Online versus ground college courses?

I just wanted some people's opinion on this. I know some people hate online courses, while others love online courses. I'm going to be starting my first online course on February 5th and am kind of scared of it. What are your views on online college courses?

I find it hard to keep motivated while doing online courses. I would always get distracted by something on the internet or aim/msn. The online course also had a inclass lecture *it was a math course so the teacher would go over formulas and such* but they were optional. Since it was optional I never went and I ended up failing the class. Since then I wont touch an online course. If your determined and have some good motivation then your pretty set. I wasn't =(

Original Post by niktastic:

I just wanted some people's opinion on this. I know some people hate online courses, while others love online courses. I'm going to be starting my first online course on February 5th and am kind of scared of it. What are your views on online college courses?

 It depends completely on which university you're doing it though. Online classes are great if you're a stay-at-home mom or have time to devote but not the ability to leave where you're at and get to a campus.  You have to take them through reputable universities, though - the University of Phoenix never did anybody any good. A good state university should be useful, though.

Original Post by asbestossoup:

You have to take them through reputable universities, though - the University of Phoenix never did anybody any good. A good state university should be useful, though.

 My mother goes to the University of Phoenix and is taking an online class and their online classes are actually a lot easier and more informative than the online class I witnessed my friend taking from CSU Bakersfield. It was a lot more organized and had a lot more activity.

niktastic, congratulations for trying this out. I've taken a number of online courses. Some of them were asynchronous (meaning students and teacher are not online at the same time), with distinct start and end dates, weekly readings and assignments, and group projects. I've also taken online courses that are completely self-paced and independent of an instructor.

My son, who is now 14, as taken distance learning with CDs and also online, learning three years of math in 14 months. He had an instructor to whom he turned in assignments and who graded his midterm and final exams, explained problems he missed on the exercises, and answered his questions when he had them. He worked independent of any other students -- his math courses were self-paced and he could move through them as quickly as his aptitude allowed.

You will find that once you are in the workplace, a lot of learning and training is done through various distance learning options, including online courses. Good luck to you!

Having taken multiple online classes, here's my opinion:

I did much better in classes that had specific assignments and due dates.  If I only had a bunch of assignments due by the end of the class, I end up putting the assignments off until the last minute.  However, with the classes that were more structured I did very well.  I've never been very good at sitting through lectures/speeches.

But the unstructured classes work for some people.  I just have  a real issue with procrastination...well, at least I did (I'm much better now).

I love online classes even though I tend to procrastinate.  I like the freedom to work when I want to (except when there's a deadline) and not having to listen to all the moronic roll calls and questions from the people who never read the text.

I think it depends on how you learn.

I am a very visual person. So when I took an online english class I found myself struggling very much with the essays. I ended up having to drop the class. I missed having things pointed out to me on a board and written down on handouts. I guess I am just oriented like that.

I took the same course, English 101 at the University this past fall and made an A+. Just depends on the person I guess

i've taken two on-line courses and hated them (even though i got A+ in both).  i found them to be disorganized and not particiularly challenging or academic, but mostly i just missed the classroom discussions and interaction.  and i didn't like being taught by someone i'd never met. 

i'm sure there are schools and programs that are doing it right.  mine just isn't one of them.

I go to school full time (community college) and work about 45 hours a week so I love distance learning.  If I didn't use distance learning i would spend three hours at school every single night instead of just a couple nights a week.  The two most important things are having a really well organized teacher and keeping yourself motivated.  If you go to ratemyprofessor.com you can look at student reviews of a lot of teachers which helps.  My other recommendation is not to take classes that relate to your ultimate goals through distance learning.  I don't know why but I always feel like I don't remember as much of the information at the end.  For me it isn't that much of an issue to be a nursing student that doesn't remember every detail from a literature course, but it would be an issue if I was interested in becoming a lit major.

When I got my masters, most of my classes met on campus, but I had a couple that were online.

In both cases, I had already taken classes from those professors and had a feel for their demands.

At the end of it, in both cases, I felt that the online format entailed a great deal more work - owing mainly to the read-and-respond assignments, which would  have been class discussions in person, but were necessarily written assignments online.

So for me, it was like turning classroom discussions into writing assignments PLUS all your other papers and projects.

But, overall, I did still learn as well from the online courses, so if you have the time and the interest, there's no reason you shouldn't do just fine!