Many prospective students seek out an online education if their schedule doesn’t permit a traditional classroom experience. But many still feel that an online college education is not right for them as well. Just like trade schools, there are many online programs that cater to specific career choices, not a liberal arts education.
If you are considering online training, there are some guidelines to follow. You first need to see if the online training program is accredited. This also applies to a broader online education (i.e. liberal arts). If your program is not accredited, you will have a harder time finding a job in your chosen career path.
Good careers for online training
If you are thinking about a specific career path, you need to be certain that it’s a good fit in terms of online career training. Good careers for online study should be vocations that require little to no hands-on work. The career may or may not be solitary in nature.
Here are some examples of great online courses that can lead to great careers:
- Foreign languages – learning a foreign language is a great online choice because it allows you to learn at your own pace. You also don’t necessarily need someone else to help you learn. Learning a foreign language is usually complementary to another career, although you may be able to get a job as an interpreter.
- HTML – learning Hyper-Text Mark-up Language on the Internet is a no-brainer because the language involves the Internet.
- Medical billing – this is another computer-driven field. Medical billing is a great option for busy and/or single mothers. Be sure to check out the online program. Does it look legitimate? Check all avenues to see if it’s a reputable program.
- Photoshop tutorial – this course is available at the Barnes and Noble Web site. Learning Photoshop is essential to many careers, including editing.
Not-so-good careers for online training
The careers that fall in this category usually require technical or hands-on training. For example, would you want your medical/plastic surgeon to have completed his or her entire education online? Surgery requires hands-on experience with live human beings or cadavers. Simply studying diagrams of the human body is insufficient training.
Here are other great career choices that just don’t fit the criteria for a sufficient online experience.
- Auto Mechanics – this can be a lucrative career that will only benefit from hands-on experience. Your online professor cannot monitor your progress while you work on a two-ton automobile. It’s just impossible.
- Pilot – imagine your pilot only had a book and a few lectures before getting his or her pilot’s license? Would you want to fly on that airline? Probably not. In order to become a pilot, you must learn to fly a plane — in person.
- Nursing – usually anything in the medical field should require hands-on training. Nursing requires a lot of attention to detail. What if you failed to flick the needle before inserting it into your patient’s arm? They could die from the air bubble passing into their body.
- Barber – cutting someone’s hair involves two people. How will the professor know if you cut that person’s hair? Without a Web cam, how can they see your techniques?
It should be noted that the careers in both lists would benefit from actual classroom experience. For example, the careers in the “not-so-good” category could also benefit from a small amount of online experience, such as vocabulary and/or related terms.
By Michelle Presbury