I have toured about eight campuses so far and during tours at a couple of the larger schools I found out that oftentimes a course is online/recorded and self directed. Undergrad students told me how difficult it has been to learn the material in this format, some going so far as to hire a private tutor. How do I find out whether a school does this and in which courses? Considering the cost of attending college I am appalled that students are forced to take this option as the live, in person course fills up rapidly or the students are never given a choice of in person. This seems to happen in important foundational STEM courses which is even worse. I have one child looking at colleges who cannot learn in this format and admissions is not honest about this. They only talk about small class sizes, even at the large state schools and I only found out about this teaching format because I stopped and asked an undergrad. Or in one case I had a friend who was a professor at the university.
I would suggest looking at the course catalog or schedule of classes in depth. Note that it may also vary by major or program.
Looking at the schedule of classes can also give you a sense of how consistently the classes in the desired major/department are offered, how big the classes are, and many other useful things. I would recommend doing this with any colleges that are under serious consideration!
As an example, the schedule of classes for Oregon State University is here: https://classes.oregonstate.edu
When I search for first-year German (for example), I can see that the class is offered in both in-person and online sections, and I can also see the maximum size of each section:
If you list some of the colleges that your child is interested in, I’m sure that people here can help you to look up this information.
Thank you, that’s very helpful. Some of the schools my child is considering are:
The Ohio State
Case Western
University of Pittsburgh
Clemson
Elon
Fordham
Boston university
Here are links for a few of them, that my son also applied to. This should give you a good start. You can search for class schedules for the others by doing a google search with the university name combined with “class schedule” or “course catalog.”
Case Western:
Overview page: Class Search | University Registrar | Case Western Reserve University
There is some information here about how to determine and understand instruction modes: Instruction Mode | University Registrar | Case Western Reserve University
University of Pittsburgh:
Overview page: https://catalog.upp.pitt.edu
Look in the menu on the right hand side of the page for a link to “Class Search” which will get you into the system so that you can search for specific classes.
Ohio State:
Overview page: Schedule of Classes & Class Catalog
Scroll down and you can see links to the schedule of classes, as well as historical course catalogues.
FWIW, both my kids went to Pitt and there are very few online courses. You can find some if you really look but my kids never took one.
That’s good to know. When did they attend Pitt? I am wondering if this is more common post pandemic.
Everyone learns differently.
I’m always surprised where, in the college parent groups, parents are in an uproar when a course has remote instruction, yet their students seem to prefer it.
I have one child who strongly prefers in person classes. I have another who appreciates remote because they can re-wind, re-play and listen to lectures again.
One graduated from Pitt in 2020, the other is currently a senior graduating next week.
Note there was one semester -fall 2020- when everything was online due to covid. The following semester was a mix, a remote option was available even for classes that met in person because some students elected not to return to campus for the year. The next year was back to normal after a week or two of remote to make sure kids weren’t bringing covid back to campus. That’s all gone now. Everything was completely normal this year. I did hear of problems with remote science classes in 2020 but that is now in the past.
Yes, I agree that everyone learns differently. Also, when a university offers some sections online, I think it can benefit some students in the in-person classes as well, if recorded lectures are available online to supplement their learning.
I have also heard that increased access to recorded lectures is making it easier for teachers to use a flipped classroom model, where students first watch a recorded lecture, then come to the in-person classroom for further discussion and working through problems together. Some students don’t like this format, others like it.
My daughter is a sophomore at Clemson, had one online class fall of freshman year in 2021, that was it.
The schools you’ve listed (most of them) are likely to have some online options, few if any remote synchronous courses (like we had during the depths of the pandemic), and mostly in-person classes. The best way to find out is to look at course catalogues, all of which should be available for fall 2023. If courses are listed with dates, times, and (possibly) room numbers, they are in person. If not, they are likely online. Don’t look at summer catalogues, because in my experience, there would be a higher proportion of summer courses offered online. you can look at past catalogues, but be aware that catalogues for AY 2020-21, and even 2021-22 are likely to have more online or remote synchronous options than they’ll have now.
I suspect that most of the schools on your list will have a few online options, because sometimes students like to take general studies or intro courses online to ease their schedules (and to make quick work of courses not in their areas of interest), but the vast majority are in person. A few might have online degree programs in some disciplines, but a student in those disciplines will have in-person pathways, too, with more course availability.
This is one of the many reasons why my son chose Pitt over “the other” PA school for CS. My son learns best with in-person format. Pitt has very few online classes meant for working students and students who prefer that format. The majority of the classes are in-person, even for freshmen. Simply Google “(college name) courses 2023-24” to get a glimpse of their course catalog offerings. Good luck!
Yes on our visit to PSU a student told us his CS course was all recorded with 1700 students. He was really struggling and had to hire a tutor. He was not in the CS department but needed that course.
One of my kids took a course in HS that was the flipped model of teaching and they really liked it. However with this model they still had classes in person to discuss questions and go through problem sets.
Yep, that’s “the other school” I was referring to! 1700 students for an online/asynchronous course is insane to me! That’s got to be a weed-out type of class. It’s so important to know what kind of environment your child will thrive in - in-person/online or hybrid.
Many universities will record large lecture classes and make them available online for students who did not attend the class or who may want to review part of the lecture that they had difficulty with. But those lecture classes are held in person.
Every school handles online classes differently, but I wanted to add perspective as a parent of a student at Oregon State, which offers fully online degrees through its ecampus. It may make you think of different questions to ask schools about online offerings.
My student lives on campus and every class is offered live or at least hybrid, I believe. However, she can choose to take a course offered online through the ecampus if she wants — but the tuition is not the same. An online class usually ends up being slightly more expensive than an in-person class for in-state students and less expensive than in-person for out-of-state students.
It has actually been a huge advantage to us. My student likes to strategically take a mix of in-person and online classes, choosing to take classes that are harder or most important to her majors in person and in time slots and with professors that are most ideal. Then she rounds out her schedule with one or two online classes for the rest. It enables her to avoid a lot of class scheduling conflicts and saves us a little money because she’s an out-of-state student. It also enables her to easily take classes in the summer when she is not on campus if she likes. She has never been “forced” to take a class online that she preferred to take in person because in-person classes were full; the only time she had to get in from the waitlist was for an online class.
I just wanted to point out that online classes can offer a lot of flexibility. If a school offers a lot of them, it is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly if there are also plenty of in-person sections available for each class, too. There may be differences in costs or fees, however.
Thank you, I really appreciate all of the alternate perspectives on online courses.
My Pitt business freshman has had no online courses and neither have any of her friends in STEM.
(The only exception would be a one credit pass/fail diversity class that all freshmen took in their first semester.)
How do I find out whether a school does this and in which courses?
I would suggest emailing the Admissions office and asking.