Online Education Augments Writing Skills

Obtaining an online education requires one to write quite a bit more than would be required in a traditional program. This is because reading/writing is the primary or sole means of communication in the online education arena. Real-time chats, message boards, and email are the ways students, professors and teacher's assistance (TAs) interact with each other. Little, if any, phone calls take place. The benefits of this are obvious: refining such skills in the online classroom will pay dividends in one's future work.

Unfortunately, not all aspects of this fringe benefit are positive. I found my ability to interact directly with people, conversation skills, verbal listening skills, and verbal speaking skills declining as I was engrossed in the reading/writing in my online education. Students can parry this potential, unwanted side-effect by investing some time for continued socialization with friends and family.

It is very difficult to formulate complex academic questions in written prose. Learning how to overcome this challenge is an yet another challenge of obtaining and online education. The online student will find him/herself reading emails to professors, over and over, listening to whether or not the question is actually interpretable. The dialogue that would have occurred in the professor's office to help the professor understand what the student is asking takes place in the online student's mind. The student must learn how someone might incorrectly interpret their written sentences and make adjustments to save time and quickly get the answer they need.