A Little Background
I've been in the thick of distance learning (DL) now since May 1977 when I took my first DL classes through Berean School of the Bible (a division of Global University). I took 33 classes with them for a total of 128 credits, and for that, I earned three diplomas: (1) Bible and Doctrine, (2) Ministerial Studies, and (3) Specialized Ministries (youth pastor studies). During that time, I also took classes at a traditional, in-class community college.
After that, I went to traditional colleges and spent six more years earning my associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees.
Then, after that I mixed both the traditional, in-class setting with more DL and earned my D.Min. and Ph.D. Also, during those years, I did other DL studies at different schools earning degrees, diplomas, and certificates in several fields including Christian apologetics, pastoral counseling, theology, and writing.
Though I do not “need” more schooling for my career or to buttress my résumé, I am presently working two DL master's degrees from two different universities. Why? I just like school, and I enjoy keeping my mind busy and active.
I may not be unique with regard to how much time I've spent in DL and traditional schools, but I've never personally met anyone who has had as much in both areas. A quick, and conservative, calculation puts me at eight years of traditional, in-class schooling, and more than ten years of distance learning.
In this time, I've learned a thing or two about the DL (distance learning) mode of study, and I thought that I would share some of those things with you.
The main key that I want to talk about is what makes successful distance learners? Here are a few characteristics that I believe one must have to make his or her DL studies successful.
Successful Distance Learners are Self-motivated and
Know how to Set Short-term and Long-range Goals
In the DL mode, you do not have a specific time to be in class, e.g., 9 AM to 11 AM every Tuesday and Thursday. This lack of time rigidity is sometimes difficult for those who jump from traditional schooling to DL.
Students must learn how to set time aside daily, or weekly, to do their studies. And, they should have a final date set (years from enrollment) as to when they want to be done with the degree program.
In setting your degree due date, be ambitious, but also be realistic. You should set your own due date for the degree, but realize that if you need to go past that due date, that's OK. Also, another key point of being realistic is that you are not the only person involved with your program. While you might stay on track and on time with your work, do keep in mind that your professor(s) might have his or her own time issues. When my wife was doing her DL M.A., her primary professor was diagnosed with cancer. The school did not automatically give her a new mentor, and she had to work on her program with her professor's time limitations in mind.
I once set a personal time limit of 12 months for a project that I was working on, and while I worked very hard to accomplish it, it took me 24 months instead of 12. However, and please note this, had I set my original goal to be 24 months, perhaps it would have taken me 36 to accomplish it. So, while I wanted to do it in 12, I was happy with 24, but I was glad it was not 36.
Primary Steps To Setting Your Goals
First, bring your goals before God in prayer and ask Him to guide and lead you to the fulfillment of the degree.
Second, write out a time-plan. This is very important. When a student is doing a program where he/she is self-directed (rather than normal classes with semesters and so on), he/she must always be aware of his/her program and schedule.
The time plan that you write should list all of your classes and self-imposed due dates for each so that you will have milestone markers showing your progress. And, you should post the time-schedule sheet in a prominent place where you will see it every day. Years ago when I was doing a master's degree, I placed a time-plan sheet next to my calendar on the wall. Every time I walked by it, it "screamed" at me to be aware of my degree program and time schedule. Also, you should set it up in such a way that you have daily or weekly references that you must CHECK OFF with a red-ink pen. This will show you and remind you of the passage of time and where you stand each day (or each week) on your schedule.
Make Your Own Power Outage
Block out time each day for your studies. I know that this seems difficult, but the reality of how this can be done came to me one time when I was busy with so many things that a very important reading project of mine was going undone. Then, we had a terrible windstorm that knocked out the power. With the computer down, and all of the power out, all I could do was work on my reading project (hard copies of books). I discovered that the world didn't end! The walls didn't come crashing down on me, and when the power came back 24 hours later, I MADE my own POWER OUTAGE and blocked out time for myself to get the work done.
Successful Distance Learners are OK with the fact that They Might Never Meet Their Professors and other school officials Face-to-face
In the DL mode, students rarely meet their professors. I met one of my DL professors face-to-face after having worked with him for 2+ years, and I was unprepared for his appearance. He wasn't unpleasant to look at, it was just that I had built up in my mind his probable appearance, and I could not have been more wrong. Instead of the hard-edged, chiseled facial features that I had expected, I met a cherubic face with a warm smile. Instead of an overweight, tall man that I had imagined, I met a short man with a slight build. But during my program, I was able to work with him and take directions as necessary though we only communicated via phone calls and emails.
Some folks are so “socially” interactive that the idea of working with professors without meeting them face-to-face on a regular or semi-regular basis is an oddity at best and a stumbling block at worst. If that's you, you might not want to do a DL program.
Successful Distance Learners do not need constant “Attaboys!”
DL learners often have professors that get right to the heart of education: teaching you things you don't know, and pointing out errors in your work so you can learn. Most often DL professors do not “chat” with you about your life or other outside activities. They are there to help you learn, not pat you on the head and tell you how good of a job you've done. Students who need their professors to “hold their hands” and constantly encourage them might not do too well in DL. The most successful students are self-confident and understand that they are in the program to learn, not to be praised. One of my students complained that I only pointed out things that were wrong in his papers, “You never tell me when I do things correctly” he said. That particular reference was to a paper that I had given a B+ to, and I responded and told him that I didn't need to point out what he did correctly because he'd already gotten that part right. I needed to point out where he'd messed up, so he could learn. So, students who constantly need to be “patted on the head” might not find the DL mode to their liking.
Successful Distance Learners do not Procrastinate
Students who put off assignments until the last moment will too often find that last moment upon them in a flash. Successful DL students enjoy working at their own pace and often complete their work in less time than would be set for the same class in a traditional school. Some students who have procrastinated have ended up adding more time and money to their studies.
Successful Distance Learners do not Need to be Spoon-fed
Too often, in traditional school settings, professors stand before their classes and give lectures based on what is in the class texts books. This can be quite annoying for those who know how to read. In one graduate class that I took through the traditional mode, the professor simply stood before the class and repeated what was in the textbooks that we were reading. Week upon dreadful week, we had to endure his droning. And, to make matters worse, part of the grade was contingent upon class attendance! It was one of the most boring classes of my life. Why read the books if the professor is just going to say the same thing in class? If the students take good notes, listen carefully, and regurgitate that information back to the professor at the end of the term, they do well in school. However, DL students must be their own professor/researcher as well as the student. They must learn to master the class information through their personal reading and research. This is why I think that DL does a better job of teaching students how to actually think, and not just repeat. I've often thought that a funny name for a DL school would be something like, “Nix Spoon-fed University.”
Successful Distance Learners do not need the Social Interaction of Traditional Schools
This one always amazes me. Over the years, I've heard quite a few people argue that the traditional model is better than the DL model because of the social interaction of the traditional model. They argue that the student can talk with the professors and other students about the class materials. Well, I can only speak for me, and about 100 other graduates who have told me the same things, and I think that this argument is seriously flawed. When I was sitting in classrooms in traditional colleges, I rarely had social interaction with the professor except for the 1 to 2 hours during class, and that was not really the time for social interaction because the Prof. was busy repeating the information that we already had read in our textbooks. Next, my student-to-student social interaction was rarely about education. About 99.9% of the time, my student-to-student social interaction was about pizza parties, football games, and other social activities. Unless you are an 18- to 20-year old kid who wants to “play,” you should already have a social group with your family, friends, church, job, and so on. My point is this: social interaction was not a part of my “education” as much as it was a part of my friendship and fellowship circles. Also, over the years, I have found that my own DL professors have given me far more of their time than traditional-setting professors who are running from class to class and committee meeting to committee meeting.
Successful Distance Learners do not need a Physical Library
This is another one of those arguments that always amuses me. Some people say that you cannot get a real education unless you have access to a physical library. Oh, really? During my traditional, in-class, day-after-day, listening-to-lectures D.Min. program, I stepped into the school's library only one time, and that was just because I wanted to see what it looked like. Funny thing was, I asked other students where the library was, and none of them knew! A couple of them even said, "I didn't know we had one!" After some “investigation,” I finally found the library. Expecting to find students doing research, I entered the library. To my surprise, there was no one there. No one. Not one student, not one librarian, no one but me. Since, I had some reading to do anyway, I pulled a couple of books from my brief case (not off the shelves) and read for a couple of hours, scribbling notes as I read. During my time there, no one else came into the library. (I've done that same level of reading/studying at Starbucks.) After that experience, I did an unscientific poll of my fellow students (some at the master's level and some at the doctoral), and of the more than two dozen students I “polled” not one of them had stepped foot into the school's library. Why? Because each class had required textbooks, and students simply bought their books, and that was their research. In some cases, professors wanted them to do extra readings and when that was the case, the professors always handed out photocopies of the pages to read. And, finally, for those who needed even more research, they went on-line instead of to the library. Now, think about it; that was in 1998. If the Internet had enough information back then for graduate and doctoral-level research, how much more does it have today? Exponentially more. (And, if you need to look up “exponentially,” experts now claim that there is a 5000% chance that you are more likely to use an Internet dictionary than a hard-copy dictionary.)
For most people, the Internet is in their pocket or purse via their phone, or iTouch. For those same people, the nearest physical library is miles away.
Now, you might personally prefer physical libraries, the smell of the books, browsing the shelves, thumbing through old books. I know I do. But, I'm not talking about “preference” here. I'm talking about “need.”
If I'm doing research on a topic, I can find the information I need on-line, download it, and read it in a fraction of time that it would take me to go to my car, drive to a physical library, search the card index (or computer system), and locate the books (that is, if they aren't already checked out). Also, when I'm done borrowing books from the library, I need to take them back on time or pay a fine. But, when I download it from the Internet, it's mine to keep on file for as long as I want.
So, the argument that to get a “real education,” you have to have a physical library is becoming more amusing and silly with each passing Internet search. By the way, I just did a Google search that told me that in 2008 Google handled 235 million searches per day. I discovered that in about 20 seconds. I wonder if I had tried to find that in our local physical library (miles from my home or office) how long it would have taken me. The ironic thing is that chances are that once at the library, I would have needed to use one of their computers to search for it on Google!
