Four faculty from Georgetown’s Bachelor of Liberal Studies program share how they build real relationships with online students and what that means if you’re weighing a degree of your own.
After studying Portugal’s transition to democracy in an online course, a Georgetown student traveled from California to Washington, D.C. to attend that professor’s book forum and ask a question in person. If your mental image of online learning is a video player and a discussion board, it’s worth hearing from the people on the other side of the screen.
We asked faculty in Georgetown’s Bachelor of Liberal Studies program—offered in partnership with Coursera—what teaching online is actually like. Four professors responded, and their answers converged on the same few things.
Office hours are where the course actually happens
Every professor who described how they connect with students landed on the same tool: live, optional, one-on-one time.
“Office hours are the best medium for meeting students virtually,” says Shadi Abouzeid, who teaches global competitive intelligence. He described a student who attended every single session. “At the end of the semester she was thankful that I allowed her to be seen and appreciated, which contributed to her successfully completing the course and taking the learning immediately to her work.“
Paul Manuel, who teaches Comparative Political Systems, holds open Zoom hours where students can bring whatever is top of mind, from course material to career questions or graduate school plans. “Over a semester those small exchanges add up to real working relationships.“
The takeaway for you: in an online program, office hours are the closest thing to walking into a professor’s office. They’re usually optional, which gives you the freedom and flexibility to join when it works for you.
Your work experience is part of the curriculum
Adult learners often worry they’re behind. The faculty see it the opposite way.
“Bachelor of Liberal Studies students bring professional and life experience into the discussion, so a course on comparative politics becomes a genuine exchange,” Manuel says. “A student who has worked in government, or who has lived abroad, reads a case differently than someone encountering it for the first time and the whole class learns from that difference.“
Wendy Zajack, who teaches communications, points to the range of life stages in her classes: “From those who are just starting out to those who are fulfilling a lifelong dream later in life, I find it amazing to see how the content I teach impacts students differently depending on where they are in their lives.“
The most durable skills aren’t technical
Asked which in-demand skills their courses build, none of these professors named a software tool. They named ways of thinking.
- Structured analysis. Manuel’s students learn to break down unfamiliar political situations—useful, he notes, in government, international business, journalism, and the nonprofit sector, “where employers need people who can make sense of complex environments rather than simply describe them.“
- Communication. “Even in an AI world, knowing how to say something to someone or present something to someone still matters,” Zajack says. “We don’t often take the time to focus on communication because we have literally done it since birth.“
- Creative problem-solving. Brooke Smith teaches students to take a “wild” idea and shape it into something real “without losing what makes it special,” plus the harder habit of not needing every answer immediately.
One of Smith’s students put the shift plainly: “Before I took this class, I thought solving a problem was mostly about finding the right answer as fast as possible. After taking this class, I learned that many real problems do not have one simple or correct answer. Sometimes, understanding the problem is more important than trying to solve it right away.“
Learning that shows up at work on Monday
Because these students are already working, the gap between the classroom and the job closes fast.
Zajack’s favorite moments are the small ones: a student who finally had a conversation he’d been avoiding, another who asked for a raise and got it, one who changed careers into communications because of her course. “A student sent me a note saying he really didn’t think he needed my class, but he ended up learning so much that he immediately applied it to his job.“
What this means for you
If you’re considering an online degree, the honest question isn’t whether the format works—it’s whether you’ll use what it offers. Show up to office hours. Bring your own experience into discussions instead of hiding it. Look for courses that build judgement, not just tool proficiency.
And if you already have prior college experience, you may be able to transfer up to 64 credits into the program. Learn more about the transfer credit process or request a transfer credit evaluation on the admissions page to see how your past coursework applies.
Faculty responses collected via survey, August 2026. Quotes lightly edited for length and clarity.