Learning Experience in Online MBA
The course provided a flexible way of learning. Students can log-in and view classroom lectures anytime of the day. They can deal with household duties, office works and leisure times at crucial moments of the day. This gives their on-line lecture comfortable experience as there is no need to be anxious of unfinished tasks or pending appointments. It is a breakthrough solution to balance work-life in a demanding world. As a result, absorbing on-line lectures are relatively easy while retention was enhanced by repeating missed or hard to understand topics. This really helped at times when concentration is low due to internal and external disturbances. In effect, assignments and research papers were tailored according to theories mentioned in the discussions making outputs more realistic and effective.
Second, the course proved to be student-friendly due to its portability. Students were not forced to spend transportation and fuel costs just to go to their schools, instead they studied on their beds or while eating. They carried their laptop computers on vacations or hotels and will study at the time they finished with personal lavishness. At times, the audio can be used while driving especially when the discussion required repeat listening due to difficulty. The savings made in transportation and transaction costs were converted to internet fees and hardware maintenance. Also, on-line books were also very helpful to save cost of the traditional book. As a result, portability was not just meant for continuous mobility but also saving costs.
Third, it offered private learning that stemmed a number of advantages for the student. This enabled focused attention because the lecturer seemingly talked to students one-on-one. Communication barriers in actual classroom discussions like noise and other tangible distractions are also prevented. Difficult topics can be researched through the internet journals and encyclopedias and there is no need to disrupt the lecturer to arrive at clearer cognition. On-line classmates were open queries and this communication process was not hindered due to on-line interaction. Students dealt with their differences independently while the lecturer continued its preliminary discussions. As a result, the lack of confidence in interrupting discussion in actual classroom was tolerated because to non-personal and independent way of dealing with hard situations.
Further, the formality of delivering the discussion had positively impacted curiosity, attention and understanding of students. It provided the platform to hear attentively due to clear and concise diction from the lecturer that branched its authority and relevance for the students. The slides beside the lecturer also helped students to focus their vision in accounting numbers while their ears in the headphone. The learning became multi-dimensional without looking at big space (serve as distraction) in actual classroom. It was focused on the screen. Isolation is an obstacle that can undermine study motivation. However, with the presence of e-mail and telephone connected to faculty members, the relationship continued to form a network that mitigate the problems of individualism in learning and provide the student to maximize its benefits.
Behavioral approach to learning was also developed. Since the course did not require professors to discipline its students at times of tardiness, it gave the latter ample period to contemplate on the importance of the course in their career and to develop the necessary initiative and discipline to comply with requirements. Friendship was also enhanced with an incentive since chat rooms evolved in academic framework at hand. Since accounting practices are updated every now and then, it aided students to emphasize the importance of adhering to revised accounting practices. Also, professors were somewhat looked as unblemished lecturers due to their flawless delivery. However, the provision of e-mail and telephony transformed this self-vested opinion into realistic ones. Professors were also humans that can be emotional friends and imperfect academicians. This provided students to think practically and ethically on the verge of hard topics.
In addition, the knowledge gathered in the lecturers can be applied instantaneously. This had impacted students who are working to apply their academic knowledge to practical situations. As a result, they can personally assess its effectiveness firsthand. Verifications can be asked to other students or professor in order to adjust and balance the trade-off, if any, between academic supports with the dynamic workplace. In addition, it eased the difficulty of working students in attainting their promotional targets. Their competitiveness with other employees was enforced by the on-line studies which provided managers to re-assess their positions.
However, the learning experience had also attached with problems. First, technical problems had sometimes hindered flexibility and portability benefits of online MBA. When students do not have laptop computers, the course lost its portability features although it was still flexible when regards to time. On the other hand, using a desktop computer had frequent speed problems especially when contacting a certain website as it is also the same problem of laptop computer. Viruses in e-mails made efficiency lower to the detriment of outsourcing necessary and complementary information in other websites. These technical problems were confronted by using security software and recurrent personal request from peers to inspect such problems. Although the latter came with minimal costs rather friendship tests, the former costs some dollars out of the family’s budget.
Secondly, the minimal supervision from the professor and self disciplining nature of the course had oftentimes made students imprudent to their assignments and research works. The time was used to go out with friends after a day’s work while weekend was already scheduled outside home. At the end of the day, students were confronted with tight deadlines with sub-optimal output. This problem was hard to solve because the solution can only found within. It was a choice of performing well in the course positively effecting practice of work or minimal attention to the course resulting to sub-optimal gain of knowledge that can be applied and tested at real situations. In this view, only those willing to sacrifice leisure were the ones who had performed better than other students.
Physical limitations such as eyestrain and stiff back or neck were considered minor but fairly distracting ones. When the student was at beside its bed, it was easy to let the time passed with back in comfort. The tiring working day added to the physical limitation wherein the remaining strength should be dedicated to the course. To resolve stress problems that could deter performance in home and office, students had to augment their discipline level and request their family members to support the tight schedule. Massage parlors were useful in weekends to ease the body pains and exhaustion caused by a week’s hectic schedule. Spiritual cleansing and guidance was also a path sustaining tool to endure physical and mental strain for long-term benefits.
With these above-mentioned problems in online learning, it is apparently a conclusion that benefits ultimately outweighed the costs. In the long-run, the goal-oriented decision of improving workplace performance or managerial position aspirations can be attained in relatively cheap and flexible manner. This cheapness and flexibility guarded the short-run objective of students in such a manner that work and family duties were not suppressed by the course while family budget was not excessively pressured up to the point that household necessities were undermined. In aggregate, the learning experience being online was self-fulfilling with spill-over effects towards family relations and career path. It was a practical yet long-lasting experience that not only enhanced student’s decision-making but also their technical knowledge of the work.
Academic/ Professional Achievements
The concise program aided students to cover as much accounting topics as possible. It was a flexible but intensive course that when effectively operate increases accounting knowledge and application in small span of time. It motivated students to focus their spare time in studying. As a result, they transformed to disciplined scholars who can take ample amount of academic load. In effect, it improved the speed of their analytical skills that when applied to their respective office environments, had proved efficient way of solving accounting and finance problems. Their ability to think fast and understand the difference between academic support and its application had impacted their work with quicker, directed and strategic responses.
In addition, they became great help to their supervisors by providing insights on accounting procedures and management decisions. Since the course was done online, students were exposed to innovative horizons, oftentimes best practices in the corporate industry. This was enhanced by findings gathered in practical and academic accounting differences. They had transformed from mere labor-intensive robots to able decision-makers and leaders. With this outlook, managers were able to save time and maximize the team to work towards a goal. In the process, online MBA graduates were asked with suggestions while feedbacks on the implemented policies remained open. Then, the consensus plan was applied. In this model, the employees can easily relate to strategies being imposed by the top management because of their exposure in the online course. Change being injected were not resisted but accepted or criticized in an ethical and objective manner.
The market value of the graduates also increased. Forbes 500 is one organization that accepts online MBA graduates. This made compensation and career packages for the graduates in wide varieties. As a result, they directed their career path that can support their short- and long-term plans. This move was not hard because the relative market value of graduates had increased. It gave them confidence to actively participate in their present working conditions and particular duty. Commitment is not the same as loyalty wherein the latter asks for more. The degree gave employees the fair share in labor supply opportunities which cannot be denied by present employers just because of employee’s limited capabilities and qualifications. It is a form of empowerment that they can rely upon whenever the present employer applied harassment or bad practice.
Further, the course boosted their knowledge on how the internet can provide fast and reliable platform to gather information related on their accounting jobs. As a result, their inclination to the technology increased their aspiration to get even higher studies or different specialization. This can be in the field of management, marketing or corporate governance. As said earlier, online courses are comprehensive and interactive. With this in mind, graduates can further enhance their knowledge and work at the same time. As a result, their contribution to the company broadens to different departments because of their increased knowledge of their financial needs and outputs. This is a promise that further flame their career achievements and market value.
Also, it gave students rationale to standardize actions and cooperate when dealing with tasks that requires group effort. As mentioned earlier, they had improved their managerial knowledge and conceptual abilities. As a result, interaction and collaboration with both cooperative and non-cooperative employees were enforced. They were confident to suggest/ be suggested the group/ by the group. They were the bridge for non-conforming views in the employee unit as they were aware of the implications of practical accounting solution using academic framework which of huge pattern for their unit. In effect, their managerial abilities were improved by such dealings. This was no little accomplishment for a vigilant supervisor.
Even though students were CPA holders, the course provided the platform to improve accounting knowledge and keep the basics of accounting which are deemed useful in the complex corporate environment. This achievement of determining the compatibility of accounting style based on the nature, size and positioning of the company were suggested to be held first before using any accounting approach. Being organized and resourceful was also instilled in the minds of the graduates to maximize the value of every book or ledger frequently covered underneath their office desks.
However, the same as learning experience, academic and professional achievements has its bottleneck. Practical application of theories learned in the virtual session had sometimes annoyed co-employees due to change in approach of work by the graduates. It was a state where in good intentions were not appreciated instead envied. However, with the support from the manager, such acts had only lasted very short. The application confidence was also enhanced by the lectures and its subsequent theoretical and practical outputs. With the intertwining of manager and online learning, adjustment to the practice of testing the effectiveness and efficiency of theories in actual work became a habit while those initially annoyed employees had been affected by the process that made the relationship more compact and helpful.
In addition, frustration of missed expectations of the relative outcome of applying certain accounting principles and best practices were sometimes staggering. The anticipation of the desired result of actual application was limited by distortions from the modeled effect. In these difficult times, theory seemingly looked like myths since they did not equate to those discussed in online MBA. The disappointment broadened as financial matters were deemed very crucial to the firm’s profitability. An aggravating effect was the questioning of the immediate supervisor of the dissimilar accounting techniques used to deal with accounting disparities. The output was regarded inefficient and out of the policy. This despite good intentions being proposed by the online student and its conservatism to firm’s accounting principles.
Dealing with such problem was hard at first because it can suggest discontinuity to the course. With few adjustments in placing the raw data to the actual books of the firm to realign to accounting practices, the graduate had slowly get used with the secrecy of individualizing the process but synchronizing the final posting. As a result, there was more time for other tasks as efficiency was improved to another level. The family also helped the students to overcome the barriers of actually having a practical learning using their online MBA exposures. In effect, students had made their quest for strategic learning dual purpose, which is, improving their professional capabilities while learning to reconcile scholarly tailored theories with the present employer.
In conclusion, academic and professional achievements served as complementary factors to students. They increased their market value while earning for the time-being. There where no unproductive period in their career just to give way to either academic or professional pursuit. It provided optimal satisfaction that can be of short- and long-term functions. As a result, students were not subdued to constraints that can hamper their broad definition of quality life. The online MBA, on this respect, can be considered quality life friendly because it provided the students independence in study habits, flexibility to determine the efficient status of the mind and does not hamper them with their earning capability to provide family needs. It taught them not only accounting principles and their practical use but also how to prioritize and manage tasks leading to a more mature and self-directed schedule making.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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