Online education is a pretty recent invention, as it has only been in recent years that the Internet has become advanced enough to support the online program format.  And since new things typically take a while to become accepted by mainstream society, students are only now starting to seriously consider online degree programs as an alternative to traditional college.

Online education is incredibly convenient, particularly for returning students or students who need to work full time to support themselves while they pursue their degrees.  Although most online classes still require students to participate in some way on the class website or in the forum, in general this takes less time than a student would spend in class every week.  The online student also saves considerable time by not having to commute to and from campus, kill time during breaks in between classes, etc.  All that is left is the actual meat of the class: Reading the text, learning the material, doing homework and taking tests.

As convenient as online education may be, though, it's not for everyone.  Here are several questions to ask yourself before enrolling in an online degree program.  If you can't answer yes to all of these questions, you should consider sticking with a more traditional degree program.

Are you self motivated?  In order to do well in online classes, you need to be the kind of person who can find the motivation to study and do coursework without a teacher reminding you in person twice a week.  You also have to be self motivated enough to learn the material on your own, since you don't have scheduled lectures to keep you on track.

Are you organized?  Many students find that better organization is needed when you take classes online than when you take them on campus.  It will be up to you to remember what chapters of the text to read and when.  Also, online classes often have more due dates, since turning in assignments is usually the only method the teachers have to interact with you.  Being organized enough to create schedules and to do lists will help you to be successful in an online class.

Do you have a computer with Internet access?  Although it is possible to do all of your coursework for an online program on library and computer lab computers, it is advisable that you have your own computer and your own Internet access.  If you don't, you pretty much lose the biggest benefit to online education: its flexibility.  Instead of being able to work whenever your schedule allows, you are bound to the library's or computer lab's hours, which is almost as restrictive as having to attend class at a certain time!

Online education is a great invention, and is quickly gaining acceptance in many industries and with many employers.  However, just as a traditional learning environment doesn't work for everyone, there are certain people who do better with online education than others.