subject: Disadvantages To Learning Medical Transcription Online [print this page] Learning medical transcription online isn't for everyone, even when you feel that you want to work at home after graduation. It's a different style of learning.
I don't find a lot of disadvantages to learning medical transcription online. It's very much like working at home, and so can help you to develop the skills you need for your future career. That doesn't change the fact that not everyone learns that well online.
Scheduling
When you learn online, you usually have to schedule yourself. It's very flexible, and for some people that's not a good thing. Some people learn better when they have more specific due dates for assignments.
You are also more flexible in when you go to class when you study online. This is challenging because you have to plan your own time to study. You don't have so many predefined times to do your work.
Lack of Face to Face Interaction
Online education can feel a little impersonal, even though you can email, instant message or even call your teachers for help. You may feel that you learn better when you have direct interaction with your teachers and fellow students.
Limited Financial Aid Options
Most online medical transcription courses offer very limited financial aid options. Most are not eligible for Pell Grants or other Federal financial aid programs.
On the other hand, most schools do have some sort of payment program you can use to spread out the expense a little. They know that the cost of training is not something that everyone can just pay out of pocket, and so they do what they can to make it a little easier. You may also be able to get a loan through your bank, or use credit cards.
School Quality and Accreditation
Setting up an online school is relatively affordable and simple. Setting up a quality online school is much harder.
If you don't research the school you pick, you don't know if potential employers will trust the education it gives you. Accreditation helps with this process, but it's not a perfect way to research schools, as some set up their own accreditation agencies or use ones that have low criteria for accreditation.
My recommendation is to check for AHDI Approval. This is specific to medical transcription training, rather than being a general accreditation that doesn't say anything about how well they teach you to transcribe. There are several high quality online schools available.
Distractions
Studying at home means you have to deal with a lot of distractions. This is true of when you do homework for any course, but when you take an online course, you have the distractions the entire time you're trying to learn, not just when you're doing homework.
There is a big positive to this if you're planning on working at home. It's better to learn to deal with distractions while you're training than to struggle with them when you're trying to earn a living. Being distracted is a pain when you're trying to get things done while you learn, but you can think of it as a part of the learning process.
Learning online doesn't work out for everyone. Your success depends on your learning style, and sometimes online education just doesn't work for you. It's better to figure out in advance if you can deal with the challenges and decide if the disadvantages to online education outweigh the advantages in your particular case.
by: Stephanie Foster
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