With the awareness of student loan debt and the financial crises of recent years, more adults recognize the value of alternative credentials. An alternative credential can be a certificate in graphic design or a short skills-based course in artificial intelligence from IBM. Completing the course may (or may not) mean earning credit hours. What is most important about an alternative credential is that it typically aligns with real skills and competencies sought by employers. It’s a career enhancement that doesn’t require a full degree.
Degrees can be wonderful; the authors have several! However, if you can earn an industry-recognized certification in less than a year and walk into a sustainable job at the end, why not?
In a study by the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) and Pearson, an industry leader in offering educational services, 73% of higher education institutions indicate that they’re aware of and planning for alternative credentials. This will bring even more online opportunities to learners.
Where a degree may be represented by a transcript listing courses, many alternative credentials are represented as digital credentials or badges. These digital forms display specific information about the skills and competencies acquired and what the learner is capable of doing as a result. They are not self-reported by the learner, but are verified by the institution.
Busy parents
Raising a family isn’t easy. Your children need and deserve your time and attention. They also need to be fed and bathed, have their homework checked, be driven to tennis class, and more! But what if you’re a parent and want (or need) to return to school? What are the benefits of online education over traditional schooling for you?
Childcare savings are possible. On the one hand, we don’t recommend trying to be a serious student with small children running around; you can’t concentrate adequately when your attention is divided between keeping your child safe, loved, and engaged versus completing a discussion question. However, it’s reasonable to think that there will be quiet times when you can concentrate on your schoolwork and not have to pay for a babysitter. Save the babysitting money for those times when you have to take an online test and absolutely cannot be distracted.
You don’t have to spend time commuting. You can study from home or from your workplace (with permission, of course), but you don’t need to add travel time to school. That means more time for the family, ultimately. Many parents study at the dining room table while school-age children work on their own homework. “School” starts right after the dinner plates are cleared.
Speaking of school-age children, studying in their presence sends a powerful message about lifelong education, your values, and the need to balance work, family, and school. Yes, maybe they can see that if you go to night class twice a week. However, we think it’s qualitatively different when your children witness you logging in daily and truly keeping abreast of what’s happening in class.
So, as a busy parent, when are you supposed to fit in your schoolwork? For parents of very young children, naptime means class time. Many parents who take online classes dedicate those quiet moments to getting on the computer and completing class assignments.
Get up earlier and work for an hour each morning before you wake up the kids.
If you’re working outside the home, make arrangements with your boss to work online at your desk during your lunch break.
If you’re a commuter (and not driving!), consider what coursework you can do during that time. Your “green” friends might not appreciate your printing off the whole course to read on the train, but what about your textbook? How about working through a discussion question the old-fashioned paper-and-pencil way and then posting it online later? Or, what about catching up on reading with the help of a tablet?
Pull out the laptop when your children do their homework. You will not only stay current in class but also model excellent study skills for your kids!
Stay up an hour past your children’s bedtime to catch up on your class.
People with transportation issues
No travel is involved with online education, so students with transportation concerns can take classes easily. For example:
If you live in a rural area and have to drive in wintry weather, commuting even 20 minutes to the local community college can become a dangerous ordeal in February. Contrast that to staying warm and toasty at home while you complete coursework. And you pay less in fuel, parking, and maintenance on a vehicle to boot.
What if you have a medical condition that makes driving impossible and you’re reliant on others for transportation? Again, if you study online, you’re completely independent and not in need of travel assistance.
Not everyone lives where buses and trains can easily transport them to the local college. Online education cancels the need to find and fund private transportation or to hitch a ride with strangers.
If you carry this a little further, you can see that online education opens the possibility to take classes from anywhere in the world. This may seem kind of silly to consider, but you can live in Iowa and take a class from a university in California with no travel costs incurred. In one university class coauthor Susan taught, she had learners log in from Great Britain, Korea, and Dubai as well as North America.
People with disabilities
Typically, disabilities come in two major fashions: physical challenges and difficulties processing information (learning disabilities).
If you’re physically challenged, whether by mobility concerns, deafness, or blindness, you may find the online environment to be more conducive to studying. Here are a few highlights:
Mobility: Persons who use wheelchairs or other assistive devices, such as crutches, canes, or walkers, can stay at home and study. No need to worry about whether sidewalks and building entrances are accessible.
Blindness: If you’re a person who is blind and you use a screen reader such as JAWS to complete your coursework online, you may have to ask for assistance with some areas of your coursework, but your campus should have staff who can help you work around any difficulties.
Deafness: Unless audio is a major portion of the course, such as in a language listening course, persons who are deaf can typically read their way through a class. When audio or video is part of the content for a course, alternative text versions are typically available.
Learners who have documented learning disabilities can also succeed in the online environment. Most institutions have a department that learners with accommodation needs can turn to. This department not only supports learners but also trains faculty and staff on how to make the necessary accommodations for all students to be successful in the online environment.