Meet David Albertson: Doing It for Himself

David Albertson already had the job he wanted when he started the AIU Online Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication degree completion program. But that was all right. He was getting the degree for himself because he was passionate about graphic design.

"I was pursuing this degree on my own and for my own interest. It was something I liked to do and something I wanted to be better at. I wasn't going to get a raise or promotion at the end and that was fine with me."

David says he wanted to get a degree because, even though he had plenty of job experience in graphic design - he was already working as an in-house graphic designer when he enrolled through AIU Online - he didn't have any technical training. "Everything I knew about graphic design I had learned on the job. By getting my degree, I wanted more background and more of the basics."

David didn't want just any Visual Communication degree program though. "I knew I wanted something with computer graphics, multimedia, web-based applications, and animation. And I wanted it all together in one major and I wanted it to be a Bachelor's degree. I started looking at local universities, but none came close. They would have one part, but not another."

David's search was complicated a bit by the fact he didn't want to take any more night classes. When he got his Associate's degree at a local community college (it was in Networking), David had sat through enough night classes to know he couldn't do that again. Neither were day classes really an alternative. "I have a family, a job, and a house and the prospect of relocating just to attend school wasn't an option."

"I knew exactly what I wanted in a Bachelor's degree but finding the right school with the right program was daunting."

But then David stumbled upon AIU Online. "AIU Online had exactly what I was looking for. It even had some extra bonus stuff I hadn't even thought about."

Even so, David didn't jump right in. "I was quite skeptical about an all-online program. I had taken online classes before to get my Associate's degree, but they were part of a brick and mortar program where I was sitting in a physical classroom most of the time. I was hesitant to go with a completely online program."

Once David learned that AIU is accredited by one of the same organizations that accredits traditional schools, he figured it had to be all right.

Now that he has earned his degree through AIU Online and survived - thrived, even - a completely online program, David says the AIU Online experience is far better than his earlier encounter with online classes. "My previous online classes weren't nearly as developed as AIU Online is. There weren't any chat rooms and we certainly didn't have instructors using microphones and listening in. You would pretty much get your assignment, complete it, and turn it in. Working with other students was unheard of. At AIU Online, some courses will have group projects and students will critique each other. I think you tend to learn a lot more when interacting with others and working in a group than you do sitting by yourself and opening up a book."

David says learning at AIU Online was made easier because of the fact he was able to take almost everything he learned right to work. "Lots of the stuff I learned in class I was using the next day at work. I was able to apply most everything right to my job. Because of that - constantly using what I was learning - I retained nearly everything. I can't say that was the case with what I learned while getting my Associate's degree."

"My education at AIU Online allowed me to do things in my field that I didn't believe possible. It gave me the opportunity to really spend some time with the tools of my trade and offered me the chance to get to know some great people from all walks of life. AIU Online is not just an 'I teach, you learn' kind of environment, but one where you interact with others of similar interests and professions and grow together. I enjoyed being a part of that."

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