Online Learning: The APUS Way

Today’s generation is one where competition in the workforce is stiff and where academic degrees oftentimes put an individual a cut above the rest. The constantly changing employment opportunities and work requirements push people to use whatever available resources they have just to gain the upper hand from a flock of aspiring applicants for several job positions.

Experience and education can come in handy during rare occasions when good employment opportunities come knocking at one’s door. That is especially true in today’s time where America is facing one of the most troubling economic crises in history, a crisis which is spreading in the different parts of the world and, thus, causing job losses on a massive scale (Landler, 2008).

I am attending college so that I can be able to harvest the rewards of having an academic degree aside from experience that I already have. While APUS is something entirely new on my part, I think of my situation as a chance to broaden my horizons. I think of my future experiences in APUS as events in my life that can help enlighten my understanding of the world and the ways to handle ordinary to complex situations in this modern time.

I think of myself as a child eager to learn and comprehend the things that are yet to be known. What greater source of delight, satisfaction and wonder can there be than a learning institution willing to teach individuals the things that matter to them in this highly competitive world?

In the coming months, I hope to gain new insights with regard to my chosen field. This is a point in my life where I am more than willing and more open than ever before to new knowledge. Part of my hopes also include my desire to communicate with other people more effectively because I view human interaction through whatever means necessary as an indispensable tool in shaping the course of our lives.

The person living in deep isolation and allergic towards new information can only go as far as the limits of his shallow understanding of the world. Like the prisoners in allegory, people should step out of their comfort zones and explore the world filled with new knowledge that need to be learned (Kanazawa, 2003). Through APUS, I am anticipating personal discoveries that I never knew are parcels of who I am.

Of course, the answer to the question of who I am roughly depends in context. Nevertheless, I know myself as a person who is computer literate and who is able to easily grasp the many different sides to modern technology.

Studying in a technological age will require some of the interests which I hold—my interests in the usefulness of the internet, in the advantages made possible by online learning and in the benefits of acquiring a degree that other people can hardly attain. Gone are the days of typewriters and snail mail; this is the age of information technology, and what better thing to do than to seek the best information through the modern learning tools provided by APUS.

In order to be successful in my academic endeavor in APUS, I have to maintain my high level of interest apart from the fact that I need to keep-up with the pace of online learning. Since distance is no longer a critical issue in online learning, all I need to do to further attain my personal success with my academic pursuit is to allocate time and resources to my new experiences in APUS.

Like any other task, my studies in APUS will certainly involve several challenges along the way. One challenge is the idea that I may face certain learning modules that I barely know which I am prompted to familiarize myself with. Despite such challenge, I know that I can overcome that ordeal because I will not let my drive to learn to reach a low point. Unfamiliar lessons and modules may come in my way, but these things are just forks in the road which I need to accept as parts of the learning process.

References

Kanazawa, S. (2003). Reading Shadows in Wall. American Sociological Review, 68(1), 160.

Landler, M. (2008). The U.S. Financial Crisis Is Spreading to Europe.   Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/business/worldbusiness/01global.html?_r=1&scp=8&sq=financial%20crisis&st=cse