A Bachelor Degree Online – The Perfect Solution for Adults

For Vicki it was time to decide what she was going to do with the rest of her life. Her children were grown and her husband was well-entrenched in his career. After years of carting the kids to soccer practice, volunteering at various school activities, being there when her husband needed a supportive shoulder, she was ready to do something for herself. But what? Her former paralegal training was not sounding very exciting anymore, and the last thing she wanted to do was go back to college at 43 years old.

Or did she?

Sure, going back to school as an adult is difficult and part of the problem is that we have an adult life with adult responsibilities.  We’re busy with work, family and community activities and have significant financial  responsibilities, making it harder to find the time or or the money to go back to school.  Not only that, adults learn differently than young people do, and traditional college education is based on a pedagogical (child centered) learning model.

Enter the 21^st century and the growing number of academic organizations taking to the 'Net and offering online degrees…and adults are responding en masse. You see, getting a bachelor degree online is more realistic for many adults than going to a traditional “brick and mortar” school.  Online schools usually offer “asynchronous” learning, which means you don’t have to show up at a specific place at a specific time.  You go to class when your schedule allows.  And most programs that offer a bachelor degree online have accelerated programs, which can usually be completed in two years.  This drastically decreases the cost of education, and even more important than cost minimizes the time school will disrupt the rest of you life.

The Graying of American Students

Perhaps the most important advantage of getting a bachelor degree online is that most online programs are designed around adult learning principles.  They recognize that adults who go back to school are motivated and disciplined.  Adults are there because they want to be, they have specific goals they want to meet, and they don’t want to waste their time or money.

Adult students bring life experience and areas of expertise with them.  They regard instructors as peers who have expertise in a particular area and are not likely to be intimidated by instructors and are very likely to want a collaborative learning environment.

Adults know how to learn independently.  They are skilled in finding and assimilating what they want and need to know and are not, however, very patient with learning for learning’s sake.  They prefer practical, applicable learning experiences.

Adults learn well in groups or teams.  This is the biggest challenge for an online accredited degree, but most programs are designed to include group learning opportunities.  The programs are creative with technology, and use forums, chats and teleconferences to simulate face-to-face groups.  Some programs will have groups of students get together face-to-face occasionally to reinforce group learning.

Now the ending to Vicki’s story is that she found a school offering a bachelor degree online in Library Sciences. The transitional role of the traditional library was an area she had become very interested in and where she had spent many hours volunteering.  What’s more, the top school in the field had a very successful distance learning curriculum. Vicki was able to complete her degree in two years and will be starting a new job running the community library.

Like Vicki, for many adults getting a bachelor degree online is a better option than getting the same degree at a brick and mortar school.  By applying principles of adult learning, online educational programs have created a user-friendly way for many adults to complete a college education.