Ruminations of a Non-Traditional Student

What do I want from an online education? That’s a complicated question, so I’ll try to give a brief, but thorough explanation. Let’s start with my situation…

I am the type of student often referred to as “non-traditional” (although I’m not especially fond of that label). I’m 47. I have enjoyed a fulfilling job and career, and I’ve worked for the same company for the last 16 years. I earned a B.S. degree from Ohio State in 1986, but never entered my chosen field. My primary income has always been meager, but I have found other enjoyable ways to supplement my income. I am a single parent, and my youngest daughter is a high school senior.  I have had dozens of hobbies, many of which I have abandoned in favor of the next new fascinating field of interest. I have been interested in online communication since it first became mainstream in the mid 90s. I created a generic Angelfire website and went on to create several other websites.  Using the now-archaic Microsoft Front Page software, I created sites for our community theater, my church, a relative’s business and a personal travel website. However, technology soon exceeded my self-learned abilities, and Adobe’s Dreamweaver became the standard for website construction. I found Dreamweaver’s learning curve to be very steep, and decided that paying for professional instruction and guidance preferable to hacking away at it myself. I chose COTC because it has a campus in my hometown of Coshocton. Initially, I simply wished to take a class or two to learn how to build a quality modern website. Next thing I know… I’m a full time student. I am in my third quarter at COTC. I have taken some of my classes online, and some in the traditional classroom. I have several reasons for going back to school and several expectations from my online education. Here are my main reasons…

1. GAIN KNOWLEDGE – I simply want to learn how to build quality websites. I’m going to school to learn in a structured way, rather than trying to go about it alone.

2.  MAKE SOME MONEY – Eventually, I’d like to cash in on my investment. As I mentioned, I’m already in an enjoyable career, but it will always be necessary do something to supplement my primary income in order to achieve my financial goals.

3. CHALLENGE / ACHIEVEMENT – I am enjoying the challenge of learning new things in an academic environment, and I have set high standards for myself.

4. RECOGNITION – I’m looking forward to the achievement that graduation day represents.

5. SET AN EXAMPLE FOR MY DAUGHTER – My youngest daughter is a high school senior and we are currently in the midst of choosing a college. It’s my hope that as she sees me working on classwork and homework for hours, it will show her that college takes much more initiative and self-determination than high school.

Online education has some major advantages and drawbacks when compared to a traditional classroom education.

Online classes are incredibly convenient. A student can schedule lectures and assignments around his other responsibilities. If I didn’t have the option of taking classes online, I’d never be able to fit college into my schedule. The biggest drawback of online classes is the lack of face-to-face interaction. In the classroom, students can learn from asking questions of the instructor… or hearing the answers that others have asked. Also in the classroom/lab, a student can have some quick dialogue with the instructor (or another student) if he is having difficulties with a project. Online classes have mechanisms for dialogue (discussion boards, blogs, online office hours, etc.). While those things are all very helpful, they’re not as effective as face-to-face communications… especially in the hands-on project-intensive classes of the DMD program. Overall, I am very satisfied with my blend of online and traditional classes at COTC. It seems like I just started… but I’m almost halfway there!