Some of the cons of getting an online education can be erased through making the online experience social.
What are some of the cons?
· Limited professor interaction: You don’t get an instant answer to a question or get to meet up with the professor during office hours.
· Limited social interaction: Which, let’s face it, is often the one of the main reasons we go to school. The degree is often the perk for the whole campus experience.
· You have to be self-disciplined: You don’t have your classmates or professor nagging you to study and complete homework on time.
What is the magic eraser to this dilemma? Turning the online campus experience social. The majority of up and coming students are regular social networking users. In a recent study it was discovered that as social media sites continue to grow in popularity that technology is a vital part of today’s student success equation.
In a study group pertaining to social media use and college students: 31% have full time jobs, 30% part-time jobs, and 39% do not have a job. The results of the survey questionnaire indicate that 45% of the sample admitted that they spent 6-8 hours per day checking social media sites, while 23% spent more than 8 hours; 20% spent 2-4 hours and only 12% spent less than 2 hours on this task. I found these numbers very revealing.
I’ve noticed that even if a large group of students are together many of them are heads down and on their mobile devices socializing via one of the many social sites.
With turning an online college or university social you are enabling students to still achieve the “college experience” through joining events, groups and networking the schools social site. You can also meet up with classmates offline for events sponsored through the college.
Students almost always have their mobile devices at hand responding quickly to social notifications. Questions you have about a class can be answered almost instantaneously through other students. It’s easy through a mobile device to keep your hand on the pulse of your classes. Just as easy for your professor to let you know what hours he/she will be available online for online chatting. This helps the student to feel like a part of the campus and more motivated to stay current in their courses.
So the “cons” of Online Education can be solved through employing a social campus unique to the individual college or university. And all of the students chained to their devices and social sites can emerge with an education.