At present, young people are striving for more convenient living conditions that the Internet provides. Virtual shops, online consultations with doctors and even distance higher education! Feedback from students and graduates, advantages and disadvantages, wishes and warnings - all this is collected in this article.
The fact is that there are many who want to study without leaving home, but each such person has fears and doubts. Let's see what distance learning is, what pitfalls and advantages it has. The information is based on various sources, which include real reviews, student discussions, and seasoned students.
What is distance education
To begin with, let's get acquainted with the concept of "distance higher education", since for sure many of you only want to know what it is. Imagine a student who was told: "Do not come to the university, I will provide all lectures and assignments, as well as a list of references by e-mail." Probably modern full-time students, as well as evening parties andcorrespondence students at least once faced such a situation when the teacher could not be present in person, but gave homework through a computer.
Distance education in this case takes place at a distance all the time. Often, students come only for state exams and the defense of their diploma. The rest of the time you need to study at least at home (at a short distance from the educational institution), at least in another part of the globe.
How teachers and students communicate
Distance learning happens in the following ways:
- The teacher sends the student a list of references, a plan and a cycle of lectures, as well as assignments by e-mail.
- The university sets up a personal account on the website for the student, gives a login and password to enter. On the internal server, the student must download all the material provided.
- The lecturer provides a link to abstracts and a list of references.
- Learning takes place online, that is, webinars are created.
It is worth talking about the last way of interaction between the teacher and the student, since not everyone knows what a webinar is. Surely many of you communicated via Skype, in instant messengers using a microphone and a webcam. At the same time, you can both see each other, talk, and write off. This is what a webinar looks like. The only difference is that:
- the teacher does not see or hear a single student, but he can observe who arrived for training (usually the list of participants is displayed on the right), and also, if he wants to receivethe answer of the students to their question, then he can read the answers from everyone in the general chat;
- You can only arrive at the webinar at the strictly appointed time.
This is what distant higher education might look like. At the same time, universities should strive to ensure that the servers work smoothly and have advanced features for students, for example, the ability to check term paper for uniqueness, download the title page form, send the work to the teacher through a special form, see your grades, rating, and so on.
Are universities real
You can sometimes hear questions on the Internet on forums and in communities: are universities real or are they virtual? Remember: there are no virtual institutions! Paperwork, tuition fees, admission - all this must exist in reality, that is, the university / academy must be truly existing.
Often, remotely higher education reviews are quite critical in terms of the fact that the money was paid for study, but the diploma was not issued. And it is impossible to understand whether the university is real or just some unaccredited center. Therefore, dear friends, if you have firmly decided to study remotely, but the educational institution is unfamiliar to you, then first visit it.
One Center
There are unified distance education centers (abbreviated as EECDO). Reviews about them vary. But mostly negative. The fact is that when signing a contract, many are lazy or embarrassed to read absolutely everything. In addition, there may be questionablepoints, and in this case often people take for granted. Therefore, it is advisable to get acquainted with a single center or university personally, ask students (if possible), try to find graduates in order to ask if you managed to successfully get an education and a diploma.
In addition, a single center may not be real, that is, the owner of the site has nothing to do with real universities. Therefore, you should carefully study the information.
And most importantly, to get a really honest and decent education, it is recommended to visit the admissions office of the university that interests you. It is better that it be an accredited state university.
Suitable for
Interested in this type of training most often:
- employed in production;
- moms on maternity leave;
- disabled;
- compatriots living in other countries;
- rural youth without the opportunity to regularly travel to sessions, as well as those who do not want to live in a hostel and in rented apartments;
- poor.
Those who cannot even attend part-time courses will be able to access distance learning. Higher education in this case is considered full-fledged, as in the correspondence form.
How to apply
On the Internet you can often find a tempting offer, for example: “You do not need to come with documents! You can apply here. We contact you, clarify all the details, and you enter the university.” Don't fall for these scammers!Such ways of "entry" can be offered by single centers of higher distance education, reviews of which can only be found negative.
Don't assume that no EDCDO is honest. Actually it is not. Indeed, most often it is proposed to leave your full name. and contact details in the application form. But all the necessary documents must be brought to the university in person. In this case, the following documents (copies) must be present:
- passport (person and registration) or birth certificate (if under 18);
- document of previous education, including grade sheet;
- photo 3x4 cm;
- certificate of change of surname (if different in diploma and passport).
Remember that no real and serious university will accept documents remotely!
Reviews from students and graduates
And now let's talk about distance higher education in public universities. Feedback from real students and graduates is mixed. Everyone sees the pros and cons in their own way. Someone likes that the teacher gives assignments by e-mail, and someone likes to ask questions about the topic of study, and there are a lot of them, but you can’t get an answer right away.
As for getting an education as such, each student expects something different: someone just needs a diploma, and someone wants to study seriously and become a competent specialist. Often expectations are not met, so let's take a closer look at all the nuances below.
The benefits of distance education
Among the happy students enrolled in distance learning, you can find positive feedback. Let's get to know them:
- no need to go to lectures and sessions, waste time and money;
- you can study in your spare time;
- no need to get extra and off-topic information from the lecturer;
- you can get much more knowledge than full-time and evening education;
- training time is much shorter, you can become a specialist in 2-3 years.
As you can see, getting a higher education remotely is a profitable business.
Disadvantages of distance learning
Despite such excellent advantages, one should also take into account the disadvantages that can significantly affect further postgraduate activities:
- no labs and practice sessions;
- teachers can answer questions using the Internet for a very long time (given their busy schedule and a large number of distance students);
- you have to train willpower to get down to school;
- no opportunity to chat with classmates to review the material together.
Distance higher education implies only the presence of a computer or laptop, as well as uninterrupted Internet. In case of difficulties in the course of completing tasks, you will have to act on your own or ask for help from those who know the discipline (subject) well.
Therefore, almost all students and graduates of this form of education strongly recommendtake their studies seriously, as tests, exams and the defense of a diploma will be held in the same way as in full-time, evening and correspondence forms of education. One should not expect concessions and concessions from the examiners and the commission.
Second or first higher education
Increasingly, people tend to get more than one higher education. So, many once in their youth entered the wrong speci alty, but the time to study was missed, or there is no desire to sit at the same desk with the younger generation. At the moment there is a chance to catch up, get a second higher education remotely. Universities do not reject applications from those who already have a higher education. On the contrary, there are even those who receive it for the third or even fourth or fifth time.
As for the first higher education, you can choose distance learning if a person has at least a secondary specialized education, and also works in an area that is close to the speci alty in which he wants to study.
Requalification online
Those who already have secondary specialized or higher education do not have to go to college or university and study for five or six years in order to gain new knowledge with the right to work in their speci alty.
Retraining on the basis of higher education remotely is the dream of everyone who wants to change their profession to the one they like. In addition, it is not necessary to spend money and time on obtaining new knowledge. Distance learning is a total of no more than one year, and the number of teaching hours is about 700-900.
About universities
Above, we discussed possible fraud by sites that call themselves one-stop centers for distance learning. In addition, there are universities that also accept documents on the official website, send receipts for payment for a semester or a year. Unfortunately, many students were left without diplomas due to the fact that the university is not accredited. There is another minus: "crusts" can be issued, but they will not be of state standard.
In order not to get into such trouble, you need to check the accreditation number, see if it is a state university or not, then determine exactly with higher education remotely. Online student testimonials can be real or fake. Therefore, you should seriously approach the choice yourself or with the help of people experienced in this matter.
Difficult or easy to learn (students' opinions)
First of all, you need to understand that no one will force you to do tasks on time. The student must allocate time himself, and questions may arise when solving problems or completing coursework. Often this applies to technical and economic speci alties. Therefore, distance learning in engineering professions is suitable for those who already have a first higher technical education.
Easy to study at a distance, usually in the humanities, such as law, sociology, political science. Just be sure not to make a mistake, choose higher education remotely at a state university.
In general, if we treat responsiblystudy, then nothing will be difficult.
Tuition fees
It seems to many that the cost of distance education is much lower than at the "partnership", but this is not the case everywhere. In this case, the student saves money on travel and accommodation (if the university is far from the place of residence).
In addition, the cost depends on the following factors:
- geographic location of the university;
- volume of hours and terms of training;
- speci alties;
- qualification awarded.
Here there is a significant plus in that a person who lives in a big city and does not have much money to enter a prestigious speci alty can choose a university for distance learning in another city. At the same time, he must come there only to submit documents and to defend / receive a diploma.
To act or not? General conclusions
Perhaps, after reading the article, you will have a dilemma: is it worth getting a higher education remotely, because not everyone has positive reviews. In fact, much depends on the students themselves. For example, if your first speci alty is the humanities, and now you want to become a civil engineer, then it is better to abandon the idea. Remember studying at school in mathematics, physics and chemistry: without the help of a teacher it is almost impossible to understand how to solve certain problems. Often you have to ask again and again until it becomes clear. So it is with engineering. Therefore, technical speci alties are suitable for those who are already intimately familiar with many disciplines that need to be studied indistance learning. On the contrary, after an engineering speci alty, you can without a doubt enter the humanities.
And in conclusion, let's touch on the topic of a single center for higher distance education. Students' feedback shows that it is better to apply only in person to the chosen university, and not via the Internet. This way you will protect yourself from fraud. We wish you good luck in your choice of distance learning!
