Succeeding in graduate school online: tips from successful students

College Student Journal, March, 2005 by Denise A. Payne, Julie M. Johnson

The purpose of this project was to provide a resource for distance education graduate students or their instructors to help students excel in their online programs. The researchers interviewed 15 people, consisting of current students and recent graduates. Participants provided information about the nature of online courses, why these courses were advantageous, and how they were planning to use their degrees. Participants also shared tips for applying to graduate school, communicating with advisors and professors, scheduling classes, buying textbooks, excelling in class, using technology, finding research articles, writing papers, managing time, working on a thesis or final project, networking with other students, and balancing family with course work. Recommendations for success are summarized.

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Distance education is growing in America. The prospect of earning a graduate degree without traveling to campus is exciting for many students. This is a challenging endeavor, however, and students could benefit from ideas to make their journey more successful. Books and Web sites are available that give tips to distance education undergraduate students or traditional on-campus graduate students. However, very few resources exist for distance education graduate students.

The purpose of this project, then, was to provide a resource for students (or for instructors to share with their distance education students) that would help them be more successful in their distance (online) graduate programs. To gather credible data, we recruited current or past students from Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance universities. A description of this alliance, then, will help the reader understand the nature of comments from students who have been involved in these online programs.

The Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (GP IDEA) includes Human Sciences colleges at ten universities and offers graduate degree programs and courses in several human sciences fields. For example, students can enroll in the Family Financial Planning graduate program at one university, take classes from high quality faculty at several different universities, and earn a degree without traveling to any campus. Students complete discussion boards, group projects, assignments, and tests online.

For this project, college deans and administrative staff at each GP IDEA university were asked to name successful online graduate students. We sought both current students (who were excelling in their programs at the time of recruitment) and recent graduates (who were successfully using their degrees to improve their careers). Fifteen participants completed interviews by e-mail or phone.

For the interviews, we formed initial questions based on Hammon and Albiston's work (1998). After the interviews, additional themes emerged and were used to organize the suggestions in this paper. Each category includes a summary of student comments plus one or two salient quotes from students. All of the comments can be useful to any distance graduate student, and some are especially relevant to students in collaborative programs such as the GP IDEA programs.

Participant Responses

Advantages of Studying Online

Participants said distance courses are convenient, efficient, and useful. Some students would not have been able to earn a degree if traveling were required. They used time they otherwise would have spent driving to complete course work instead. Participants also felt the flexibility of online courses is an advantage. Students can study at their own pace and on their own schedules. This is especially helpful for students who work or have a family.

Most participants thought the quality of online courses was equal to that of on-campus courses. Professors responded quickly to questions, and participants found ways to connect with other students. One participant pointed out the advantage of having multiple experts at different universities working together: Students see multiple perspectives from several high-quality faculty members with diverse experience.

   "I am a stay-at-home mom, and my
   husband is in the military. Therefore,
   going to class is not for me fight
   now. My child is young, so staying
   at home is more convenient. I can
   still work on my career while I am
   an at-home mom. When I get back
   in the work force, I will be ready.
   Also, we move often because my
   husband is in the military. It does
   not matter where I am at--I can continue
   the classes. There are no
   worries about transferring credits or
   finding a school with the same program."--Student,
   Family Financial
   Planning, Kansas State University

   "I have yet to find a drawback [to
   distance education]. My overall
   experience has been a ten on a zero
   to ten scale ... with ten being an
   extremely positive experience."
   --Student, Family Financial Planning,
   Kansas State University

How Online Courses Differ From Traditional Courses

Students access assignments, notes, and tests online. A few classes include audio or video tapes. Many participants said students need to be more self-disciplined in online courses than in on-campus courses. Online courses are more challenging and comprehensive, often requiring more reading and typing than traditional courses. There are weekly deadlines for readings, assignments, and discussion board postings. Students must plan their time well and develop good study habits. Because no professor is present to remind students to complete their work, students must take the initiative to read course material and complete assignments.