Video Transcript

Question: Should you get your logistics degree online, what are the advantages and disadvantages of getting an online logistics degree?

William, Director of Operations:
Answer: To be honest, the only disadvantage would be more of around what your classmates would give you. Meaning different. Like I work at AT&T and this is what happens. I work at Walgreens and this is what happens. You kind of miss that unless you know and I can say especially online, some students do not read all the discussion posts by students. That’s kind of the disadvantage. The advantage is that, you know, you can do it on your own time. You can do the work and the curriculum are fantastic. And there’s so much stuff that the schools provide extra materials besides, you know, like text and stuff. And then obviously when I’m teaching, I had my own personal experience too, each week of, you know, like, this is what really happens. This is what the tech says, this is what really happens. And then you can kind of mixed it together.

Haley, Logistics Project Manager:
Answer: I feel like it all depends at what point you’re at if you’re still in University. I think either way works for you. If you’re in person or online, it’s just really personal preference. But when you’re in career and working in logistics, I think it can be very beneficial to have the online option because you don’t necessarily have to commute to a school to learn what you need to make your role better. But I think you have this online option where you can if you’re working from home or after work, you can hop on your computer, take your class, and then apply everything that you’re learning to your job in real time. So I think that’s a huge advantage to having that online class option. For me, it just depends where you’re at.

Alexander, Supply Chain and Logistics Professional:
Answer: Flexibility is that keyword with taking classes online, even though that socialization aspect left and I guess more instances of cheating, especially since we were the first for a year of covid, I think they really started to get a good handle on it during my master’s degree. It gave me a lot more flexibility to find time, not necessarily for myself, but also to be productive in other ways and maybe even dive into some of the material a little bit more and use it at work. I think there were some disadvantages, yeah, just like the socialization aspect of it, but advantages of really kind of being more flexible like me, even during my workday. Now I work remote supply chain and procurement and because I have so many different global suppliers and we’re on different time zones, I don’t necessarily need to be at my screen for eight hours just sitting out there. I can be moving around all day. I think that’s the flexibility that works for me. As long as you have good time management, working remote can be a very good thing.

Jacob, Host Logistics Degree:
Question: Are there any advantages and disadvantages to doing online classes for you that would be specific to studying supply chain management?

Corben, Supply Chain Manager:
Answer: Yeah so I would say online is definitely a good idea for your Gen Ed’s. So general education, your entry level staff for your degree, get those out of the way, take them in high school. If you’re hearing this soon enough, take them online if you can. Community colleges are another great option there. So get those out of the way, because oftentimes you can pay a lot less if you take them, not at your regular four year institution. Make sure, though, that they can transfer into your four year. And so what I did is at my four year, I took everything in-person except for a couple of Gen Z. So I did some at high school that transferred over. But then my Summers, especially before I got an internship, I would just take one or two classes and so I still had my summer to enjoy. But then I’d go to take a class for a couple of hours, a couple days a week, and then I would get those either online or in-person at the community college there and save a ton of money. A ton of money on that. And then but when I was actually back in the fall, I would be in-person with the professors who knew me and were actually able to help me. I coach me through things I was really stuck on that were relevant to supply chain, but most importantly, they had connections. And so they’ll connect you both to recruiters in the field, but also to real life situations. So we did case studies in class that were so fun and so interesting, and I learned a ton because it was actually interactive. It wasn’t just on a screen.

Nathan, Logistician:
Answer: In-person learning is helpful for supply chain for at least a portion of your degree. It doesn’t have to be everything. But because so much of supply chain is about in-person manufacturing, warehousing like real life, physical, tangible stuff, I would say that if you do get a supply chain degree online, you should try and find a way to get some real world experience alongside your degree. Start an Amazon store and you’ll see how it works with shipping and everything like that. Working with a supplier, do some intense data analysis projects about a company’s operations. You know, things like that. Supply chain is a lot more real than other functions, right? It’s tangible. It’s physical goods.