<p>Hello all. Due to a variety of family problems, I will need to be able to financially support myself soon. Because of this, I've started on the job hunt recently. </p>
<p>Originally, my schedule for the next quarter was all over the place (not surprising since I'm almost at the unit cap for a quarter). I figure that jobs, even those that are student friendly, would not appreciate having to work around a schedule that is "all over the place" like mine would most likely be. Because of this, I have considered taking some of my courses online, either officially or through websites where I can certifications to pass most of the pre-requisite classes for my pre-requisites (complicated situation). </p>
<p>So, are online courses as effective at teaching the subject as opposed to the actual physical classroom setting? While they may be online, I still need them to be effective, if I'm paying for some of them (like the online classes through the UC online system). </p>
<p>Any input?</p>
<p>It really varies from class to class. Some online classes are total blow off classes, and other ones can be more difficult than the in-class variants. I took an Intro to American Government class online a few semesters ago, and it was ridiculously easy. All we had to do was read the chapter, take a 25 multiple choice quiz on each chapter, and write a response to the end of chapter question and post it on the message board, then respond to two other posts made by other students for each chapter. That was it. There were no exams, no final. Just that. That same semester I took a Western Civilization class online and it was quite difficult. The amount of work was comparable to a standard in-class version of the course. I had three papers, a mid-term and a final, a few sets of reading questions to go with the two secondary readings, plus a ton of reading from the primary text. It was made more difficult at times due to not being able to raise my hand and ask the professor a question. Questions are asked through email, but the answers can sometimes come a day or two later. </p>
<p>As I said, it really depends. I found that online courses are not to my liking. I would never take a course for my major online, but GenEd courses may be a bit different. Classes that are heavily oriented toward reading and writing would generally be considerably easier than more quantitative classes. I would never consider taking a physics or math class online, for example. </p>
<p>Agree with above. It really depends. There are some rigorous classes that have papers and projects and posting and are probably equivalent to a in class course. Others are very easy and devoid of content. It varies by school, professor and course. Online science classes are generally not equivalent because they lack a real lab. Online professors can be difficult to reach for questions or extra help.</p>
<p>@milkweed @comfortablycurt </p>
<p>Wow, really? That’s troubling news for me. The class I’m trying to take is an intro to Comp. Sci class, since the classes here are all major restricted and full. If it wasn’t enough that different schools teach differently, there’s a great chance that the class could effectively not help me out? </p>
<p>Do y’all have any recommendations as to what I should do?</p>
<p>You might want to repost with a new heading “online comp sci course recommendations?” or something like that? </p>