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As our society has progressed over the past few generations, getting a college education has become less of a luxury and more of a necessity.
However, the traditional approach to college education—moving into a dorm, taking 15-18 credit hours each semester, working a bare minimum of hours at a job, and partying— is not a universal fit for all students.
Our progression into a more digital world has provided opportunities for students who don’t fit the traditional mold. Online classes are a great resource with some benefits and challenges.
The biggest benefit of online education is that students are able to work around their schedule and do their course work when it works best for them.
This is great for students who need to work full-time jobs or who have children and need to work around their kids’ schedules.
Not having to live on or commute to campus can also be a big plus. It can make college more financially feasible by eliminating the room and board costs and the cost of parking.
Online classes also provide opportunities for people who are ill or disabled and unable to physically attend a class.
But online education presents real challenges as well. It certainly is not the best route for every student.
Students in online classes need to be organized and self- motivated learners. Although there is some digital interaction with peers and professor, each student is fully responsible for his or her work and no one is going to ask if he or she has it done.
If an assignment is forgot- ten, the opportunity to turn it in is gone. The digital drop box disappears and you are out of luck.
I am a very organized and motivated student, and I have still missed some steps that cause a zero to hit the grade book. In my current online class, I completed an assignment, but forgot to submit it. Opportunity gone.
In an online class last semester, I wrote down a quiz date wrong and missed it all together. In that case, the professor gave the class the opportunity to take the quiz for half credit.
The trick, though, is that there was no “announcement” about the re-take opportunity. I only found out about it because, as a self-motivated student looking back through the assignments, I saw that the professor had re-opened the drop box.
If you struggle to stay on top of assignments when you see your professor on a regular basis and know your peers from class, online classes may not be the best option for you.
To be successful in online education, you also need to be able to read and under- stand information with little interaction from a professor and other students. There are opportunities to ask questions, but no face-to-face conversations.
If you are a self-motivated and organized learner, there are a lot of great opportunities to get your college education on your own schedule. Some SCC programs are offered completely online and some programs offer some classes online.
The branches of the University of Nebraska also offer online classes. For students who are working toward academic transfer, online classes may allow that pursuit to move more quickly by taking classes from both institutions.
I earned my BA in the traditional on-campus college experience and have now pursued my graduate program almost entirely online. I suggest a combination of in-person and online classes.
Online courses allow students to get an education on their own terms, and in-person education allows students to build relationships with peers and professors. The combination is the best of both worlds.
For information on SCC’s online programs, visit