by Michael Mahaffey
Pursuing a college degree as a working adult comes with unique challenges. When coursework takes place entirely online, the situation can become even more difficult. The benefit of setting your academic schedule around your daily responsibilities is often countered by difficulty in finding the support you need to excel in your coursework.
That’s where the University of Oklahoma has you covered. We’ve been helping distance and online learners reach their academic goals for more than 60 years by offering the most advanced curriculum available, while providing the support systems necessary for online students to thrive and succeed.
No matter where you are across the nation or around the world, OU Online’s dedicated team of faculty and staff work hard to provide you with the professional and personal support you need to earn your degree, advance your career and even find community in your online environment.
From the moment you request information or submit an application for an OU Online program, our team of admissions and academic counselors will work with you to make sure every step of your academic journey is handled in a way that best suits your personal needs.
Your admissions counselor will work with you to understand your goals, both academic and personal, and guide you through every step – from filling out your online application to OU, to requesting and submitting transcripts from schools you may have attended previously, to ensuring that the degree program you’ve chosen is the right fit for your desired future career.
Once you’ve been admitted, your personal academic advisor will become your guide, serving as your primary point of contact for any questions or concerns you may have. Your advisor will get to know you as an individual, and in addition to helping you create a degree plan and register for courses, they will coach you and cheer you on through each step as you pursue your degree.
Our advisors understand the unique issues that can derail online learners. Whether they’re reaching out to warn you ahead of time about potential problems, helping you navigate unforeseen issues or guiding you toward the many resources the university makes available to online students, their goal is to make sure you have everything you need to be successful.
Every OU Online course is taught by an instructor who understands the challenges of taking courses online as a working adult. Whether through discussion boards, email or Zoom meetings, our instructors are known for taking the time to help students navigate all aspects of their courses, from helping you gain a complete understanding of concepts presented during a course to providing feedback that will help you develop the skills needed to succeed in their course and beyond.
Our professors have a proven track record of success, not only in the professional fields about which they teach, but also as teachers and mentors who want to provide you with the real-world knowledge you’ll need to succeed. The more they know about you, your goals, your challenges and your concerns, the better they can help guide you, both in the classroom and on your professional journey.
Created specifically for online students at OU, the OU Online Career Development Center is a free resource designed to help you build career skills, explore different career paths, find community, apply for jobs in your field and more. With links to career-specific blogs and news stories to curated career advice and advancement articles, the Career Development Center is a great place to see current trends in the field you’re interested in.
The Career Development Center also features labor market insights so you can a look at the career prospects for individuals in your chosen degree program, career resources options and direct links to other free resources offered by the university like access to LinkedIn Learning courses, Handshake and OU Connection, the university’s career mentoring platform.
Within the Career Development Center, you’ll also find links to online affinity groups. These online student organizations were created for students, by students, to connect with other online and remote cohorts who share a similar background and to complement the discussion groups students have with their classmates.
Each affinity group shares career resources, advice and opportunities unique to their group, in addition to providing a resource for members to share about the realities of their academic and professional lives.
There are several affinity groups – BIPOC, LGBTQ+, Women, First Generation Students, Persons with Disabilities, International Students and Military Connected – with more being added as students show interest. Students can join multiple affinity groups, and those interested in forming new groups are encouraged to speak to their advisor about what it takes to do so.
The OU Online News page should be your first stop for all the latest news happening at OU Online. In addition to articles about resources for students, like a deep dive into everything the Career Development Center has to offer to information about the free resources OU makes available to all online students, you’ll find stories about what makes our degree programs unique and learn about students just like you who have reached higher by earning a degree through OU Online.
OU Online will begin offering a pair of new resources for students starting this fall with the launch of our online mental health counseling services, as well as a tutoring program for online students.
Online mental health counseling services will be available for all OU Online students when the fall 2023 semester starts in August. This new service will provide 24/7/365 on-demand counseling, scheduled counseling sessions, after-hours crisis support and a self-guided self-help library. The service will be the focus of the July edition of the OU Online Speaker Series, where you can receive first-hand information about everything that will be offered.
Later in the fall semester, OU Online’s live tutoring services will launch, featuring on-demand access to live tutors in a wide array of math subjects, as well as writing.
More information about both services will be available as the launch of each program grows near.
To learn more about these support services for online students and the wide array of graduate and undergraduate degree completion programs OU Online has to offer, visit ou.edu/online.
