Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have taken three online math courses, only because we had a newborn and we both worked. Out of the three, only one was actually decent, and that's because it was a lecture based class (like being there). The other two were driven totally by a website and working problems. I did well in both but found that my retainment of the material was much worse than if I had taken them in a traditional class.
I would take face to face any day, but sometimes online is the only option, and it's a nice backup.
Agreed with Mach50. I took 2 math classes post-grad online because online is pretty much the only option available whilst working a full time job. I already don't remember about half of what I learned in my linear algebra class, which I just finished barely a month ago!
I think the experience really depends on the subject. For math, I just don't think the online format can convey the concepts in the same caliber as the traditional format can. I suspect this is especially true for the more proof based, higher level math classes.
I also took an online accounting class, breezed through it with an A+, and actually learned quite a lot. But I think it's because accounting is more "applied based" than math, which is more abstract to me. Hence with accounting, I only needed to read the material and do the homework questions a few times to understand it, but math...
Mach50, where did you take your math classes? Just curious because it seems that only a few colleges offer distant learning math classes.
At the undergraduate level, online math classes are offered by a lot of schools, but mostly just up to calculus II. Community colleges normally offer a ton of sections.
Online classes are better for all the busy professionals, working women, house wives or old ages who want to learn something but unable to go to class. We can say that online education is a modernization in learning techniques. Today there are many courses which are available online like online math classes, online accounting classes, Programming classes and other. It's all about learning So I think there is nothing wrong in taking online classes.
Interesting question. I completed about 10% of my undergraduate coursework via online classes and I earned my MBA completely online. Looking back, I had some great online classes and I also had some terrible face-to-face classes. The opposite can be said as well. The truth is a well designed course and a good professor counts more in the end than the delivery method.
It's interesting to read the comments regarding the need for in-class interaction. I went to community college at night as a non-traditional student (I was 27 at the time). I only took a few courses, but the classes I did take had great, engaging professors. Nevertheless, trying to get the class to interact or respond or volunteer to lead or initiate was always like pulling teeth. Many times I would make the effort, but I felt like I was being the "stereotypical adult college student" who's super eager and super studious to make a point. But it's not like I was the only one. So I don't know if it was because the classes were at night....or because it was community college....but sitting in a physical classroom gave little benefit in regards to interpersonal interaction.
I find that online classes are not necessarily more difficult...but they do tend to more demanding. Many of the online courses that I've taken demand a lot in terms of writing and research. Also many had tight deadlines. Compound these across multiple courses, and you really have to stay organized in regards to when to turn in a report or exam; when to be logged on for group meetings and/or lectures, and when certain resources are available (like the librarians in the library - who could be contacted via live online chats during certain hours). Online classes force you to have a lot of self-motivation. Other than that, it's a great benefit not to commute and to be able to work curled up in bed with a laptop at 2am (if that's your style).
However if I absolutely had to rank them, I would say that overall, face-to-face courses are better than online courses. But I also feel that it is a bit easier on you to have a bad professor and/or badly designed course in the face-to-face setting & survive. If anything, you can reach out to your classmates and you all can band together to help survive the course. But if the same thing happens in an online course, it can be devastating and miserable.
I have taken plenty of online classes as well as plenty of face to face and I have experienced both good and bad in both regards.
In general, I have done better grade wise with online classes, I have found that many are fairly easy A's, both those from the community college AND those from my four year university. For one thing, the tests are all pretty much open book and I have had almost every professor or instructor make it clear that they are fine with you using the book during the test.
I have also had very few instructors ask for much more beyond quizzes and tests and a couple paragraphs long discussion post per week. So it is basically like teaching yourself. I enjoy face to face more but for a class where I just need that particular credit and can't find a F2F that fits my schedule, online is fine.
I have one professor currently who really tries to get everyone engaged, and is very active in the course herself. There is a lot more active discussion on the discussion boards, and she requires projects and papers as well as quizzes and tests and I feel more engaged overall; it doesn't feel like "busy work" or an "easy A". I've had some instructors that give out a lot of stupid busy work, feeling like the must make it harder because it is online but they are really just making it more time consuming which does not equal more challenging.
I have had others where the instructor was basically non-existent for the entire course, rarely answered emails, just really awful. I had one that actually entered a final grade of A for me on my records, BEFORE I had taken the final which was 25% of the grade!
The biggest challenge for me is remembering stuff to do and deadlines with online classes. Especially this semester with regular and flex courses I have one that started at the normal Spring semester start time in January, another that started last week and another that starts next week! Ack. Plus some F2F too. It gets confusing but if you are a super organized person (I am not) it shouldn't be an issue.
I think it really depends on the content of the course.
If it's a subject that lends itself to being easily understood, I don't mind taking it online. With that said though, I don't like online classes that just require you to take a quiz every week to prove you "learned" something.
I took around 5 online classes during undergrad. Only one was fantastic. We were required to answer discussion questions and respond to other people's responses. Our professor was very engaged with the class. You couldn't just write a simple answer, you had to really write something of substance. If not, your grade suffered.
As for the others, I felt like they were a waste of time. In one class, it was basically a repeat of another course. I even turned in previous assignments once just to see if the professor would notice and she didn't.
To be fair though, I've had plenty of face to face courses that felt like a waste of time. Sometimes the teacher wasn't engaging, I already knew the material, I didn't like the students in my class, or some combination of all three.
I really like classes in which there is a lot of discussion and the instructor makes you think and defend your position. This can be done online and in person.
I have a lot of concerns about for-profit online "colleges" and these online courses with thousands of students in them. That's another thread.
My only experience with an online class was an attempt to take Spanish I online in high school. I hated it and ended up switching into a face-to-face class. I'm okay with some elements being online, but I don't think I'll ever take a fully online course, I vastly prefer the face-to-face interaction.
The best online classes should be based off regular classes, and have the same workload, assignments, and material.
As some people have said some classes thrive on participation and interaction. This only works for certain classes though. Some more technical classes that are more of skills dont really rely on interaction and discussion. Instead you learn from the teacher, and you can learn them just as well online. It might be easier for some students to go in class to learn, but the material is largely the same and if you are motivated you will get the same learning. I attended accounting classes for credit, but I was largely self taught and could have learned it just as easily online. Some economic classes I could say the same.
So it really depends on the program, the class, and the subject. I would be weary of a program designed 100% to be online, but if a school offers the same class both online and inclass, sometimes the online is superior.
I've taught both in-person and online classes (my college is offering more and more online classes to try to accommodate people who don't live near campus). In almost all cases I VASTLY prefer teaching in person. I actually like getting to know my students, encouraging them, convincing them that the course material is worth talking about/learning. You can do all those things with online classes, of course, but it's harder.
The biggest problem I've found with online courses, though, is that it's too easy for students to forget that they are TAKING a class, no matter how many reminder emails you send them. I've had panic-stricken students email me in week 4 of a 6-week online class because they realize they have gotten so far behind they don't think they can ever catch up (and sometimes they can't). But for self-motivated students who (for example) need to go home to work in the summer, an online class can be a life-saver, something that allows them to graduate on time or even early.
HOWEVER (and I know this is snobbish), I have basically zero respect for for-profit online graduate programs. A colleague of mine got her "Ph.D." from such a program, and it is absolutely ludicrous -- she cannot write a coherent sentence in English yet somehow developed a research project, did all her field work, wrote her dissertation, and defended it -- all in about 6 months? No way. At Michigan (my beloved alma mater) she would have been drummed out in the first year, if she'd even gotten in at all.
Yes, online classes require more effort from the students to stay focused. I would not recommend them for undergrad. however, that is all a failing of the students not the online classes.
I agree about for profit. Nobody disputes they are a scam. Online classes from non-profits are a different matter.
Considering this a bit of a warning...
I TA'd online classes. The professor I was TAing for was nationally recognized in her field, and the classes were loaded with students.
But she did not actually teach the course beyond posting lectures that came straight from her brick and mortar class. I "designed" the labs (which were actually straight out of a lab workbook, but with the questions changed for online). I ran the discussions. I did all of the grading.
About 1/5th of the students failed or dropped simply because they could not get the software to work properly. By the time they had things figured out, they were 2 weeks behind in a 10 week course and had no chance. Others simply could not grasp the lab format and ignored the effect on their grades until it was too late.
The labs were an incredible pain to grade. In a brick and mortar version, there is observation and interaction that allows for a much simpler writeup. For the online course, cheating was far too easy, so the lab writeups were complicated involving screen shots, trivial questions, even photos to try as thoroughly as possible to ensure that the students did the assignments.
I had other TA responsibilities besides the classes that I was essentially teaching; in particular, the in-person version of the same course. Those took priority, especially for office hours, since, well, the B&M students were physically in my office. And to top it off, the online classes had to contend with the in-person classes for testing; they did not do so well against the overall class averages against students who had access to in-person office hours with the professor or me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
