# Did you ever take online courses?



## MobiusX (Nov 14, 2008)

I am thinking about taking one called Social Problems. I read the description and it's something I want to learn about. The topics range from family disorganization, race conflict, poverty, mental illness, suicide, aging, crime and delinquency, drug and alcohol addiction, overpopulation and ecological crisis. I am unable to attend full time because of the situation I am in right now, but I believe taking this course, studying the book, taking tests, writing essays, that it will give me some type of purpose in life cause right now I feel helpless and dead, like I don't even exist. And I am not taking it online because of SA. I wish I was able to take it in person though. The course is worth 3 credits. 

What courses did you take or are you taking online right now? Is it what you expected it to be? And how often were you given a test or a quiz or homework?


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## glarmph (May 21, 2009)

I got my degree through online classes only, from my local community college. it was all kinds of classes, english, literature, biology, earth science, sociology, psychology, etc. it was pretty much what i expected. the worst part was not having a professor right there to explain things i didn't understand. test and quizzes made up the bulk of the grade. there really wasn't any homework. on average it seemed around 1 or 2 quizzes a week, 3 big tests throughout the semester, and 2 or 3 essays/research papers.


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## MobiusX (Nov 14, 2008)

glarmph said:


> I got my degree through online classes only, from my local community college. it was all kinds of classes, english, literature, biology, earth science, sociology, psychology, etc. it was pretty much what i expected. the worst part was not having a professor right there to explain things i didn't understand. test and quizzes made up the bulk of the grade. there really wasn't any homework. on average it seemed around 1 or 2 quizzes a week, 3 big tests throughout the semester, and 2 or 3 essays/research papers.


What kind of degree did you get and were you able to find a job with it?


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## glarmph (May 21, 2009)

I got an Associates Degree in General Education. Which is basically the bottom of the barrel of college degrees. But it is a degree. My problem was 1. I never could figure out want i wanted to do. 2. Any other degree required some form of communication class; speech, etc. I never could make myself do that. Anyways, I was working as a student worker in the Horticulture Dept at the college i was attending, 4 years after graduating i am still there but they made me part-time. Good ol' SA. Sorry for the uninspirational words. If there is a class/classes your are interested in, try it.


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## bowlingpins (Oct 18, 2008)

ShinAkuma said:


> What courses did you take or are you taking online right now? Is it what you expected it to be? And how often were you given a test or a quiz or homework?


I took an online computer course in my senior yr of high school. This was 6-7 years ago, I don't remember the details. From what I remember, it was an ordinary class. I was taking it only because it was a requirement. The tests were open book, I don't remember there being any h/w. Obviously, the format will vary between classes but I think tests and assignments for online courses tend to be open book because it would be difficult to manage otherwise. 
That's the only online class I have taken so far but I would take more w/o hesitation if I was in a situation where I couldn't take regular classes.


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## TATA (Sep 18, 2008)

I've taken Immigrant History online. I ended up doing more work than in regular class. Had to read the entire book (which was like pulling teeth, as the author made sure of making it looong and boring). Had homework once a week. Had to take midterm and final in class and it wasn't great as didn't know what was going to be on the multiple choice portion of it, professor put some questions that you ll never remember from the book even if you read it twice. So, overall I was not satisfied with online class and rather go to class.


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## mindy88 (Mar 30, 2007)

I took calculus I online. For the midterm and final, I had to go in person. But the hw and quizzes were all online.


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## Larkspur (Sep 30, 2009)

I completed my junior and senior years of high school online.
Now, I am thinking of taking another degree online through a college so that I can double major.

Online school was perfect for me. I am self-motivated, so I usually got all my work done on time. I actually like online schooling better than the traditional classroom setting because I can work at my own pace and when I want to. I do some of my best thinking/work at night, so it was really convenient to be able to 'go to school' at 2 in the morning. There were even a few times when I was able to work ahead in my classes. Plus, my anxiety doesn't noticeably get in the way of my participation in the courses. 

Because I did an online high school program, my experience is probably a little different. I had about 2+ quizzes each week in different subjects, and I had unit tests about every month or so. Homework was typical every night or so, whether it was just reading or doing an assignment. 

I was really satisfied with my experience, so that is why I am looking into taking some college courses online.

Just make sure that the school you are taking online classes through is accredited if you plan on getting a degree from them. Some community colleges and online schools aren't, which makes it harder to find a job in the long run.


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## Thomas107 (Dec 31, 2009)

I've taken quite a few online classes. The easiest class that I took online only required I pass 4 exams through the semester. But, most online classes require a lot more work than this. In the typical online class I've taken there is a quiz every week, discussion board postings every week, at least one paper to write (sometimes two or three papers to write), and at least two major exams. Usually, more work is involved in an online class than in an on-campus class, but I still like online classes much better because of my SA.


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## lde22 (Oct 19, 2009)

I have taken several online classes at my local community college. Most of them were computer classes. Right now I am taking a systems analysis and design class online. And last semester I took a hybrid class where you attend class and the teacher lectures but all of the quizes, tests, and homework is done online.

In all of my online classes there was usually 1 quiz per week and 1 or 2 assigments per week, and then a mid term and final exam. And we usually covered about 1 chapter per week. The assignments I had to do were all computer related so they were things like programming projects, or excel and MS access assignments.

The class I am taking now is much harder. It is winter session now so there is only 8 weeks instead of the usual 16, and we are covering 3 chapters per week.

I would say definitely try it. It requires a lot of reading and self discipline, but if you don't like it, you can usually drop out in the first few weeks and get a refund.


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## lyricalillusions (Nov 29, 2008)

Last semester (ended in early December) was my second semester ever & I took two online classes & two on campus classes. I took College Composition I (English) & Theatre History & I got B's in both. I would have preferred to take both on campus, but partially because of my anxiety, & partially because of the fact that Theatre History was an online only course, I wasn't able to. I was going to take two online classes this semester, which begins one week from today (January 19th), but because of circumstances, I'm not able to. I was going to take "Aquatic Life" & "United States History I."


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## Bewil (Jan 3, 2010)

ShinAkuma said:


> What courses did you take or are you taking online right now? Is it what you expected it to be? And how often were you given a test or a quiz or homework?


I took two. Well i am still in the process of one.

I really had no expectations so i can't answer that part.

One was Bookkeeping Applications. We had a weekly quiz and a comprehensive final. There was really no class interaction. Maybe three times during the semester, the class met in person so that the instructor could lecture on a chapter that she thought might be particularly difficult.

The one i am taking now is Supervisory Management. I have no interest in it but it is required for me. This class has discussions in an online forum in which you are required to participate. It looks like there will be a test every two weeks.


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## jmesser (Sep 6, 2011)

*first online class*

This will be my first online class, which is Chem 2 + Lab. Im taking 19 credit hours and its going to be tough juggling all of it


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## kilgoretrout (Jul 20, 2011)

I earned my HS diploma entirely by distance ed (some online courses, some in print) and I did a post-secondary "preprofessional year" entirely online. The online courses were generally what I expected them to be - the instructors usually provide you with a syllabus so you get an idea of what needs to be done and there was A LOT of reading. The textbooks are basically your teacher. Some courses were easy, others were not - if I were to do it again, I think I would have taken all my science and math courses through an actual classroom setting since I learn better that way with these subjects. 

There were quite a bit of assignments too, as well as unit test/quizzes every week that I could do from home (open book). However, any midterms and final exams I had to go to the university to write.


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## Marakunda (Jun 7, 2011)

I really wanna try it this year.

But I'm way too scared to ask my mom, she'll be pissed, no doubt.... Believe it or not, I'm too scared to go in person. 

lol, I'm pathetic.


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## Xande (Jul 18, 2011)

I've taken a few online courses post-undergrad. Not sure if I liked it, but saved some money from having to commute to campus every day(far!) or living on campus.

Quizes were just like undergrad courses, weekly. Homework was often. Pretty much taught myself everything, as the only thing the professors help us with is questions with homework or questions on how to do a certain problem. It was blehh.


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## cpuzManiac (May 8, 2011)

took history online which i aced because i like history and the assignments were pretty lax. also took two different math classes online. first one i barely passed, second time a different level of math, i failed miserably and ended up having to take it again as a regular class


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## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

Woah, thread necro.

ShinAkuma, did you ever take that course? It sounds like it was interesting.

I took an online course this summer and hated it. Our weekly assignments included crap like, "What does XML stand for?" and "Discuss Macromedia and its contribution to web publishing." Everything was ridiculously simple and/or completely out of date. And then we had a final exam asking about all kinds of stuff we'd never learned!

For the sole reason that I want to get this ridiculous certificate done with, I am taking another online course this semester. I hope it's better than the last one. It's about business and accounting and ****, so at least I am likely to learn something.


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