Online learning

It’s 7:58 on a Monday morning, and you’re rushing to get to your 8 a.m. class before the professor marks you absent. You manage to spill your steaming hot coffee all over your new shirt as you run down the hall. You’re just about to curse your school for making a class available so early in the morning…then you remember that you had the option to take it online instead. If you’d done that, you wouldn’t have to get up so early! Heck, you wouldn’t even have to go to school for that class!

If you have access to a computer, you can go to class any time and from anywhere. You might be surprised how many colleges offer extensive online learning opportunities. But be aware that some classes are more suitable than others to take online. If you’re looking for a demanding chemistry lab, for instance, taking it in person is probably your best bet.

One of the reasons that students at traditional colleges take online courses is because the school might not offer a class they need at a convenient time. (Such as that 8 a.m. class.) “I needed another social science, and they didn’t have one that was at a convenient time at the campus I’m going to, so I enrolled in it online,” says Adam Gorman, a student at Monroe Community College (MCC) in Rochester, N.Y.

At most colleges, online courses count for the same amount of credit hours as traditional classes do. “Online courses are like any other, and therefore the credit hour limits that apply to coursework taken at MCC apply no matter how the courses are delivered,” says Stuart Blacklaw, dean of curriculum and program review at the college.

Do online courses cost the same as a regular course? “Like any other course, there may be an additional lab fee,” says Jeff Bartokovich, a vice president of educational technology services. Lab fees cover the technology costs related to the courses and administrative fees.

According to one state university system’s Web site, to access online courses, you must first get a password. Once you log in, you can choose which of your online classes you’d like to access. From there, you are able to hand in assignments, check the course message boards for new assignments and communicate with your peers and professor.

But what about the lack of face-to-face communication between students and professor? Does it hurt your learning process to not see your professor often?

Tom Proietti, a professor of communications, says, “I have made as many good relationships online as in person. It all depends on the quality of interchange between teachers and student.”

According to a survey conducted by MCC in the fall of 2001, students taking online courses perform about the same as in traditional courses. The survey said that 65.2 percent of students who took an online course achieved a grade of C or better. “This is just slightly lower than the 70 percent of students who achieved grades of a C or better in traditional daytime courses,” Blacklaw says.

Just because your classroom is online doesn’t mean the class doesn’t require as much attention. Students without self-discipline do not make it in the online course world. Just like with a traditional course, you should still expect to apply yourself a great deal.

For students contemplating online courses, Proietti suggests to try practice sessions first, available on your college’s Web site. That way, you can see how the online courses are set up and get a taste for how homework is assigned and collected.

Happy learning!

Jessica Gaspar is a student at Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y.

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