The United States Department of Education has just reached the results of their 12-year study in which they were investigating how competitive an online degree was compared with a traditional degree in the marketplace. The results may surprise you. The verdict – get an online degree!

The study stated that online classes and examinations are somewhat more effective than traditional face-to-face degrees.

I find it comical that the number one argument people give for not wanting to take an online class is that you need to be self disciplined. Hello guys! What is wrong with that exactly? If anything online education teaches you a valuable life lesson early on that you can carry with you a lifetime.

Look, you need to be self disciplined to get to class at a ground university too, right? And you still need to put the work in to earn a good grade, right? I guess I just don’t understand the warped logic.

Recently in the world of higher education there has been a lot of buzz about the growth of online education strides that it has made over the last 10 years. Online education has made it possible for working professionals with extensive family responsibilities to work towards a degree. Through online education students can complete their course work when it is convenient and even take classes over school breaks.

For college students Thanksgiving means that it is almost the end of the semester, finals are just days away, and winter break is so close you can taste it. Winter break is a time that every college student looks forward to because it is a month without dorm rooms, 3:00am fire alarms, and mystery meals in the cafeteria. But after the holidays race past you’re left with a lot of idle time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have a little bit of time away from campus with a comfy bed and home-cooked meals, but let’s face it; winter break can be kind of boring. While you are at home on break why not enroll in an online class and get a head start on next semester?

A regional accreditation is the most coveted accreditation any online schools can receive, the same for a ground university for that matter, but many online schools try to trick you with the terminology they use to make their institution sound more reputable. It’s important that you be on the lookout for some key terms that are tossed around but that hold little to no value.

By now most people know at least some of the benefits of online education. We know that it is convenient for working adults, it is good for the environment and students can complete online degrees at their own pace. Online education is great, but it does not have to be the end all be all. Have you ever considered testing the higher education waters with an online program?

For anyone bold enough to make the claim that online students are, “not real students” I submit they are either ignorant, uninformed, or a combination of the two. The fact is many hiring managers value online students more than those who procured a degree in a traditional setting.

These days everyone’s favorite color seems to be green. I do not mean that people are running to the Home Depot to paint their houses green or that the Gap has run out of green sweaters. Green has become synonymous with what is good for the environment. More than ever people are concerned with how environmentally friendly their cars, cleaning products and washing machines are, but do you think that anyone has ever wondered if they are getting a green education?

My Dad used to say the more things change the more they really stay the same, and that’s certainly true of online education when you get right down to it.

People tend to think that online education and traditional learning are completely different from one another, but that is simply not true. Both modes of learning have quite a bit in common actually.

As an adjunct professor of Internet Marketing for the University of San Franscisco, I get to see about 35 students a month in my courses and read their feedback of their online degree experience. Many have positive experiences, and some have either neutral or negative experiences. Looking over the negative feedback, I’ve put together a short list of things that might help you get more out of your online degree experience.
1. Reach out and communicate often. An online degree program is NOT like a brick and mortar program. The professors …