Should I Go Back to School?

[Rex]

Bump.
First day of online classes today @ Chancellor University....clearly, Mondays will be a busy day for me. Classes in Admin Management and State, Local and Fed Gov't basics. First assignments for BOTH classes are due Wednesday. Two more assignments due NLT Friday 1159pm. They don't accept late work either. I can do it at work tomorrow and e-mail it in.

No more E! Channel for a while I guess .

[BigB08822]

Good luck, Rex!!

[ChelleC]

Good luck, Rex!!! You can do it!!

[Civic]

Is your program strictly an online one? If yes, does your enrollment in the program make you eligible to use any of their subscription databases and password protected online information sources? These can be very helpful to you if any of your assignments require that you look up articles or do any serious number crunching.

[Cupid]

Good luck, Rex! Study hard and don't ever give up. A friend of mine went back to school recently and she's crazy busy working one full time job and another part time plus taking all these classes, but it's a goal she's determined to accomplish and she's cut back on socializing and really studying hard and doing well. You can do it, too!

[Rex]

Good luck, Rex!!! You can do it!!

Good luck, Rex!!

Is your program strictly an online one? If yes, does your enrollment in the program make you eligible to use any of their subscription databases and password protected online information sources? These can be very helpful to you if any of your assignments require that you look up articles or do any serious number crunching.

Yes, Civic, it's totally online. They use a system called "ANGEL" and you access your course syllabus and class modules through this program. So glad that I can access it at work.

Good luck, Rex! Study hard and don't ever give up. A friend of mine went back to school recently and she's crazy busy working one full time job and another part time plus taking all these classes, but it's a goal she's determined to accomplish and she's cut back on socializing and really studying hard and doing well. You can do it, too!

Thanks for the support guys...I can use it. When it slows down at work this afternoon, I will get some of my assignments done.

[Prancer]

Yes, Civic, it's totally online. They use a system called "ANGEL" and you access your course syllabus and class modules through this program. So glad that I can access it at work.

If ANGEL starts making you crazy, let me know. I'm supposed to be an ANGEL expert and have a zillion certificates to prove it (and STILL I get stumped from time to time).

It actually works really well nearly all the time, but I, at least, run into a lot of browser conflict issues.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

If ANGEL starts making you crazy, let me know. I'm supposed to be an ANGEL expert and have a zillion certificates to prove it (and STILL I get stumped from time to time).

It actually works really well nearly all the time, but I, at least, run into a lot of browser conflict issues.

I do as well. I've found it works fairly well with Firefox, and not so well with Safari. I haven't tried IE.

[FigureSpins]

Good luck!

[skatesindreams]

Thinking of you, Rex.
Keep us posted.

[Rex]

If ANGEL starts making you crazy, let me know. I'm supposed to be an ANGEL expert and have a zillion certificates to prove it (and STILL I get stumped from time to time).

It actually works really well nearly all the time, but I, at least, run into a lot of browser conflict issues.

It works on Google Chrome even - I am impressed. So far no real problems, other than having to constantly put the forum in "nesting" format so I respond to my instructors' posts.

[FiveRinger]

Thanks for the support guys...I can use it. When it slows down at work this afternoon, I will get some of my assignments done.

Good luck! I just started working on my Masters this semester, online, and it has been a challenge. I don't remember working this hard doing undergrad, and it's only been a couple of years!

But we'll persevere!!!

[Prancer]

I do as well. I've found it works fairly well with Firefox, and not so well with Safari. I haven't tried IE.

It's designed to work with Firefox and IE, although ANGEL does customize the program for different schools. Until just the last few weeks, our version did not work with IE9, but it seems to be working nearly all the time now.

It works on Google Chrome even - I am impressed. So far no real problems, other than having to constantly put the forum in "nesting" format so I respond to my instructors' posts.

The one thing that usually doesn't work with Google Chrome is the course mail address box. You can respond to emails, but you usually can't access names to send emails yourself. If yours does work, your school must have gotten a custom fix, because that's a known issue in ANGEL.

Good luck! I just started working on my Masters this semester, online, and it has been a challenge. I don't remember working this hard doing undergrad, and it's only been a couple of years!

Online classes are nearly always harder, if for no other reason than you are so much on your own.

[Stefanie]

Just want to chime in with my well wishes for Rex.

[manleywoman]

Yay Rex!!!!!!

[FiveRinger]

Online classes are nearly always harder, if for no other reason than you are so much on your own.

That's what's so scary. I took some online classes undergrad. This is much harder. I have to be much more disciplined to get my work done on time. Of course, spending my free time lurking here when I should be making wise use of my time doesn't help anything!

[orbitz]

Bump.
First day of online classes today @ Chancellor University

Can you describe what online class is like? I thought about taking some but don't think I'll have the discipline not to surf the web while class is in session

No more E! Channel for a while I guess .

But you're not going to miss the A-List when it's back on, will you ?


Good luck with your classes.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

What online class is like varies from university to university, and can even vary from professor to professor. The ones I teach are accelerated, so you do a 15-week semester in only five weeks. That means they are INTENSE. You do the same amount of work in less time. I make them work their butts off. Each week in my class, there are normally at least three chapters to read, one 1,500 word paper, two tiny responses to specific topics (think a paragraph), one team assignment, and several posts you must make in response to those of other students.

Conversely, I've taken online classes where my main problem has been boredom, and where there's been such little work, at such a slow pace, that I've been afraid I might fail because I forgot to do something due to the slow pace.

So it really varies. The nice thing is that in most cases, online classes are asynchronous, meaning that you can be on there and doing your work at any hour. You don't have to be on there when the professor is on there. But again, this can vary by university, so these types of things are reasonable things to ask about.

Some online classes are text-only. Others are a combo of text and video. Some have no exams. Others have exams you can take on your own. Still others require you to either come to campus for the exam, or get a local proctor.

In all cases, students often find online classes harder to complete, because you need to be more self-motivated.


For those who've taken and/or taught online classes, what's the format and etc. been like for you?

[Stefanie]

I'm taking Elementary Russian 101 strictly on the web through my community college and some weeks there are plenty of assignments and other weeks we only have one per day. And the class itself seems really easy for me perhaps because I have also studied Polish for four years now. The platform used is Blackboard, and I was already familiar with Blackboard when I was an undergrad. But I'd never taken any actual quizzes on it until now, but that's also because all of my undergrad classes were "traditional," in-person classes. I have no trouble finding motivation for this class as I have always loved studying languages and partly because I am taking this class for fun so there isn't as much pressure as if I was actually persuing a degree (in my personal experience).

[Prancer]

For those who've taken and/or taught online classes, what's the format and etc. been like for you?

I've done both and it's usually this:

There are assignments due every week, usually on a regular schedule. Assignments are usually done independently, then posted and critiqued by your peers in the class, sometimes in draft form with a chance of revision before grading and sometimes not. Students often think that online classes are very flexible, and they are--in terms of what time you do your work. But IME, online classes often involve more assignments than traditional classes and due dates are rigid.

There is usually some kind of class discussion on a class discussion board much like FSU, which, along with grading comments, is where a facilitator can really set herself apart. Most facilitators do not and simply post some questions from the text or have the discussion focus on homework assignments. Every now and then, though, you get a facilitator who puts some thought into discussion topics and then discussion is usually lively and interesting and sort of like FSU for a class. Usually, though, class discussion is very clearly a "I posted because I had to" sort of thing, much like the "I required discussion because I had to" on the part of the facilitator.

Almost anything you do in class can be done online--term papers, group projects, even lab work. My husband took public speaking online--he recorded himself doing speeches and uploaded the videos.

Facilitators can make a huge difference in the quality of the class, but many schools hire facilitators who are also facilitating at a dozen other schools, and so quality and access can be really erratic and is often almost nonexistent. On top of this, it's ever-so-easy to procrastinate and dodge an online class. For these reasons, you have to be committed to do well online.

We just started something new for next term--all students who want to take online classes must take a test that measures their technical proficiencies and their reading comprehension. I am doing an online class next term and I will be interested in seeing if this helps. Reading comprehension is a huge one; people who aren't visual-verbal learners usually don't do at all well in online classes.