BS in Organizational Leadership: Busy Entrepreneur Pursues His Degree Online
Tristan Thomas is a busy guy. Between running two recruitment companies, managing an acting career and working on a rock album, it wouldn't appear there's time for much else in his life. Tristan, however, is also finishing his Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Leadership part-time online through Penn State. He's in his senior year.
In the mid-nineties, after a period in the Army Reserve, Tristan enrolled at the Penn State campus in Philadelphia. He left a couple years later to pursue acting work in New York and wound up in Los Angeles for 11 years. He hadn't considered going back to school until he decided to try working for someone other than himself.
You Can't Take An Education Away From Someone
Not having his degree was never an obstacle in his professional life as an entrepreneur, but he found it difficult to make inroads when he considered a more corporate career. "I looked into the pharmaceutical and medical device business, because I've been consulting for years with those companies," he says.
Even though a recruiter at a major company was eager to hire him, it was the company's policy to only hire people with at least a bachelor's degree. "This happened like three different times. They loved me and wanted to hire me, but because I didn't have this piece of paper, I couldn't have the job." Instead of discouraging him, Tristan reconnected with a desire to finish his degree. It's not necessarily something that will make or break me," he says, "I just feel that you can't take someone's education away from them."
Going back to school is a continuation of lessons Tristan has learned from direct experience in business. "I had a lot of the tools that are necessary from life experience," he says, "But what I lacked was the actual book knowledge to help me implement a lot of the things that I wanted to do." His goal was to educate himself on current trends in leadership and how to better steer his two companies, which is his passion. "It doesn't matter if you're the quarterback of a football team, or you're the CEO of an organization, leadership is leadership, regardless," says Tristan.
Classes: Same Program, Different Approaches
Penn State uses an online learning environment called Angel to administer their programs, but the specific course structure varies with the instructor. "One semester, all three of my classes gave you a certain amount of work to do--tests, quizzes, papers to write--all due at Sunday evening at 11:59 P.M." he says. "This year, it's a little different, a lot of the classes revolve around the discussion forum with other members of the class where you have to actively participate and have to do projects that involve other students as well."
The Angel system collects all of the course content in one central location online. A student's current classes are displayed when they log in, from there a click will take him or her into the active classroom interface and the course modules. "You click on a module, which brings up the lesson, and the lesson will contain audio lecture as audio WAV files," says Tristan. "You have the written lectures, and then you have the reading, which is provided--no need for books. If you click on the assignments folder, it will bring up your assignments for that week with the due dates next to it."
While not many of his classes use video, Tristan recalled one class that was particularly interactive--environmental engineering. "I was blown away by it--the whole class was interactive," he remembers. "Somebody actually created characters that guided you through the lessons. For instance, if you're working on understanding how to effectively heat a home, a home was built on the computer and you could piece it together the home."
Planning For Success
Tristan finds the key to managing his busy schedule is planning ahead. "Look at your assignments at the beginning of every week," he recommends. "You'll have absolutely no problem with online learning if you stick to your study schedule and follow the syllabus closely."
Flexibility of Online Program Makes it Possible
Tristan finds that his main impetus for studying online was being able to determine his own schedule. "You don't have to sit in class," he says, "For me, I could never go back to school if it was any other way." It saves him precious time and it's convenient, especially in a city as large as Los Angeles.
"It's nice to be able to sit on my sofa and write a paper, take a quiz," says Tristan. "I live in Los Angeles, and if I went to class I would be sitting in traffic for an hour to be in a one-hour class and then driving home for an hour to do four hours of homework--it's a waste of hours." Virtual learning also collapses greater distances, between L.A. and Philadelphia. "I can be part of a top university's program without having actually being in Pennsylvania," says Tristan.
Though he was initially skeptical of finishing his degree in an online program, Tristan hasn't looked back. "If you want to get a degree, or even just take classes, save yourself the time and energy and go online," says Tristan. "You have so much more time and freedom for yourself."
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