Online Education

Did you know that you can now complete your college education online? So now, instead of getting up, going to class, sitting through lecture upon lecture, and interacting with your peers, you just have to roll out of bed, get dressed (optional), and turn on your computer. It sounds great right? Well, that's what I thought too when my husband decided to take the plunge into technology, and dive into online learning. He is going back to school after taking an "undisclosed amount of time" off from it. And in that "undisclosed amount of time".....well, things have changed. Welcome to 2012.

The preliminary activity alone required to go back to school is enough to make you reconsider this decision. From financial aid, to transcripts, to application forms there seems to be no end to the paperwork that stands between you and your future. How do kids today do this? But, alas after many trips to the campus, and multiple meetings with advisers, counselors and fortune tellers (?), he was officially a student. Success!? The hard part is over!? Think again. Next comes the stress inducing, sleep depriving task of actually signing up for classes. This can be done online.....in a frantic midnight event that feels a lot like Black Friday shopping. If you are quick, and ruthless, you will go to bed that night with a class schedule.

So, now you are a real life student, with real life classes. Now you need some books. But, not just any books. These books are special. These books are magical, life giving treasures. And to prove it, they will cost you your soul. Or close to it at least. So now it's the first day of class. You roll out of bed, get dressed (what the heck, it's the first day after all), and you log into the account that you finally figured out how to access on the computer that you will never fully figure out how to use. At this point you attempt to access things like a "discussion board" and a "virtual blackboard", but really it just means downloading hundreds of programs and creating more usernames and passwords, all in a language called technology, that you don't speak.

Breath. You can do this. Anyone can do this. People in third world countries do this.

To his credit, my husband is starting to figure it all out. In fact, today he figured out how to use a tool called, "snipping" and it was very exciting. He also seems much less angry with his computer, which is good.

You see, slowly you will start to view your computer as a friend, not an enemy. Someday soon you will walk hand in hand with technology. You will master the art of online learning. Someday you will stop calling your computer names.