Upgrading Your Education - Lifelong Learning

Corporate upsizing, downsizing, rightsizing – today's professionals cannot afford to be complacent. In the past, students received a degree and moved on to the professional community; education ceased with the diploma. Today, many adults view education as a lifelong proposition, either as a diversion from the business world or a necessary part of it.

"Just as every few years, people upgrade their computer, in today's business environment, it's important to upgrade job skills and personal interests," says Jan Jacobson, online academic program director for The Art Institute Online. "Education can be an essential part of keeping up with the job market, retraining during a career change or a way to explore personal interests."

A growing number of lifelong learners have successful careers, but they also have a "dream," and they're looking for ways to develop their interests and talents. Some have the means and time to dedicate to an education. Others, nearing retirement age, pursue new ways of supplementing retirement income, lending credibility to their new careers with degrees.

Jacobson says that lifelong learning is a growing trend as new opportunities, such as online classrooms, present students with new choices. "When I speak with prospective students, their biggest concerns revolve around life issues, finances and family. Today's education options mitigate some of these very real issues."

Military personnel increasingly take advantage of online learning. These lifelong learners often interrupt their on-campus education for deployment overseas. Others, who may have enlisted immediately after high school, are preparing themselves for post-military careers. In either case, online classes enable learning to continue from Iraq and Afghanistan to Europe and the U.S.

Whether a prospective student is military, retired or a working professional, Jacobson offers tips to those considering enrolling in classes:

• Take small steps. Enroll in one class for a semester and see how it goes.
• Talk to someone who is actually doing it. Get in touch with a current student with a similar background.
• Talk to a college or university's program director. They'll offer a realistic picture of the commitment required.
• Make sure your family supports your decision. No one earns a degree on their lunch hour – it will take a real time commitment.
• As we age, we learn and retain information differently than we did earlier in life. Be prepared to discover those differences and adapt.
• Technology has changed the classroom as much as the boardroom. Allow those changes to work for you.

It is perhaps most important to enter into lifelong learning with the proper frame of mind. Understanding available options and the commitment required are the first steps toward success. And you are not alone. "Today, students returning to the classroom are the rule – not the exception," says Jacobson.

SOURCE Education Management Corp.

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