Are online degrees a substitute for campus-based degrees?

Distance learning, and now online learning, are still seen as alternatives to the traditional methods of gaining a degree.

Getting a degree via a campus route will be viewed by many as being the reserve for high school graduates: those who are bright and can afford to spend at least the next three years of their lives visiting a university, or in many cases move to live near or within the walls of their choice.

There are of course many others that will have different circumstances: career-changers where money and time is not an issue or those being supported by a spouse or sponsor.

In the UK and US, part-time students are very common. Many people have jobs and family commitments their education must work around, or a job supporting their academic growth in a related subject.

Where demand for such courses is significant there may even be day release, or night class options, offering further flexibility but still based within a campus environment.

The work does not really differ, only the time and place that it is delivered. Thus calling students of this type; part-time, is somewhat of an injustice.

People on these types of courses are the biggest benefitieries for the online learning experience, and not just because the increased flexibility of online study offers students a better way, or smarter and a more personally tailored solution.

While true, and I am sure a great selling feature, there are also many things that an online degree offers that make it much more of an alternative than a substitute.

Commitment of the student has to be at least the same as learning by any other route. Time and effort still needs to be committed to learning, content and the work required will be the same, even if learning method differs vastly.

So demonstrating a serious attitude to your chosen subject is self-evident if a degree is being gained, or is completed successfully.

But for employers looking for more than commitment, success via an online route demonstrates so much more than a campus-based derivative simply cannot. Personal time management and effective planning of all works, the lectures and tutorials have all been under the remit of the student rather than demonstrating a person can follow a timetable.

The online method demonstrates, not only that a timetable can be followed, but also that the successful student can create and commit to one.

There are other qualities that this method demonstrates such as enthusiasm, initiative and adaptability.

Without those three it would be virtually impossible to complete an online degree, and it suggests that, certainly for employers, that side-by-side an online degree versus the same campus-based degree, the online version may look stronger, and certainly not as a substitute.