Anyone here take online college courses?

[NoStateofMind]

I'm thinking about finally going to college either History or Law. I see a lot of advertisements for online college courses and they appeal to me because of time restraints (job). Just kinda want to get a feel for them before making a commitment.

So a few questions:

Have any of you taken courses online or graduated from one?

How would you rate their education curriculum?

Did you find the career you studied for?

Are you happy with your salary?

 

[wetcat007]

I've taken a few online courses before although it was at a state university not an online only college, and most my classes were still normal classroom classes. I had no problems with taking the courses online, they were all gen eds that I wasn't really all the interested in, so it basically saved me a little bit of time.

If you want to take classes online don't take it from the places like University of Phoenix that blast ads everywhere, I've never heard anything good about them. See if any Public or Private universities near you offer online course, or degrees that can be obtained with mostly online courses.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

So a few questions:

Have any of you taken courses online or graduated from one?

How would you rate their education curriculum?

Did you find the career you studied for?

Are you happy with your salary?


1. I've taken several courses online, as well as several hybrid courses. The courses that were completely online were the general courses, social science, English, Comm, natural science, things of that nature. Almost all of my occupational courses have been in person or hybrids, with a few exceptions. I had to take a few accelerated technical courses in order to meet my time table, an HTML course and a Microsoft AD course. Provided I passed the math CLEP I took a few weeks back, I'll get my AAS in May. If not, then I'll have to take another math course, which places it in July.

2. You get out of it what you put into it. And your own personality and study habits effect it as well. For instance, I'm not a strong math person and struggled with m online math course. This was compounded by the fact that the instructor only referenced chapters in the text book when asked for help, and the textbook itself was almost next to useless. I pulled a C in the course, compared to my usually B+/A- average of all my other courses.

Also, some types of courses don't work particularly well in a pure online format. And eventually, you will reach a point where you can't really teach yourself. I'd say that getting an AS or AAS from online curriculums is fairly easy and effective, and with good study habits, a 4 year degree could be done effectively as well. But after that, it's probably better to seek a respected brick and mortar institution.

3&4. I still haven't completed my degree yet and so haven't been able to effectively apply it in the work force.

 

[pyonir]

As a former employee of U of Phoenix, do NOT go there. Look into your local state universities and colleges and see what they offer for online coursework.

 

[Drakkon]

Originally posted by: pyonir
As a former employee of U of Phoenix, do NOT go there. Look into your local state universities and colleges and see what they offer for online coursework.

QFT - I develop classes for a living at UNLV - Local/state universities must apply the same standards to their online curriculum that their regular classes have. I can't attest to the success of all universities but i know the 2 I have worked at (Northern Arizona and UNLV) had programs where students got a degree and were able to get a job at the same rate/pay of their counterparts that attended face to face as the degree they received was on the same paper (theres nothing denoting you attended online classes only on it nor your transcript) and had the same exact requirements/standards.

 

[wiredspider]

I take an online class, but it's also from the University I go to, not some online only college. It's alright, can easily get off track, like we had a exam 2 weeks ago and I've literally done nothing for the class since then. I would only take nonsense classes online, like the one I'm doing is about animals and wildlife, my major is MIS...

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: Drakkon

Originally posted by: pyonir
As a former employee of U of Phoenix, do NOT go there. Look into your local state universities and colleges and see what they offer for online coursework.

QFT - I develop classes for a living at UNLV - Local/state universities must apply the same standards to their online curriculum that their regular classes have. I can't attest to the success of all universities but i know the 2 I have worked at (Northern Arizona and UNLV) had programs where students got a degree and were able to get a job at the same rate/pay of their counterparts that attended face to face as the degree they received was on the same paper (theres nothing denoting you attended online classes only on it nor your transcript) and had the same exact requirements/standards.

I remember you posting in another thread about online courses and staying away from schools like UofPhx. You and i should go on an internet crusade. LOL

 

[Drakkon]

Originally posted by: pyonir
I remember you posting in another thread about online courses and staying away from schools like UofPhx. You and i should go on an internet crusade. LOL

LOL I remember - so long as we can protect the ATOT community from UofPhx I say we've done our job

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: Drakkon

Originally posted by: pyonir
I remember you posting in another thread about online courses and staying away from schools like UofPhx. You and i should go on an internet crusade. LOL

LOL I remember - so long as we can protect the ATOT community from UofPhx I say we've done our job

hahaha...i agree.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
I'm thinking about finally going to college either History or Law. I see a lot of advertisements for online college courses and they appeal to me because of time restraints (job). Just kinda want to get a feel for them before making a commitment.

So a few questions:

Have any of you taken courses online or graduated from one?

How would you rate their education curriculum?

Did you find the career you studied for?

Are you happy with your salary?

I've both taken online courses at my local college and gone to an online university (fully accredited). It really boils down to just 2 things:

1. Can you manage your time to really study?

2. Are you good at studying on your own, even hard subjects, without classmates, a classroom, or a teacher readily available?

The jist of it is, you'll be successful if you make a daily schedule - set a specific, recurring time - and absolutely stick to that schedule. It doesn't work very well if you procrastinate. I'd save everything until the end of the week and then pull a 10-hour day on Saturday to get everything ready. Not the best route to go. I got the hang of it after a month or so, but it can be difficult. It really depends on how you personally work. Not many people can do it simply because it's difficult to do all the work alone and to stick to a schedule when you don't have the social pressure of going to class, being called on, showing up for tests, asking questions, etc.

It can be great for your schedule, but again, you need a set time to do it. I recommend the morning because you're not gonna want to do it when you get home from work. Set an hour or 30 minutes or even 10 minutes, as long as it's a set time every day. Don't have any other tabs or windows or programs open on your computer to distract you. Treat it like an appointment that you have with a doctor or dentist or something - you have to make it at that time every day. At least that's what I've found worked for me. I enjoyed going online because of the schedule flexibility, but I'm back on campus full-time now and also really enjoy being there in person and having people to talk to. I telecommuted to work for about 6 months while attending online school and it got lonely at times.

 

[bonkers325]

i've taken online courses, but only to fill general education requirements

 

[NoStateofMind]

So the Census here is: Take online classes for general education requirements if needed for time purposes but for all other academic ambitions find a classroom.

Thanks