Shannon Kietzmann, Contributing Writer
If you are interested in earning a degree through an online school, you might be feeling a bit concerned about the value of the degree that you will earn through one of these programs. After all, online schools have received some bad press in the past, so it is only natural to want to be certain your degree will help you land the job of your dreams. While there are a few unfortunate examples of unscrupulous "online schools" that do nothing more than waste their students' time and money, the truth is that there are dozens of reputable online schools to select from. To make certain you are selecting the right school, it is important to ask these five questions about the school you are considering.
Accreditation is essential when exploring your options, as a school that is accredited is one that has met certain minimum standards as established by the industry. As such, if you graduate with a degree from a college that has not been accredited, employers within your industry may not recognize the degree as meeting their educational requirements. When checking accreditation, be sure to also research the organization that is providing the accreditation, as you want to make certain the online school is accredited by an organization that is recognized within your industry.
While no school is going to graduate all of its students, you should look for an online college with a reasonable graduation rate. After all, a school's graduation rate is affected by a number of factors, including the amount of support that is provided to its students and the quality of its teachers and programs. To get a better idea of whether or not the online school's graduation rates are acceptable, compare them to the graduation rates of brick and mortar institutions offering the same type of degree program.
No matter what type of school you plan to attend, you certainly want to select one with teachers who are experienced and knowledgeable in the field. When attending an online school, however, you also want the teachers to be experienced with teaching in the online format. After all, teaching via the Internet is vastly different from teaching in front of the classroom. As such, the quality and value of your education will be largely dependent upon the teacher's ability to communicate effectively through this media.
Obviously, there will be certain technical requirements associated with attending an online school. Therefore, it is important for you to find out more about these requirements and how they will affect your learning experience. Don't just consider software and equipment when asking about technical support, however, as you should also learn more about how and where the classes are accessed as well as how the professors communicate with their students.
Clearly, you will want to have plenty of technical support available when attending an online college. In fact, you should never settle for anything less than a school that provides 24 hour technical support. In this way, you can be certain you will be able to access your classes at any time of the day or night that you need to. Other support services you should look for in a school include the quality of the online library as well as professional development and career placement services.