Online colleges for science and tech? (bachelors, masters degree, schools, best)
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Does anyone know of good inexpensive accredited colleges that have online programs for science? I want to pick up a science certification, but I need a certain amount of hours of general science, biology, chemistry, physics, etc., to qualify. The university I currently attend, unfortunately, only offers science courses at the main campus during the day. I need to work.
How would that even be possible, with lab requirements?
Not all science courses have labs. You can also opt to just take the lecture portion for courses that have labs. Many schools either offer virtual labs or require the student to buy a lab kit. When a lab is done at home, the student is either required to film the process or photograph each stage. Some courses with labs are offered in the hybrid format. You have to travel to the school for the hands-on portion.
Does anyone know of good inexpensive accredited colleges that have online programs for science? I want to pick up a science certification, but I need a certain amount of hours of general science, biology, chemistry, physics, etc., to qualify. The university I currently attend, unfortunately, only offers science courses at the main campus during the day. I need to work.
Do you just need lower division courses? If so, then search for online courses offered by your local and state community colleges. Those will be the cheapest. The second best option would be to take them at Clovis Community College or New Mexico Junior College. They are cheap for non-residents and offer some online science courses with labs. Ocean Community College offers several online courses with labs, but they are much more expensive. If you need some more advanced, but still basic courses, University of New England offers online courses with virtual labs, but they are really expensive.
Another option would be to test out of the courses if that is acceptable. Excelsior College offers these exams called Uexcel. They have exams that cover genetics, anatomy and physiology, physics, weather and climate, bioethics, pathophysiology, microbiology, and science of nutrition. These tests are ACE-approved, and will be put on an Excelsior transcript. These exams come with letter grades. Thomas Edison State College offers exams that will earn you pass/fail credit directly from them; they are regionally accredited. TESC's exams are called TECEPs. The only ones that are science-related, however, are the science of nutrition and environmental ethics.
Yet another option is taking CLEPs and DSSTs. These are accepted by thousands of colleges, and you'd be surprised at how many will award lab credits for some of these exams. I earned credits for biology I and II with lab by passing a CLEP test. There were several colleges I could have sent my score to to earn those 8 credits. CLEP offers science exams in chemistry, biology, and natural sciences. DSST offers exams in astronomy, physical science, environment and humanity, and physical geology.
Annenberg Learner has a partnership with Colorado State University to earn graduate-level credits by correspondence. The courses are very affordable, but the downside is that you're limited to earning 5 credits per semester. Annenberg Learner: Graduate Credit
True...
but "biology, chemistry, physics" usually do!
Most of the time, you can opt to take them without lab. It depends on what the OP's state requires. There are plenty of schools that offer introductory and general courses in biology, physics, and chemistry online with or without lab.
Before you shell out any money, OP, I'd strongly advise that you call a few places you think you'd like to work someday and ask for HR's opinion on these online degrees. I think a lot of hiring managers and human resources personnel are going to take issue with an online degree or certificate in something related to biology, chemistry, or physics; the lab portion of these disciplines is extremely important. An online certificate in bio/chem/phys/etc is, best-case scenario, going to raise eyebrows; worst-case scenario, it will send your resume to the trash.
The certification could possibly be more important than the education. In most cases, the only way to tell a course was taken online, is to compare the person's work/residential history with the location of the school. If you attend APUS, then yes, employers can tell because this is a 100% virtual school. 100% virtual schools that are regionally accredited are extremely rare. In other words, most online courses and programs at regionally accredited schools are offered by schools that have brick and mortar campuses. Rarely does a school distinguish between online courses/programs and ground courses/programs. They look exactly the same on a transcript.
It seems like it would be a simple thing for employers to notice, but employers and schools have assumed that I earned my bachelors and masters degrees on campus. My bachelors degree was earned at a state college in New Jersey; I live in Texas. When I went to an interview, the interviewer asked me if I was from New Jersey even though my resume only listed jobs in San Antonio, TX. My masters degree was earned at a school that is 3 hours away. Because it's in Texas, everyone assumes that I actually attended in San Angelo. I have never been there.
They desperately need science teachers in this area, but I need a few hundred hours of coursework to meet the requirement to get an endorsement for general science added to my teaching certificate. The problem, though, is that all of the undergraduate science courses are offered during the day when I work. Adding a science endorsement to my English Secondary Education degree would be really great, but I don't want to have to stop working to go back to school. The master's I'm pursuing right now is for language teaching, and the college offers it completely online. I would be very likely to find a job around here if I had a science endorsement to go along with it. Plus, I kind of think something concrete like science would be easier to teach. I loved science as a child. The college I attend has no online programs for it, though.
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