LETTER OF EXPERIENCE
I first heard of this university
over the internet about five years ago. I was looking for a University that
would offer me studies that were specific to my kind of work and also offer it
by either distance learning or online. I was not able to start that time
because of issues due to accreditation and a lack of acceptance at my work
place for online programs.
In April, 2014, I decided to start after
carefully assessing the program that would be closest to my preferred area of
study. I wanted to pursue a Master’s degree in Network Administration with an
emphasis on network security. The studies were especially interesting for me as
I had the chance to develop my own curriculum. I was however, taken aback by
the earlier assignments which included reading certain books and writing some
kind of reviews. That was because of the delay in the shipping of the books to
my country.
I however was further helped by
being able to submit projects done in my work to form part of what could be
assessed and provide some speed in my progress. I gladly submitted the projects
that I had done in the recent past and it helped me to quickly go to stage 4 of
the program.
I had challenges sometimes to do
with internet connectivity. This delayed my work to a very large extent.
However, I did most of the work offline and just uploaded the assignments
whenever the internet was available. The other challenge was on the payments
for my tuition. We suffered a great depreciation in our economy which made
availability of US Dollars very scarce and that also affected our ability to
order books and other materials required for the studies. However, I tried my
best under those circumstances and hoped to complete the fees by end of April,
2016.
The experience with the online
program has been an eye opener and has encouraged me to consider studying for
my Doctorate degree as soon I have completed this program later this year. This
is possible because of the flexibility in both time and payments. I will this
time ensure to first install a good internet connection before starting the
course and would order eBooks instead of hard copies which delayed my studies
while waiting for the delivery by the shipping companies.
Sincerely,
James Chipulu
