Getting Ready for School Online

As an online student, you will be responsible for having adequate software for your courses. Most schools will require you to have Microsoft Word. If you do not already own this software, you will make it much easier on yourself to purchase it. Professors will likely require you to submit papers and homework assignments in a document (.doc) file which will require you to have Microsoft Word. If you are sharing files with other students, you want to be able to view the files in the format they created the documents. Professors may even send you assignments as Microsoft Word documents.

In addition to Microsoft Word, you will likely need Microsoft PowerPoint for group and individual projects/presentations.

Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 comes with the following minimum combination of products: Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Access. It is available for both Windows and Mac.

Online Schools Require Group Projects

So I've been attending Franklin University for a couple of months now. I've taken 3 courses with them so far. One thing that I did not realize until I got into the courses was how time consuming group projects are. Depending on the course, one 6 week course may require 2 to 3 group projects. This entails coordinating your work schedule with 4 to 5 other people and being dependent on their efforts for your grade. I kept finding myself volunteering as the group leader because I was concerned that someone else might not pull their weight and turn in our group work late. As a group, most courses require that you create a paper together and in the case of Franklin's requirements, you also have to create a group PowerPoint presentation that you present on their FranklinLive system. FranklinLive allows you to upload your PowerPoint and speak into a microphone one person at a time. However, their system isn't that good so people end up running into technical difficulties. In fact, one of my group projects took forever to coordinate meeting as a group because we had to share the FranklinLive system with other groups in the class. You had the option of using one of the other course chat rooms, but they hardly ever worked right. I was told by the tech team of the school to turn off my firewall in order for the system to work properly. In desperation, I did this and about 2 weeks later my computer completely crashed and I had to buy a laptop to get through the last few weeks of classes. Honestly, if I'm paying all this money, I'd expect better technology!

So long story short: If you are considering an online school, remember that many will involve some kind of group work. So if you plan on setting up your school schedule around your family and job, this can be a conflict.

VTC Online Software Tutorials and Certifications

While attending a four year university, I received a free subscription to VTC.com. This site has a wide collection of various training courses on software. Some of the categories include Animation & 3D, Game Design and Development, Internet and Web Design, Networking and Security, and Programming. Each course is a series of videos. After completing the videos, you can receive a digital certificate. If you want to add the certificate number onto your portfolio or résumé, your certificate can be verified by typing in the number on the VTC.com website.

There is unlimited access to 81,350 videos linked to 715 courses once you become a member. To become a member, it's $30/month. Many of the courses have several free videos.

Buy and Sell Used Textbooks

As an online student, you may find that many of your books are customized for your school rather than being just a standard text. For example, American InterContinental University ships textbooks to students automatically and most books have the AIU logo. Although many schools have the textbook price built into the tuition cost, you will save money by shopping around for your textbooks. Even if your book is customized for your school, you might find books on a used book source website.


half.com
ebay.com
Save up to 90% on New and Used Textbooks with AbeBooks.com
Sell and Buy Used Textbooks at Amazon.com
Sell Used Books - Ship Your Books For Free And Get Fast Cash Back!
barnesandnoble.com
Textbooks.com

Ask your professors if previous editions will be acceptable. Sometimes they will post the newest edition as their selected text because the bookstore can't order enough of the previous edition. Sometimes there are very few changes so a previous edition will work fine. International editions are usually identical to the US editions and much cheaper. If you school doesn't already have a website for students to trade textbooks, suggest one.



Keep in mind that your classes might move too quickly to order books from websites where individuals handle selling. If you need the book quickly and price isn't too much of a concern, Barnes and Noble will be better. I haven't really had too many complaints about buying books online. I prefer to pay by PayPal especially because one time I sent a check to a lady and she claimed she never got it. My $50.00 check was either in her hands or lost in the mail. Canceling the check would have cost $30.00 through my bank. She asked me to send another one--- which I did not. She eventually figured out that the check was at her Post Office box rather than at her regular home mailing address. When I finally got the book, it was the wrong edition and smelled heavily of cigarette smoke.

Financial Aid Scammers

The government website for FAFSA should be the place you go to fill out your free financial aid information. Do not use websites/companies that claim they offer financial aid after a fee is paid. Applying for financial aid is free.

Free Music Courses

Here's an example of a free online course posted by Berkleemusic.

MIT OpenCourseware

See what 30,000,000 other people are using to get a free education!

1800 courses complete with videos and notes.

Take Advantage of Free Materials Online

Massachusetts Institute of Technology MITOpenCourseware offers free courses in many subjects. Complete with PowerPoint slides, lecture notes, and practice exams, this site is a great tool for supplementing your education.

-Architecture and Planning
-Engineering
-Health Sciences and Technology
-Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
-Management
-Biology, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Chemistry, and Earth Science
-Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation
-Energy and Environment

Through donations, GCF Learn Free provides online classes in math and computers. Some courses are accredited and will include a certificate after completion.

The Online Education Database has compiled 200 free courses offered from institutions across the nation. Click here for their list.

Open University based in the UK offers courses in business, education, IT and computing, math, science, and technology.

Tufts University, Stanford, and Carnegie Melon also offer free courses. Courses offered at Stanford are available for download to playback on iPods, PCs, and Macs.

University of California - Irvine is new to the online coureware collection, but their courses currently include e-marketing, human resources, financial planning, and capital markets.

Offering a wide variety of business courses, Kutztown University is certainly a good collection.

Utah University also offers online courses with texts that can be downloaded as zip files.

Current and archived courses dating back to 2001 can be viewed online at the University of California Berkley.

Also check out YouTube and Google for free videos of lectures from universities all over the world.

Read What Other Students Are Saying

Are you considering attending an online college? Read how others are rating online schools before you decide which school is best for your needs. Always keep in mind how a website is setup. There are many that will give glowing reviews of online schools because there is some kind of perk for the website owner.

ViewPoints allows you to search for your school and read reviews. Schools included is limited.

The Online Education Database 2009 rankings compare several criteria such as retention and graduation rates, acceptance rates, student to faculty ratios, and peer web citations.

Guide to Online Schools offers a long list of online schools that have student reviews.

Online Degree Reviews has a long list of reviews that rate schools based on materials, value, professors, support, and technology.

Choosing an Online School

I first began looking for an online school in 2002. At that time, most schools were $30,000+. The technology wasn't the best and there wasn't as large of a public acceptance of online degrees. In addition, there wasn't much of a selection for degrees. Since then, I've attended a community college and a 4-year public university. Juggling my work schedule was incredibly difficult and I eventually found myself sitting in a meeting with my Dean discussing how I had my priorities mixed up. We agreed that I was a full-time worker- not a full-time student. Faced with the demanding schedule of a Computer Science major, I finally decided to leave my job and take out more loans to support myself. At 26 years old, however, it's incredibly difficult to balance your financial obligations using loan money. I took some time off from school and recently made the decision to attend school online.

Here are some of the things that I looked for when selecting my school:

(1) Cost Does the school offer financial aid and scholarships?
Are there extra fees tacked on each term such as a technology fee or course registration fee?
Are textbooks available through a used book source such as Ebay or Amazon or are the books custom made for the school?
Are there extra costs for CDs or additional print materials?

(2) Course Format
What technology is used for the course setup? Is the format user-friendly?
How are assignments submitted (mail, fax, email)?
Are there typical 15 week courses or are some shorter?

(3) Time Requirements
Will proctored exams need to be setup?
Are there required chat sessions?
Are assignments due before a course starts?
Do assignments have some flexibility or very strict deadlines?
Are professors or learning center assistants available during evening and weekend hours or will you need to make time during the day to contact them?

(4) Public Perception and Accreditation?
Is the school regionally accredited?
If the school has satellite schools, are these also accredited?
Will the degree show that it was an online school?
What do online forums, news articles, and websites say about the school?
Do you know anyone that has used this school?

(5) Transfer Credit and Credit for Experience
How much does the school make an effort to accept credits?
How much does the school focus on "school specific" courses versus general core courses such as sciences, humanities, math, etc.?

(6) Availability of Course Options and Degrees
Make sure you have courses that are suited to your area of interest. Also look for courses that will make you more "well-rounded" overall.
If you change your degree path, do you have backup options so that you won't have to change schools?

(7) School Advisors and Support
Does the school have free tutoring?
Will you have an academic advisor that will spealize in providing assistance with courses for your degree and general questions?
Does the school offer an academic coach?
Does the school offer message boards to communicate with other students?
Are there courses available for remedial studies or online learning introductions?

geteducated.com website

Geteducated.com is the best website for researching what online school is best for you. The site compares schools by cost, accredidation, public perception, and student satisfaction. You can narrow your search by looking for particular subjects or degrees. The site has been praised by the Wall Street Journal. I used this site to find Franklin University for my IT management degree. I am now able to attend a school that is cheaper than my former public university. I can work full-time and do classes at home in the evenings. My school is accredited and I can still get financial aid.

Watch a video about geteducated.com.