Online Classes

[civ_king]

are online classes good? I'm taking a BYU (Brigham Young University) online class and I find it very intellectually stimulating compared to my school, however it is still easy and I breezed through the first chapter in about 2 hours

do you think online schooling is good?

Discuss

 

[IglooDame]

are online classes good? I'm taking a BYU (Brigham Young University) online class and I find it very intellectually stimulating compared to my school, however it is still easy and I breezed through the first chapter in about 2 hours

do you think online schooling is good?

Discuss

I think it's potentially a great option. Whether it is more or less difficult depends on the specific course, though.

 

[really]

I have done a short course in the past with the Open University in the UK.

I liked the style - it was different from when I was in college and I drifted through by just attending my classes and practicing questions.

This way I had to work through the book and DVD, and submit assignments based on that. I think it was academically much more rigorous and a better way of learning (for me)

I am thinking of starting a masters but don't know if I could commit enough time over the next two to two and a half years.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

Online classes are great. In highschool I took two computer science courses and a trig course online using the Florida Virtual School. Aced them all. I would usually do a week of assignments in 3-4 hours. So much better than spending 8+ hours hours a week in a conventional classroom and then have homework on top of that.

 

[GenMarshall]

For us working stiffs, online classes are a blessing!

 

[downtown]

It totally depends on the school. Some universities, like BYU, Wisconsin and others, and some High Schools, like Florida Virtual, have done a good job. Others are simply diploma mills. If you are going to a reputable institution, and are putting the correct amount of effort in, online classes can be great.

I have worked for three different virtual high schools, and I don't think there is a great disparity between quality of instructors. Actually, a lot of the virtual ones were better.

 

[Onionsoilder]

I've had bad experiences with online classes. Some have been decent, but a lot of time the lack of interaction between the student and teacher(and student-student interaction) make them poor substitutes.

 

[Earthling]

I've had bad experiences with online classes. Some have been decent, but a lot of time the lack of interaction between the student and teacher(and student-student interaction) make them poor substitutes.

Entirely true. Also, online schooling is by no means even close to a substitute for regular schooling. To get something out of online schooling seems to require a much above-average student in any case I've ever heard of, and in principle I'd think the lack of accountability on both sides also supports this conclusion.

 

[lumpthing]

I've spent six years in higher education and have always found that almost everything comes down to teaching yourself. I honestly feel higher education is mostly a complete waste of money. So yeah, online education is better because it cuts costs.

Even for secondary education I think online is schooling is better for the self-motivated. In most there's very little meaningful teacher-student interaction. Most of a teacher's time is spent dealing with troublemakers and trying a one-size-fits-all approach which ends up fitting no-one. I would advise everyone with a degree of self-motivation to ignore school and teach yourself, using informal networks and formal online resources where available.

 

[kulade]

For us working stiffs, online classes are a blessing!

i hope you don't mean what i think you mean by "working your stiff."

 

[Lord Gay]

Pics please.

 

[nc-1701]

I took online classes through Georgia Virtual School in Highschool... Absolutely hated it, very hard to concentrate on work when all my work was on a computer with an active internet connection...Too easy to go read forums instead of working. The other bir thing is that you really had to do everything on your own, in college where I'm at now everything is explained in class and you can go and talk to your professor at any time for help. In the online classes we were basically given a curriculum and online copy of a textbook (just scanned in pages of a regular textbook) and left to fend for ourselves. If we wanted help we had to do it with E-mail which is a terrible way to get help. Then the online teachers really sucked, one math teacher responded to my inquiry about something by saying "That's not important." Guess what was on the test? Then when I took Astronomy the teacher didn't bother to do anything but give us links to Wikipedia articles and worksheets to fill out. Which I do like people respecting Wikipedia and I learned a good bit, but I'de expect more from state sanctioned schooling, even in the deep South.

So it will work if you are extremely disciplined and already know the material well enough you will be able to do it entirely from the textbook with little or no help. Otherwise your better off taking normal classroom classes, I know I learn much, much more in a classroom setting.

If it matters I'm an A & B student, only time I ever got a C was when I tried to take AP English online. In classroom college classes I made A's on Freshmen English 1 & 2, and have a GPA >3.5 during my year in Community College, I transferred to a University this semester and I'm expecting to get at least a 3.5 out of the semester.

 

[musekick]

I've taken quite a few online courses from two different schools. The quality of the courses depends mostly on the same factors as in-class courses: the stability of the professor, the material being covered, and your ability to concentrate on it. As long as you're disciplined enough to make yourself sit down and do the work regularly, they're great. I've never noticed a lack of material or quality in an online course. In fact, I'm planning on doing my entire Masters degree online.

 

[Lord Baal]

My university has recently started experimenting with online classes, and I have to say that I'm unimpressed. On the other hand, when learning on my own, I find online material indispensable. I imagine it's a matter of motivation and the quality of instruction, which makes the value of online classes a case-by-case affair.