Has anyone taken higher ed classes ONLY online?
Meaning no stepping onto campus… only virtual/ distance learning.
Or anyone who has done both? Which do you prefer and why?
Pros/ cons of only online classes?
Please and thank you.
Re: Online classes
One has to have a very strong will and some real interest in the subjects to succeed in online education as the options it comes with can make you take it too easy. In other words, its not for procrastinators. I am one so couldn’t continue for the length of degree.
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I did short certificate programs online, and they worked well with a busy travel schedule and family needs.
If i was in college full-time then I may take a class or two online but would not want to miss out on the classroom experience.
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One cannot take all classes online for an accredited degree program anyway.
Correction:
When I say online I am referring to self study online courses. You can enroll in virtual classes where a live teacher teaches a course but you attend remotely.
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I took a couple online classes this semester and LOVE it!!! I hate going in to classes and having to sit and listen to boring/ slow lectures. i’d much rather teach myself, hand in the assignments, take the tests and go.
This is my first time taking online classes and I absolutely love it. Which got me thinking about taking more and more… possibly all (if available) classes online.
So far I’ve been able to keep my self motivated to do everything on time and not slack off. But I’m afraid if I have too much “free” time, I might become lazy and just goof off/ not give my 100%.
But there are so many universities that offer distance learning now. :bummer:
@Mirch, a friend of mine is in an accelerated program with Colorado Technical University, for his bachelors, where the semesters are only 10 weeks each. He works 2 full time jobs so online classes are his only choice.
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See my correction to my post above.
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I wonder with the advent of sites like Khan Academy if online classes will perish before they become a viable option.
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I don’t see the difference between online classes and going to campus with the exception of the social aspects. I’ve rearly ever gone to lecture or seminar cause i’m busy at work, so it’s always been about learning at home for me and I still pass without even giving it 50% effort.
And i’m the same. I’m much more happy to do assignments, and self study instead of sitting in a lecture where my mind is just wondering off or in a seminar where I find it just as tedious.
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Exactly!!! ^
I’m not much of a social person so that doesn’t mother me. :sid:
Last semester, the classes I did take on campus, I hardly paid attention to the lectures. Instead, I spent lecture time as practical/ lab time 
and left when it was lab time.
I think I’ll give it a try next semester and see how it goes. I’ll have no choice but to complete them ..but I’ll know if I’ll want to so it again.
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Thanks for replying guys!! :k:
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Why should not being a social person not mother you?
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As long as it is not a math or engineering class, you will be ok. I had to take some engineering courses online and even though I did well I still wish I had taken them on campus. I ended up spending more time doing lab work to understand the concepts I missed in online lectures.
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What exactly is lab work in this context. OP also used this term.
For us, lab work meant doing experiments in the laboratory.
@Theorist , how about Spirituality classes?
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I wouldn’t recommend going virtual for college/Bachelors degree. You would be missing the whole college experience. Seems like a debbie downer.
But yea later if you had to to MBA or something while working, then I would understand taking online classes and going to campus only once a week or so for exams etc.
But sitting at home doing part time GS and part time classes seems no fun. But its just me
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Why is Math or Engg. Not good to take online?
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You’re not a social person? I wouldn’t have guessed that.
Lol @ leaving before lab time but having lab time. I dislike going to seminar class (cause I never ever do my work) and the teacher saying your name and going “so x can you tell me why blah blah blah from question 2” and I be like “Umm… ?? ?? ?? ??.. Err… No?”
Once a teacher at university pointed at me and said “can you answer question 4” and I just turned around to look behind me as if he wasn’t pointing at me (cause I didn’t wanna answer it and wanted to be funny) and he goes “haha, he turned around as if I was pointing at the wall” 
Goodluck next semester MM.
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Aaaahaha, I was gonna say the exact same thing but you beat me to it! 
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Since others are rudely ignoring my question, can you splain what lab time is for your generation of clueless kids? I promise you a premium seat at the next Chat Roundtable.
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I can’t speak for what americans/canadians call lab time, but in the UK labs are regarded as a study space. EG a computing lab is where there is a room full of computers open to everyone where a student can study in their own time or is used as classes (seminars).
“It’s lab time” = It’s seminar time.
For me personally, lab means laboratory and is linked to medicine/science. It irks me when they call anything else a lab, like calling a computing room a lab? I don’t get it, my university calls computing rooms “labs” “clusters” or just “rooms”. Weirdos.
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Thanks Sentry. Confusion cleared!
Classes are seminars?
Study time is lab time?
So what is actual lab time? Surgery time for meds. And space exploration time for aero engrs? Chemical plant building time for Chem enggs?
Everything got upgraded it seems. Must be inflation? (Though some would argue inflation is tame at < 2 pct in the west. Or could it be the very low interest rates could portend inflation? Can we have a seminar and lab time to discuss and study this issue respectively?)