There are a lot of benefits to learning online. We spoke to education experts Associate Professor Miriam Tanti and Dr Therese Barrington about the skills you’ll gain from learning online that employers seek in their employees.
Online students work hard to effectively communicate digitally, share information in non-traditional ways, listen and read carefully, and respond specifically and succinctly. These communication skills are sought after, and they are key to building relationships at work and contributing effectively in meetings.
Online learning requires managing multiple assignments, units and deadlines. You’ll need to effectively manage your time to remain on top of your work. Establishing a timetable or setting a daily routine to help manage tasks are essential workplace skills.
To be successful, an online student needs to want to succeed. Online learning requires independence, internal motivation, responsibility, and a certain level of maturity. Taking charge of your own time and not allowing procrastination are good habits to cultivate.
Basic computer literacy is essential for just about any job. Working in an online environment and networking with your online facilitators and fellow students through a range of virtual platforms and online communication and collaboration tools prepares you for a technology-driven work environment.
A big part of studying online is collaboration. You’ll work with your peers and online facilitator as you work through each unit. You’ll learn a great deal about articulating your ideas clearly, working with others and learning from them. Working with others is a critical part of most jobs.
As an online learner you’ll need to be flexible, agile, and adaptable. These are all essential qualities to building resilience – a key skill in every workplace. Resilience is the ability to move past failure or disappointment with grace. By not dwelling on the past, you’ll be more productive with future tasks.
Studying with ACU Online, you’ll develop strong research skills. You’ll use a variety of resources to identify and state problems and issues clearly and concisely and address them. You’ll apply these skills to a variety of assessment tasks such as case studies, digital resource development, reports, group work, and essays. Your strong research skills will look excellent on a CV and will prove useful in your career.
Associate Professor Miriam is Campus Dean of ACU Strathfield and the Head, School of Education (NSW/ACT) and has an extensive background in education preparing pre-service teachers to teach in contemporary learning environments, through the meaningful integration of digital technologies.
Dr Therese Barrington teaches face-to-face classes in NSW and online classes for pre-service and postgraduate teachers across Australia, some in remote areas. The movement to online classes has been an opportunity for her students to explore synchronous and asynchronous ways of learning and to connect in different ways.
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