An Online Education with UMUC

Online Study Orientation to Online Study

Distance education is an innovative development in higher education that uses technology to facilitate learning without the limitations of time or place. UMUC offers courses online so that students around the world can complete a bachelor's or master's degree without stepping foot in a classroom.

Distance education students use state-of-the-art technology to connect to faculty members, coursemates, and advisors. The great advantage of distance education is that it gives students the flexibility to achieve an appropriate balance of work, family, community, and educational commitments.

Please note that all Graduate School on-site courses also have an online component.

How Online Courses Differ from On-Site Courses

The Graduate School's online courses are governed by the same academic standards as its on-site courses. Course content, texts, requirements, assignments, and class participation are comparable for online and on-site courses. Before registering for an online course, students may want to consider the following:

Online students need to be prepared to write extensively because all or the majority of communication is written. Online students need strong English reading and writing skills.
Online students must be competent in the use of computers and commonly used software programs.
Since WebTycho is asynchronous and students are expected to be active participants online, online students are encouraged to log in frequently to check what has transpired in their online classroom (in lieu of class meetings).
Online students need disciplined work habits, effective time management skills, and the ability to work both alone and collaboratively.

Elements of Online Courses

Online courses at UMUC often include the following elements:

Asynchronous, frequent student and faculty participation
Lectures and assigned readings (from textbooks and online resources)
Individual and group assignments (for example, case studies and discussion questions)
Individual and group papers
Literature analyses
Use of online library resources
Online quizzes and exams

Student Computer Literacy

All students are expected to have a working knowledge of, and access to, a basic word processing program such as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect; a spreadsheet program such as Lotus, QuattroPro, or Excel; electronic mail service; and the World Wide Web.

Graduate students who require further training in the use of Internet services and basic software packages may wish to take one or more of UMUC's undergraduate computing courses.

Classes vary in the extent to which computers and software are employed. In some, the primary use is to facilitate communication and ensure basic technology literacy, while in others students are required to use complex software packages that run on powerful machines.

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larryrossdale – Wed, 22 Sep 2010 13:28:09 -0000

Online courses were definitely the way to go for me. I got my distance learning degree at Liberty University and couldn't be happier. Check out their website at http://www.luonline.com

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