The short answer for me? Yes.
I was debating with a colleague, as I always seem to be doing, about on-line versus on-campus education. Many of us who have experienced both, realize there are pros and cons for each approach and that it really depends on the individual’s needs. I debated my colleague’s point that there is a stronger sense of community developed on-campus with other students rather than on-line.
That was not the case for me. For eight of the ten years between my first associate degree and my MBA; I was a full time parent and the on-campus experience was a big hindrance for me. As a parent, I had no “extra” time to spend on campus. In fact, my days were spent racing from class, to class, to car, to work, to kids’ school and to home. Since I was on campus just for class time, much of my communication with professors or student affairs was done via email or telephones anyway. In fact there was nothing more frustrating for me than to have to take a day from work to go back to campus during “business hours” to take care of college business – like the parking ticket I received every semester, when I needed to park close to a particular building so I could pick up my kids on time. As a matter of fact, I had to delay my MBA official completion one whole semester, since I did not make it to campus in time to pay an $18 fee to get my thesis bound.
I felt great camaraderie with classmates in online classes. For me there was immediate kinship, since after introductions, we quickly discovered we were all in the same boat. It was always a pleasure for me to meet someone again in another class and even better when we got to meet in person.
Contributing blogger - Marcia R. ~ BullseyeResumes.com