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L210, I disagree with the term you used 'hand holding' I feel that people benefit more from a class room than online and hand holding is not the issue. Not everyone will be on the same time zone as the professor and some students want answers sooner then later. If a professor has lets assume over 50 online students I am sure it will take more time to get a reply. When you are in a class you have the opportunity to ask your question and not only get the professors feed back, but other students as well.
L210, I disagree with the term you used 'hand holding' I feel that people benefit more from a class room than online and hand holding is not the issue. Not everyone will be on the same time zone as the professor and some students want answers sooner then later. If a professor has lets assume over 50 online students I am sure it will take more time to get a reply. When you are in a class you have the opportunity to ask your question and not only get the professors feed back, but other students as well.
That's not the way it always works at large universities. You sit in a class with over 100 students. You only have the opportunity to ask the professor a question after class and he or she refers you to an assistant or a student tutor.
My problem with online classes, thou I have never taken one, is how do you ask your professor questions and how does he / she know how and when to help you?
I have taken at least one online class since I started back at school, and I always use either blackboard, email, stopping by the Proffs office (suring hours), or calling.
thank you for your response. Can you tell me what is Blackboard. I know what a blackboard is in a class but it seems to have another definitions for online classes.
thank you for your response. Can you tell me what is Blackboard. I know what a blackboard is in a class but it seems to have another definitions for online classes.
Blackboard is an online course management system used by a lot of colleges. Here are some places you can learn more about it.
I'm more familiar with Blackboard. Other names you might hear associated with Blackboard are WebCT and Courseweb. College professors can use it for teaching a regular classroom course or can use it for an online course.
Moodle seems to be more popular in high schools but it appears to be growing in colleges and universities.
I have used course management systems such as Blackboard at three different colleges and universities. Some were completely online courses and some were classroom courses that used Blackboard to supplement the classroom. Instructors can start discussions, create blogs, post presentations, post exams, etc.
What I found after taking various online courses is the technology has great potential but it is very difficult and much more work for an instructor to teach an online course. I had instructors at both the undergraduate and graduate level who hardly did anything other than post reading assignments. Other classes had projects and extensive online discussions.
Tests can either be essay or objective. Some schools will have you go to a testing center to take your tests. I was enrolled in an online graduate program with people from all over the world. Having students go to a testing center was not an option. In another class, there was a test that had to be completed by Sunday night at 11PM. It was multiple choice and had a time limit. It was something like 35 questions in 25 minutes. You lost points for going over the time limit. This school had you swear that you did not use any resources to help answer the questions.
After taking these online courses, I am skeptical about someone getting an online degree and I would be skeptical about hiring someone with this type of degree. I found that you can slide by in many of the classes with little effort. Very few instructors know how to teach an online course. Most college instructors are used to walking into a class and lecturing and/or discussing the material. They don't know how to change their approach for an online environment.
The online environement can greatly supplement a traditional classroom course. But here again, most instructors who make an attempt to use it, fall short. Blackboard has a discussion board, but it can become cumbersome with a large class. I found that most instructors would start to use it, and monitor it less and less as the term progressed. Other times students were at fault for waiting until the last day (when a response was due) to post their responses. Some would read all the other responses and reword others' responses.
I am not someone who is down on technology and the use of computers in education. I think for some classes, a computer can do a better job of teaching certain types of material. I have seen excellent math and science software that teaches concepts, and then tests whether the student understand the concept. The program than reviews the concepts that the student did not understand. This is self-paced learning. This is a totally different concept than taking an online college degree program.
thank you for your response. Can you tell me what is Blackboard. I know what a blackboard is in a class but it seems to have another definitions for online classes.
It's the actual online classroom. Proffs can post assignments, grades, syllabus, any notes or such. Also the students can post to get answers to questions, group help, etc....
I'm more familiar with Blackboard. Other names you might hear associated with Blackboard are WebCT and Courseweb. College professors can use it for teaching a regular classroom course or can use it for an online course.
Moodle seems to be more popular in high schools but it appears to be growing in colleges and universities.
I have used course management systems such as Blackboard at three different colleges and universities. Some were completely online courses and some were classroom courses that used Blackboard to supplement the classroom. Instructors can start discussions, create blogs, post presentations, post exams, etc.
What I found after taking various online courses is the technology has great potential but it is very difficult and much more work for an instructor to teach an online course. I had instructors at both the undergraduate and graduate level who hardly did anything other than post reading assignments. Other classes had projects and extensive online discussions.
Tests can either be essay or objective. Some schools will have you go to a testing center to take your tests. I was enrolled in an online graduate program with people from all over the world. Having students go to a testing center was not an option. In another class, there was a test that had to be completed by Sunday night at 11PM. It was multiple choice and had a time limit. It was something like 35 questions in 25 minutes. You lost points for going over the time limit. This school had you swear that you did not use any resources to help answer the questions.
After taking these online courses, I am skeptical about someone getting an online degree and I would be skeptical about hiring someone with this type of degree. I found that you can slide by in many of the classes with little effort. Very few instructors know how to teach an online course. Most college instructors are used to walking into a class and lecturing and/or discussing the material. They don't know how to change their approach for an online environment.
The online environement can greatly supplement a traditional classroom course. But here again, most instructors who make an attempt to use it, fall short. Blackboard has a discussion board, but it can become cumbersome with a large class. I found that most instructors would start to use it, and monitor it less and less as the term progressed. Other times students were at fault for waiting until the last day (when a response was due) to post their responses. Some would read all the other responses and reword others' responses.
I am not someone who is down on technology and the use of computers in education. I think for some classes, a computer can do a better job of teaching certain types of material. I have seen excellent math and science software that teaches concepts, and then tests whether the student understand the concept. The program than reviews the concepts that the student did not understand. This is self-paced learning. This is a totally different concept than taking an online college degree program.
Some schools are better than others when it comes to providing online education just like some schools are better than others when it comes to providing in-person education. I attended one school that used the Respondus Lockdown browser for online tests. It blocks you from doing anything else on your computer while testing. Of course, you could use your book or another internet device without anyone knowing. Some schools use online proctors. Basically, you test at home with a webcam on while an online proctor monitors you.
Normally, online courses are more work. Since there usually aren't any lectures, discussion boards are used in their place. Doing a discussion board post is more work than sitting in a classroom listening to someone talk. Since most schools also avoid administering tests online, they use essays in their place. Writing a several page essay is more work than taking a multiple choice test. Although, some schools take the essay thing too far and it just becomes busy work. At one school I attended, they used software called Turnitin which searches the internet and the school's own database of papers to make sure you did not plagiarize.
Some schools are better than others when it comes to providing online education just like some schools are better than others when it comes to providing in-person education. I attended one school that used the Respondus Lockdown browser for online tests. It blocks you from doing anything else on your computer while testing. Of course, you could use your book or another internet device without anyone knowing. Some schools use online proctors. Basically, you test at home with a webcam on while an online proctor monitors you.
Normally, online courses are more work. Since there usually aren't any lectures, discussion boards are used in their place. Doing a discussion board post is more work than sitting in a classroom listening to someone talk. Since most schools also avoid administering tests online, they use essays in their place. Writing a several page essay is more work than taking a multiple choice test. Although, some schools take the essay thing too far and it just becomes busy work. At one school I attended, they used software called Turnitin which searches the internet and the school's own database of papers to make sure you did not plagiarize.
I agree that online courses can be more work but it depends on the instructor. Being a good online instructor is definitely more time consuming and requires more preparation than teaching a regular course.
My experience was at three different schools in two states. I took three online classes at a community college. All test were unproctored objective tests with a time limit. They had an honor code where you pledged you were not using anything or anyone to assist in answering the questions.
I took one online class at a major unversity. You had to go to a testing center and the tests for this class were essay questions. They had special arrangement for people who lived a distance from the school.
I was enrolled in an online graduate program at a different school. All tests were essay questions that you had to submit by a certain time. You typically had several days to answer the questions.
None of my courses used Turnitin but it was available to the instructors.
Unless of course, you're doing it to satisfy a checkbox requirement at a place you're already employed.
One of my upper managers recently graduated from Phoenix with a bachelors and masters. For him, it didn't matter where either was from, as he just needed to check a box to get into a higher labor category to bill the client for.
If you're breaking into a market, or you want to get a new job, the name on the degree matters. If you're just satisfying a checkbox requirement at your current employer, it can be from any accredited university.
If you really want to check out online schools, look at Penn State's world campus, Univ of Maryland.
Wow...I beg to differ...There are tons of schools that offer degrees that are economically worthwhile...I do kind of agree with your statement about work experience. If I were 18 again, I'd CLEP 2 or 3 years of college in about 8 months, and then put up a respectable 3.0 GPA for 1 year and graduate. You'd be surprised about the benefits of online education. Brick and mortars will be a thing of the past soon enough. All your prestigious Univ. are turning alot of the curriculum into online course.
Wow...I beg to differ...There are tons of schools that offer degrees that are economically worthwhile...I do kind of agree with your statement about work experience. If I were 18 again, I'd CLEP 2 or 3 years of college in about 8 months, and then put up a respectable 3.0 GPA for 1 year and graduate. You'd be surprised about the benefits of online education. Brick and mortars will be a thing of the past soon enough. All your prestigious Univ. are turning alot of the curriculum into online course.
I'm not aware of any university that will let you CLEP more than a couple of semester's worth of credit. You might be able to CLEP out of your freshman year, but that's about it.
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