Are Online Art Schools Worth the Money?
For many of us, the ability to pursue art as a profession is a luxury. Our fast-paced lives require us to take on high-paying, high-stress jobs - or even a number of high-paying, high-stress jobs, all at once. Some of us find escape and release in art, a place to rest, far from the hustle and bustle of everyday living. This is why some of us take the extra effort to enroll in art classes. But since we don't all have to time to be physically present for classes, some of us look into enrolling in online art schools. But are they worth it?
Art schools abound on the Web, claiming to offer optimum training for any kind of art-related profession you may need. Some are affiliated with larger "offline" schools (i.e. universities), while some are independent and fully online. You may find that either way, online art schools could still be expensive. Some institutions will require you to pay up front for the materials you are going to use for your course; some charge significantly less, but would still require you to purchase your own tools and readings.
If you're going to spend all that much on art schools anyway, why not just attend an "offline" school? You'd also be able to interact with other aspiring artists - some of them perhaps busy professionals like yourself - and share input and critiques on each other's work. There's nothing like learning in a classroom setting, after all, and having a teacher around who could manually point out the places where you could improve.
But the thing is, you can do all this online as well! You can correspond with your classmates through group chat, instant messaging, email, et cetera. The major benefit of this is that in case your schedule prevents you from attending regular classes (say you can only work in rotating shifts, or quite simply don't have the time to go to school), you could still show your work to fellow aspiring artists and exchange ideas, which is perhaps the most productive aspect of a classroom education.
The interactivity factor between teacher and student is not a problem, either. In fact, online art teachers are arguably more capable of participating on a one-on-one interaction with each student, whenas in a real classroom, time and space constraints would prevent a teacher from being able to concentrate on one student at a time. Online art schools can not only simulate classroom education - they can also enhance it.
