Online Courses: earn a degree and expand knowledge
DAVID GUTIERREZ
Studying at a college is a great time to make friendships that last for a lifetime, to take a break from comfortable living with parents and what was usual and known and start calling university campus a second home for a few years.
However, the change of lifestyle is rarely the major reason why students apply to universities. Getting a degree as well as the knowledge that will be useful in future career are among the main reasons for such a decision.
Perhaps you are a person that seeks efficiency and have a desire to make use of every minute available. Or maybe you are already looking into master studies programs that could help you to advance in your field of study, but you want it to be compatible with the job you have or are planning to have by the time you finish your undergraduate degree. Or possibly you just want to expand your expertise in an area that is not related to your course of study and university that you are enrolled in is not offering it as an elective.
If any or all of the cases seem to be describing you, you might be interested in checking out possibilities of online education. Although most students prefer physical and social college environment, there are opportunities to study online courses that will award you with a degree, a certificate, or will simply provide knowledge in a discipline that you find fascinating.
Courses that do not provide a degree
There are many online schools and academies, such as Coursera, edX or Udemy where you are allowed to take online courses, even submit assignments, get grades and earn a certification. However, courses are usually not comprehensive and although after paying a small fee you will be able to receive a certificate that you finished the course and have knowledge in the field, that will not substitute bachelors, masters or doctorate degree.Still, this is a great opportunity if you are looking for a way to expand your CV and learn an additional marketable skill or simply to study something that has always interested you.
Courses that provide a college degree
In addition to that many universities provide an opportunity to study remotely and earn a bachelors or masters degree online. Most programs can be studied that way, an many universities are glad to provide such opportunity. Therefore, even if nearest universities are not offering a program you are interested in, you can find a way to study it in university, which might even be in different continent than your own.
In addition to that, studying online gives you an opportunity to earn a degree of a prestigious university in Australia, Europe or anywhere else in the world.
Free courses that do not provide official certification, but give you knowledge
Perhaps you just want to learn a new skill or language so that you could apply it in a project you are working on. Or maybe you just want to understand processes or ways to build arguments, write or learn better. There are ways to do that for free using online education. Although, many things can be learned simply watching Youtube videos, there are online systems that provide courses for free in order to promote their content. The websites of Coursera and Edx have quite a wide selection of courses that you have to pay only if you want to receive certification after completing the course.
In conclusion, there are opportunities to study and to even earn certification if necessary while traveling, working and trying to combine work and study and studying from the comfort of your home. The most important thing is to understand what you want, need and what will benefit you the most.
David Gutierrez has worked in the field of web design since 2005. Right now he started learning Java in order to get second occupation. His professional interests defined major topics of his articles. David writes about new web design software, recently discovered professional tricks and also monitors the latest updates of the web development.
