My Distance Learning Experience

by Rose Webster

Ever wonder what motivates us to do certain things in our lives or to make dramatic changes? In my case it was watching my two young (now teenage) boys develop through their younger years into very smart students. I pondered how they became so smart, so soon. They spoke intelligently and asked those ubiquitous questions that kids often ask just to see if their parents are on the ball.

During their formative years, I was working at a technical writing job that left much to be desired. It was unstimulating, un-rewarding, unfulfilling. I actually felt like I was losing my intelligence, as my boys were gaining theirs. So why not leave that job and find work elsewhere? For obvious reasons?the pay, the short commute, the flexibility I needed to raise children, and the health benefits?all those practical niceties. So what was I to do? There had to be other alternatives out there.

I considered going back to school, but I live in Ocean County and taking courses at Rutgers or points farther south seemed impractical. “Distance Learning” (now called E-learning) became the buzzword of the times, so I figured I’d do some research.

I wanted to remain focused on the tech communications field so I started my search in that genre. Few schools had programs at the time (1997), but NJIT (the New Jersey Institute of Technology), was breaking some ground. The next thing I
knew, I was enrolled in Eng 601 taking Advanced Technical and Professional

Communications on my 286 computer. This decision became a learning experience in itself both for the students and faculty.

There were few set procedures and guidelines for teaching courses online, so professors were also going through a learning phase, while trying to keep DL students interested.

By my fourth course, things were progress-sing well, and many of us enrolled in the program became expert DL students. Sometimes we “met” synchronously, using a Mirabilis website program called ICQ. We met online, all at the same time, becoming acquainted with one another and asking questions relative to the course matter. It
is very similar to the instant messaging used today. We were collaborating online and excited about the technology.

Some of the courses were not conducive to distance learning, since they involved a lot of reading and theoretical issues. Papers were still required in most courses and were submitted via E-mail. Professors were available either by phone or E-mail and addressed problems and answered questions in a timely manner.

Eventually I had enough courses under my belt to earn a “Graduate certificate.” Since I was on an academic “roll” and slowly ‘regaining’ intelligence, I decided to pursue NJIT’s Master’s program in Professional and Technical Communication (PTC). It required that I take more courses, matriculate, obtain approvals, and write a thesis.

My thesis concentrated on an environ-mental issue I was working on at my job: Pollution Prevention and Sustained Green Technology. I had to present the thesis to a panel at the Newark campus, comprising a professor teaching in the PTC program, my thesis advisor, and fellow students.

The only other times I had to visit the Newark campus were when our Web design class met at a computer lab to assess and upload our websites onto the NJIT server. We all agreed to meet one Saturday morning, a convenient time for all attending. I also had a face-to-face visit on campus with my thesis advisor, since developing a thesis topic was a dilemma for me. (Today, students in the program can elect to do a project rather than write a thesis for their final presentation.)

Check out the specific requirements for the certificate and degree program on NJIT’s website cpe.njit.edu/DL. At this website you can find out if distance learning is right for you. It does take discipline and time (it took me four years), but the rewards are commensurate. My company eventually picked up the tab for the entire program and rewarded me with a decent raise once I obtained the degree. On a personal level, I felt that I had accomplished a great feat and was keeping up with issues in the technical communications genre.

The Information Turnpike, Summer, 2003 Volume 1, Issue 2

The Information Turnpike, the newsletter of the New Jersey Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication is published for the benefit of its membership. Articles in this publication may be reprinted with the permission of the author. The copyright will remain the property of the author. This newsletter invites writers to submit articles to be considered for publication to Mary Kerslake, Editor, at mckerslake@aol.com. The newsletter staff reserves the right to shorten or edit articles as necessary for inclusion in the publication.

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