Articles on Degrees | Topics: online, degree, degrees, diploma, diplomas
by Shawn James
Popular Myths about Earning an Online Degree
When you're looking at an online degree there are a few things you're going to hear over and over again. Most of these are myths that someone designed to persuade people to stay away from online degrees – for what reason, we don't know. Maybe they had some sort of cruel vendetta against the Internet. Regardless, they were able to start a few myths that need to be dispelled – receiving an online degree can be a huge advance for anyone. Not only will getting a degree enable you to earn more, it will make you much more employable – who doesn't want to hire someone who has a degree?
The first major myth you're likely to encounter is the one that distance learning schools are simply not as good as the more traditional schools. It's unfortunate that someone felt the need to spread this vicious rumor, as this is one of the most popular excuses for people not to complete their degree. There are tons of quality programs out there if you're willing to look for them. Sometimes people believe that distance learners' do not interact with their teacher at all and can't ask questions – but that's simply not true. Although there isn't as much teacher interaction in a distance learning class, there is still some in the form of emailing and message board postings. Distance learning isn't inferior to a traditional school-- it's just different.
A lot of people seem to believe that employers won't accept a degree or take it seriously if it's from a distance learning university. This is only true of diploma mills – places that you simply pay to receive your diploma from. Degrees from accredited schools are accepted by any employer you want, just as degrees from traditional schools are. Usually this doesn't even come up, as the degree won't have anything on it that says that the courses were taken online.
| Historical Quote |
Science is a dynamic undertaking directed to lowering the degree of the empiricism involved in solving problems; or, if you prefer, science is a process of fabricating a web of interconnected concepts and conceptual schemes arising from experiments and observations and fruitful of further experiments and observations.
| —James Conant (1893–1978) |
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The third major myth is that if you need to transfer whatever credits you built up in the distance-learning course won't work. That's false too – any diploma or credit from an online school that has been accredited by the right agency will be accepted as though you were coming from an offline school. School is school – the university doesn't care how you get your credits, as long as you have them.
Some people hold onto the myth that online schools and distance learning is faster and easier than the more traditional classroom route. This can be true – depending on the online program. Some students prefer the accelerated program, which will allow them to work at a much quicker pace than they would if they were in a classroom setting. Others are in fact slower than the traditional classroom method. Online degree programs tend to allow most people to work at whatever pace they would like be it slower or faster. Just because something is online doesn't mean it's going to be easier, either. Just like traditional schools some online degrees will be easier to earn, and some will be harder. It depends on the program that you choose, not where you do the work.
The last major myth is that accredited schools always give you a good education, and this is false unfortunately. Anyone who wants to can claim that they are an accrediting agency – and a lot of so-called accrediting agencies do that. This allows diploma mills to make the student believe that they are secure if they sign on with them. There are only six nationally recognized accrediting agencies, so if you want to make sure that the diploma you're bound to receive is legitimate, check with them first. Always remember that if something sounds too good to be true, then it usually is.
Those are the major myths that plague online schools in this day and age. As you can see some believe that there is still a negative stigma attached to online education even though that is not the case. Employers will readily accept any degree – online or offline. An online degree can be just as difficult to earn as an offline degree – maybe even more so. Just make sure that you check with an accrediting agency before signing up for your online degree, or you could find yourself with a lot of money missing.
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