Online learning furthers students’ dreams no matter where they are

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In August 2014, Fernando Ribeiro and his family traveled 5,000 miles from their home in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to State College, Pennsylvania, to celebrate his graduation with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, which he earned online through Penn State World Campus.

Ribeiro credits his Penn State experience with leading to the next step in his educational journey: graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school.

“I think I wouldn’t have made it without Penn State,” said Ribeiro, who is pursuing a master’s degree in positive psychology. “Education is one of the most important things, especially in the work that I do.”

Ribeiro is among the hundreds of people who live across the globe who have studied online through Penn State World Campus, which offers more than 130 degrees and certificates in a wide variety of subjects. For some, they wanted a U.S. education, which is valued in their country, without leaving home. Others were drawn by the University’s long-standing reputation as a leader in distance and online education.

So far this year, more than 600 students from 85 countries are enrolled in Penn State through the World Campus. Students are spread across six continents in countries such as Japan, Germany, Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea.

In the suburbs of Pretoria, South Africa, World Campus student Adriaan Van der Merwe is halfway through completing a bachelor’s degree in turfgrass management while working and being a husband and the father of a 5-year-old son.

Van der Merwe chose Penn State because of its reputation in the turfgrass industry. He works in sales for Green’s Sand, a Pretoria-based company that distributes silica sand to golf courses across South Africa and neighboring countries.

Currently there is only one person in South Africa who provides consulting to golf courses on treating diseased turfgrass, and Van der Merwe’s goal is to be the second. He said his company is helping to pay for his education so he can provide that type of consulting and add it to the company’s portfolio of services.

It took time for Van der Merwe to adjust to online learning: He devoted hours each night to his coursework and attended late-night online group discussions with his classmates, many of whom are in the U.S. and are six or more hours behind him. Learning online also has proven convenient for when he travels for work and only needs an internet connection to keep up with his courses.

“I actually like being on your own time schedule a lot better,” said Van der Merwe, who plans to complete his degree in two-to-three years. “I’ve never liked being in a classroom and doing it that way. I prefer the online environment much more.”

In Seoul, South Korea, World Campus student Amine Tayeg is completing a master’s degree in project management while he works as a manager for a construction affiliate of Samsung. His job frequently takes him throughout Southeast Asia, where he oversees quality management.

Tayeg said the coursework in project management gave him a new perspective on his current job. His background is in civil engineering, which he studied in the military academy in his home country of Tunisia. Courses in cost management, resource management, and interpersonal and group behavior gave him more than an engineer’s insight into his line of work.

He also feeds off meeting a diverse group of people in his classes.

“You get to compare the level of knowledge and your perception of things from other people and their companies,” he said. “Through Penn State, you’re dealing with people from different backgrounds but also from different industries. It gives you another perspective, and I really enjoyed the experience.”

For 2014 alumna Kelsie Abduljawad, a master’s degree in educational leadership gave her new perspectives to help make improvements in her school, an all-girls academy in Doha, Qatar, where she is an assistant principal.

The opportunity to put her coursework into practice happened almost immediately. Around the time she began her studies, her school started the process to receive national accreditation, which the Qatar government had developed to raise the academic standards of the country’s schools.

One of the improvements Abduljawad made was in her school’s professional development program for teachers. She created a manual that outlined school policies, such as using sick time or vacation, and she put material online so teachers could learn at their own pace.

Abduljawad also helped update the school’s curriculum, after taking a curriculum design class. She said the course taught her to adapt the curriculum based on the needs and perspectives of the students, most of whom are Qatari nationals.

“When you have a math example of Sally boarding the train at 7 a.m., and it’s a five-hour ride, what time does she arrive in Edinburgh — the students have no point of reference for a train ride to Edinburgh,” she said. “So why can’t I use a flight on Qatar Airways from Doha to London?”

Another alumnus, Olivier Molins, learned a lot about himself, his co-workers and his customers during the online master’s in engineering management. Molins works as a senior product design engineer for a global manufacturing company in Geneva, Switzerland, and commutes from his home in a town across the border in France.

Now, thanks to courses in creativity and problem solving, he sees people in two groups — those who sweat the details and those who think outside the box. He’s learned how each personality can be deployed and be most effective in doing business.

“You need to shape your team so you have some out-of-the-box thinkers and some of the detail-sweaters, because at some point in the project they are going to be useful,” said Molins, who called himself a details guy. “Then your team has a really broad problem-solving skillset.”

Back in Sao Paulo, Fernando Ribeiro fondly looks back on his days with Penn State World Campus as he juggles his executive coaching job, his wife and three young children, teaching part time at a local business college, and making monthly trips to Philadelphia for his grad program.

Ribeiro remembers the instructors who made themselves available to him late into the evening to answer questions through video chats. He remembers the resources available through the University’s library system, which exceeds anything he had available to him in Brazil. And he remembers donning his blue cap and gown and walking across the stage at the Bryce Jordan Center that day, two years ago.

“It was a great experience,” he said. ”One of the best experiences of my life.”

Visit the Penn State World Campus website for more information about learning online.