Online education question

TweetieBird

I want to get my Associates Degree. I would have to do it online as I work full time right now and there is no way I can give up my day job. Has anyone else gone this route and had success? Any help appreciated.

greendawn

I didn't do this but I know others that did, it is a form of distance learning and also e learning since it involves the use of computers. There are exchanges with teachers through the internet to solve problems though they usually want assignments in a printed form. With a good teacher that responds fast to e mails it works quite well.

Wasanelder Once

Tweetie,

Here in CA there are online courses available from the local Community Colleges. These are considerably cheaper than the Uni. Phoenix online. My niece is doing that after commuting for three years over an hour to the JC and getting home aftre 9pm only to do home work and commute an hour in the am to work all day and then attend school that night. Horrendous. I used to work for the distance learning dept for a local JC. Some online classes defy reason and expect you to show up for the exams on site. Thats dumb. Make sure you communicate with the instructor to understand whats involved.

Many instructors are very demanding because it is online. Go to Ratemyprofessor.com to see if the teacher is a jerk or not. Its somewhat helpful. If you haven't been to the site before, just enter the school and type in the instructor's name. It tells alot. OK?

Don't forget to look into financial aid, even if you're working. ANything that you get will help.

You may need one of these to carry your lunch.

I wish you sucess. You wont regret it.

W.Once

TweetieBird

Thanks Was and Greendawn. I think the Mira Costa Community College here in San Diego offers some online courses. I will check into that. Love the lunchbox, I need to get me one of those.

Little Drummer Boy

I want to jump in here becaue I'm not sure my wife, exwitless, will see this thread. She is furthering her nursing degree by taking distance courses and she will end up with an associates. She chose to go with a company/program called The College Network. While she will end up with the degree from Excellsior college, this whole business with The College Network has turned out to be one big, expensive, hassle and headache for her. She could have worked just with Excellsior College to get her degree without the middle-man and it would have been better all around. Anyway, point is The College Network could almost be described as a bit of a scam. I don't recommend them if you come across them.

pm exwitless if you want some more info on it.

Wasanelder Once

LDB,

That's my point exactly. Stick with the Community College if you want to do the work and save money. Its a mess trying to fast track through those specialty online specific schools as LDB attests.

W.Once

rebel8

If an online degree program involves taking your tests online & unsupervised (a.k.a., open book!)--or no tests at all--you may have trouble using your degree as a tool to get a job. It will not have the same credibility as degrees earned by taking supervised exams.

I got one of my degrees by a distance program--not online--and all of my exams were proctored. Programs like that exist.

Wasanelder Once

rebel8 may be right to some degree.

I only mention that you determine the testing arrangement because some sign up for distance education, ie: online only to find out their schedule wont allow them to take proctored tests. So make sure you understand the schedule before you obligate and lose your money. Some instructors will just let you fail. Be informed.

I say that the online classes are good for the basic education courses that are not so specific to your degree. The undergrad stuff.

W.Once

Quandry

Yes, I have taken several online courses through the community college. The tests were at the school, and any labs were at the school. One must be organized, self motivated, and determined to get credit this way. It is hard because largely it is just you and the book. But it is doable. One class that I took was geology. It was a video class. We looked at a video, and read from a textbook. The lab was once a week at the college and had a professor. I enjoyed it immensly.

I would caution you with one thought. I would hate to think that I was going to a doctor who had studied biology and other medical classes online. A student is only as good as his teacher and if you are teaching yourself what does that say?

I only use online courses for things that do not affect what I really need to know. For example, right now I am taking algebra and it is about to kill me. I would not dare take it online without a professor and tutoring help at the school.

Hope this info helps.

rebel8

wasanelderonce

oops, didn't mean to contract. I actually didn't even read your post about exams until just now. It's just something I learned while getting my degree & then going on interviews. Employers asked that question. I think they are open to hiring someone with a distance degree, just depends upon the job and how the program was set up to monitor learning.

I wouldn't want to travel to the college to take exams either. My college was thousands of miles away & I never went there. I just used a local proctor for my exams, preapproved by the college. The proctor had to see photo ID each time and write down the ID # on my exam to prove it was really me taking the test.

quandry

oooh man you're right about the difficult courses. I took graduate finance via a distance degree, and it was very difficult for me. I'm not a person who can learn math stuff w/o face to face explanations. If my husband didn't help me learn it, I wouldn't have passed. It's too hard to learn that stuff via the occassional phone call or email.

Online education question

Share this