Anyone doing 100% online college?

Fedorgasm

Fedorgasm

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@Steel
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I don't have a university within driving range so I looked into online schools. I don't care that much about the quality of the education, I basically just want the piece of paper in case it's required for any jobs I may want in the future. That being said, I don't want a degree that's considered a joke either, like the University of Phoenix.

I settled on Western Governor's University. They have the best reputation of any online college. Sure, it's no Harvard, but I figured I could get the degree now and maybe in 10 years onlline schools will be more widely accepted and it might be on par with at least a state college in terms of how impressed an employer might be by it. Been going for a year and it's not bad. I'm actually getting a decent education, even though that wasn't my main goal.

Anyone else doing the online college thing? Is your school good or is it a paper mill?
 
I’m actually enrolling in the same school you mentioned for my RN-BSN degree. Everyone I’ve met that went through it loved it and has nothing but good things to say.
 
i know plenty of people who have done it. most of them already have jobs and are either in a position that requires a degree or working on a promotion that will require the degree. in the right situation it is perfect.
 
I did one class online with legit mainland university and had to take exams proctored at local public library.
 
Fedorgasm said:
I don't have a university within driving range so I looked into online schools. I don't care that much about the quality of the education, I basically just want the piece of paper in case it's required for any jobs I may want in the future. That being said, I don't want a degree that's considered a joke either, like the University of Phoenix.

I settled on Western Governor's University. They have the best reputation of any online college. Sure, it's no Harvard, but I figured I could get the degree now and maybe in 10 years onlline schools will be more widely accepted and it might be on par with at least a state college in terms of how impressed an employer might be by it. Been going for a year and it's not bad. I'm actually getting a decent education, even though that wasn't my main goal.

Anyone else doing the online college thing? Is your school good or is it a paper mill?
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Where do you live that's so far away from any schools?
 
headkicktoleg said:
TS, what is your goal?
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I have a good job in management and years of experience already. But, most of my peers have a bachelor's so I do feel a little inadequate when the subject comes up.

Not only that, but my company pays for college, so if I ever lost this job for some reason, I'd feel really stupid for not taking advantage of it while I had the chance.

So basically my goal is to make myself more marketable in case I ever lose my current job.

I like this school so much that I may end up getting my MBA here when I'm done with the bachelor's.
 
Fedorgasm said:
I have a good job in management and years of experience already. But, most of my peers have a bachelor's so I do feel a little inadequate when the subject comes up.

Not only that, but my company pays for college, so if I ever lost this job for some reason, I'd feel really stupid for not taking advantage of it while I had the chance.

So basically my goal is to make myself more marketable in case I ever lose my current job.

I like this school so much that I may end up getting my MBA here when I'm done with the bachelor's.
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Sounds like you are doing the right thing then. Personally I took night school classes , but was looking for a completely different career. Don't feel inadequate, personally I'd rather have a boss with experience and the right personality.
 
I started grad school in a brick and mortar school close to my house. Four classes in, we had to move.

My academic adviser came up with a plan for me to complete my degree with a patchwork of classes online and through another college (then I transferred my credits).

My classes on both my online and in-person classes were roughly the same student-wise:

- Recent graduates with their bachelors that hadn't found a job yet.
- Adults my age or older that have years of experience, but to reach the next "threshold" at work, they needed the piece of paper.

However, I actually enjoyed my online classes more.

When in a classroom, you have the same handful of people speaking up asking questions and answering questions from the professor. You also have the same people more quiet than a mouse that do not ad anything to class discussions.

In the online classes, people feel more comfortable discussing experiences they had at work, opinions on different objectives, and whatnot.

Online was more enjoyable for me. Plus, I could find people that had similar experiences as me that helped the projects move along.
 
I found online classes to be damned near worthless personally. I went to school for engineering so the only online classes I could take were arts / humanities garbage and they were pretty much a joke. Read this, "discuss" it on a forum, get credit, pass class with an easy "A." I'm in no position to judge people but if I were looking to hire someone for a job I would pretty much put the "online-only" degrees at the bottom of the pile. My mother got her degree from University of Phoenix and her entire coursework (healthcare information) was 6 week classes, 3 hours a week, where EVERYTHING was done in groups. So no matter how stupid you were you could always latch onto other people to have them pull you through the course.
 
Depends why you want that paper and what you will need it for. I teach at a university and there is a big push for traditional bricks and mortar universities to provide more and more online content. Personally I think it is a scam and market driven. You just can't replace the learning that takes place in the classroom that is outside of the textbook. Students learn just as much off of each other as lecturers and tend to make life long networks of people. Online is fine if you just want a piece of paper but if you care about what you learn being there in person counts. Most lecturers only half ass their online stuff anyway. Also, most people in industry will see through the dodgy only online scam universities anyway.
 
I heard online degrees are frowned upon by employers because they don't foster essential skills like relationship building, interpersonal skills, communication and presentation skills etc. So I would advise against doing a 100% online degree. A mix of in-class and online courses is fine though.
 
Online degrees just test whether you know how to use a printer
 
You should just be aware that, unless you are taking all online classes from a real university, your degree won’t mean much to those who are hiring. So if you’re planning on doing one of those University of Phenox type colleges, it may help you a bit, but those degrees are generally discounted in many people’s eyes.
 
Luminosity said:
Depends why you want that paper and what you will need it for. I teach at a university and there is a big push for traditional bricks and mortar universities to provide more and more online content. Personally I think it is a scam and market driven. You just can't replace the learning that takes place in the classroom that is outside of the textbook. Students learn just as much off of each other as lecturers and tend to make life long networks of people. Online is fine if you just want a piece of paper but if you care about what you learn being there in person counts. Most lecturers only half ass their online stuff anyway. Also, most people in industry will see through the dodgy only online scam universities anyway.
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Now that I've attended both types of school i can honestly say I'm learning way more at the online school than i did at the brick and mortar that in went to for 2 years.

I think the whole "learning from other students" is overrated. In the real classroom, the other students always slowed down the pace by asking the same stupid questions over and over. The teachers often ended up teaching the class at the pace of the slowest students. Maybe those students learned something from me but i usually didn't learn anything from them.

Not only that, but some of the BS classes where you actually don't learn anything felt really bad because they took 4 months.

I like the individual learning pace, so i can speed through dumb classes like "women and communication" and take longer in classes that are harder or more important.
 
umass online ftw
granted my undergrad was actually at umass, but my online amsters program is online.
 
Fedorgasm said:
Now that I've attended both types of school i can honestly say I'm learning way more at the online school than i did at the brick and mortar that in went to for 2 years.

I think the whole "learning from other students" is overrated. In the real classroom, the other students always slowed down the pace by asking the same stupid questions over and over. The teachers often ended up teaching the class at the pace of the slowest students. Maybe those students learned something from me but i usually didn't learn anything from them.

Not only that, but some of the BS classes where you actually don't learn anything felt really bad because they took 4 months.

I like the individual learning pace, so i can speed through dumb classes like "women and communication" and take longer in classes that are harder or more important.
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There is always an exception to the rule but most of my students benefit from their interaction with others, testing their ideas outside of their own experience. It also depends on what you are learning. Since you are talking "BS classes" etc.. I am assuming you are a math/science guy who resents having to take humanities courses for general ed. In Australia there is no general education, you only study what is in your major with a few electives, which is where I teach, although I did all my undergraduate in the US at UC San Diego. I think it is probably easier to do the math/science classes from a textbook if you are suitably equipped and with some online tutorial if you get stuck. Humanities is a little different in the learning process as you really need to test your ideas so they aren't half baked. But the end goal of a university teacher is to teach students how to teach themselves, so if you are there already at an undergraduate level then more power to you.
 
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