Online Master's Degree in Speech Pathology: a 'Big Blessing'
After earning her bachelor's degree on campus at Ohio University, Jennifer Elerick dreamed about going back to school to get her master's degree. But, with three young children at home, and her fourth child on the way, attending classes at a university wasn't an option. "One of the biggest benefits of online education was that it allowed me to get my master's degree," Elerick said.
Elerick discovered that the University of Cincinnati offered an online master's degree program in speech language pathology - a career field that Elerick was particularly interested in pursuing. "I became really interested in attending the University of Cincinnati once I discovered they had the program," Elerick said. "An online speech therapy program is really unique and I liked the way the program was set up."
Initial frustration overcome
Although Elerick doesn't consider herself to be the most tech-savvy individual, she said the online coursework was very doable for her. "I'm not really computer-minded, but I was able to do it," she said. "In the beginning it was a little frustrating, but I was able to figure it out and it got a lot easier. I would definitely do it again."
The classes connected via Google groups, Facebook postings, forum chats and online lectures. "Sometimes we would connect virtually to an on-campus classroom that was taking the same class," she said. "Even though we technically weren't there, we kind of were," she said.
Two and a half years after beginning the program, Elerick is preparing to graduate with a master's degree in speech language pathology. During the "extended" program, Elerick and her classmates took two classes at a time. "Everything was easily accessible for me to do at home whenever I wanted to," she said. "There were scheduled chats sometimes that I had to attend, but for the most part, the coursework was really flexible."
Not easy but worthwhile
Even with four young children at home, Elerick found it possible to manage the master's degree program. "Some classes were very, very time consuming," she said. "I spent at least an hour each day on schoolwork - sometimes more."
"It was definitely challenging, but it was also very worth it to me," Elerick said. "[This online program] was a big blessing to us."
According to Elerick, she had a job offer before graduation as a speech pathologist in a local school - a position she earned after impressing the administration during her student teaching position. Elerick said that although she didn't have to work too hard to secure a job in her new career field, the university did offer virtual career fairs where students could connect with potential employers and apply for job openings.
Making friends online
Despite the fact that all of Elerick's classes were online, she went through the entire program with the same set of classmates - many of whom developed close friendships. "Even though we are located all over Ohio, we have become a small community," she said.
The classmates have even gotten together twice to meet socially in Columbus, Ohio - a central location for many of the students. "Even though we don't see each other often in person, we've gotten really close because we do everything together in the online classroom."
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