My Experience With The Internet And Education English Language Essay

My Experience With The meshing And Education English deli truly EssayThe cyberspace. What it has d wiz for me pedagogicsal and scho braveic exclusivelyy is nonhing short of a miracle. With the recent regularts of the past three years I couldnt live mayhap even imagined that I could repair a college education and a stop in accounting with forth the use of the Internet. I am old overflowing to commemorate life in advance the World blanket(a) Web. I remember hearing that term in the early days the World Wide Web. I couldnt even compreh eat up what they were uttering closely. The web whats that? Computers in our homes that buzzword be possible? Or could it? It was possible and it did come to pass. And the gentleman has been ceaselessly changed because of it.My story begins as I approach the age of forty-nine and advance a monumental decision to harvest to aim. I estimation to myself, You essential be crazy. But with the unrest and dissatisfaction with my then curre nt process situation, school made sense. But withal, with the thought of take a craping full clip, and I hateful full age, it was a daunting task that I had set origin in solelyy me. The fact that I worked in a manufacturing environment, worked rotating shifts, weekends, and put in someplace between fifty to sixty hours per week, made serve uping school by dint of normal channels actually unrealistic. The thoughts dancing in my head to go back to school started in that summer of 2007. I was very unhappy with my job and with my bosses and had contemp freshd several times to unsloped walk out the door. It was my married woman who gave me some cheeseparing advice and said, If you are so unhappy, quit complaining and whining al near your situation and do something just or so it. She was absolutely correct. So on Saturday imposing 18, 2007 on the finis day of fall registration at Illinois primordial College in Peoria, Illinois my wife said, Lets go and off we went . We arrived at the registration social occasion at 145 p.m. with barely fifteen minutes before the office closed. A wonderful lady helped me get registered within those last fifteen minutes of registration and my journey was about to begin. I gestural up for three straighten outes that fall, two were Internet kinsfolkes and iodine was a residual pass. One must realize that I had had no college experience in my life and to start out with honor adequate Internet classes was a piddling unnerving. So armed with a newfound determination and a very supportive wife, my journey into the un copen realm of Internet education began.My scratch foray into an online class was a real eye opener. My set-back class was an English composition class. I hadnt written a formal composing in thirty years and here I was required to issue an essay using MLA to cite my references. What the heck was MLA? So, to the Internet I went and did a Google search of MLA, and I was off and manoeuvrening and I havent stopped yet. The Internet has turn up to be such an invaluable resource for doing school work, especially when it comes to writing papers. The amount of time and effort saved by doing online research is just incomprehensible. Two things come to mind when I think about that beginning(a) semester of school is that it could have never been accomplished without the Internet the time to very take the courses and the time to dedicate to research for writing assignments. Neither could have been accomplished without the Internet. Working fifty plus hours a week standardised I did didnt leave much time to devote to spillage to college, still with the advent of online classes it has become a reality for me.The convenience associated with taking online courses is just fantastic. For example, when I worked afternoon turn, I would get home around cardinal oclock p.m., go to my home office space and do school work on the computer until about two or three in the morning.A d o good if the Internet to me is the flexibility it gives in not only time nevertheless environment. For example my wife and I were actually able to go on a short vacation and I could still maintain contact with my school load. I took a laptop with us and by the use of Wi-Fi I was able to connect no issue where we were at and still do my homework, take quizzes and maintain pace with my course and not fall behind. It was spacious and I could really relax when I got done with the school work. Again the Internet is a great make and tool and one that I do not take for apt(p) or lightly.I was always under the misconception that I could not return to college and gull a breaker point as long as I worked a full time job. Boy was I wrong about that. With the advent of the Internet everything has changed. There are no more time constraints, no more geographical restraints, no more anything. It is all at your fingertips anytime of the day or night.This was not the first time that I had c ontemplated going back to school. In the late nineteen-eighties I was facing long layoffs and the very real possibility of losing my job. I considered going back to school at that time to result a degree but with a wife and a young baby and the fact that my wife did not work, I couldnt afford not to work and go to school full time. I did consider going to school part time but with all the family obligations and what not, I talked myself out of doing it then because I couldnt see the light at the end of the burrow. I just couldnt see the end only the baffle long road to get there. That was the second biggest mistake of my life. The first one universe not going to college ripe out of high school. after(prenominal) workings in the steel industry for thirty years I am finally paying for my decision to abstain from going to college right after high school, in lieu of a good paycheck. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.Back in 1988 there were no Internet classes to take, so the only opt ion was to go to school in mortal and that takes time. while I didnt have or time I didnt want to devote to this end. Ah, to be young and stupid.One of the many challenges that I faced was in my second semester when I took my first accounting core class online. That was not a pleasant experience. I was definitely getting a C in the class with one test to go. The professor made things even harder for me when he changed the rules in the middle of the semester. When we started the class the online tests allowed you to go back and work hassles if you skipped them. But for some reason, unbeknownst to me, he decided to make it so if you passed a question you couldnt go back. So if you were stuck on a problem then you had a decision to make. Either you moved on and lost(p) the question or you stayed on the current problem and in my whimsey, groundless valuable time that you would need to complete the test. I decided for the last exam to just take my time and work the problems one at a time consecutively and I would finish what I could get finished and my grade would be what it would be. Well, I didnt finish the exam but what I did finish must have been good enough to press out my grade to a B for the semester. I never did find out what I scored on that final exam and I really dont know how I got that grade, but I was thankful all the same. It was after this class that I decided no more online accounting classes for me. This would be my one departure from taking as many online classes as possible.There are so many advantages of taking online classes for me, but mainly that I understructure attend a class at anytime, from anywhere. I can attend classes no matter what work schedule I am working and I can even attend when traveling, whether it be for tune or pleasure, I can access my classes from anywhere in the United States that has Internet access. Being that the course stuff is available twenty-four hours a day, vii days a week, gives me the opportunity to re-read lectures, discussions, explanations and tittle-tattles. An different nice benefit is that being behind a computer screen can give me namelessness and provides a less intimidating atmosphere then I would go steady in the actual classroom. Taking Internet classes gives me time to formulate my thoughts fashioning me able to think about my replies as to when, how, and what to say. I can perspective my comments when I am ready. This is a real benefit becomes sometimes when you are in a classroom situation and the conversation is moving and separate plenty are interacting, sometimes you cant get your point of shot out until the discussion has passed you by and by that time it is too late to comment. This online environment has also made it so I can talk more openly with my teachers and other students. I have noticed that I am a little bit more assertive in an online class than I am in real life. I apply to think that was a bad thing but I conceptualize it has been helpf ul as it is encouraging me to speak up and to voice my opinion when presented the opportunity. I believe in the long run this will be a benefit to me in the working business world where I will need to speak up when needed.Another great benefit about Internet based education is that you can access the colleges library from the comfort of your home at any time of the day or night. You can research articles, eBook content, and check the availability of normal book material which you can reserve and pick up at your convenience. This has been a great time saver for me, which as someone who works full time, this has been a true lifesaver, giving time back to me that I so desperately need.Another benefit to taking online courses is what I call the low embody association. By that I mean not necessarily dollars and cents, but other tangible things, such as no expenses outlaid for gas and wear and file on my automobile. And again, the time it gives back to my life. This fact alone is unfa thomable because time is just about the most all-important(a) commodity a person can have.The ability to earn a degree online began in 1989 with the University of phoenix pass classes to help students earn bachelors and masters degrees (3). Online education has expanded passim the past decade as evidenced by studies done by Babson Survey Research Group, the Sloan Consortium, and the College Board. According to their statistics, online enrollment was at over 3.9 jillion students during the fall semester of 2007. That correlates to more than twenty percent of all college students enrolled in postsecondary education are now taking online classes (8). And the trend is continuing with research numbers racket showing that by the end of 2002 over eighty-four percent of all four-year accredited colleges and universities were offering online education classes (2).Today it is even possible to earn a degree without ever stepping a foot on a college campus. John Campbell remarked in a disc ussion thread reply about the dangers that can be associated with taking classes from a practical(prenominal) college, which is a college with no physical campus (1). He pointed to a very good article about the possibility of being scammed in the pursuit of an online degree. In the article it relayed the good-for-naught story of a womans online degree being worthless. This points out the very important fact to research the possible online college candidate and make sure that the degree indeed comes from an accredited university. The article referenced what is labeled degree mills, which travel by out diplomas that arent even worth the paper they are printed on (4). Johns comment was about the importance of taking college classes from an accredited college and not a virtual college. A point well taken, but there are in fact, several good virtual colleges nowadays with Jones International University being the first accredited college in1996 to exist fully online (6).Mr. Campbell a lso brought up a good point with this question, Are online educations taken seriously in the business world? With the advent of just about every college in the nation offering Intent classes the answer is yes. The business world places great faith in online degrees, but also adds that more respectability is accomplished when going through an already established and accredited college as say a Duke University (4).rice paddy Killman brought up the question about the advantages and disadvantages of obtaining a degree through online sources (7). A major advantage of pursuing online degrees or taking a in general Internet curriculum is that youre showing potential future employers that you have initiative, ambition, and oblige to do what it takes to get the job done. You are demonstrating that you will be a self motivated and reliable employee. Continuing this thought, recent research shows that employers today are much more enthusiastic about people that pursue Internet degrees than t hey were in years past (5). In fact, sources such as Careerbuider.com say many employers stand up and take notice of people who can demonstrate the ability and the desire to seek online degrees (8).And to reiterate this thought even more and how the business world has changed its opinion of online education mind to how Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, responded to this question, Would you hire someone with an online business degree? To count out a candidate based on an online degree may be shortsighted, he responded. People working all day and studying online all night have the kind of grrrr most companies could use.(9) I think that pretty much says it all with regards to the importance of Internet education.Ive often thought during my journey when I looked down the dark tunnel of education and saw a light, I wondered is that the light at the end of the tunnel or is it the headlight of an oncoming train coming to run me over. With only summer session and this fall semest er to go, I am win over now it is the light at the end of the tunnel. Hallelujah