Some of you are probably aware as i posted before that I have decided to make a career change and take some classes to get my masters in teaching along with certification to teach.

 

Anyways, the classes are all online with the exception of the student teaching and various observations etc...that i need to complete.

 

One thing I can say is that if you are not organized and self motivated do not take online classes!!  They make up for not going to class by ensuring you have plenty of assignments to do during the week.

 

Of course this may calm down some since this is the first graduate level class, online class and any class for that matter in over 10 years.

 

I can definitely say that fishing will be on the back burner for a while which is ok since i have this site that i can live vicariously through everyone else

 

Just thought i would share  

Hope it only gets easier for u. I cannot think of taking classes at this point in my life. When I was in school I did enjoy lectures and learning. But the only thing that intrests me these days are training for my job.

I will say what u said about online classes I think I would fail. I tell my wife I cannot have one of those jobs where I work from home, too many other things distracting, plus i like deadlines and collaborating to finish a project. School would be the same. I applaud your ability to focus and personal discipline. Lol

Stay upbeat about it. Also congrats on getting started.

Both my son and step daughter failed their college online courses. They're not for everyone.

When i was registering for the program they said you can only take one class at a time.  I asked why can;t i take two at least.  I mean i worked 40+ hours a week and went to school full time for undergrad.....yeah well i am glad that for now i am just taking one.  Having a full time job, 3 year old, a house to take care of etc....and a class is definitely a lot to take care of but it will be alright.

 

Good thing i have a supportive fiancee....at least she is right now but we will see how she is a few months from now lol

I have taken several over the years. The amount of reading required will bury you in a hurry if you don't stay focused. The up-side is you can do most of the work in your own time. It is a double-edged sword...good luck.

I had been out of school for 35 years without reading any kind of a textbook in that period.  Even though it was only for a real estate license in Florida I wanted to be in a classroom.  The pass rate on the state exam is somewhere around 50%, I didn't want to go thru it a second time.  Whether it's classroom or online, it isn't playtime and you have to be focused, I put a lot of time into it.

In my opinion, online courses are the worst thing that ever happened to education... Best of luck.

In my opinion, online courses are the worst thing that ever happened to education... Best of luck.

 

Just curious as to why you think that?

 

I felt very much the same way when they first came out but as technology has improved so have online classes.

Except for in-house classes given by my employer, I have not attended a class since I graduated 27 years ago.  Not that I haven't learned anything along the way, but once was enough for me.  Back then it was like some of the college classes were out of touch with the real world.  Congrats on going back and shooting for your masters degree.

Just curious as to why you think that?

 

I felt very much the same way when they first came out but as technology has improved so have online classes.

 

 

I'm not going get into quality of online schools as I have never went through a program of theirs. Lot of schools' graduate programs will not accept a bachelor degree from some of these online courses nor will they transfer to undergraduate programs at traditional universities.

 

As for traditional universities having online courses (I took a couple myself.), they can be just as bad. I took English 1 online and it wasn't too bad since all I had to do was write 7 argumentative papers. When I got into the accounting program, they offered Principle of Accounting online, but I chose to take it in the classroom. All of my accounting professors has noted that students who took it online failed it more than students who took it in the classrooms. As a result, ETSU continues to refuse to allow higher level accounting classes to be taken online which inconvenienced a lot of adults who wanted to pursue an accounting degree part-time while working full-time.

 

My point is that technical intensive courses like math subjects, accounting/finance, some economic courses, chemistry, etc., seem to have a higher failure rates than the ones that take it in a traditional setting. This is just my observation from what I saw when I was in college. Of course it could be true that some other places could be different or similar results. When all you have to do is few pages of reading and type papers, it just the student's attitude that determine the success, when you're doing extreme technical courses it can be confusing and frustrating. At least it would be for me. 

 

Edit: Also online schools turned education into a for-profit-business. Kinda sicken they just pop up all over the place selling courses that likely NOT to transfer to traditional schools. Lot of those cannot receive government funds either. (If they have that about to change if this new student loan bill that Obama proposed goes into effect.)

Valid points.  I agree that technical classes in classroom work is probably more important and also even in undergraduate work.  I know i haev found more and more classes in grad programs being offered online. 

 

I did research the accreditation of various schools and you are right that many do not transfer but really that is the same for most schools whether in class or online.   THe chool i am attending doesn't mention it is an online degree so nobody will know unless you ask and it does have both in class and online classes.

 

You need to have the discipline to get the work done and utilize the tools that are provided to make it as much of an in class experience as possible.  I would also say the majority of failures in online is due to lacking the time management skills to complete an online class.

 

For me this is a tough one because i tend to put things off but i have to force myself to work each night and not try and make up for it on teh weekend.....all that being said i have apaper to write tonight too

i have to take a class and im taking it online also...people are saying its a ton more work they give you but i dont mind it cause everything i know about computers and such ive learned on my own at home so its all the same to me