Educating yourself on the web!
Educating yourself on the web!
At any university one of the major faculties is the faculty of science. It is one of the oldest subjects taught at university and is one of the most respected fields of study there is. Unfortunately science hasn't really kept up with the other subjects when it comes to online learning. While other subjects are widely available online, science degrees are harder to find. There are a number of reasons for this, mostly it has to do with the fact that science is a difficult subject that doesn't translate well to the online learning environment.
Science degrees are not as widely offered online as a lot of other degree programs, primarily because of a lack of demand. Generally science doesn't attract as many students as other faculties even at traditional universities. Primarily this is because science is seen as a difficult subject, and jobs in scientific research are not always as attractive. It is even less popular amongst online students because of the types of students who pursue online degrees. Most online students are working people who need to get a degree to enhance their career prospects. This means they are usually looking for a degree that is related to the field that they are already working in. The problem with science is that it is very difficult to enter the field unless you already have a degree, so there a very few scientists who need to get a degree to improve their prospects. That being said there are online science degrees available if you look for them.
The other problem with getting an online science degree is that a big part of being a scientists is laboratory work and this is hard to do online. There are ways to get around this problem but most online science degrees either ignore the problem and require no lab work or require students to visit the school. Neither is an ideal solution, not doing lab work seriously downgrades the quality and the value of the degree, while having to visit the school removes a lot of the convenience of doing the degree online.
The truth is you probably won't be able to become a full fledged scientist doing original research work with an online degree. There are too many practical issues with getting all of the training you would require without actually attending a traditional university. There also tends to be a bit of a stigma attached to online degrees in the world of academia. Although they are widely accepted in most fields online degrees are still looked down on by a lot of people in the academic community. Since this is where scientists work you will need to consider it. However just because you are unlikely to become a scientist with an online degree doesn't mean they aren't worth pursuing. There are many scientifically related career fields that you can enter with an online science degree.