Psychology is perhaps one of the most interesting fields one could ever hope to have as a career choice. It’s a field where one would have to wonder if a typical college age student should have the ability to practice with only formal education in his or her bag of tricks. Speaking personally, I can’t imagine how a 20 something could possibly have the world or life experience that would have to credibility to speak with anyone about the issues that they are having difficulty with. Many of the best people in the field of psychology are those who chose to enter the field of study as a second career, at a point in their life where they felt they had something of merit to offer their prospective clients.
It is for this reason, among others, that psychology as a course of study, lends itself quite well to online learning. But just how effective is online learning? The advertising for the online leaning community would lead you to believe that there is no downside. Just how much truth can there be to that statement?
Can you really study psychology online and successfully complete this line of education in pajamas and comfortable slippers? Online learning from an online university degree can be such great option, they all say, for people who either can’t afford regular college or don’t have the time in their schedule for it because they are working people. Here’s what you need to know about whether the whole online learning lifestyle is for you.
Some people thrive in freelance work-at-home jobs or in flextime telecommute jobs. They have the ability to personally structure their day on their own without the whole office setup pushing them to work faster and harder. Basically you need to be the kind of person who can at least push himself to become structured. Moreover, you really need to be quite the resourceful kind of learner to be able to do it on your own at home. Most of us are used to learning in the classroom where there are always teachers or other students to turn to if something doesn’t seem clear. At home, while you still do have recourse to e-mailing the professors or instructors, many of those same resources are not readily available. You have to be able to live with that. The online learning environment therefore is perfect for the independent kind of learner who has the confidence to look and search deeply to find answers out for himself. This is a valuable quality for anyone wishing to study psychology online.
Of course, going to college isn’t just about learning. It’s also about making friends, having a social life, networking. Take that away from college, and to many, it just doesn’t seem like college anymore. The closest you’ll get to socializing with online learning is attending online discussions and getting on Facebook study groups. It’s all about the kind of personality you have. If you really need lots of friends and you need them to push you to learn better, online learning may not be for you. However, for the older more mature person, this is hardly important in the fulfillment of their goal of a degree in psychology.
Some people think of online learning as the option for those who are far removed from any major city or town that could have a college they could attend in person. There’s just one little problem to that line of reasoning to. Rural communities typically don’t have great Internet access. Most people there just go down to the library to use the computers there for their e-mail and surfing because their dial-up connections are too slow and too buggy. Neither one of these options would do for online learning, of course. You need your own fast Internet connection at home and you need access to it for hours every day. Particularly for a line of study as intense as psychology.
Many online universities offer a free or trial time period to determine if online learning is right for you before making any commitments. You can also learn if a school is accredited at the U.S. Dept of Education website. There is a lot to think about when pursuing anything as life changing as a new career. If you wish to study psychology online, be sure to do as much research as possible before making a final decision.