How hard are you studying?

When you are involved with a distance learning program, do you study hard, trying for good grades, or do you take it easier, just doing enough to earn the diploma??? What do you believe is the best method?

 

Some courses I found easy, and some courses I found hard.

In the courses I found easy, I got an A without much effort.

In the courses I found hard, I worked and worked, just to pass.

I'm certainly not ashamed of the second category. Obviously these courses were in areas where my knowledge was seriously deficient, and by taking the courses, I was bold enough to tackle my deficiencies head-on.

 

Ditto!!

So far two have been a struggle and two relatively easy. And the amount of effort had nothing to do with it!

Though there is some incentive to do really well in the easier ones to make up for the hard ones.

 

I tend to get too excited at the begining, and do too much, too fast. I then face burnout, and then have to back off. I usually find some happy medium that gets decent grades without sending me to the nut house. I've just begun a new program that should take 2 years, I'm trying to be patient, but at the same time, do good work.

 

I don't believe that there is an easy method. All course work has dead lines and due dates. Most courses require the student to attain a "B" average. This is especially true with graduate programs. Perhaps the question should be reworded to say:
When you are involved with a distance learning program, do you work on your assignments immediately or do you procrastinate?

 

That is pretty cool! What is your program? I'm sure it is exciting!

 

I'm trying to imagine why the level of effort for any given course or the outcome based on level of effort might be any different for a distance-based experience as opposed to a traditional classroom experience. Some courses are difficult and some less difficult. For whatever reason, sometimes we put more effort into some courses and sometimes we don't. Seems like this would be the case regardless of delivery model.

Genuinely curious as to why you might think involvement in a distance learning program may promote different study habits or motive than involvement in a traditional program?

 

Working on my second degree via distance learning.

Enjoy it!
When I began cold I found myself in turmoil. Working my butt off every day, here and there.
One day, I sat back and time managed myself.
Now I work 5 days a week. 2-3 hours per evening, period!
I do this rather work is do or not. If not, I study.

Found this area works very well, My weekends are free.
Not to mention, much less stress.
I will continue this schedule until September 2005. At that point, my MBA and MEd will be complete. Whew!
GPA is 3.91.

 

At least it's interesting, so far. It's an Associate Degree program in paralegal studies. No, I'm not going to become a paralegal, just want to know more about the law. I am always hearing about the law, and decided to learn a little about it. It's a DETC accredited school, a bit too expensive, but what the heck. I'll spend the money on something anyway, I always do, so why not on this.

 

You're doing some solid work. Right now I'm putting in about an hour and a half a day, five days a week. Like you I'm taking off on the weekends. I may pick up the pace later, but for now, I'll stay modest in my efforts.

 

Congrats

Good for you!

I think that is great! Stick with it. I think that education is a nice break from day to day stress. No one can criticize you for an honest effort.

I am in a DETC school as well and I enjoy it. You can't go wrong!

 

I think the time management is key. As an instructor in an online graduate program, I frequently have students who come apart at the seams. They complain that they can't keep up with the material or the assignments. The advice we try to give them is to plan their activities, and in particular to have a set of goals they plan to complete each time they log on. Without a plan for each session, it's easy to be distracted -- and then find that little was accomplished during an online session.

We also try to encourage students to match their pace to the pace of the class. A challenge is that "virtual time" is not the same as "real time." If you log on to an online course once an hour, the pace of the class seems painfully slow. If you log on once a week, the pace seems excessively fast -- too much has happened in too many different places in the course site for you to keep up with them all. They call this the "rolling present." (If you do a Google search, you'll find that people have written papers about this concept.) This is obviously a challenge not only for the students but also for the instructor. In the face-to-face classroom, we have the concept of "wait time." We are taught to adjust our "wait time" (i.e. the amount of time between asking a question and saying anything else) to the nature and needs of the class. But what does "wait time" mean in an online class where the sense of elapsed time may vary from person to person?

Of course, people in non-interactive programs don't have to deal with these issues. How I envy them...

 

study habits

I am currently doing an MA. The only pressure on me to do the work is the consequence of failing; which is the waste of time and course fees.
I approach the work as an exercise in wateriing the gardens of the mind. I pay little attention to the marks, which in my case are comfortable but no cigar.
I read outside the set texts and my analysis always adopts a structural paradigm. For me the aquisition of an MA is not to get a better job it is just one step on my academic odyssey. A journey that I suspect has some deep seated psychological foundation associated with the fact that as a child I was identified as being educationally subnormal.
The latest I have been with an assignment since 1986 is on time and then only once.
Roy Maybery

 

Study?




Oh sh*t.

 

LOL

What does 'study' mean?

 

Re: Re: How hard are you studying?

Distance learning is my interest, and since this is a distance learning forum I thought this subject appropriate & of interest to the people who frequent this forum.

 

I did my BA the traditional way, as a full-time residential student starting right after high school. College was my job; I spent well over 40 hours per week attending classes and studying. Some classes, of course, required more work than others. I ended up graduating summa cum laude and went on to a PhD program which I also completed as a full-time resident student.

Now I am employed full-time while working on a master's degree through the University of London external program. With work and other responsibilities, I simply don't have as many hours to study as I did when I was a full-time student. Thus, I would say I'm not studying as hard as I did with my on-campus programs, but I think it's related more to the stage of life I'm in than to the mode of study (distance versus residential).

Alex

 

Its been very good so far, and I hope others will share how they fit their studies into the busy life of an adult. It has been hard at times to just sit down and get started. Once there and reading it goes well, but It's hard to always forget the leaking water pipe or the other little distractions that are a part of an adults life, and there's the, family, dog, 2-cats, 3-cars, bills, yard mowing, and all the rest of the fun things in life. I do study, and continue to go on, but at times I wonder why I do it, over and over again. As soon as I finish a course I'm looking for a new one, it never stops.

 

I do my schoolwork at WORK. I will continue to do this until I either:

A> Get laid off.

B> Get FIRED.

C> Graduate.

I hope it's C first!

 

I always have my books with me and read them whenever there is a break in the action whether at work or at home. I study whenever there is nothing else more important to do. Laptop, books, folders and papers all fit into my briefcase and are ready for action at any time.