<p>As a "College Now" student, I've taken Spanish 102 and Econ 101 online, and aside from struggling in the first couple of weeks of Spanish after having skipped 101 and never having taken a course before, both classes were pretty easy, and certainly not anymore difficult all-around than High school work. There was no busy work, but there was also very limited instruction, and I felt more as if I was merely teaching myself from a book, which I could do anytime I want at the local library. However, are online classes simply a lot easier than regular classes, or should I just expect CC to be a walk in the park? </p>
<p>P.S. - I'm currently forced to take online classes as I my financial circumstances don't allow for me to have a car yet. And I'm taking Pol Science 103 (U.S. Gov), Cultural Anthro, and US History this coming semester, plus a couple of humanities classes during the summer, so that I should have about 20-23 credits already completed before I officially start my freshmen year as a fully fledged college student.</p>
<p>I'd be interested to hear other's responses, but I think it's going to differ for everyone.</p>
<p>I think that some subjects have to be taught in person, but, personally, I do find online courses "easier" than sit down courses. First, I'm a real self starter and going to class two or three times a week is a bit draining. Second, I'm a verbal learner so I'm often tempted to just sit through class and try to absorb the whole thing through my ears. It turns out that reading the lesson and posting a summary of it--a frequent component of online classes--is actually a better way for me to learn.</p>
<p>I'm physically studying in Alaska at the moment--long story--and taking Calc II and III by mail. They're frustrating as hell sometimes, but I'd say easier ultimately because of how I force myself to understand.</p>
<p>My wife, on the other hand, hates online classes. She feels like the weekly requirements are busy work, and she doesn't find the motivation to do as well in an online class. She says, for her, online classes are harder to do well in.</p>
<p>if you want to take an online intro to psychology class I'd recommend the one from my community college (Orange Coast). I took Deborah Maher and she has organized power points that are narrated by her lecture. Then she gives you a study guide that has all of the questions that will be on the test, plus extras, so if you listen to the lectures/power points and do the study guides you'll get an A. It's really easy and you do actually learn something without having to teach yourself. You do need to use the book a little bit, but it was on reserve in our library so I never bought it.</p>
<p>Plenty of extra credit given out through discussion on the message boards so you might actually even make friends in your online class.</p>
<p>Thank you for your contributions. Would anyone else like to contribute their personal experiences? I would like to get a lot of responses, and weigh them all in the balance.</p>
<p>P.S. - Have any of you ever taken a "jump start" class, which is a full semester length class, delivered in 3 weeks? I'm taking U.S. Gov as a jump start class, and I was shocked to see how huge the textbook was. It's a massive book, with over a 1,000 pages of small print, and I imagine I'll be doing a test, an essay, and discussion board posting for every chapter, and with 24 chapters, that means I must complete at least one chapter per day, on a 7 day per week schedule. That's going to be intense.</p>
<p>We don't have those at my CC, but I'd sure love to give one a try :O we have 8 week classes during the regular semester though, and we do have 4 week classes during our winter and summer sessions. I took u.s. gov during a 4 week session, not online though, uhg i hated it xD</p>
<p>i'm at JC and my college offers some online courses. I'm 48 units in and 33 units have been on campus and 15 units online. </p>
<p>I've taken a couple online courses that weren't structured well and some that have been. I took a history course online and the prof was excellent and structured the class very well. She uploaded her audio lectures and class discussions in the forums were very lively. I learned a lot in that course just from listening to her lectures multiple times.</p>
<p>another online course i took was the exact opposite. The prof gave the reading and assignment every monday and that was it...not much interaction or actual teaching.</p>
<p>but the main reason i prefer online courses has more to do with how much of a nervous nellie i am. I get nervous in class a lot and it was affecting my attendance.</p>
<p>oh as far as difficulty i haven't come to a consensus on that . my friend took the same course i did last semester with the same prof. i took it online and she took it on campus. there was more work in the online course, more assignments and more frequent quizzes. The on campus class had an extra credit museum assignment (art history course) while the online course didn't. The on campus tests were more about identifying certain pieces of art by name while the online course was centered around essays. All in all I had to write twice as many papers as she did . I learned a lot though so it was worth it.</p>
<p>i took nutrition 1 online though and it was so easy a monkey could have done it.</p>
<p>so it really all depends on the prof. Some like to make it a challenge.</p>
<p>I agree with the above poster: I think that some online classes are good and some are not so good. I am in my third term and have taken two online classes: Pol Sci 1 and English 1. I liked my Pol Sci online class, the instructor encouraged discussion on the discussion board, which made understanding and analyzing the material a lot easier.</p>
<p>I did not like the online English class. I felt that I would have really benefited from discussing my papers with my professor in the classroom and receiving more than just written feedback. </p>
<p>I think that online classes usually require more reading, to make up for the fact that you are missing lectures. It's a great idea to get units out of the way before you start. But, essentially, you're already in your freshman year. You're just not doing this year on campus. Again, getting units out of the way is great and will help you transfer much faster, but be sure you don't think of these as "lesser" classes: These grades will appear on your transcript and count towards your GPA all the same. Also make sure that the classes you are taking are UC transferable (which they should be). You might already want to apply for UC admission the fall you start "on campus," too, since you very well could transfer by the next fall.</p>
<p>I personally prefer to take on-campus classes, but online classes are a great way to make college easier for those that work or don't have a car.</p>