Online Schooling

[Busta]

Has anyone here ever done Online Schooling?

Did you like it? Was it easier?

My girlfriend is currently taking college online and it's an online only institution. She's going for an Associates Degree as a Veteranarian Technician. She's almost done with her 1st out of 4 semesters and so far it's not been too bad. She's had to do 2 online seminars so far, but for the same class since my internet cut her off halfway throughh the first seminar.

Otherwise she's getting the hang of it real easy and the only pain in the butt is that she has to call them to let them know to send the next classes materials when she completes a class.

Anyone else do this? I've only ever gone to classes at actual colleges and high schools.

 

[Ed Elric]

I took one class online

and it was horrible.

It's so easy to get distracted, so easy to procrastinate.


It was my first class in college... so I least I learned my lesson not to do it again

You have to manage time very well.
I was always borderline on my grades...
I tried a different route of studying and I was still failing.


& at the time, I was still working full time.

Eventually I had to drop it. Didn't want it to bring down the GPA

Biggest regret I have .. waste of time & money. If I could, I would've just waited.

 

[CassinoChips]

I've taken a bunch of classes online. If you are self-motivated and organized, they can be a great way to get classes in, especially if you're working/have a family/other real life things. If you're prone to slacking, they can be a death sentence.

Online classes offered through a "real" accredited University program are head and shoulders above the for-profit diploma mills, generally speaking. Plenty of horror stories about those things.

 

[Mitsuki]

Online classes offered through a "real" accredited University program are head and shoulders above the for-profit diploma mills, generally speaking. Plenty of horror stories about those things.

Yeeep. My husband took a few online classes through a private for-profit school few years back, and the online courses were pretty much BS.

I took Psychology online a few years ago...and another online class that I don't even remember anymore. They're convenient, but you don't get the instructor interaction and questions aren't readily answered. No involved class discussions, except maybe the message boards.

I prefer the class environment.

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

Going on what Jesse said, online classes require that you be self-motivated and very organized. It's far too easy to get sidetracked by random shit on the internet. The feeling to take a "five minute" break that will inevitably become an hour hits hard. Furthermore, with it being online, it's very easy to become detached to it and eventually just stop caring for it. There's no face time with a teacher or other students at all, which eventually just leads to feelings of "meh, I'll do it tomorrow". Not seeing the faces that are studying with you and the ones teaching you really gives you no reason to give a shit. In a face to face environment, it's easy to stay on task and to stay organized. But if you feel like you can manage it, go for it.

 

[ChinaWolf]

I did online school for highschool and while I overall liked it, it's not for everyone. I would meet up with other students and the teacher online in a virtual classroom where we could send messages, use our microphones to communicate, and write on the screen with tablets provided by the school so this helped eliminate some of the impersonal feel the online schooling can have. But even with this, it still was very different from being in an actual classroom. Most of the face-to-face interaction we had was through trips and classes provided by the school but it was up to the students to decide whether they would go. What I liked about it was that my schedule was flexible and I could move as fast or slow as I needed. It also gives you a chance to have a more personalized learning experience. However, I also agree with what Alyss says. I am a pretty disciplined person so online schooling overall worked for me but even so, I found myself laying around when I was supposed to be working and sometimes browsed the internet if class was dragging on. In the end, I believe that it depends on the person, the instructor's use of online tools in learning, and a person's interest in the class that determines how easy or hard an online class feels.