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Lie #3: Online Learning is Easy

Woman lounging on her couch, laptop in her lap, taking her online courses.

Is Online Learning “Easier” Than Traditional Classes?

Conventional wisdom says that online learning is easy, and therefore it isn’t worth your time. As it so often is, conventional wisdom is dead wrong about that.

Online learning is simple, sure – it’s straightforward and uncomplicated – but it sure as heck isn’t easy.

Just like traditional schools, some online institutions are known for being easier and others are known for being harder. But because of the nature of online learning, it requires a little more effort to keep on top of your weekly studies when they’re self-motivated. While your instructors are your personal cheerleaders, you’ll still need to find the motivation inside yourself to actually do the work each week.

Be Your Own Cheerleader

You’ll need to take responsibility for completing assignments on time and meeting set deadlines. With nobody standing at your shoulder to enforce deadlines, online students must be able to manage their own time. Late assignments are not acceptable online any more than in class.

Self-motivation is the biggest hurdle, but if you can manage it, you will become an amazing employee that your boss will trust to get the job done on time.

Additionally, you’ve got a lot of college-level reading ahead of you, so while that probably won’t be difficult for you, it will be time-consuming. In an online career college like CD-Ed, you’ll probably find more hands-on work than theoretical reading. You won’t have to memorize it as much as you’ll need to spend the time to understand it. The doing should keep it in your brain.

Finally, you’re probably learning something you’ve never done before. Throughout high school, for instance, each year in English class, you simply expanded ideas you’d already been introduced to the previous year. But with career training, it’s likely that everything is completely new – so it takes practice to get it down pat.

Not Easy, But Rewarding

So no, online learning isn’t easy. It’s at least as difficult as traditional college work – if not more so! But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can do to make sure your online learning is a success!