I have had a few bad experiences with online classes. Here are a few reasons why I would not recommend them:
1. Deadlines. The deadlines in the online classes are not going to actually pop up in your head very often unless checked on constantly. I would constantly forget deadlines for online classes when they changed at the teacher's whim. I could never figure out when things were due and this created work missed. When in a normal classroom, if the teacher changed the day then they would at least have to tell you about it in the class next time they see you. An online class will normally not afford you the same courtesy with just printing it online for a day, so if you are not an A-type personality you are probably going to just barely get it in on time.
2. Lack of Teacher Involvement. This is a big one because when taking a difficult online class, it is very hard to ask questions or just get answers to questions. If your teacher is horrible at checking their e-mail or answering their phone, then you are basically screwed. I would have questions on projects and the teachers would not get back to me for a week when I handed in the project and they had marked me off for not formatting it in a way they wanted (when they never answered my question on that part of the formatting).
3. Confusing Instructions. When a teacher is in class with you, the teacher is usually demonstrating what they want for you to do, however, many teachers online just assume you know exactly what they want you to do from their written instructions. Most written instructions end up being slightly vague no matter how the teacher puts it, and if they are bad at getting back to you... Let's just say you're screwed over again.
4. Forgetfulness. If you do not create a scheduled routine for checking up on the class, then you will probably at one time or another forget to check for updates on upcoming assignments. This happened to me a lot with my last online class as it was the only online class I was taking at the time, and I was working at the same time. This mainly left me scrambling at the last minute to get work done.
5. Lack of Peer Interaction. I don't know about any of you, but I like meeting friends in college. I just moved to a new city when I started college, so I immediately wanted to get to know some people, but in an online class, none of that happens. In a normal classroom, one is at least forced to say something to someone else in class once in a while for a group project or some other assignment or maybe even just asking someone to move over. These are future connections one can use for job placement later on, so it is smart to network while you have an opportunity to do so.
All of these reasons combined with the fact that most online classes end up not in my memory the second I finish the class. I end up gaining no substance from them as I have taken notes or really done anything hands-on in any classes. I rarely even had anything to remember them by later on except for transcripts.
Hope this helps with your decision,
Leia Rhyne
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