Online learning - the challenges

Is online learning right for you?

It's an interesting question and one that I poised to myself many times before I enrolled in the class. The link to the profile mentions some of the personality traits and self assessment you should check internally with yourself before undertake the challenge of studying and enrolling in a 100% online class.

The most difficult challenge for myself will be time management. Not that I am bad at time management but just fitting in all my roles and responsibilities into the average day. I work full-time as a HR manager in a start-up software firm, wonderful exciting role that stretches me daily. It also means it's not a 8-5 role (companies don't do 9-5 anymore - did you notice that? They don't like paying for you to be on lunch!) I'm also married with two small boys under age 4. So my husband drop off the wee boys and I go pick them up after daycare, take them home, dinner, bath-time, bedtime and read them the books and cuddles before bed. Then its time to jump online, pay bills, before crashing into bed as I work eastern time zone so I'm normally at my office at 6am PST. So in between all of this I have to also now work in reading, discussion boards, homework, assignments, content. Am I scared - yes I am, but excited about the new challenges and also very comfortable thankfully with new technologies so online I feel is easier for me than attending traditional in-person classes.

Advantages to online
- I can fit it the classes and work into my availability - even at the oddest hours. So I can jump on at 5am and squeeze in postings and discussions with my fellow learners when I am available, unlike the traditional class.
- I can attend while working full-time and having a family. I see this as the biggest advantage and also one that will change learning as we know it. How many people could attend e-learning if we knock down the barriers to all social economic groups having access to internet? Social and technology projects such as the windup laptops and moving technology and content to the cloud means less barriers to access. It's an exciting time and libraries are at the heart of access for many groups.