway I’m not going to be stuck at home all day, and I can shift the study around my work priorities.

Of course, me being me, my gripes are that I do like the social networking side to college life, or even just the little things like sitting in the cafeteria having a natter with some course mates.

Although I’ve done that in the past, and I’ll probably do another work related course in that way again, but for now a bit of distance learning is just what is needed.

Yet a week into my online education, and although I’m covering a lot ground and saving a whole lot of stress, things are flying at work. I’m stuck behind 3 nights in a row and don’t get home until 10pm. This is ridiculous, I’m supposed to be getting home to relaxation, dinner, and a couple of hours online study, busily using my e-resources, but I’m far too knocked out to do much more than make a cup of cocoa.

But I sit down and force myself to work. I think of those less fortunate than myself, who’ve faced far greater challenges in going back into education, and consider myself quite privileged to have my own company pay for the course.

A couple of months into the course, and so far I really can’t see much of a problem with online classes. You get the same information either way, and although your tutor is a figure on a screen, there is a strong sense of engagement with the subject, because, after all, you are studying what you want to do.

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About the Author

David Rates is taking marketing courses and is about to get an Online Degree.

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