Athabasca University: On-line Higher Education

There's a popular belief floating around that going to school from home is the easy way to get an education. Being home-schooled afterall, means being able to sleep in, not have any homework deadlines, and do the bare minimum you need to do to get your diploma. Nothing could be farther away from the truth.

I did the regular high-school thing and honestly all I learned was how to stay alive in a hostile environment. I never thought that after high-school I would go on to college. With high tuitions and GPA demands, I would never get in. So, it was labour work for me.

Then I learned about Athabasca University, Canada's Open University. Because I had had poor grades throughout school and still managed to graduate I was attracted to their 'Open' policy (meaning, everyone gets in). As I learned more I discovered that AU is an accredited University for both Canada and the United States.

The whole concept of learning from home was a new experience for me. Being self-diciplined and motivated is something they don't teach kids anymore, myself included. On top of it all I was completely computer illiterate and knew very little about how to write a decent term-paper.

Athabasca University is a world leader in Distance Education and they currently have the following degrees and diplomas;

• Undergraduate Programs
• Graduate Programs

I enjoyed my time with the AU. They had a great, grounded staff who were always around to help. As I look back on my experience learning with them I realized that they are the future of education. Virtual classrooms, exams over the internet, on-line libraries, the possibilities are endless with the Internet and so is the our learning.